“The crosses are for the evenings you have spent with the Lintons, and the dots for those spent with me. Do you see? I've marked every day.” — Heathcliff Earnshaw.
The whole town must've turned up at this particular pub, because there wasn’t a single seat that wasn’t occupied. The crowd roared wildly at some show that was going on in the big TV screen, and I couldn’t care less. First of all, I've had an unnecessary angst full car ride, and secondly, despite the rough words thrown at me during that period, I couldn’t stop eyeing him with all the lust and desperation in me, remembering every bit of the reiterated memory of our hot morning sex.
“Mr. Roulette.” The bartender called out, flipping her beautiful blonde hair behind her back, ogling Alexander with her doe eyes, giving us enough hint to assume that she was acquainted with him, but at the same time, wasn't close enough to him to get to call him by the first name.
“Lauren, full house tonight.” He leaned in closer to her ear, muttering something which I couldn’t quite decipher, at which she gave out a seductive laugh, grinning from ear to ear. My fists balled themselves at both sides of my body, my muscles tensing at that interaction. Why was I even getting so pissed? He wasn’t mine. And he hated me.
I must've not paid attention to what happened after his replied her, and was caught off guard when he bumped into my back, his warm hand running over my black suit, quietly smoothening it out before withdrawing his touch all too soon. The absence of his hand spread out an unwonted chill across my back, straining to feel the connection of the stolen moment.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” I growl beneath my breath, frustrated at how easily he could get under my skin. I heard him chuckle haughtily, leading the way to our private table with five chairs. Music blared out so loud, that I suddenly started feeling irritated. I didn’t know if it was the hormones, or just the atmosphere that was pissing me off.
“Nothing, Tobias. Nothing.” The way he said my name, ran shivers down my spine as I internally groaned for behaving like a teenager in drugs, high for both weed and sex all the time. When I turned, we were close, probably too close. The night air sizzled between the negligible space that separated us, and I watched his scrutinizing gaze look me up from top to bottom, landing on my lips, while he parted his own, running a tongue over them.
“What are you having?” His voice went double timbre at once, hunger taking over his sculpted facial features, turning his eyes to a darker shade of grey. One look — one look was enough to make my insides burn, and my legs ache. What the fuck was happening to me? I peered to look up him, earnestly licking my lips, “The strongest they have.” I'd have given a more specific answer if my nerves weren’t going haywire with the proximity and the crowd around us.
I heard him call out to Lauren once more, spreading his hands over the drinks counter top, as we four took a seat, with Cole sitting beside me, Jeremy seated opposite to me, and Adrian seated beside him, leaving only one seat empty, to my left. Gawd, was this really necessary? I needed him far away from me tonight. The words he'd spewed in the car earlier, have been etched on my memory and my mind was latching onto it's usual pessimistic thoughts.
Suddenly my phone beeped from inside the blazer pocket, and I snuck it out, reading out the message that had flashed on my screen. I narrowed my eyes to slits, inspecting what it said and at the same time, making sure that no companion was peeping when I was being absent minded.
Alexander : “Eastern bathroom. NOW!”
The urgency of the each word placed next to the other drove me into a frenzy, my heart slamming across my chest as I lifted my fingers to the keypad, my stomach vehemently churning to make me take a decision against the scandalous offer. But, too late. I had already made up my mind.
Me : “Coming.”
I leant back against my seat, shoving the phone back into the pocket, abruptly standing up, startling the others. Cole turned to my direction, quietly eyeing me with narrowed eyes, wanting to decipher the placid expression plastered on my face.
“Gotta take a piss. Be back soon.” I mumbled hurriedly beneath my breath, shoving through the thick crowd, eyes peeled open to see the washroom in the east side of the pub. My gaze landed on the signboard of the men's compartment which was marked with a black stick figure, and I shouldered my way in, entering in one stall whose door had been kept stark open.
“You made it.”