"Tash, stop it." I pinched her arm.

"What? Call him."

"No, I'm not going to call him and stomp my feet like a spoiled brat because I can't get a reservation."

"You're dating him aren't you?" she blurted out. The girls all gasped.

"I knew it! I knew you'd s.h.a.g him, Lex." Jade seemed pretty pleased with her prediction.

"Thanks a lot, Tash." I glared at her.

"When were you going to tell us you'd split with Rick?" This time it was Steph giving me the third degree.

"Over dinner, it's very complicated." I noticed Tash had disappeared. "Where's Tash gone?"

"Over there, she's on her phone." Lil pointed in Tash's direction. I squinted at Tash who was on the phone, except her phone did not have a silver case, my phone did.

"Hang on a minute, that's my phone. What is she doing on my phone? How did she get it?" I quickly rummaged through my bag and confirmed she had in fact stolen it, then it occurred to me why she might have stolen it. "You sneaky little b.i.t.c.h. Nathasha Jones, you better not have done what I think you have!" Her head shot up like a meerkat, and she laughed, trying to get away. Oh my G.o.d, how old are we again? "Come back here, I can't run in these shoes!" She stopped and held the phone out to me with a satisfied look on her face, so I s.n.a.t.c.hed it off her. "You are going to pay for this, b.i.t.c.h." She smiled and kissed my cheek then skipped back to the girls. I hesitantly put the phone to my ear.

"h.e.l.lo."

"h.e.l.lo, my love." f.u.c.k, I knew it.

"I'm so sorry. Tash is going to die for this."

"Hunny, you look so f.u.c.king hot in that short navy dress." What? I looked around, my face already showing my excitement.

"You won't find me, Ms Summers."

"Where are you?"

"Not telling. I'll reveal myself when the time is right."

"And when will that be?"

"You'll have to wait and see, you might just feel my hand on your a.r.s.e when you least expect it."

"What if it's someone else's hand I feel?"

"Then whoever's it is. I'll break it. Your a.r.s.e belongs to me, Hunny."

"It does, does it?" He is so possessively hot.

"Yes, it does."

"So what you are saying is? You are going to stalk me all night?"

"Yes. Now go and have dinner, your friends are all waiting for you." I spun back round, and they were no longer standing at the door. Tash shot her hand up from a table within the restaurant and waved. I glared at her again and turned back round.

"I didn't want to bother you with this, it's stupid."

"Oh, Hunny, you eat anywhere you want to eat. You go anywhere you want to go, you got it?"

"No."

"I'm going to make sure every employee in this complex knows you by face, so that this does not happen again, okay?"

"Bryce, you wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. You are dating the owner, after all."

"Am I? We haven't officially gone on a date yet."

"Alexis, stop arguing with me and go and have your dinner, or so help me G.o.d, I will walk over to you now, pick you up, and haul you over my shoulder." The idea excited me very much, but I knew not to call his bluff.

"Okay, you win. Oh, and by the way, thank you for this."

"No thanks necessary, my love."

"Okay, I guess I will see you tonight sometime?"

"You can count on it, Hunny." He hung up the phone and I revelled in his exciting game, quickly scanning my surroundings one more time to try to spot his hiding place, but there were too many people, and I knew he would not show himself until he was ready. Suddenly my phone rang, startling me. It was Bryce again.

"Yes, Mr. Clark."

"Stop looking for me."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Tash rang me."

"I know that, but how did you get here so quickly?"

"Who says I'm there?" I looked around again and noticed the big black domed security camera.

"Are you watching me on your security CCTV cameras?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"You are so infuriating, Mr. Clark, now leave me alone. I'm hungry." He growled into the phone as I hung up, making me both giggle and involuntarily shiver. I walked toward the girls like I was on a catwalk, hoping he'd see my a.r.s.e as I did it. On my way to the table, I received a text.

f.u.c.k, I love your a.r.s.e. - Bryce I stopped and quickly typed a response.

If you're lucky, I might let you spank it. - Alexis I'm the luckiest man alive. - Bryce We'll see. - Alexis I love you. - Bryce I love you too. Now seriously, leave me alone xo. - Alexis.

Never. - Bryce I decided I wouldn't respond, or we would be there texting each other all night. I put my phone back into my bag and sat down at the table with the girls.

"You, missy, are going to pay for that." I shot Tash a daring look.

"What? If you have the connections, use them! Anyway, I'm sure Bryce would've been p.i.s.sed if he found out you were refused a table." She was right, of course, but that was not the point. So, I glared at her again just as a waitress came to the table with a round of c.o.c.ktails.

"Four aBeautiful Ladies' for four beautiful ladies," she said as she placed the drinks in front of the girls.

"And for you, Ms Summers, a aScreaming o.r.g.a.s.m', courtesy of Mr Clark." The girls laughed as she placed it down in front of me. I dropped my head to the table in embarra.s.sment, but, of course, secretly loving his cheeky side. He never ceases to amaze me.

"If you don't want his aScreaming o.r.g.a.s.m', Lex, I will take it!" Steph was already into her aBeautiful Lady' and now eyeing mine.

"Oh, no, Hun. I'll have all his aScreaming o.r.g.a.s.ms', thanks." I skulled my drink.

"So, Lex, are you going to fill us in?" Lil was waiting patiently for my response, Steph put her drink down, and Jade dropped the menu. I looked at Tash and she shrugged her shoulders, then taking a breath, I let it out in one fell swoop.

"Okay. Got back from our weekend. Rick said he had an affair. Went and f.u.c.ked Bryce for a week. Rick came to hotel and said he had lied about the affair. I asked him why? He said Bryce paid him five million dollars to spend a week with me. So, the long story short-I'm now single and sort of dating them both." Lil was dead silent, Jade swore I was having them on, and Steph thought it was hilarious, whether a lie or not. "No I'm serious, obviously there's more to it, but that's it in a nutsh.e.l.l."

Jade was still trying to get her head around the story. "Hang on, so did Bryce pay Rick to tell you he'd had an affair? That a.r.s.ehole, I'm not drinking his aBeautiful Lady' then." She pushed it aside.

"No, again it's a long story, but essentially Rick lied about the affair himself, so that he could get the money. Bryce just offered to pay it as an incentive to have Rick let me spend a week with him." Steph was still eyeing Jade's c.o.c.ktail.

"Well, in that case, I will drink it." She dragged it back in front of her.

The waitress came back, and we ordered our meals. I explained a little more in detail what had happened, but I also kept a few things to myself.

"So, single Alexis, eh? Does that mean you can date anyone, I mean other than aBrick'?" Tash said with a mouthful.

"Brick, ha! I love it!" Jade was obviously fond of Rick and Bryce's collective name.

"Well, yes, I suppose I could, but I don't want to."

"Why would she want to date anyone other than Bryce, Tash?" Steph looked dumbfounded.

"I don't know, she's single again. she could date anyone."

"h.e.l.lo, I'm still here! And no, I couldn't date just anyone. I'm not in my twenties, nor would I want to date just anyone. Can we change the subject, please. I'd really like to hear all about your lives for once."

"I'll start, I found the best pair of Ruffle b.u.t.t's today, they are so awesome I am going to have my name embroidered on them." We all rolled our eyes at Tash.

"Anyone else, please?" I begged.

"Yeah, the concrete slab for our house will hopefully be poured on Monday."

"That's great, Jade, how exciting! The house will be built in no time after that."

"I'm getting a tattoo," Lil chimed in.

"I'm getting some freedom and putting Holly in daycare,' said Steph. We all continued our catch up discussion over dinner, chatting about different tattoo designs, various house facades and the pros and cons of daycare. Thankfully, they did not revert back to the topic of my love life. I was happy to fill them in, but to elaborate and discuss entirely was just a bit too much. When we were ready to leave, I signalled the waitress for the bill.

"It has been taken care of, Ms. Summers." Taken care of? Of course it has. I stood up and patted my dress down as we were about to leave the restaurant.

"You're very lucky, Alexis, lucky to have an obscenely rich man in love with you."

"You know what, Steph? You're wrong. I'm lucky to have an obscenely romantic man in love with me. At the end of the day, I couldn't give a s.h.i.t about the money."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

Opals was packed to the rafters, and there were people everywhere. It was a little too crowded for my tastes, but we went in anyway. I had not even made it a few metres through the door when a security guard approached me. s.h.i.t, what have I done? He shouted over the music.

"If you'd like to follow me, Ms. Summers, we have a booth reserved for you and your friends." Mr. f.u.c.k Me Senseless Clark, you think of everything.

"Oh, thank you." I turned to the girls. "Follow us." We made our way through the crowd to a booth on the far wall. aSecurity guy' motioned a barman to the table.

"Hi, I'm Kyle, I'll take care of all your drinks tonight. So, what would you ladies like first?" I wasn't really paying much attention, instead I was scanning the room, looking from wall to wall.

"Alexis?"

"What? Sorry."

"What do you want to drink?"

"What you're having." I don't normally drink what Lil usually does, so that answer was probably a mistake. I didn't care though, because standing against the far wall near the bar was Bryce, looking terribly s.e.xy in a black shirt, or was it navy? Who cares, he would look just as hot if it were fluorescent orange. His sleeves were rolled up and the top two b.u.t.tons undone, revealing just enough of his chest to make my mouth dry.

"I'll be back in a minute." I got up and took off before any of them could ask where I was going or if they could come. I zigzagged through people on my way to the wall. I would catch a glimpse of him then get obstructed by someone blocking my way. I had finally made it to the spot I saw him standing in, but he was gone. I'm sure I saw him, no I'm f.u.c.king positive. My phone vibrated in my hand.

Hunny, you f.u.c.king drive me wild. - Bryce Mr Please f.u.c.k Me Now Clark, you are driving me wild. I tried to ring him but he didn't answer. My phone buzzed again.

Uh Uh, Ms. Summers, I think I will play with you just a little bit longer - Bryce Play with me, I'll show you how to play with me. I typed a response.

Mr. Clark, I want you to really come and play with me - Alexis I kept looking around, he couldn't be far. It was unbearable knowing he was close but not close enough. I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun round ready to launch myself on him, instead, if I had in fact done that, poor Jade would have gotten more than she bargained for.

"What are you doing, Lex?" She was shouting over the music, and cringing at the same time.

"I thought I saw Bryce, so I was just texting him." I shouted back.

"You're a goner, aren't you?" I knew what she meant; I was gone, gone way over the edge when it came to him.

"Yes, I think I was a goner from the first moment I met him."

"I can't hear you, come to the toilet with me." She grabbed me by the hand and led me to the ladies room.

Now, these toilets had some minor comparisons to the ones at the Pub, firstly, the queues were the same regardless of the fact there were more cubicles, the problem was, there were a lot more people here too. The conversations you overheard while in line waiting were also of the same topics. It didn't matter where in the world you were, there was always one backstabbing friend coming onto another girl's boyfriend. There were no writing on these walls, though, as they were obviously well kept and maintained. However, the absence of toilet paper was obviously unavoidable, and unfortunately I had no pockets or stashed tissues this time.

"f.u.c.k." I said, just a little too loudly.