Bed of Thornes (Bed of Thornes Trilogy Book 1) (21 page)

We both giggle and run around the gallery shouting. I couldn't be happier, this is the best thing to ever happen to me. We leave work early and go back to Jenna's to get dressed for the night. Our excitement is plastered on our faces. Once we make it to the club, we order three bottles of their finest Champagne and make a toast to my future.

“Just don't leave me forever, Ronni. I'd miss your hardworking self too much. You have to come back to keep me straight.” She laughs.

“I could never leave you forever. If I could, I would have you come with me.”

“This is your dream, I don't contribute enough to go with you. You go and handle your business, just come back!” She smiles.

“I would miss you too, Playmate.” I smile back at her.

The lights dim and the music changes to a seductive R&B song. A stud with an army uniform comes out to the stage and begins showing off his muscles as he takes his shirt off. He sways to the music, and grinds when he slowly lowers to the floor. The ladies are screaming and hollering obscenities. This is amusing to me. Don't get me wrong, I love the eye candy, it's the savageness of the women in the club that ruin it for me. I've always been a conservative person in public, I don't like to show my inner freak.

Jenna is having a blast, I'm just happy to be here with her watching her so giddy. I can't get over what happened this morning, it still hasn't fully sunk in yet. I drink down my glass of Champagne and pour another. Then Jenna does what only my worst fears could have imagined. She screams that it's my birthday and the spotlight is all of a sudden pointing directly at me.

“Jen!” I yell at her. “No.” I shake my head.

“Yes. Go... get up there, get your birthday strip!” She grins.

The stripper comes down to me and grabs me by the hand to pull me to the stage. He sits me on a chair in the center of the light that's now pointing on the stage. He's covered in oil, with only a black leather speedo on. His thick dick is outlined almost too perfectly in his bottom piece. He comes up to me and grinds on my lap while facing me. He takes my hand and makes me rub down his oily chest and stomach. I'm not so thrilled, this is not a turn on by any means. He continues on far too long and finally finishes, allowing me to get up and step off the stage. My God, so glad that's over.

“If he had flipped me over and shoved his face in my crotch, I may have hurt him.” I tell Jenna when I make it to her. “That was ridiculous.”

“You're welcome.” She snickers.

“Thanks, bitch.” I smile sarcastically. “You know better.” I smack her arm playfully.

“Yes, I do, but I don't care tonight.” She grabs my shoulders and shakes me slightly. “We have to let loose, who knows how many more times we'll have like this.”

The night comes to an end, we take a taxi back home since we're both too drunk to drive. My car gets left at the club, we had rode there together, not thinking about getting wasted. I decide to crash at her place, make the most of spending time with her. I figure we can grab breakfast in the morning. Hopefully our hangovers won't be too harsh, still have another day of partying to go.

I
wake up to my phone ringing. Shit, shut the hell up. I reach over and hit it with my hand. I'm not ready to start this day just yet. It rings again. Fine. Whatever. I sit up and look at the screen, it's Adrian.

“Hello.” I crack my voice.

“Hey sexy, good morning and Happy Birthday!” His upbeat greeting brings a smile to my face.

“Good morning and thank you very much.”

“You had a good time last night?”

“Yeah... it was alright.”

“Just alright? I would think you would've had a really good time considering...”

“Elaborate, please.”

“Oh, nothing really, just that as I'm driving through town this morning I notice your car parked... looks to me like a strip club of sorts. Where are you now?”

Fuck. Shit. Damn. Well... no point in trying to justify. Plus, like Jen said, what's the big deal? It's not like I owe him any explanations, we're not in a relationship or anything.

“I'm at Jenna's. We ended up pretty drunk so we took a cab.”

“Want me to come pick you up to take you to get your car? I wouldn't want anything to happen to it sitting there.”

“Yeah, that's fine. Let me freshen up some and let Jen know before I go. I need to pick up some food while I'm out, I promised her we'd have breakfast together.”

“Be there in about thirty minutes.”

He took that better than I thought. I think. I get up from the guest bed I slept in last night and go to the bathroom to get ready to go. Jenna is already up, surprisingly. I come out of the bathroom and meet her in the kitchen.

“You're up early.” I say to her.

“Yeah, I tried to sleep in but my head was pounding, so I got up to take some medicine and get some water.”

“Aw, sorry your head is hurting hon. Maybe we over did it, we're getting older now.” I chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah.” She brushes off the statement.

“I'm going with Adrian to get my car, I'll be back with breakfast.”

“Sounds good. He called already this morning?”

“Yeah, he spotted my car.” I chuckle and shrug.

She laughs. “Oops. Sorry.”

“Not a big deal.” I go over to the end table and grab my purse when I hear Adrian honking outside. “Be back soon.” I tell her on my way to the door and she nods at me.

I get outside and the sight of him takes my breath away. I climb in the car and he leans over to kiss my lips. So soft, the taste rises my temperature.

“Don't get me started.” I wink at him.

“I'm guessing you're still worked up from last night, I wouldn't have to do much.”

“Please. Nothing from last night got me worked up in any type of way.”

“I'll try to believe that.” He smirks. I can tell he's just trying to mess with me.

“Jealous much?” I ask him with a playful smile.

“Not at all. I have no reason to be, right?” He backs out of the driveway.

Either he means he has no reason because we're not a couple or he's trying to insinuate that he should have no reason, in assumption that nothing happened between me and anyone else last night. Regardless, he's quite the smart ass this morning. It's kind of cute. On the way to the club, he tells me about his night and how the show went. When we arrive, I remember that I haven't told him about my big news yet.

“I don't know what I was thinking, I almost forgot to tell you something.”

“You want to get married?” He looks at me wide eyed and plays shocked, then starts to laugh.

“Funny. You're a natural comedian this morning, huh?” I chuckle.

“You like it. So what did you want to tell me?” He asks impatiently.

I tell him everything that happened the day before, what the lady with silver hair told me, and how excited I am to have this chance. His face holds mixed expressions, at first he seems happy for me but it quickly turns sour.

“So... you're telling me that you plan on leaving the country?” He asks.

“It wouldn't have to be forever, I have the decision to stay there or come back.”

“This is big. It doesn't seem like you were too worried about letting me know though.”

“Wait a minute now, I just told you, of course I wanted you to know.”

“You found this out yesterday morning, and you're just now talking with me about it. I don't know, I would've thought I'd be one of the first you'd call.”

“It's not like that, Adrian.”

“Please, amuse me, what's it like then?”

“I'm not comfortable with your tone of attitude right now. What's wrong with you?”

“I'm not the one with the problem. Seems like I am the problem. Maybe I'm not your man, but damn. The least you can do is let me in on your life more. I mean, we've been going hard for almost a month now, then suddenly you want to leave for who knows how long.”

“It's not even a sure thing yet. For all I know, it may not even happen.”

“That's not the point. If it does happen, then what?”

“Adrian.” I sigh.

“You know what, I won't bother you with my concerns. I'll stay out of the way so you can do what you do.”

“I don't want you to leave me alone.”

“I've got some things to handle, I'll catch you later.” He cuts me off and looks away.

“See you at your show tonight?” I ask before getting out of the car.

“If you think you can make it.” He puts the car in reverse and waits for me.

“I'll be there.” I close the door and watch as he drives off with nothing else to say.

I
spend the day working on a piece for the Paris review. After Adrian's show last night, he didn't have much to say to me and I left without asking if he wanted to come over. What a fucking birthday. I knew turning thirty was going to be a disaster. I try to take my mind off of things, and focus on what I need to get done. Once I'm about half-way through, I decide to call mom to see how things are going with her and to tell her the news. She called and left a voicemail last night to say happy birthday, but I didn't want to call her back with it being so late.

“Hi honey, how did your birthday turn out?” She answers with a question.

“It was fine, ma. How are you feeling?”

“I'm good, dear, just taking it easy.”

“That's good. So I have something to tell you. I may be coming to see you soon.”

“What? Really? What's bringing you this way? It would be so nice to see you!”

I go on to tell her all about the situation. She lets me know that she didn't submit anything, which has me wondering who did if it wasn't her. I was so sure she was the one. She tells me how excited she is for me and that she hopes it all works out. After we end our conversation, I continue working on the piece I started. I don't want to go home. What I want is for Adrian to quit tripping and talk to me. I can't help but miss him. All I need right now is his touch.

I work until I finish. It's beautiful. This piece came from my heart, there's a lot of meaning behind it. The canvas is elegantly painted in colors of black and white. It's a man. He's lying in a bed with white bedding. Next to him is a rose, the only color on the of the painting, red as blood. The rose lies by itself in the empty space beside the lonely man. It's Adrian. I wanted to paint him while looking at him, but he's burnt into my mind like a picture glued to a wall. The look of him remains in my vision without flaw. I sign the bottom of the piece and print the name of it on the bottom left hand corner. 'Bed of Thornes'

Wednesday couldn't get here any sooner. I am so ready to hand over my work and the form, to send off the hope for a new beginning in my life. I have spoken with Adrian since Sunday, I called him that night to talk things over. We have since met up every day to have dinner and of course do what we do best together. I couldn't stand not having him whenever I want him, so I had to make things right. If a day goes by that we don't fuck, I'm miserable. Thinking about leaving makes me crave him even more.

It's noon, and the lady comes in right on time. Very punctual. I show her the piece I completed and she looks at in it awe. Her hand goes over her chest.

“It's positively stunning.” Her remark makes me blush slightly.