Mu review count was down for last chapter, but I'm back with a new one! I hope you guys enjoy the latest installment to the story and let me know what you think of everything. Good or bad, I appreciate the feedback and look forward to reading it.
Chapter 9
"Man, it has been way too long since we've done this!"
Nathan chuckled at his best friend as he watched him slam his empty shot glass onto the table. "I've been busy with work, Clay. Besides, it's only been like two weeks."
Clay smirked knowingly. "Still trying to convince your mom to fire the new guy and give you your dad's old job?"
Nathan shrugged unabashedly and took a sip of his third beer of the night. "What can I say? If my dad hadn't been such a dick then it would've been my job already."
Clay knew his friend was speaking the truth. He and Nathan had been best friends since they were kids and growing up, Dan Scott had never been a particularly good father. He was always on Nathan's case about something and making cruel comments to him. Dan's last jab at his son, who he deemed to be a failure, was making it explicitly clear in his will that Nathan was to have nothing handed to him at the dealership. This meant that poor Karen Scott had to deal with her son's anger when she hired a new general manager.
One thing Clay could never figure out was how a sweet woman like Karen ever saw any sort of redeemable quality in Dan Scott. To be fair, Dan always treated Karen well and it was clear that he loved his wife very much. Did she never see how her husband treated her only child though? It seemed strange that to a point, Karen never said anything to Dan about how he spoke to Nathan all his life. Clay had come to accept the fact that it would forever be a mystery as to how Dan and Karen's relationship worked.
The dirty blonde man looked out across the club. It was a Thursday night so it wasn't very crowded, but he still spotted a woman sitting at the bar eying him like a piece of candy. He smirked and winked at her teasingly before turning back to his raven haired friend.
"So, what have you been up to lately?"
"Nothing much. I feel like I've been working non-stop. I can't wait for the holidays so I'll finally get a decent break."
"I hear ya," Clay nodded along. "I've travelling all over to scout potential clients, it's like I can hardly stop to take a breath. The worst part is that I haven't gotten laid in like three weeks," he widened his eyes to try to get across the seriousness of the situation.
Nathan couldn't help but laugh. For as long as they had been friends, Clay had never had a serious girlfriend. He was all about hooking up with random girls and kicking them out of his house the next morning without so much as another word. Sure, it was no secret he himself was a bit of a playboy too, but most of those people had never met Clay Evans. If Nathan was bad, Clay was at least ten times worse. "Well, I'm sure you'll be able to fix that problem tonight."
"Here's hoping," Clay replied and surveyed the girls in the club once more. His eyes locked on a blonde woman seated at the bar by herself. She had her back to him, but he could tell she was hot. When she turned around for a split second, he smirked. This girl was definitely hot and he was going to bring her home tonight.
"Found someone you like?" Nathan asked when he noticed his friend was staring at something across the club from them with a dirty smirk plastered on his face.
"Oh yeah," he said and pointed in the woman's direction. "See that girl? Skinny, good sized boobs, long blonde hair?"
Nathan nodded along with his friend's description as he searched for the girl. By the sounds of it, Clay had picked his usual slutty looking, fake blonde girl that would fall all over herself to let him take her home. His amused smile vanished when his gaze locked on the girl Clay was pointing at. He knew that girl. There was no way in hell Clay was going near her.
"You're not sleeping with her."
"What? Why? Look at her! She's so hot, Nate! I saw her first, so you can't have her."
Nathan shook his head vehemently. "That's Haley. I work with her. She's best friends with Lucas and one of my friends too. She just broke up with her boyfriend of two years. You aren't going near her, Clay. Pick someone else."
Clay narrowed his eyes at Nathan. "You seem awfully protective over a girl I've never even heard you mention."
"Don't be ridiculous, Clay. Did you not hear me say she's Lucas' best friend? If he found out that I let you sleep with her then we'd both be dead."
Clay nodded. "Oh, yeah," he remembered and instantly started scanning for some other girl that looked down to help him fix his three week long dry spell.
Nathan, however, had his gaze still fixed on the honey blonde girl across the room. She was drinking and although sometimes she came with the guys from work to Tric on a Friday, it wasn't like her to be downing shot after shot. She usually would do one shot and have a cocktail before switching over to water or another non-alcoholic drink.
He was concerned to see more than a few empty shot glasses in front of her along with a couple larger glasses free of the beverage they previously held. "Hey, Haley looks pretty drunk. Do you mind if I go and take her home? I don't want her doing anything stupid – like sleeping with someone like you," he said.
Clay seemed to be slightly preoccupied with staring at a new woman and nodded his head. "Yeah, sure. I'll be probably be taking off soon anyway. Talk to you later, buddy."
"Bye, man," Nathan replied and took off walking across the dark club. He avoided the eyes of women who he had noticed glancing seductively at him all night. When he finally made it to the bar he took a seat in the stool next to Haley and promptly took the shot she was holding out of her hand.
She turned to glare at him but a look of surprised soon replaced her scowl when she noticed Nathan sitting next to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I was out with a friend," he shrugged. "What are you doing?"
"Getting drunk, she stated and quickly grabbed the shot glass he had set down on the bar top and swallowed the liquid.
Nathan shook his head. "This isn't like you, Haley."
"You don't know anything about me," she countered defensively and tapped the bar to get the bartender's attention.
The burly man walked over with a slightly frightened look on his face. "I'm not getting you any more drinks, Haley. You've had enough."
Haley looked back and forth between Nathan and Owen angrily. "What is it with people trying to tell me what do? I'm a grown woman and I'm going to drink as much as I want! Now either you keep pouring the drinks, or I'll do it myself."
Owen crossed his arms and raised his brow at Haley. "You know what, I don't know what's going on with you but I think it'd interest your best friend to know what you've been doing for the last two hours."
"You wouldn't dare," she glared.
"Try me," he challenged and reached for the cordless phone behind him. "If anyone can knock some sense into you, it's Brooke."
Nathan put his hand up to halt Owen. "That won't be necessary. I'm going to take her home right now."
"Who are you?" Owen asked suspiciously. He had heard about Nathan before, but he had never actually seen the man.
"I'm Nathan, Haley and I work together."
When he heard the man's name, Owen wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let Haley leave with him. He turned to her with a questioning look.
Apparently she was still pissed off at him and glared. "I can take care of myself," she stated and slid off the stool she was occupying. She tried to walk hastily out of the club, but only made it a few steps before the affects of the alcohol really hit her and she found herself struggling to take another step without falling.
Nathan saw her start to stumble and was at her side the next second. He grabbed hold of her forearm to steady her and quickly wrapped an arm around her waist so he could effectively guide her the rest of the way to the parking lot. When they reached fresh air he realized that he had his fair share of shots and beers tonight to make him in no state to be driving and opted on taking a cab.
"Haley, I need you to tell the driver your address," Nathan told her gently as they slid into the back seat of the yellow car.
"I don't want to go home," she whined with her head resting on his shoulder. "All Brooke will do is yell at me and then want to talk. I'm sick of talking about how my life is falling apart."
Nathan frowned in confusion. "Where do you want to go then?"
Haley lifted her head off his shoulder slightly so their eyes locked. "Your place."
Nathan swallowed thickly at the tone her voice had taken but couldn't help the satisfied smile that graced his features. He told the cab driver his address and wrapped a comforting arm around the blonde woman. As he felt the car come to life and make its way out of the parking lot the smile turned smirk didn't leave his face. It looks like Clay wasn't the only one getting lucky tonight. Just how lucky he was going to get, he'd have to wait and find out.
When they finally made it to his house Nathan paid the fare and helped Haley out of the car. He slowly guided them up the front walkway and into his foyer. As soon as the front door had closed behind them Haley attached her lips to Nathan's neck, sucking on his pulse point. Nathan groaned and wrapped his arms around Haley's petite form so she could continue her ministrations as he began walking them down the hallways of his home.
It took only minutes for the distracted duo to make it to Nathan's bedroom. He immediately kicked off his shoes and smiled against Haley's neck when she roughly raked her finger nails across his neck and back. If there was one thing that drove him crazy, it was when girls used their nails. He felt Haley reached for his belt and begin undoing it and he made a move to lift her shirt over her head. She stopped her current task and halted Nathan's hands from moving her top any farther.
"Be patient," she told him breathily and captured his lips in a searing kiss. When they pulled away Haley went back to his belt and pushed his pants and boxers down when she finally managed to undo it. She pulled away from Nathan slightly so that his lips were no longer roaming the exposed skin of her neck and flashed him a dirty grin.
The next second, Nathan watched as Haley lowered herself onto her knees in front him. His eyes almost rolled into the back of his head when he felt Haley's soft lips wrap around his throbbing shaft and her mouth take him in inch by inch. This night was definitely going to be one to remember.
Haley opened her heavy eyes and took in an unfamiliar room. She rolled over and came into contact with a hard body that was much larger than hers.
"What the hell?" a familiar, deep voice questioned and threw the comforter from off his face. When Haley's eyes locked with Nathan's distinct blue ones the previous night's events came flooding back to her. Going to Chris' to get her stuff, her and Lucas' confrontation with Chris and Carrie, going to Tric to get wasted, telling Nathan she wanted to go back to his house, giving Nathan what he deemed to be 'the best motherfucking head' he had ever gotten, and finally, the raven haired man making her scream louder than she ever had with only his mouth.
Her eyes widened when she read the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table behind Nathan. "Is that the right time?" she asked fearfully.
He cocked his brow in confusion for a moment before realizing what she was talking about. He spared a quick glance at the clock and turned back to face the blonde woman. "Yeah, why?"
"Fuck!" Haley exclaimed immediately and leapt out of the bed. She hastily found all her clothes and threw them on, not caring that Nathan was seeing her run around his bedroom naked.
"Haley, what is going on?" he asked as he too got out the bed and put on his boxers from yesterday.
"It's eight thirty, Nathan! I have to be at work in half an hour and that's not nearly enough time for me to get home, shower, get ready, and drive there," she explained quickly as she continued moving frantically around the room.
"Okay, calm down. What are you looking for?" he placed a steadying hand on her shoulder and forced her to stop what she was doing.
"My car keys," she answered as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Hales, your car isn't here. We took a cab from Tric because you were completely wasted and I had too many drinks to drive."
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" she yelled. "Now what am I supposed to do?"
"Its okay, Haley. I can give you a ride to Tric so you can get your car. Call in and let Andy know you'll be a little late and everything will be fine."
"But you just said that we took a cab here last night, which means you don't have a car either," she pointed out rationally.
Nathan smirked at her and chuckled softly. "One of the perks of your family owning a car dealership is that you get to have multiple vehicles. Come on," he handed her the purse she had been digging in for her keys and led them to the garage where his second car was.
Haley smiled gratefully at him as they sped down the quiet street in the direction of the bar. She was both grateful for giving her a drive and not mentioning the events of the night before, it wasn't something she'd be able to deal with in her current stressed out state.
After calling into work and making sure Gigi would pass on the message to Andy that she would be late, they had arrived at Tric. When Haley moved to get out of the car after thanking Nathan, his voice halted her.
"Here, take this," he smiled while holding out a folded five dollar bill. Haley stared at it in confusion for half a second before looking up and glaring at him. He had some nerve to actually be paying her for hooking up with him. Did she look like a hooker?
Nathan couldn't help but chuckle at seeing her steely glare. "You actually think I'm that big of a jackass? This is just so you can get a coffee. It might help with the hangover and help you from falling asleep. We were up pretty late last night," he winked at her.
Haley blushed in embarrassment and quickly took the bill from him. So he definitely remembered what they got up to after going back to his house. From the way Nathan was playing it though, it seemed that he didn't think them hooking up for the second time was really a big deal. That was probably a good thing, it wouldn't affect their friendship at all or the way they behaved around each other at work.
She gave him one last small smile before awkwardly exiting his car. Nathan waited until she had started her car and drove out of the gravel parking lot with a smile etched onto is face. Haley James was without a doubt one of a kind.
It didn't take Haley very long to make it back to her apartment from Tric and she tried to enter as quietly as possible. "Haley? Is that you?" Brooke called out and the blonde winced, she was really hoping that in her rush to get to work she wouldn't run into her best friend.
"Yeah, it's me," she replied and Brooke immediately came into view with her hands sternly on her hips.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick! I tried calling you like fifty times and I kept getting voicemail!"
"I'm sorry, my phone died."
"That still doesn't explain where you've been and why you're in the same clothes as yesterday morning."
Haley tried to shrug indifferently. "My parents wanted me to come over for dinner and I ended up spending the night because Lily had some crisis going on with a school project that I got bribed into helping with. I don't have any clothes there that I would ever wear anymore so I just wore the same outfit home."
Brooke still eyed her sceptically but accepted the blonde's well constructed lie. "Charge your phone next time, please. I was ready to call out a search party if you didn't turn up by this afternoon."
Haley laughed because she knew the brunette was serious. "Sorry, Brookie. I'll try to remember next time. Now if you'll excuse me, I didn't hear my old alarm clock go off this morning so I'm late for work," she patted Brooke's shoulder softly and headed to her room where she grabbed an outfit to wear to work. She promptly headed to the bathroom and showered as quickly as she could.
She was thankful that Brooke believed her excuse as to why she was unable to get a hold of her last night. It seemed that Owen had not said anything to Brooke and she breathed a sigh of relief at the thought. In the light of all the drama surrounding her at the moment, the last thing she needed was to have to deal with her best friend being pissed off at her for being an idiot and lying to her face.
Ever since she had gotten promoted at work, her entire life had been flipped upside down. It seemed as though she was living in some kind of alternate universe where her boyfriend was a cheating scum, she casually slept around to avoid facing her problems, drowned her sorrows on alcohol, and kept secrets from her closest friends. As Haley stepped into her car and headed to work, she couldn't help but hate the person she had suddenly become and regretted ever having accepted that stupid promotion.
Everyday was a new dramatic event added to the pot and her actions from last night would no doubt have quite a few negative repercussions that she would be dealing with in the days and weeks to come. At this point, all Haley could hope for was to be able to weather the storm she found herself trapped in and come out on the other side still standing. Hell, right now she'd settle for coming out of this thing on her hands and knees.
