Ellie groans in aggravation, circling the rim of her shot glass with her index finger.
God, she wants to drink it. Whiskey would feel so good going down her throat right about now. Still, she hesitates.
Drinking and Eleanor Nash have never been a good combination. When she closes her eyes she can still picture her mom passed out on the couch; can still smell the alcohol on her mom's breath. Ellie can still feel the stinging chill of the ocean water as she had drunkenly let the waves surround her, ready to end her own life.
The redhead pushes the shot to the side, rubbing her forehead instead. A small headache is beginning to form.
The stupidest part of all is that she was happy, truly happy, a mere five hours ago. How could things change so quickly?
She'd lost her job and her boyfriend all in one shitty night. And now here she sits at the bar, a tempting little glass in front of her, practically begging her to take a sip.
"You think if you stare at it long enough it'll start talking to you?"
Ellie blinks as she is pulled from her thoughts, turning towards the voice.
Jay Hogart sits beside her, ordering a beer of his own.
She rolls her eyes, turning away. "Should have known it was you," she offers sincerely.
Jay grins, shrugging. "What can I say, I'm predictable if nothing else."
Ellie nods slightly, pushing her hair back behind her ear. "Didn't know you were still in town."
"Had a job up in Alberta for about a year, but it just wasn't working out. Tony offered me a good position, so I moved back down here. And I could say the same about you, Red."
This causes her to turn slightly as memories of living with Sean resurface. Jay and Alex practically lived there themselves, and he took to calling her 'Red'. She hadn't heard that nickname in years.
"Recently unemployed," she replies, nodding towards her shot glass.
Jay whistles, shaking his head. "Sounds really recent."
"Try about four hours recent," Ellie huffs out in irritation, her bitterness returning tenfold. "Oh yeah, have I mentioned to you yet about the part where I came home to tell my boyfriend about it and he was in bed with another girl? Today's been great."
For a moment Jay is too stunned to say anything, but he quickly shakes it off. "It could be worse. You could have come back to Toronto. Oh, wait…"
Ellie shoots him a glare. "Way to rub salt in my wound, Jay."
"You really drove all the way back down here right after it happened? Damn, Ellie."
She shrugs. "I had nowhere else to go. I mean, I didn't own the apartment. And Marco is out of town for the week so I couldn't go crash with him."
"So you came crawling back to mommy and daddy?"
"Still an ass, I see." Ellie shakes her head.
Jay shrugs. "I do have an image to uphold, you know. What made you come down here to this shithole?"
"Mom's been sober for about six years now," she points out. "I wasn't risking bringing boos into the house. That and the fact that it's a hole in the wall. Didn't really wanna see anyone, you know?" She shoots him a pointed glare and he can't help but laugh slightly.
"Tony introduced me to this old dump," he offers. "It's got its charms."
Ellie snorts, briefly eyeing her full shot glass again. Jay doesn't miss it. "You really think that's a good idea, Red?"
They meet gazes. For a second she contemplates bullshitting him, but she can see the sincerity in his eyes. Ellie frowns. "God, this is exactly why I didn't want to be around anybody."
"Listen El, I'm not going to judge you. It's your choice, you do what you need to do. I'm just saying that sometimes the answer isn't in the bottom of a bottle."
She looks at him once more, searching for something within his blue orbs. "You pull that out of a fortune cookie?"
He laughs again. "I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?"
For the first time tonight, Ellie grins. "Not so much surprised as…pleased? It's good seeing you again, Jay."
"Yeah, well," he brushes her compliment off. "I tend to have that type of effect on the ladies."
"Again with the assery. You know Jay, you're really on top of your game tonight." She teases.
He grins, shaking his head. "When am I not?"
She has to admit he makes a valid point. "So oh wise one, what do you think I should do about these boy woes? Got anything up there in that head of yours I can use to make me forget?"
"Well, my first suggestion is alcohol, but obviously," he trails off, motioning towards her full glass. Ellie nods understandingly. "If he lived closer I'd take you to go egg his house."
That pulls yet another grin from Ellie and she shakes her head, laughing slightly. "Very mature."
"Hey," he stares pointedly. "Cheating isn't that mature either, you know."
"Okay, okay. You have anything else up there?"
He pauses momentarily, a sly smile slowly spreading across his lips. "Well, there is one more thing I can think of…"
Ellie's back hits the side wall of the cramped restroom with a thud, but Jay swallows up any moan of displeasure she makes with his own mouth.
Her hands roam all over his body, pulling and tugging at the fabric of his shirt as he rubs circles with his thumbs into the exposed flesh of her hips.
It's small and dirty in the bathroom and doesn't smell all too good but any discomfort the room may be providing is no match for the warm burst of fire within the pit of her belly.
To be quite honest, all she cares about currently is Jay fucking her senseless against the white wall.
He thrusts into her over and over, forcing himself in as deep as he can go and she does her best to give as much as she takes.
He holds her steady in between his own heated body and the wall, careful as he pounds into her. She moans and groans and shivers beneath his touch, her head arching backwards as his lips connect with the flesh of her neck.
He kisses and bites at the exposed skin, pulling a little whimper from Ellie. Jay can't help but notice just how good her red hair looks strewn against her pale flesh; the skin tinged red with arousal.
If he had known that this is what it would be like to fuck Ellie Nash, he would have tried to get her into bed years ago.
Her tight heat, paired with her moans and the way her fingers creep into his shirt and begin scraping along his back has his knees shaking with pleasure.
She knows that she is close, her entire body shivering. With one final thrust she comes undone, nearly screaming in pleasure.
Jay continues to fuck her as she shakes through her orgasm. He can feel her clamping down around him, and with a final thrust of his own he pulls out and cums across her stomach in several spurts.
Ellie breathes in and out deeply, attempting to get her breathing back under control. Jay helps her clean up before pulling his jeans back up and zipping them shut. She does the same, putting her own pants back on.
"Well that was…"
"Amazing? Astounding? Phenomenal? The best you've ever had?" Jay quips, smirking as he wipes a stray bead of sweat off of his forehead.
Ellie grins, shaking her head. "I was going to say different, but your choices work too."
"Oh," he pipes up interestedly, quirking a brow. "I am the best you've had, then? Hell, if I still knew Sean's number I'd call him up to brag."
She laughs. "Nice try, but I've never fucked Sean so there's really no comparison."
For a second Jay looks shocked by this confession, but then his smirk is back full force. "Even better."
"You really are the same, aren't you?" Ellie asks, sighing as she looks him over. "A little tidier around the edges, but still the same Jay Hogart."
"A lot of things may have changed in your life Red, but I'm not one of 'em." He replies, shrugging.
"Actually," she nudges his arm, pulling him closer. "You might just be the biggest change of them all. But for once, it's the good kind of change."