CHAPTER 2

Later on that night at The Silver, Sonia and Aaron were sitting at the bar alongside Luke. They were all drinking and laughing while the loud music had filled the busy, dark, and crowded nightclub.

Luke was sitting at the end of the bar and listened to Sonia talk to Aaron while he was drinking from a few shot glasses. He was wearing a white long sleeve collared shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers.

Sonia took a sip from a glass that was half full of alcohol. She wore a black tank top, a blue skirt that came a little above her knees, and dark blue flat shoes. "So I told him, I'm totally not a slut. Stop sending me dick pics", she had spoken while she slurred.

Aaron was wearing a dark grey t shirt, black jeans, and blue shoes. He laughed obnoxiously. "How the hell do you get into these situations?"

The pink hedgehog shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "You got me."

Aaron turned to Luke, "Hey it sucks Dave couldn't make it out."

"Yeah", Sonia added. "I wanted to see him get fucked up!"

Luke had made a small laugh. He could never picture Dave being a party type of person. Like him, he acted pretty mature for his age. "In all my years of working with him, I've never seen him drunk."

Sonia slammed her hands down onto the surface of the counter. "Fuck it! Next time we all do this, we're dragging him out with us. No goddamn exceptions!"

Luke couldn't help but to slightly laugh from her behavior. To be honest, he had never seen this side of his teammates before. Aaron was drinking but he wasn't as drunk as Sonia was. He could tell how drunk she was by her shouting and compulsive swearing. It was quite amusing to see. He shook his head slightly, "You are so fucked up, Sonia."

She shook her head, "I am not that fucked up. I'm just a little tipsy." She then waved over to the bartender who was busy making drinks. "Yoo hoo! Another for me please!"

Aaron placed his hand on her arm as he lowered it downward slowly. "You need to bring it down a notch with these drinks, girl."

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the empty glasses of shot glasses and beer bottles out in front of her. She began to count some of them. "I only had like...7 drinks."

Aaron had hung out with Sonia outside of work before. He knew exactly how she got when it came to alcohol. He snickered under his breath, "But you're a lightweight. Trust me that's more than enough for you."

She gently took his hand away from her arm and gave him an annoyed look. "Who are you? My mother?"

He lightly nudged her shoulder playfully. "Hey don't make me call your brother over here."

She scoffed and watched as the bartender gave her another shot glass full of alcohol. "What the hell ever." She picked the shot glass up from the counter and began to drink it.

The group had then saw Mina walking over to the bar.

"Hey, guys!" She placed her hands on both Sonia's and Aaron's shoulder. She wore a skin tight red dress that came a little above her knees, a black ribbon like choker around her neck, red high heeled shoes, and a black hairband. "Having fun?"

Aaron and Sonia both nodded. "Hell yeah!"

Mina turned to Luke. "What about you, Luke?"

When the bartender set down a bottle full of beer in front of him, he placed his hands around it. He looked back over to Mina and made a nod. "I'm getting fucked up while I wait around for your lovely singing, sunshine."

She made a wide smile. It was great to see the entire team outside of work and having a good time. It was a rare moment for any of them to be hanging out together. This was definitely a nice change of scenery. "I'll be on in a minute. I'm just..."

"There you are, Mina", a male voice had spoken from behind.

Everyone turned to a male yellow mongoose who had his hand on Mina's waist. He wore a black t shirt, white fitted jeans, and dark blue shoes.

Mina turned to him with a warm smile. "Oh, Ash! There you are!" She leaned over to him and gave him a peak on the lips. "I was wondering where you went."

He slightly shrugged his shoulders. "It's a busy night tonight. I keep getting lost in the crowd."

Aaron had waved towards the male mongoose. "Hey, Ash! Didn't know you were in town."

He placed his free hand in his pants pocket. "Well Mina said she'd be singing tonight and I wouldn't miss this for the world."

A light blush formed on Mina's face as she looked over to him. "Oh, Ash..."

A teasing look had appeared on Sonia's face. "Mina! You didn't tell us you and Ash were together!"

She slightly shrugged her shoulders with her blush still on her face. "Sorry! With all the madness going on it didn't really come up."

Ash gently rubbed her back. "Come on, babe. You're almost on."

She made a nod, "Right." She turned back to the group and waved. "See you guys later!"

After when Mina and Ash walked off, Sonia quickly turned to Aaron and Luke. "What the fuck! Mina's been getting dick this whole time? From Ash? The Royal Guardian's weapon specialist?"

Aaron took a sip from his beer, "No wonder she's been happier than usual."

"I think it's great she's found someone. He just better fucking treat her right or I'll break his dick off my own self." Luke had threatened in a calm and smooth tone as he took another sip of his beer. "Out of all of you, her and Dave are the only ones that don't piss me off on a regular."

Sonia and Aaron arched an eyebrow towards him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

They were all interrupted when the music suddenly stopped and they heard a finger tapping on a microphone on the stage in front of them. They all turned to Mina who was standing on stage with a dim blue spot light shining down on her.

The club was practically quiet as everyone had listened to Mina when she had began to sing. Her voice had filled the entire club. Her voice was so exotic and captivating, it was like everyone was in some kind of trance as they listened to her. The entire club's atmosphere went from loud and obnoxious to quiet and calming.

Luke couldn't help but to smile the entire time a she sung. He knew that Mina loved to sing but she would get shy and embarrassed if anyone caught her. He couldn't deny it. He loved hearing her voice. It was one of the few things that always seemed to calm him down when he became angry or upset.

After when she had finished the song, the entire club clapped, whistled, and cheered for her.

A little after when Mina had finished singing her song, the club had started to play the loud music once again. Sonia and Aaron had went off to talk to Mina and Ash while Luke had wandered aimlessly around the club.

He looked down at the watch on his wrist and noticed that it was a little after midnight. He was then debating on whether he should leave and just go home. He honestly came out to show support for Mina and nothing more. He walked over to the bar and decided to go ahead and pay his tab. He leaned over to the counter and looked over to the bartender. "Hey I'm gonna go ahead and pay my tab..."

"Lucas?"

His eyes widened as he heard a familiar feminine voice call out to him. He slowly turned and saw a female brown and black lynx sitting next to him. He looked her up and down and saw her wearing a purple sleeveless asymmetrical dress and black high heeled shoes. "...Nicole?"

Her smile widened as she gazed upon the surprised black jackal. "I thought that was you. Small world running into you here."

"I could say the same about you." He slowly sat down next to her. "Not that I'm not happy to see you but what brings you all the way here?"

She placed her hand on her head as she rested her arm on the counter. "Our weapon specialist, Ash insisted we'd come out and have some fun tonight." She giggled softly, "We all knew he wanted to come here for Mina. Everyone was gonna come out but they all suddenly bailed. I came along so Ash wouldn't feel so bad." Her eyes were fixed upon his. "But also since Mina was here, I figured the rest of you guys came out as well. I'm glad I was right."

Yes it was obvious that Ash came out for Mina but why did Nicole come along knowing what Ash's intentions were? Did she come all the way out hoping to run into him perhaps?

"It's so good to see you again, Lucas."

"You too, Captain Nicole." She called him by his full name but he didn't mind it. Not when it came to her. Even though he told her over and over he preferred to be called Luke, she still called him by his full name. Sometimes to be extremely formal, she would call him 'Mr. Lucas' to show respect he had believed.

She laughed a bit, "Don't be so formal. Nicole is just fine with me."

At least the two had an agreement on what to call each other. In and outside of work. "Okay if you say so." He slowly stood from his seat, "well I'd better be going."

"What? You're leaving already?"

He gave her an uneasy look. "I've been here for three hours. I'm a little tired..." He knew that they had just bumped into each other but he was already determined to go back home.

"But you can't leave just yet", she stood from her seat and stood in front of him.

Just by how she stood up, he saw her swaying slightly and had been slurring her words while they both had been talking. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had been drinking as well.

"Dance with me", she spoke suddenly.

He arched an eyebrow and made sure that was what she really had asked of him. The club was pretty loud and he was still trying to sober up. "Wha-what?"

"Dance with me, Lucas." She suddenly placed her hands on his chest as she leaned against him. "Just one dance. Please", she begged.

She wanted to dance with him. He thought on one hand, an innocent dance wouldn't hurt but on the other, just as she was clinging to him, it could get really weird. After all, they rarely even saw each other. He only talked to her a few times and that was during conference meetings. He slightly sighed and placed his finger up at her. "Just one dance."

Excited, she grabbed his hand and led him out to the dance floor. It seemed as soon as they both got onto the dance floor, the fast and loud music had suddenly gotten slow and calm. She spun around to him and wrapped her arms around his neck while he nervously placed his hands around her waist while they started to slowly slow dance with each other. As her eyes looked up at him, she could tell that he was somewhat uneasy. "Don't be so nervous, Lucas. It's just me."

He slightly shook his head and looked back at her. "You're Sally's second in command and Sally...well...she kinda doesn't like me." He could recall the last time he and Sally personally spoke and the two had left off on halfway bad terms.

Nicole couldn't understand why Sally didn't like Luke but then again, Sally didn't like a lot of the Council members. Especially when it came to Shadow. "I don't know why." She formed a warm smile, "I like you."

Her comment made him think. Did she like him as a person? A friend? Or someone else? He heavily sighed, "Uh, Nicole? I'm gonna be honest. I've been drinking for awhile now. I'm a little fucked up." He wanted to warn her now if he said something unprofessional to her, he wanted her to blame it on his drinking and not count his offensive words or actions against him.

She slightly shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "You sure had me fooled. I mean I smell the booze on you but..."

"You're drunk too", he spoke bluntly.

So they were both a little drunk. She saw nothing wrong with that especially when they were out being social in a club. "So what? We're both having fun."

"Well yeah, but..."

She paused and lightly bit her lip. Did he not like being around her? He was acting so distant and short with her like he wasn't the least bit interested in her. "But what? Do you not like hanging around me?"

Like he feared. He said something that hurt her feelings and he really had no intentions of being negative with her in anyway. "What? No it's not that. I like being around you. I...I just..." His words trailed off as he felt her body being pressed against his even more.

"Well that's good", she spoke in a soft tone. She slowly spun her body around and had her lower waist pressed against his while she slowly grinded herself against him while they slow danced. "...Because I like being around you too, Lucas", she spoke in a seductive tone.

His heart raced as he felt her butt rubbing against his uprising erection through his pants. He tried fighting his manly urges but it was harder than it seemed. A lot harder.

She couldn't help but to form a slight smile as she felt his rock hard manhood rubbing against her. She turned back to him and leaned her body close to his. Her lips were only inches from his.

He couldn't believe that this was the same Nicole he had known. The Nicole he knew was always shy and kept to herself. The woman in front of him was the exact opposite. Was this because she was drinking or she acted like this from the fact that the two were actually socializing with each other outside of work? "Nicole..."

She gently placed a finger to his lips and whispered into his ear. "Thanks for the dance, Lucas."

He stood there frozen as he watched her gently push him away and walk off of the dance floor.

In The Next Chapter...

Nicole: Hehe! Okay okay! You got me! I'm a little drunk!

Luke: Jesus Christ...is she always like this when she's fucking lit?

Nicole: Why won't you fuck me, Lucas?

Luke: God damn it...