Surreptitious (London) Read online

  What is wrong with you? You never let people affect you this way!!

  I decided I was going to go all out for a change that night, mainly to keep my attention on getting ready and not of Mr Gorgeous. When I’d finished I looked at myself in the mirror and you’re damn right, I looked good. Really good. Wearing my secret, (it’s a secret because I’m not usually a dresses kind of girl!!), favourite little red dress, an off the shoulder number that hugged my ass, hips and thighs like a second skin and my vintage silver wedges with a matching clutch, I needed the confidence boost of looking good that night. I might not give other people attention, but that doesn’t mean they can’t give it to me!!

  Harp and Jase were sitting on the corner sofa when I walked into the lounge. I’m proud of my place; I’m not one to waste money, even though I could if I wanted. My parents ran their own business selling art and antiques and I’m not talking small time. This was £20,000 paintings and £45,000 vases, we were comfortable, to say the least. Since we didn’t have anyone else, they left the entire thing to me but after what happened I didn’t want anything to do with the stupid business so I sold everything and moved down here with Harp and Jase; hence me owning my beautiful apartment next to the river. I live on the top floor of the gated complex. Floor to ceiling windows decorate the entire lounge and even when the weather’s shit (and this is England...it usually is!!) I spend most my time staring out that window more than anything else!

  I have a huge suede, black and grey corner sofa that reclines on the ends so we can slouch on movie nights and it really is one of the best things I’ve ever spent money on. Another of my favourite things happens to be my 60” 3D TV on the wall. I’m a huge fan of football and there’s nothing better than reclining the sofa and watching Chelsea beat Arsenal on a Saturday afternoon!!

  There are three bedrooms in the apartment and mine is the biggest, obviously. I painted the whole room cream, left the original lilac carpet on the floor and hung matching curtains. It’s not fancy, I didn’t put in a lot of effort, because I only sleep there, so I didn’t care. Although it does have an en-suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi bathtub, separate shower cubicle and ivory coloured tiles with chrome fittings. I love it, it’s beautiful, my mum would be proud of where I am now and I decorated everything in this place to match what she would like.

  I was thrust back into the room when I heard...

  “Tay...damn girl you’re gonna have men falling all over you tonight!! I still don’t get why you don’t dress up like that all the time. God woman, I might be straight, but even I’m practically salivating over your arse!!” Did I mention that Harper doesn’t hold her tongue?! Exhibit A ladies and gentlemen!! However, her reaction was exactly what I was looking for, so I drained the rest of my glass and stood up to leave. The walk was only about five to ten minutes from my place but in heels? No thanks!

  “Harp, babe, have you phoned a taxi? We’re all ready to go now” I asked, and she replied with the standard...

  “Yeah should be here any minute, we should just go down stairs and wait for it.”

  Outside my building, I was already regretting my decision to go with a short dress and heels rather than my usual skinny jeans and converse because damn it was fucking freezing!! I huddled closer to Jase and he put his arms around me to keep me warm, which really didn’t help, but it’s the thought that counts!!

  The taxi pulled up just outside the gates and I attempted a little run...well...shuffle...ok ok...I full on stumbled across the car-park, jumped in and we headed straight to the opening of the new club. Seeing as it was nearly half ten and we kinda figured the place would be heaving, for an opening night.

  Pulling up outside, I couldn’t help but feel ridiculously excited to see what it looked like inside. When it was called ‘Skank’ the place lived up to its name...and I mean it REALLY lived up to its name. Cheap drinks and decent music were the only things that kept us going there. Nothing’s cheap in London, and I might have had money, but Harp and Jase didn’t, so it suited us! But really, other than that there wasn’t anything else to get excited about. I mean, I’d walk in and immediately be accosted by sloppy drunk teenage boys (that likely weren’t even old enough to be out drinking, because the management really didn’t care whether you were eighteen or not) who really should stop drinking cheap shots because god knows what else would have given them the idea that I’d jump at the chance to take them back to my place?! I mean...really?!

  It was decorated with beige wallpaper that had black swirls all over it - at a club?! - that I suppose at one point was in fashion, but seeing as most of it had been peeled off the walls and people thought it was a good idea to write all over it, it wasn’t much more than huge graffiti boards by the end.

  Even if you were the first person to walk in when it opened, it was advisable not to wear your best shoes there, because they really wouldn’t stay that way. Alcohol from YEARS of spillages was still left on the wooden floors and your feet would stick with every step. It really was that filthy! The tables were chipped, the lights were broken, and the toilets...well...we would only ever venture into them when we were seriously drunk! They were disgusting! I really don’t think they had a cleaner in the entire place...EVER.

  So yeah, I was definitely excited to see what the new owner had done with the place, I was in the second year of my interior design degree so it was exactly my game. I didn’t really wanna get my hopes up though being as I couldn’t imagine how much they could have actually changed it in the month it was closed. Then again, maybe other people knew something I didn’t because the line to get in wasn’t just long...it was seriously seriously long. I swear we were nearly half way back to my place (possibly a slight exaggeration) by the time we got to the end but I was curious by how many people were there, so there was no way I was not going in!

  After chatting shit for a good five minutes we were approached by a young guy, possibly Harp’s age...maybe 20-21? And I was all geared up to tell him to sling his hook being as we weren’t even inside the place and we were already going to be accosted, but then I stepped back to get a good look at him and he didn’t seem like he was exactly dressed for a night out. Black trousers that were pretty snug, black leather belt with a red bottle opener buckle and a fitted black shirt that had the top two buttons undone, seemed more like a uniform to me. He had sandy blonde hair that had a just-fucked look to it, if I didn’t think he was younger than me; I’d definitely want to run my fingers through it, maybe give it a good tug...not that I’d ever actually do it! I studied his face as he was approaching and the more I thought about, he held a slight resemblance to Mr Gorgeous. Same beautiful sparkling grey eyes, different colour hair, or maybe not seeing as Mr Gorgeous had his head shaved but I was almost certain that they could have been related.

  “Hey ladies, gentleman...we’re really sorry that you’re having to wait so long for entry, so I’ve been sent to give you these VIP passes. Free entry, free access to the VIP section, free first drink...and most importantly, free queue jump.” What the fuck?! Harp and Jase seemed to have frozen on the spot with their eyes bulging out their heads so I stepped up.

  “Ok...this is a joke right? There must be 300+ people in this queue before us, and you’ve just been randomly told to give these passes to us specifically? Yeah nice one dude, just try it on someone whose actually foolish enough to believe ya yeah?” How stupid does he think we are?!

  “Sorry darlin’, I really don’t mean to annoy you, but yeah, that’s um...exactly what I was told. Boss described what you looked like, what the people you would be with looked like. He told me to find all of you and give you these.” He handed over three laminated passes that were all black and had red writing across the middle that read ‘VIP Pass’. I looked at them for a good 30 seconds before glancing back up at Mr Stranger and studying him further. I stared hard at him trying to figure out who the hell would give us these, or what game he was trying to play but he kept my eyes the whole time so I figured he was at least being
honest about the passes being real. So that begs the question, who the hell would want to give them to me!?

  The thought entered my mind that It could have been someone that Harper had slept with but then I remembered that he’d said his ‘boss’ had described ME, and who I was with...not who Harp was with. Hmm.

  I grabbed his arm which was, surprisingly, considering he was fairly lean, seriously firm and pulled him closer to me so I could be heard clearly over the noise of hundreds of probably slightly inebriated people chattering away and spoke directly into his ear.

  “Right here’s the deal, I don’t like this...I don’t like this AT ALL. I don’t know why someone would ‘send you to find me’ but I’ll admit, I’m intrigued and, more importantly, it’s fucking freezing out here and I don’t wanna spend half my night standing in this queue when I could be drinking and dancing. So lead the way, we’ll follow and you...you personally, can give us a tour of the new place yeah?” Ha, didn’t expect that now did you Mr Stranger.

  “Um, yeah sure, I mean I’m working but I’m sure my brother won’t mind if I take fifteen minutes out to show you all around”

  We started walked amidst some seriously unattractive expletives and groaning from people who were around us in the queue that had heard the conversation and Harp and Jase fell into step just behind us. Then I thought about what he’d said and stopped dead.

  “Wait, what? Your brother? I thought you said your boss sent you out here?”

  “One ‘n’ the same darlin’...my brother owns this place, so yeah, technically he’s my boss.” Hmm interesting.

  “Ok so...your telling me, you brother, who OWNS this place, sent you out here to get us?!” He blew out a breath as if he was rapidly losing patience with my questions and answered me.

  “Yeah lady, that’s what I’m telling you, that’s what happened, that’s what I did. So now can we please keep walking and get inside, because you might have had a few to drink and therefore not feel it so much, but jeez its god damn cold out here and if it’s all the same to you, I’d much rather be inside where I won’t end up losing any digits to bloody frostbite” Before I could even open my mouth to answer, Harp jumped in with...

  “Yeah Ice, you know I’m always on your side babe, but seriously a girl who can’t stop her teeth chattering and has bloody goose-bumps all over her skin ain’t exactly attractive and I’m on it tonight girl. Let’s just go inside and if you wanna interrogate the poor guy some more, do it in there yeah?!”

  And with a quick “agreed” from Jase, she linked her arm with Mr Strangers’ and carried on walking towards the entrance. When we got to the front door I looked up to see the old, mostly broken, sign that used to read ‘Skank’ had been replaced with sign that started neon orange at the bottom, blended into fire-engine red at the top and said ‘Blaze’ and was lit up by huge spotlights right at the base that made it look like London’s version of the Hollywood sign. Interesting.

  Walking up the front steps one of the, frankly HUGE, doormen stopped me and asked for my ID. What the hell? You don’t ask Harp or Jase for their ID and I’m older than them! He seemed to be studying it to memory which made me feel more then a little uncomfortable and then he handed it back, gave me a brief lip-twitch and told me to enjoy my night. How odd.

  I ignored him, strutted by him, and got my game on!

  Jackson

  I’d seen her and her friends walk past the CCTV camera and join the back of the queue earlier in the night. Not that I’d been looking out for her or anything, definitely not, no, I wasn’t doing that AT ALL. When I seen her, my jaw nearly hit the floor, earlier she looked gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but tonight? Damn. I couldn’t take my eyes off her! So I sent Mason out to get them in here quicker. Can’t have the poor girl freezing her delectable little ass off now can we?! So when I noticed he’d done his job and they were following him to the entrance I called down to security and told them to get her details from her ID – Need to know what I’m dealing with here obviously.

  I glanced down at my phone to see Mike, my head doorman had text me straight away with the details. Hmm...

  Name: Taylor Corsi

  Age: 23 – Date of birth: 23/05/1990

  Address: Apt 15, Riverview Appartments, Chelsea

  Damn, that’s a nice area, maybe she’s a spoilt daddy’s little princess. So now I had a name, I knew she was old enough to be on my radar and she clearly had money. This was not neally enough to go on so I spent the next half an hour watching her and her friends on the cameras. Ok ok, yes it might be slightly stalker-ish but I’ve learnt from past mistakes not to jump into situations without knowing as much as I can beforehand. Don’t go there Jax.

  I really couldn’t take much more of watching her grind her ass against that gay guy she was with so I threw my jacket over the back of my chair, locked the office door and was planning to join her on the dance floor when Mase grabbed me in hallway. He had a huge grin on his face and his eyes were bright with mischief.

  “No way, bro seriously, tell me the chick in the black dress ain’t the one you’re going after!”

  “Um no, red dress, killer figure, sleek hair – fuck me, so much hair ‘n’ her name’s Taylor. Wait, why are you even asking me?!” He scrunched up his nose, pursed his lips, raised his eye-brows and replied in a tone so smug I could have clocked him one.

  “Ahh bro, are you crazy?! Dude that chick has got some mouth on her! Gave me shit outside, just for giving her a damn VIP pass like you said!! What’s the deal with her? You know her before or something?” He asked.

  “Haha, no! Seen her earlier, wanted her, heard they were coming here and kept an eye out.” He whistled under his breath, gave me a pitying glance, leaned in so I could hear him easier and said...

  ”Damn, you know I never doubt you bro, but you’ve got your work cut out with that one! She’s a firecracker alright!! Balls of steel, I swear!! Good luck anyway, if you need me, buzz me, I’ll be on the top deck, speaking to a certain friend in a knock-out black dress and fuck-me heels!!”

  Before I could lecture him on the fact that I was actually paying him to be there to work, he turned a jogged back in the direction he came from. I shook my head and chuckled, crazy kid! Well, he’s not a kid anymore but he’ll always be a kid to me. Again, don’t go there Jax.

  Chapter three

  Taylor

  Fuck. Me. The entire place had undergone a serious transformation, literally couldn’t believe my eyes. Mr Stranger, who, as it turns out, was called ‘Mason’ lead us through the front door and explained...well more shouted, seriously loud, over the volume of the music that hit us as soon as we were inside... that they when they were talking to the designers about their vision for ‘Blaze’ his brother has told them he wanted ‘pure class...with an edge’, now I’m good at what I do but even I couldn’t have come up with anything like that.

  The walls were a deep red and the wooden floors were painted a glossy black that sparkled when the lights hit it, it really did look amazing. All the surfaces we’re shiny, sleek and modern. Mason showed us to the main floor, which was decorated the same as the entrance but my attention was drawn to bar, which if you didn’t drink, you’d be seriously tempted to do it anyway just to spend more time in the area!

  There weren’t any bottles hanging from the back and there weren’t any taps on the surface of the bar either, and I vaguely wondered where all the drinks came from but the thought was fleeting since I couldn’t stop staring at the back screen. The display looked like the whole bar area was on fire, huge flames playing on the monitor that travelled the length of the entire section, it looked seriously...like out of this world cool.

  I decided I really wasn’t interested in touring the rest of the place so I told Mason he was free to go back to work. Yes I really did say “Ok Mason, you’re free to go back to work now” then grabbed Harp’s hand and dragged her, closely followed by Jase to the bar and proceeded to show everyone how real drinking is done!!

  T
wo Vodka, lemon and lime’s and four shots of Tequila later and I was dancing...well more like just making a twat out of myself with Jase on the dance-floor to Ne-yo’s ‘Closer’ which was an song but I loved it anyway and I was more than grateful that I had seriously amazing friends who always seemed to know when I needed a good night to blow off some steam.

  I was having a whale of a time, the music was great, the drinks were great and Jase was a freakishly good dancer. I had no idea where Harper had gone off to but she had a habit of wondering off on nights out and she always managed to find her way back to us so eventually we just stopped trying to follow her!

  “Babe, I’m gonna head to the bar, you wanna come or d’ya just want me to bring ya something?” Jase shouted over to me. Instead of answering him I just waved him off and kept on dancing by myself. I held my arms in the air and rolled my hips to the beat, a few people (men) tried to dance too close to me so I threw them my best dirty look, sneered at them and stepped away to keep moving by myself.

  What could have been no more than about five minutes later I felt a body press up behind me and start grinding his groin into my ass. Now, I fully blame my actions on the amount I’d had to drink and not how good it felt. Yeah you keep telling yourself that Tay!

  But I kinda figured Jase was back from the bar already (even though the queue was ridiculous in here as well) so thought I’d give him a performance he’d be proud of. I pushed my ass back into him and ground my body along the length of his, the music was sexy so I played along with it. His hands ran down my sides and came to rest on my hips; we started swaying together so I put my hands up behind my head and ran them through his hair. OH SHIT...NO, NO, NO THAT IS NOT JASE’S HAIR!!!