Chapter 1: One and Done

*Natalia's POV*

Three. I was three shots in. It was enough to take the edge off, forget all of life's problems until the morning.

My body grinded to the music bumping through the speakers, holding onto Jules' hands as she moved in sync with me from behind. If anyone didn't know us, they would've easily assumed we were a couple. The truth though was that we were just best friends since birth that nine times out of ten drunkenly made out for the fun of it.

Our moms were childhood best friends, just like us. Our dads, however, were never present. Honestly, I had no idea who my dad was, nor did I care to ask. Those few stories my mom told me were enough for me to know I wanted nothing to do with that man.

"Hey!" I turned to face her as I shouted over the music, still holding onto her hands while dragging us to the bar, "Another shot?"

"I can't," she replied, breaking away from me to lean on the counter, "I have work in the morning, remember? They're giving me one more chance, Nat. I can't fuck this job up too."

I groaned, throwing my head back, "Fine, fine. I guess I wouldn't trust a hungover bartender either."

She took her phone out of her pocket, hitting the side button to light the screen up, "Shit."

I moved her hair over her shoulder, trailing the tips of my fingers down her upper arm, "What?"

"I need to go," she glanced back up for a brief second before vigorously using up all her focus on her phone, her fingers moving around at lightning speed, "It's almost two, babe. I should be sleeping right now to be up in four hours. Damnit! I'm going to be fucking screwed."

I cocked my head at the sight of Jules in a panic, my face falling at the sudden downer that wasn't the alcohol, "Go."

"What? Without you? No, not a chance," she lowered her phone, keeping it in her hand's possession, "I just ordered us an Uber. You're crazy to think I'd leave you at a club by yourself."

"I'll be fine," I gave her an assuring grin, "Go, alright? I'll text you when I get home. Or if I forget, just look at my location when you wake up. You'll see I'm not dead in a ditch in the middle of nowhere, and instead in the comfort of my bed safe and sound."

"You better be," she said with a glare before carefreely kissing my cheek, "I'll be over after my shift. Possibly earlier if I get fired."

"Um, yeah. About tomorrow," my face contorted in the discomfort fear of relaying tomorrow's plans, fully knowing the judgment was about to come.

"Oh fuck no," she shook her head, pointing her index finger at me, "I'm walking away before I hear what I think you're about to say."

I rolled my eyes as I sat down on the stool, Jules already parting ways to catch her Uber. Another shot was definitely needed just with the mere thought of tomorrow. But before I could order one myself, the bartender already put one down in front of me.

With a raised eyebrow, I asked as my gaze went back and forth between him and the shot glass, "What's this?"

"Tequila," he gestured to the other side of the bar where the counter curved, "From that young gentleman over there."

I peered over in the direction he was signaling to, my eyes instantly meeting a man in his mid-thirties. From what I could gather at a distance, his hair was messily spiked up at the front. Not in the early 2000s kind of way. More modern with a hint of curls. His shirt was casual, some design imprinted on the front that I couldn't quite make out. It fit him just right, defining his arm muscles that popped out from the short sleeves.

He wasn't alone, at least two male friends accompanied him. But his focus was solely on me with inviting eyes that somehow glistened even from all the way over there.

I smirked directly at him, keeping my stare as I downed the shot, no other reaction necessary.

"Hey," I grabbed the bartender's attention, "Can you give him something from me in return?"

"Anything you have in mind?" he asked, shaking the cocktail shaker to mix the ingredients to properly create a balanced drink for the customer next to me.

Scanning around, my mind tried to come up with the best exchange. Then, as the bartender poured out the red liquid into the glass, his additive he plopped on top gave me the answer.

I pointed to the cherry, stem attached and all, and smirked, "Can you give him just one of those?"

A chuckle escaped from between his lips, eyebrows furrowing, "Just one? You know what? I'm not going to charge you for a single cherry, for your creativity."

From my peripheral view, it didn't seem to faze him all that much. I only got a little laugh out of it from him for all of two seconds. His friends sounded like they enjoyed it more than he did, loudly teasing him underneath the beat of the upbeat remix.

Sighing, I brought my phone out to order myself an Uber. My fun ended with his underwhelming reaction.

Until a warm presence approached me.

When I glanced up, I saw him. From close up, he was a lot more attractive than I thought. But it wasn't his physical attractiveness that enticed me. It was the mysterious aura he presented, one that I couldn't read.

Slipping my phone back in my pocket, I spoke with a straight face, "May I help you?"

With no words, one corner of his lips curled up before he lifted his hand to his mouth, taking out the cherry stem that he hid inside of it. When he presented it, I knew exactly where this was about to lead to. Right in the middle of the stem, there was a knot tied by the works of his tongue.

But I couldn't give him that satisfaction, "Is that supposed to impress me?"

He leaned in closer, our faces inches apart, "You think that's the only thing I can do with my tongue?"

The next thing I remember is being pushed up against the wall in the hallway. Our lips had already crashed together before we made it to one of the private rooms. Honestly, I was half-expecting we'd be having sex in a bathroom stall. It wouldn't have been a first.

My fingers wrapped into his hair, pulling it at the back, while his hands firmly caressed both sides of my jawline. My vanilla perfume mixed with his musky cologne inhaled up my nose as I stumbled backwards by not breaking away from the intensity of our make out, letting him take the reins on guiding us safely to seclusion.

"Is this something you do often?" I managed to ask once we made it into the room, shutting the door behind us with a kick of his foot.

He carefully let me fall backwards onto the leather couch before grabbing his shirt, pulling it up over his head in a swift motion, "Only when someone catches my eye."

Tattoos randomly covered both of his arms, something I missed on observing in the dim lighting. Not that this was any brighter.

After taking my own shirt off, letting it fall on top of his on the floor, my grasp pulled him on top of me to connect our lips once again. Clothing article after clothing article left our bodies. I mostly followed his actions, him being the first to get fully naked before me.

This shouldn't have been sexy. I was lying on my back on a leather couch, my sweaty naked body sticking to it like glue, in the back of a club where the muffled music was still pounding the walls. Nevermind the fact that an equally naked man was grinding on top of me, someone that was nameless to me.

His breathing in my ear sent lighting down my spine and into my crotch. That was until he asked, "Name?"

I spoke too soon.

My legs pushed his lower region down as they wrapped around him to his back, "It's better if we don't do that."

He shrugged it off, our names never to be disclosed. Instead, he obeyed my command and thrusted himself in me. It was slow and steady at first, but quickly changed to a faster pace. No moans were held back, a natural way to let the other know the act was successfully upheld in serving our desires. Even when he came first, he made it his mission to get me there too. It wasn't just a take and leave. We were both givers while receiving.

It was a nice change for once, but by tomorrow, we'd forget the existence of the other. It was a one-and-done situation. Nothing except that. Not even a thank you or goodbye as I began to walk out of the room while ordering me an Uber, leaving him in there to finish zipping up his pants.

I ordered a vodka shot while waiting, sitting in the same stool as I had been moments ago. By this point, I wasn't just tipsy. I was drunk. My blurry vision with a clouded head gave it away.

"Hey, wait," I heard that familiar husky voice rush up next to me.

I glared at him, "What? Do you want a 'good job' or something to stroke your ego?"

His eyebrows twitched, "No. I wanted to ask for your name."

I let out a sigh while standing up, breaking all eye contact as I passed him, "And I already told you we aren't doing that."

With every step I took, my weight almost slipped under me. Fuck it. The heels had to come off.

The night breeze blew my dark brown hair back upon exiting the club. I glanced at my phone to see how far away my Uber was, almost stumbling in a bush in the process.

Five minutes.

Five more minutes of trying to avoid him.

Five more minutes until we were nothing but a drunken memory.

I swiped to my messages to pass the time, pulling up my conversation with Jules. My fingers rapidly typed out a text she'd see once she'd waken up: Gurss who has a stalkrr after a nice quickie? Meeeee bitxh!

Looking back up with heavy eyelids, an Uber parked right in front. Thank god. Those five minutes felt like one, which wasn't that much of a difference regardless. I was just glad to be out of sight from—

His hand reached for the Uber's door handle at the same time as mine.

"Um, hello?" I whipped my head towards him, "Can you stop following me, creep? This is my Uber."

After double-checking his phone for the Uber's identification, he smiled, "You're right. My bad. You have a good night."

I hopped in my Uber clumsily, dropping my heels onto the floor as it took off to my apartment. During the ride there, I closed my eyes to take a tiny power nap. All those shots finally caught up to me, barely remembering the two margaritas I drank before that.

"Ma'am?" I felt a tapping on my forearm, bringing me back to a conscious state, "Ma'am, we're here."

My eyelashes fluttered as I squinted out the window. Nothing about this building looked familiar. It was too big. Too fancy. Too expensive.

"What? No, we're not," I disputed, "I can't even afford a place like this."

"This is the address that was plugged in," he pointed to the map on the screen, our location being exactly on the end pin.

It wasn't until another Uber parked right behind us did I realize what had happened. In a huff, I picked up my heels and darted out of the car.

"Hey!" I yelled out to the man from the club, chasing him up the stairs, "Hey, you! Stop!"

He turned around, giving me the same mischievous smile he had plastered on his face earlier, "Oh, hey, you. Fancy seeing you again."

"What the fuck?" I threw my arms up, "You knew that wasn't my Uber. So why'd you let me take it?"

"Because you said it was," he chuckled, pulling his keys out from his pocket.

I moved between him and the front door of the complex, using myself as an obstacle, "Is there something wrong with you? There's nothing funny about this."

He shrugged, "I don't know. It's pretty humorous if you ask me. We had some fun. Never exchanged names even though I tried to be polite and ask not just once, but twice. You called me a creep for trying to get into my Uber. You took said Uber for yourself. I asked my friend to order me an Uber because there was no way I was going to miss seeing your face when you realized. And now we're both here at my place. So yeah, I'd say it's funny."

The corners of my mouth curved into a frown, "Alright, fine. You win. Is this the face you wanted to see? Are you happy now?"

"Mm," with both his index fingers, he pushed the corners of my lips upwards, "More like this. But, hey, let's go inside. I'll get you a water and order you another Uber, okay? Will I be forgiven then?"

I swiped his hands away with one of mine, tripping on nothing but my own shitty balance as he caught me, "You can order me another Uber, but I'm not going inside. I'm not about to be the next Netflix crime documentary."

With nothing more to say, I sat on the top step to wait for my Uber. Absolutely nothing was going to influence me to follow him anywhere else. We weren't about to go for a second round of fun. The private room at the club was it.

He scoffed, taking a seat next to me, "Alright. I guess we're waiting here then."

I twisted my head towards him, eyebrows knitting together, "'We're?' As in you and me?"

Nodding his head, he gently replied, "Well, yeah, of course. You think I'm going to leave you alone at this hour on the streets? I know we just met, but damn. Have some faith in humanity."

I couldn't help but laugh to myself. There was little faith I had in humanity, especially men. Scratch that. Boys. They weren't men. I mostly blamed two boys for that mindset. My dad and—

"Joe," he blurted out.

My eyebrows raised, "Huh?"

"My name," he nonchalantly answered, "You don't have to give me yours, but I figured I'd at least tell you mine."