CHAPTER THREE

Phoebe woke up to the annoying sound of her phone ringing, the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was that the odd painting that sat opposite her bed wasn't there and as far as she knows, the color of her room wasn't dark gray. And for sure, her bed wasn't as big as this neither was it as comfy. Phoebe closed her eyes and tried to recall what happened the previous night and nearly fell out of bed when her memory came back to her. She looked around the room and began to locate her items. She found her underwear and the abominable red dress and swore.

"Well, I guess that's the end of the road for you, isn't it?"

Phoebe looked around the room and found a closet filled with men's clothes, she sighed and pulled out an oversized shirt and a pair of boxers. She wore it and the shirt was almost as long as the short dress she wore the previous night. She wasn't short but just how tall was this guy? Phoebe ripped the red dress to shreds and formed a rope belt of sorts and secured it around her waist.

After fixing her hair in the mirror she found in the bathroom and putting it up in a bun, she wore her shoes and picked up her bag. Almost forgetting her phone, she picked up and realized she was woken by a phone call. Phoebe scrolled through the call catalog and found almost a hundred missed calls from all her housemates.

"Well, double shit…"

She put a call through to Hailey and she picked up on the first ring.

"Bitch, we've been trying to fucking reach you!" Phoebe moved the phone from her ear and cursed, she seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

"Hailey, I'm not deaf. I can and will hear you just fine if you don't scream."

"Okay…okay…I got you. Where the fuck are you?"

"I'm still with that umm…you know…"

"What?"

"The guy that we…"

"Oh…the guy that you were getting all freaky with last night?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

There were some hushed whisperings on the other end of the phone and some scuffle before Cindy came on.

"Baby girl, I don't know what's going on between you and that brown baked sausage but I just wanted to tell you to swallow him whole!"

There was some yelling again, some swearing here and there and then the line went dead. Phoebe rolled her eyes to high heavens and made for the door and froze…she needed a keycard. Phoebe stumped her feet and began to ransack the room; she jumped a mile high in the air when she heard a voice directly behind her.

"You looking for this?"

Phoebe turned around and found…what was his name again? Yes! Jamie. From the fresh clothes he wore and the amazing smell of his cologne, she could tell he had been up way before her and had gotten down to business. He had on a three-piece Armani suit with a black shirt and black shoes. Black was truly his color. She was not the only one admiring fashion. She caught his eyes roaming her body, and then she remembered she was wearing his shirt and his boxers—which you could see at the edge of the shirt. He hummed and nodded.

"You're wearing my shirt."

You ripped my clothes, remember?"

"And my underwear."

"Fuck, you ripped that too. I didn't have anything to wear."

"I would have preferred you without any clothes on. You're much more beautiful when you're panting and screaming my name under me."

Phoebe opened her mouth but nothing came out, she was too shocked for words. The audacity and cockiness of the man before her was appalling but she had bigger fish to fry. She was meant to be in school this morning, she was already running late.

"I was drunk last night. Look, I had fun and I'm sure you did too but it was just a one-night stand so…I am going to walk out of your life and we're never going to see each other again." Jamie just smiled broadly and that unsettled Phoebe.

"If that's what you believe, that's just fine with me. I can't shake this feeling that you're trying to convince yourself instead of you know…telling the truth?"

Phoebe took a deep breath and searched for what to say, it hadn't escaped her notice that he was slowly advancing on her. She squared her shoulders and placed her hand on his chest, stopping him from moving any closer to her.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the misconception that I wanted to go again. I don't, the only reason I'm still standing here is that I need your keycard to get out. So…" Phoebe lifted her left hand and shook it in front of his face, indicating that she wanted him to hand the keycard over to her.

Jamie looked at her hands; the one still on his chest and the one currently waving in front of his face. He wanted Phoebe, in every sense of the word. She was what he needed to rule by his side. If she could look at him without been afraid, then she could handle annoying mafia men and women who stepped out of line…with a little practice of course. He sighed and withdrew the keycard from his pocket, he pulled his hand back when she tried to grab it from him.

"What?"

"I'm dropping you off."

"No." The weight of that word, the way she said it, ultimately turning him down without even thinking about it was what made his temper flare. If she knew who he was, he would bet that she wouldn't even look him in the eye, much less refuse him.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm afraid you're not excused. I said no, you can't drop me off, I'm sure I can manage to find my way home, but thanks for the offer though."

Phoebe still had her hand outstretched and the other still on his chest, she badly wanted to bring down both hands but the one on his chest wouldn't budge. Several times, he had tried to move forward towards her but that hand had stopped him. She also knew that he didn't stop because of her strength, but because he was just acting the gentleman and didn't want to be out of character. He was almost two times her size.

"Well, my darling Phoebe. You're not going anywhere till you agree to me dropping you off. I could think of marvelous ways for us to spend the morning."

Phoebe closed her eyes and tried to dampen the anger rising inside her by taking deep breaths. It wouldn't do to get pissed off at the moment, not when her getting out of here solely depended on him and that damn keycard. How did she even get here again?

Oh, yeah, she had a quick tangle in the sheets with this obnoxious man.

"Fine, you can have the honor of taking me home."

Jamie hummed and looked at her, studying her for signs of dubiousness, and then he smiled.

"Pick up your bag, then. You don't have all day."

Phoebe looked at the back of Jamie's head as he opened up the door and they made their way out of the room, she so badly wanted to hit him across the head with a vase. Maybe, that will set his thinking straight. She just huffed and walked a little faster to match his stride. This was her first time doing a walk of shame.

Phoebe followed him to the garage and her jaws almost hit the ground when she saw him stop and pull out the keys to an Aston Martin, she wasn't one for material things but…damn!

Jamie, on the other hand, was happy that he had chosen to drive the Martin to the club last night—he usually preferred the bigger ones—because the look on Phoebe's face was worth it. She slowly moved towards the car and traced it with her fingers. Jamie went over to her side and opened the door; he heard her moan as she settled in and wore her seatbelt.

Jamie entered the car just in time for him to see her rum her hands over the dashboard, he couldn't stop looking at her face.

"So, I guess you like what you see?"

"Yes, of course, I do!"

"Can I entice you to go on a date with me now?"

It was like he poured ice-cold water over her head, she withdrew her hands from the dashboard and placed them on her thighs. An air of indifference suddenly surrounding her.

"I mean, it's great and all but…I've honestly seen much better than this. My previous dates or boyfriends had better ones. Now that I think of it, this one is looking like an old model. What is it, 2012?"

Jamie's grip tightened on the steering as he started up the car, which didn't go unnoticed by Phoebe and she hid a secret smile to celebrate her victory. Truth was, she had never dated any guy that had a car, much less one who owned an Aston Martin…but he didn't need to know that.

"Your address?"

Phoebe rattled off the address of a house three streets away from hers, he thought he had won this round. They drove in silence as Phoebe bobbed her head and sang along to the music playing on the radio. Ten minutes later, Phoebe watched as Jamie drove off and with the false knowledge that he now knew where she lived. She smiled and began the trek to her house.

The second she opened the door, she was attacked by Hailey, Cindy, and Mindy, they wrestled her to the ground and began throwing questions left, right and center. Phoebe groaned and tried to get back on her own two feet but failed miserably.

"Girls…I know you want to hear the details and all that but I am really tired, okay. I promise you that when I get a much-needed rest, you'll get everything. Okay?"

They nodded their heads like little kids and got off of her, helping her get up too, and then they went to the sitting room and resumed whatever program they were watching before her arrival. Phoebe went up to her room and took off her clothes and shoes, and after a sweet, sweet shower, laid down in her bed for one long nap.