CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Contains mentions of stores, but I'm not doing another long drawn out shopping chapter. Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

By the time I come out dressed in my pin-stripe capris and a pink t-shirt decorated with a picture of a cupcake Jax has the breakfast stuff piled back onto the trolley and he's dressed but looking curiously at the suitcase and the pile of clothes on the dresser.

I shake my head as there's a knock on the door. "You get that, I got this."

Jax sighs and heads out to the living area and opens the door. Donna and Al bounce through the door and drop on the couch. "We're waiting. Clocks ticking."

I laugh and put the clean clothes into Jax's backpack and the dirty ones into the bottom of the case. Leaving the shoes I want to wear out I put the other ones into the case and zip it up. The whole exercise takes less than 5 minutes but by the time I come out towing the case behind me they're both jiggling their legs excitedly.

I shake my head at them when they both jump up the second I'm in the room. Donna glances at my shoes "You're really going to wear them?"

I look down at the black and pink heels I'm wearing and nod "Why not?"

Al giggles as Donna looks at the flat black shoes she's wearing under her leggings then says "Won't your feet get sore?"

I shake my head "Nope. I'm able to stand and walk in heels for about 7 hours before my feet start hurting. Unless they're brand new."

Donna just shakes her head "Okay. Well then let's go."

Jax grabs the suitcase out of my hand and carries it down the car while I go via the main desk to checkout and pay the bill.

I'm out the door and waiting when Donna pulls around in the driver's seat of my Nitro, the bikes trailing behind her.

I climb into the car and note that she's already programmed Rodeo Drive into the GPS. I'm barely in my seat with the door still open before she's pulling away from the curb.

With Donna behind the wheel determined for a day of shopping it doesn't take long before we're parking the car and bikes in two parks we found side by side.

Donna is almost vibrating with excitement as she looks around the shops which have not long opened; it turned out the promise of shopping was enough to have both my friends knocking on the door by 9am.

After deciding to start at the other end of the road we walk the two blocks and end up in front of the Beverly Wiltshire. Donna glares at Al "Why didn't we stay there?"

I giggle as Al tries to explain that she t hadn't thought about it.

The first area we end up in is what has been christened 'Two Rodeo' where we browse through almost all the stores on one side of the street, only bypassing a couple that look deadly boring. We cross to the other side at the top of the road and work out way back down. Stepping through the door into Agent Provocateur Jax's eyes almost pop out of his head when he spotted some of the things hanging on racks, before shaking his head and stepping backwards "Sorry babe."

Laughing at his reaction and knowing the reason he left had more to do with the tightening in his jeans I'd spotted from across the room. Most of the things he started drooling at end up hanging from my hand after he leaves the store. The three of us spend almost an hour flipping through racks, ending up with bags that are almost bulging at the sides; I don't bother saying anything at the cost, just hand over my credit card with a smile after shoving Al and Donna towards the door so they don't see the total, or hear it.

We don't get far, the next store along is Jimmy Choo and I can't help myself when I walk through the door and sigh happily. I end up buying so many shoes that the clerk behind the counter offers to have them all shipped to me free of charge. Smiling brightly at her I nod and give her TM's address in Charming before swiping my card again. Donna sees the total this time and just about falls over, but a shove towards the door with a whispered reminder of my bank balance in her ear has her relaxing before she stresses out completely.

I'm dragged past Tiffany's and the pout I aim at Al has her shaking her head "No! You'd be in there for the rest of the day."

I sigh loudly but allow them to push me back onto the beginning of Rodeo Drive by the time we've gotten to the end of the first actual block the guys are trying to juggle hands full of shopping bags which makes all three of us girls laugh almost hysterically. They'd decided as a group to leave their kuttes in my car so they didn't have an issue. Something I was surprised they'd done, but apparently while I was getting dressed they'd called Clay and had it Okayed.

Jax takes my keys and they walk down the street to the car, arriving back empty handed a few minutes later. None of us really do much more than browse through the stores at the beginning of the second block, but the massive Rodeo Collection store gives us a chance to sit and have coffee and fill stomachs instead of empting my bank account. I've been tucking the receipts into my bag out of a sick sense of wonder of how much I can spend in one day.

Al, Donna and I end up leaving the guys in the restaurant while we do a quick circuit of the lower floor which doesn't have anything we want. We're just reaching the elevator to go upstairs when Al's phone rings. She has a quick conversation with Juice, the side we hear is her letting him know where we're going and that we'll stop and get them on the way back out.

I end up spending almost the same amount of money in La Perla that I did in Agent Provocateur and when we eventually make it back to the restaurant Jax takes one look at the number of bags we're carrying, rolls his eyes and gets to his feet "Right, shopping's over now. Time to hit the road."

I take a quick glance at my watch and realise the time we'd been gone was almost 2 hours and the small face I'm looking at is pointing that it's almost 4pm.

I'm dragged the rest of the way down Rodeo Drive, a passing glance in each shop is all I get and when the last of the bags are shoved into the back of the car Jax turns to me "Right, straight home or are we swapping drivers for you guys?"

I shake my head "We'll drive straight through. I'll set the cruise control, but if I do need to swap I'll toot, or flash or something."

Jax nods and heads to his bike. Al and Donna both come and end up in the car with me claiming a 6 hour ride would be the perfect way to get sore behinds.

Al claims the front seat and control of the music. As we're pulling out of the car park the first notes of Theory of a Deadman's 'Bad Girlfriend' come pouring out of the stereo speakers.

The road passes under us as we cycle through an eclectic mix of music, going through songs by Snoop Dogg, Evanescence, Katy Perry and Disturbed and more other artists then I can name.

The 'Welcome to Charming' sign comes into site just before 11 and the sigh I exhale is a mixture of tiredness and relief that we're back in Charming. I turn to my two passengers and find them both sleeping. I stop at Clay and Gemma's first with Donna. Opie scoops her out of the seat and ignores her protests about her shopping quietly telling her it'll still be there tomorrow.

The next stop is to let Juice and Al off; they're dropped at the clubhouse, to make it easier on me I'm told after Juice gently shakes Al awake. We end up at Jax's house just after 1130 and after parking the car and bike pretty much stumble inside neither of us have any energy to do more than drop clothes in a trail down the hall and flop straight on the bed.

*What's the strangest music change you have. My playlist at the moment goes from Iron Maiden to Garth Brooks. Sixx AM to Brian Adams. Carrie Underwood to D12.