A/N:
Hey guys! So very sorry this took so long to get updated. I wanted to wait till this was published on Twilighted as well for me to update with the second chapter.
Thanks to lexiecullen17 for beta-ing the shit out of this chapter. Damn, woman. My other beta, CatMasters, for being so honest (You must read her story "Darkest Before Dawn")! And my pre-reader, AngelStardust, over at T'd who I love to death for being my #1 supporter!
Previously...
Got a look into Bella's mindset. Now it's Edward's turn.
~*TEMPTATION*~
*EDWARD*
I looked down at the contacts in my phone, combing through the many feminine looking names. They all started to blur together into one as I sped up my search.
"New blood or old blood?" I asked, still flicking through the names.
"New."
I looked over at the voice answering my question. My older brother, Emmett, always knew what I wanted.
"Yeah, you're probably right," I said with resign in my voice, shutting my phone.
I took my feet off the desk and placed them on the ground, spinning around in my rolly chair.
To any other person, tonight would seem like just an ordinary Thursday night, but to me, it was the best night of the week.
Every Thursday, I'd go to a club or bar, find some innocent woman, and spend the rest of the week trying to bag her. Thursdays always worked because those were the days when the unsuspecting women would come out; the ones that were just stopping in for a quick drink with some coworkers after work; the ones that were dragged out last minute by friends to celebrate some occasion; the ones that were trying to avoid the weekend sleaze balls, or the best ones of them all, the ones that just got out of heartbreaking relationships.
Those women were a challenge.
I mean, what was the fun in a one night stand anyway?
You're in—you're out.
Literally. It was much more fulfilling to wait a little.
Back in high school, it would take me a month to get women to sleep with me. High school girls always had their heads in the clouds; they wanted love, relationships, Disney scenarios, that sort of shit. Now, being twenty-five years old, the amount of time needed changed from one month to one week as a result of a stronger sexual appetite, perfecting my game, and, quite honestly, boredom. Lessening the amount of time allowed me to move on to new women quicker.
I always had it planned out. I'd be everything they wanted: the perfect gentleman. I'd take them out, wine and dine them throughout the week, all leading up to, of course, sex. All within a matter of days.
Don't get me wrong, there were times when I needed a quick fix, too. I always knew the girls to call for those moments:
Tanya, Kate or Irina.
And they were always just as willing to have it be one night, no strings attached.
There had been times when I'd be trying to win over a girl for the week, but then would get really horny at some point and call up one of the girls.
Was it cheating?
No. Because I never got into a relationship with anyone.
In my opinion, relationships were for people who were afraid they'd never have sex again, so they'd stick to one person. I was definitely not lacking in the sex department.
I stretched my hands over my head, cracking the bones in my neck, back, shoulders and arms.
Tonight, I wanted to start fresh.
"Are we going tonight?" Emmett asked.
He was sitting on the couch holding a remote control while surfing through all the channels, changing them so quickly that it was starting to make me dizzy.
"Yeah, hopefully the owners don't know who we are," I answered.
Emmett and I, having nothing really to do with the money we'd collected over the years, decided on a whim to open a nightclub. We had found the perfect place, bought it, and hired staff, when what should happen? Another new club, called "Touch&Go," went up directly across the street from ours. We had barely even begun renovating, when their club magically opened.
We, being quite the competitors, had wanted to go over for weeks to spy on them, and quite possibly, see what kind of clientele they were attracting, so we could take theirs. Yet, every time we tried to go, we got bogged down with work on our own club. Then, we had our opening, which also distracted from our plan. Since then, we'd hired a manager to run the day-to-day business, so we were more free to come and go now.
One of our staff members had told us that the owners of the club were a bunch of chicks. We had laughed when we heard that, because we knew it would be too easy to get them to either close down their club or lose their customers.
Hey, we never said we'd play fair… especially since we were there first.
Emmett finally found a channel and threw the remote control down next to him. "All we should do is just talk to the staff a little. I'm sure if the owners are chicks, they would've hired a bunch of chick bartenders. It should be a piece of cake getting information out of them."
I chuckled. Emmett was probably hoping they were chick bartenders so he could get their numbers. He was definitely a man-whore. He had absolutely no problem doing the whole one night stand deal. The apartment we shared had a constant stream of female visitors, and my walls were always getting a nice work out.
I, personally, never brought women back to my place. It was much easier to slip out of their apartments in the middle of the night after having sex. Plus, there was something about bringing women back to my place that was unappealing to me.
I always felt that my room was my own personal sanctuary. It was the only place I could truly be myself. I'd never let any woman into that world of mine and probably never would.
I stood up, staring down at Emmett. "You coming?" I asked rhetorically.
He turned off the television and I walked over to the door to retrieve my keys and wallet. We went out the door, down to the parking garage, and hopped into my Aston Martin Vanquish.
It was times like these that I was happy my parents were wealthy. They hadn't physically bought me the car, but they had, over the years, stocked up so much money in my account that, when I really wanted something, I had enough to buy the car of my dreams when I got older. I had rarely touched my bank account; it wasn't necessary most of the time.
A lot of people, I was sure, thought Emmett and I were spoiled rich boys, but truth be told, we never asked for anything from our parents. We always knew how fortunate we were to be born into comfort while most weren't as blessed. Emmett and I had normal upbringings, nothing fancy. Well, except for the fact that we grew up in a mansion, of course. But even the apartment Emmett and I had chosen to share was a fairly modest two bedroom apartment with a nice view of the city. The nightclub was bought mainly with loans and a bit of our savings.
Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling up to the new, hip club that we wanted gone. I threw my keys at the valet and followed Emmett inside.
The vibe was very sleek and classy, as opposed to ours, which had more of a European dance club feel to it with bright lights and loud music.
The size of the crowd was fairly decent considering it was only a Thursday.
"Not bad…" I said, looking around.
In all honesty, this seemed like the type of place I'd like to go. If it wasn't for the fact that they were our competition, I would have guessed that I would be a regular here.
"God damn… the whole staff are men. Look at that!" Emmett said, shocked, and gestured to the bar.
Not one employee was a woman.
"Isn't there some law when hiring that states you can't discriminate against sexes?" Emmett asked.
I looked around at the club-goers, mostly women, who were flirting with the bartenders. "Well, you don't know for sure that they purposefully hired only men. Besides, don't we only have women working for us?"
"That's not true, we had that kid…uh…Alec. Right?" Emmett asked.
"We fired him, remember?"
Emmett scratched the back of his head. "Oh… right."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the bar. Emmett followed right behind me. Even though we didn't want to give the club any profit, we still decided to buy drinks just to blend in.
Emmett started to talk up the bartender. "So, this club has gotten pretty busy, huh?"
"Yeah, the weekends are the busiest though," the bartender said, handing us our drinks.
"I bet the owners must be pretty thrilled," I added nonchalantly.
"Oh, yeah. They come here all the time, too. In fact, they're right over there." He gestured to a section across the other side of the club that was divided into little sitting areas with sheer curtains surrounding it. I couldn't make out what any of them looked like because the curtains obscured their appearances, but they were definitely sitting on a couch.
The bartender turned away and started doing some other task, while Emmett and I stood close to each other, in a huddle.
"Should we bail? What if they see us?" Emmett asked, concerned.
"They're not gonna see us, and if they do, how will they know we're the guys from across the street? They have no clue what we look like," I explained.
He seemed to calm at that and moved a little further away from me.
"Damn, there are some fine women here," he acknowledged.
I hadn't really taken a look around yet, as my eyes were still on the prize, observing the club's surroundings. But when I heard his words, my mind suddenly remembered why else I had come here tonight.
A new Thursday—a new woman.
I leaned back against the bar, searching the sea of people for my next girl.
"Whoa… tits, ass, and legs staring at you at ten o'clock," Emmett suddenly said.
I turned my head to the left to see a very sexy, tall woman with red lipstick walking over to me as if she were on a catwalk.
She stopped right in front of me and said in a breathy voice, "I'm Heidi."
Too easy.
Though she was very attractive—very—I didn't feel like having a one night stand, and I knew instantly that that was what this woman was most likely after.
Although I knew I probably wouldn't leave with her, I decided to go along with her for the time being.
I can dump her before I leave.
"Edward." I introduced myself, grabbing her hand and bringing it to my lips to lightly place a kiss. "Can I buy you a drink?"
She leaned her head closer to mine. "Only if I can take you home," she whispered seductively into my ear.
A shiver went up my spine. She placed her hand on my hip and slowly moved it up and down, stopping at the side of my thigh. I felt my cock spring to life, straining against the inside of my jeans.
Fuck the plan.
"Deal," I said, betraying what I originally set out to do.
She moved to sit on a bar stool next to me and crossed her sexy long legs. "I'll have a shot of whiskey."
I signaled for the bartender's attention and then ordered her drink.
"So, are you from the area?" I asked, turning towards her while the bartender handed her a shot.
She quickly downed the shot and slapped it back on the bar.
Damn.
"Edward," she purred. "Do you want to ask me mundane questions, or do you want to fuck?" Suddenly, there was a hand groping my, now painful, erection.
I gulped. Probably more loudly than I should've.
Yes, please….
"You work fast," I teased, trying not to show how much I wanted her.
Even though my dick isn't doing too good a job of hiding it.
She trailed her other hand up my hips, past my stomach, and to my chest, lightly brushing her fingertips against it. "Only when I want someone, and right now… I want you."
The hand that was still on my bulge squeezed me hard.
Works for me!
I looked down the bar and noticed Emmett had left.
"Wait here," I said to Heidi and winked at her.
I walked away from the bar and looked around for Emmett.
Where the hell did he go?
Through the sea of people dancing, I could scarcely make out a tall man with black curly hair. When a few people moved, allowing me a better view, I saw Emmett talking to a leggy blonde. Her back was facing me, and I could see him talking very animatedly to her, which was usually very uncharacteristic.
I made my way across the club, walking in his direction, to tell him I was leaving for the night with a woman.
The crowds of people started to get in my way and I lost sight of him. He was no longer standing where he had been before.
Fuck!
I turned my head back toward the bar. Heidi was still sitting there on the bar stool, looking around the room, most likely for me. I looked further down the bar, now getting annoyed that I couldn't find Emmett.
When my eyes reached the end of the bar, I froze.
There, sitting at the end of the bar, was a stunning brunette with pale skin, deep brown eyes, and luscious lips. She was wearing barely any make-up, but she didn't need it. She was naturally beautiful. My heart rate started to increase at the sight of her. She was alone, and she looked… sad.
I looked around for anyone that she might be there with, but no one was approaching her or even regarding her. I was clueless as to how someone so beautiful could be sitting alone.
Before I knew what I was doing, my feet carried me over to her and I stopped directly to the side of her. If she was beautiful from a distance, she was strikingly gorgeous up close.
Say something, you idiot! Anything!
My throat was dry and I couldn't seem to form any words, as much as I tried.
She had a drink and was staring down into it with her elbow on the bar, her cheek cupped in her hand.
The best I could seem to do was clear my throat.
She didn't move.
Figuring she hadn't heard me, I cleared my throat again, but more loudly. She slowly turned her head towards me. Our eyes lined up in what felt like an overwhelming climax.
I wasn't sure what my expression looked like, but I was sure it didn't look remotely like the calm, cool exterior I had always portrayed.
I stared into the giant brown pools of her eyes, sinking deeper and deeper. I couldn't tear my eyes away and I didn't want to. I could've stayed rooted in that very spot forever, and it still would've satiated me.
And then, just like that, the connection was lost. Her eyes went back down to her drink, disregarding my very presence.
I desperately needed that connection back.
"Hi," I squeaked out. I cursed myself mentally for sounding like a retard.
She turned her eyes back to mine and I inwardly sighed in relief from being able to stare into her eyes again.
"Hey…," she said, looking at me curiously.
As I continued to look at her, a sudden sense of familiarity washed over me, like I had previously seen her somewhere. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it was a very strong feeling.
"Have we met?" I asked her.
She moved her eyes down the expanse of my body quickly and then back up to my face. "Do you use this line on women often?" she asked.
Huh?
"No, I—"
"Because I'm really not in the mood," she said, looking depressed, and then went back to her drink.
I pulled up a stool next to her and sat down. She whipped her head in my direction and glared at me.
"I'm sorry, it's just that—you really do look familiar to me. I'm not sure where, but I feel like I've met you before," I admitted.
She looked back at her drink and spoke after a few moments. "You haven't. Trust me."
Figuring I had gone temporarily insane, I continued talking to her. "What brings you to this club?"
She still kept her eyes averted. "No reason."
She clearly wasn't in the mood to talk, but for some reason, I couldn't seem to leave her. She looked so sad, like something devastating had happened to her.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, wishing she'd just turn her head to look at me again.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" She took a sip of her drink.
"I don't know. I saw you from across the room, and you looked sort of depressed."
"Hmm. Go figure," she said sarcastically, and then took another sip of her drink.
This was the sort of stuff I'd always say to the girls I picked up. I earned their trust by talking to them about whatever problems they were having. But for some reason, in this moment, my questions were genuine.
"Ah…," I trailed off and looked down at the bar.
"I found out my boyfriend, well, now ex-boyfriend, had been sleeping with someone else."
My eyes snapped up, and her eyes were now staring into mine. She looked so pained. I wanted to reach out and caress her face to make her pain go away.
"I'm sorry," I breathed.
Her eyes started to look distant, and she turned away. "I found some text messages he had been sending to some girl named—" Her eyes seemed to dart back and forth for a second. "—named Ali."
I didn't know how to respond to this, for once. Countless times, I'd listen to women tell me about their boyfriends cheating on them, and I'd always known the right thing to say. This time, though, I hadn't a clue. So, I just sat there, staring at her.
"I'm sure you think I'm pathetic. Coming to some club and drowning my sorrows with alcohol on a Thursday night."
How could she even surmise something like that?
"Absolutely not," I assured. "Alcohol is the best medicine in times like these." I offered her a grin.
The corners of her mouth turned up into a small smile and that was enough for all the air to leave my body.
The effect this stranger seemed to have on me was baffling. I should've run. I should've gotten out of my chair and never returned to this damn club. But nothing at that moment could have made me leave this precious woman.
"Can I buy you a drink?" she asked, looking directly at me.
She's offering to buy me a drink?
I was taken aback. No girl had ever offered to buy me a drink before. It had always been me making those offers.
I smirked. "Shouldn't that be the other way around?"
"Well, I already have a drink, and you said that alcohol is the best medicine. And, quite frankly, you've looked sick since you started talking to me."
Oh, shit…
I was aware that I had probably looked like an idiot this entire time, but I was hoping she hadn't noticed.
Before I could stop myself, I said, "Fine, you can buy me a drink."
She smiled and got up. "Then, I'll be back." Even though there was a bartender right near us, she went clear to the other side of the bar and started talking to a bartender there. I briefly found this odd, but I cast it aside.
"There you are! I was starting to get worried," a seductive voice came from behind me.
Fuck! Heidi!
In my haste to find Emmett and then meeting… the girl whose name I still didn't know… I had completely forgotten that I had left Heidi at the bar.
Two hands wrapped around my waist. "Are we leaving, or what?" she whispered into my ear.
I wasn't sure what to do. This night had taken me by surprise so many times. I had come here intending to scope out the club and maybe find a new girl to work on for the week, but then got distracted by Heidi's offer. Then, there was… her.
To be quite frank, I wasn't in the mood anymore to leave with Heidi.
I turned around to face her, removing her hands from my waist. "Actually, Heidi, I'm feeling sort of sick."
She ran her finger up and down my chest. "Well, I could make you feel better." She looked at me suggestively.
I started to feel my pants tighten again, but I knew I had to stay persistent. "I just think I'm going to head home. I have to get up early tomorrow anyway," I lied.
Heidi pouted a little, but then backed away. She reached into her purse and pulled out a rectangular piece of paper. "If you ever change your mind, here's my card." She handed me the card with a sexy smile, and then sauntered off, shaking her hips seductively and disappearing into the crowd.
I can't fucking believe I just turned her down.
I mentally started to curse myself, until the very reason I had rejected Heidi came back towards me with a drink in her hand.
She sat back down on the stool she had occupied before and slid the drink over to me. "There you go. Enjoy."
I looked down at the drink. "Jack and Coke? How'd you know that's what I drink?"
She darted her eyes a little, but then smiled. "I just took a wild guess. You seem the type."
I quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her. "Oh, is that right?"
"Yes."
"And what exactly is my type?"
She smiled and looked down at her drink. "I think you know exactly what your type is."
So, she thinks she has me all figured out so quickly?
A "hmm" was all I had to offer her in response, as I took a swig of my Jack and Coke.
We sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.
"So, you're really here alone tonight?" I asked her.
"Well, not anymore…" She turned to me and gave a flirtatious smirk. She swung her body from facing forward toward the bar, to now facing me, her long legs crossing over the other.
When I had first seen her, I had thought she was beautiful. Stunning, even. Now, staring at her short white dress that came up to mid-thigh and showed the expanse of her creamy, smooth legs, I had only one thought to describe her:
Fucking. Sexy. As. Fuck.
Holy, shit.
Why I hadn't realized this before, I will never know. Whoever the fuck that weak ass-Edward was when I first met her was suddenly gone and replaced with the normal, cocky Edward I was always used to.
"If you are inferring that you aren't alone because now I'm here, then I suppose we better keep rolling with that then, huh?" I suggested impishly.
"I suppose," she played along, one corner of her mouth upturned.
My eyes analyzed her lips. They were so full and pink.
I bet they would look fantastic around my cock.
A nudge in my pants indicated that something else agreed with me.
Down, boy. Not just yet.
"I know of this great little cafe down the street where you could continue to not be alone anymore with me," I offered, pulling out my charming smile.
She thought for a moment, and then leaned forward a bit, her magnificent cleavage becoming more accentuated. "When do we leave?"
It took all my will power not to look down too obviously. If I wanted to bag her by the end of the week, I'd have to behave… for now.
"We can go right now if you want," I suggested coolly.
She suddenly stood up and said, "I'll just run to the bathroom real quick, and then we'll head out."
I nodded, and she started to walk away, my eyes zeroing in on her tight ass.
Something suddenly occurred to me. "Wait! I don't know your name."
Maintaining her walk, she looked over her shoulder with a smile and said, "Bella."
And just like that, I had found my new girl for the week.
A/N: Repulsed by Schemeward? Think he's kinda hot? Let me know!
A teaser for Chapter 3 will be up on Fictionators(dot)com next Monday, so make sure to check it out.
If you want even more teasers and info on the progress of "Hate Me" make sure to follow me on twitter: xrxdanixrx
