25. Aeri

" G irl, if I didn't just bring you clothes for your date tomorrow, I would be sure you were trying to have a date while on shift." Lea laughs when I try to kick her as she walks past, and of course, I miss.

"Shut up. It's not like that, and you know it. Ruin's my…" I trail off because while I'd intended to say friend, he, of course, chose that moment to walk through the doors and damn.

Now I'm not blind; I'm well aware of how good Ruin looks. Something about him is adorable while he still finds a way to be the picture of a ‘man's man,' working on cars with grease sprinkled on him the way some girls wear glitter.

Tonight, though, he seems to have cleaned up, and something about the difference makes my brain feel like it's short-circuiting.

Instead of his usual t-shirt and jeans, he's wearing a dark long-sleeved button up. With the low light, I can't tell if it's black or dark blue, but it doesn't really matter; it looks fantastic on him. His face is clean of any grease, and I find I almost miss it. Without it, he seems almost too perfect, as if unhuman. His hair is still in what I'm starting to think is the only hairstyle he can do, a messy bun, but it looks like he might have at least brushed it to put it back. It has just a slightly more styled look then actually being just thrown up.

One thing I do notice is that instead of horns or fangs, he seems to have gone with wings. Very large white wings.

An angel, how fucking fitting.

I'm not the only one who notices him, either. I swear most of the club turns to look at him as he walks through the door, but he doesn't even seem to notice as he looks around. My heart beats at damn near double speed, knowing he's looking for me. Out of all these people, he's here for me.

"Fuck me, please say he's single," Lea groans from beside me, and I'm not surprised; like I said, most of the club took notice of his arrival. "Aeri, please tell me he's single!" she all but begs, throwing her arm around my shoulder and shaking me.

"Oh my god," I laugh, trying and failing to shove her away. "I have no idea if he's single. We're just friends."

Finally, I catch his gaze and wave him over with a smile that he matches.

"Oh my god, his smile! I think I just got pregnant. Sorry, Aeri, but Ruin's my baby daddy now. That officially makes him unavailable for you." She dramatically fans herself while biting her lip, and even though she's staring right at him, it's as if he's oblivious.

"Hey Sunshine, man, this place is crazy," he says, leaning over the bar a bit so he doesn't have to yell as much.

"You get used to it. What can I get ya?"I ask, trying to act normal like I wasn't just trying to undress him with my eyes.

Before he has a chance to respond, Lea shoves her elbow into my rib before loudly clearing her throat in my ear.

"Who's your friend, Sunshine?" she asks, her tone teasing when she repeats the nickname Ruin loves to use. Of course, she couldn't have missed that.

"Ruin, this is my friend Lea. Lea, this is Ruin." I gesture to each of them in turn, and I watch as Ruin finally turns to look at her as if he really didn't see her there before.

"Hey, Lea, good to meet you. Any friend of Sunshine's is cool with me." He holds out his hand for her to shake, and now it's Lea's turn to be the blushing mess, something I've yet to see, and I've seen her deal with a lot of hot guys and girls.

My shift flies by in a blur of laughter and blushing both on Lea's and my own behalf, and before I know it, we're closing.

"I drove. Did you, um, did you want a ride, or did you have one?" Ruin asks, standing at the bar with a smile, rubbing at the back of his neck as if he's nervous, and oh my god. How this man just wanted to spend the night with me, to just sit at the bar to talk and joke—is beyond me. He could have easily picked any woman in this club to take home, and they would have happily taken him up on his offer.

Lea elbows me, pulling me from my daze. "If you don't tell him yes, I'm going to," she hisses, wiggling her brows at me suggestively, and there's no missing what she's suggesting.

"It's not like that. Shut up!" I shove her away from me with a laugh, and she sticks her tongue out at me before taking the carrier stacked with dirty cups back to the dishwasher.

Rolling my eyes at her back, I turn back to Ruin and try to control myself because he could totally mean it like that, and I would still say yes, damn the consequences. But he didn't.

"I'd love a ride home, thanks."

Ruin goes to grab his car while I finish cleaning up and clock out. Lea waves me goodbye before blowing me a kiss and telling me to make sure I ride him real good.

Thank god she saved that for after he left, or I would have died from embarrassment.

Ruin waits in his truck at the curb right out front, a smile lighting his face when he spots me saying a quick good night to Toji. I hate to admit it, but Lea might have been right about him. He's not so scary once you realize he probably won't try to crush your skull.

"Man, your job is a little more crazy now, huh?" Ruin asks once I'm all buckled in and we're pulling away from the club.

"You can say that again, but I like it. Lea makes the shifts pass quickly, and the money is great. A girl has to save after the mechanic shop took almost all my money just to hold my car hostage." The banter with him comes so easily, whether in person or via text, and honestly, it's so refreshing to joke and not worry I'll offend him or he'll take it the wrong way.

Just like I knew he would, Ruin acts as if I've just insulted his honor, pressing a hand to his chest in horror.

"I resent that. I, for one, know for a fact I didn't take all of your money, just most of it." My mouth falls open in shock because I'd expected him to defend his ability to fix my car or refuse holding it hostage, but he didn't do that at all.

"Wow! And I thought we were friends." I smack his arm playfully with a laugh, but honestly, it still hurts. "Ouch, what the hell are you made of, steel? Are you Superman?" I joke, which makes him laugh.

He flexes before pressing his lips to his bicep and wiggling his brows at me when he catches my eye. "Nah, I ain't no Superman, Sunshine. These are just trophies from all my hard work holding cars hostage all day."

I bark a laugh at how damn corny he is, and he laughs too. The rest of the ride is joking and laughter, and when he pulls up to my building, I'm almost sad to have the night be over.

"Thanks for coming to hang out with me tonight, and the ride home." I chew on the inside of my lip, suddenly feeling nervous and a little self-conscious.

"Anything for you, Sunshine." I'm not sure what it is, but I feel like he's trying to tease me and failing. Something about his tone and the way he's looking at me says there's so much more there than a joke.

But that's crazy, right?

Before I can overthink it, I lean over the center console and press my lips to his cheek before pulling away and hopping out of the truck like my ass is on fire.

I don't look back, rushing to the elevator and up to the penthouse. I don't stop until I'm safe in my room, I didn't even see if anyone was in the kitchen or living room, I'd been too focused on getting to my room.

My cheeks are on fire like you could probably cook a damn egg on them, but I can't bring myself to regret it as a giddy feeling takes over me and has me smiling so damn big my cheeks cramp.

Pretty good for ‘not a date.'

I probably shouldn't have kissed him when I'm going out with Oliver tomorrow, but we're not dating. Yes, we slept together on a drunken night, and it was amazing, but I'm not looking for a boyfriend or anything serious.

I need to be able to pack up and leave at a moment's notice, so I can't get too attached.

"A little early for a shift at the club, isn't it?" The sound of Asta's deep voice behind me might pull one of the most embarrassing sounds I've ever made out of me. I whirl around to find him behind me. How the hell a man his size can move around so quietly is beyond me, but I swear it's as if he doesn't touch the ground. It's almost scary.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." His lip ticks up just the slightest bit, and while I don't think he intentionally tried to scare me, I do think he's highly entertained by it, ass.

"You didn't scare me," I say, even though my voice betrays me by coming out breathy. Good job, Aeri, real smooth. "And I'm not going to the club. I'm going out for lunch."

Asta doesn't respond right away. Instead, his eyes roam over me as if he's just noticed I'm here, or maybe he's just realized what I'm wearing.

Shit, I can feel my face as it heats up under his gaze. I hadn't intended to run into any of them. They've been around a lot more the last few days, and while it made life feel less lonely, sometimes I'd rather be lonely, like now, for example.

I messaged Oliver and told him we could see each other again the other night. He hadn't hesitated to ask me out to lunch, even though it took me over a week to answer him. I'd expected him to ignore me or be upset about how long it took me to answer, but he didn't say anything about it. It wasn't until after I said we could go out that I realized I didn't have anything cute to wear.

Foolishly, I'd thought whining to Lea was a good idea, and I mean, okay, maybe it was, but also, now I'm here in the kitchen, probably the same color as a tomato as Asta looks me over in the outfit Lea let me borrow.

It's cute; there's no denying that. I'm not sure Lea owns anything ugly or that she could look bad in anything. But I'mI'm not Lea, and if I'd had more time, I one hundred percent would have taken my ass to the store to get something else, but I didn't.

The top is tight, almost like a second skin, so even though it's an off-white turtleneck sweater and doesn't show any skin, it still leaves me feeling exposed. The skirt is black and sits high up on my waist, and as much as it might be outside of my comfort zone, I can't deny it makes my figure look great.

I'd spent way more time in front of the mirror than I should have, but I couldn't get over how curvy it made me look while also making my legs look like they went on forever. Thankfully, she also gave me some cute tights since it's starting to get colder with fall is in full swing. Add in the chunky heeled boots she gave me, and the whole thing worked really, really well together, but also, I'd never really done heels, so I'm kind of hoping I won't break my neck.

That would suck. Do all this to get away just to kill myself on shoes…yeah, no thanks.

"How are you getting there?" Asta finally asks after what feels like forever, and it takes me a second to remember what we were talking about.

Oh right, me going to meet Oliver.

I should probably learn to focus on one guy at a time.

"Um, I was planning to walk. It's nice, and the restaurant isn't far from here."

Google says it's about a seven minute walk, so I plan to leave with at least twenty and hope that's enough with these shoes. I could probably throw my sneakers on and the outfit would still be acceptable, but in the pictures online, this place looked a little more high-class than sneakers, and I don't want to embarrass him.

"I'm headed to the office. I'll give you a ride over on my way," he says with a nod before he turns and leaves, heading toward the door.

"Wait, what?" I ask because I'm not sure what just happened. "I can walk. It's no big deal. The restaurant is less than ten minutes away." I try to explain, hoping the reason will be enough to convince him.

I mean, honestly, the idea of being alone with him terrifies me. I'm lucky I'm able to form full sentences in the kitchen, which is huge. What the hell am I going to do in the car? Or worse, the elevator.

Asta stops in the foyer, slipping on his dress shoes, before he turns back to face me.

"The city, while beautiful, can also be quite dangerous. Not long ago, you had an issue with someone giving you a hard time at the bar–"

"Yeah, but that–" I try to explain, but he isn't hearing it.

"No buts, that was less than a week ago. It would be irresponsible to let you go out walking around the city looking like that," he pauses to once again look me up and down, and I swear to god, if he keeps looking at me like that, I'm going to pass out. "I'm already going out anyway, so I'll drop you off. It's on the way. I'll meet you in the car."

Without giving me another chance to refuse, he turns and walks out the door, leaving me with my mouth hanging open. It's not until I hear the elevator ding that I realize I'd never told him where I was going.

How does he know it's on the way?

The drive over isn't as bad as I thought it might be, other than the fact that I felt like I couldn't breathe, that is. I'm not sure what it is about Asta, but he just feels larger than life. I mean, yes, he's a big guy, tall as hell, and well built, but it's more than that. Something about him makes it feel as though he takes up the whole room; he demands attention and respect. It's terrifying to be around him; I always feel like I'm going to put my foot in my mouth.

"If he doesn't offer to bring you home, call me, and I'll send the driver for you." It's not a question, and honestly, I don't have it in me to argue with him again just to lose.

"Thank you, for the ride and the offer to have someone pick me up." He nods, and I have no idea what else to say. I slide out of the car when the driver opens the door for me.

The driver.

So crazy, I'd grown up with this kind of stuff, wishing to be like everyone else, and here I am again. Only this time, it doesn't feel the same. Their wealth isn't their whole personality; it's not all about money and status and showing it all off the way it was with my parents. It's just a part of them, like their hair color or shoe size.

Shaking off the thought of the guys, I headed into the building, and damn, it's even nicer in person than it was in the pictures.

"Hello, Miss, do you have a reservation?" a young waitress asks at the podium a few feet in front of me.

I'd been so busy looking around that I hadn't even noticed her until she spoke.

Crap, maybe this place is too nice; I'm not sure if Oliver got a reservation, and with a quick glance around, I don't see him so far.

"Um, maybe? I'm supposed to meet a friend, but I don't see him yet, he might have made a reservation." If she's annoyed by my lack of knowledge, she doesn't show it. Instead, her smile only seems to grow as she gives me an encouraging nod.

"No worries, we can look him up and see, or you're welcome to have a seat and wait for him if you'd like." She gestures to a long couch that takes up most of the wall to the left of the entrance.

"Um, I'll just wait, thanks." I'd gotten ready early because I intended to walk, but Asta insisted he drive me, so now I'm here about twenty minutes early. The safest bet seems to be to wait because A. I don't know if Oliver made a reservation, and B. I just realized I have no idea what his last name is or what it even starts with.

Good job, Aeri.

I don't have to wait long, though, before Oliver walks in looking just as fine as he did the night I met him at the bar. It's good to know that it wasn't just the alcohol that affected my memory.

His hair looks freshly shaved on the sides, and the top is longer and combed back. He's not super dressed up, with a simple black T-shirt and black slacks, but it looks really good on him. His arms and neck are covered with so many tattoos that they swirl together, making it impossible to decipher one from this distance.

The second he walks in, he looks around, and I push to stand. His eyes find mine, and his lips curl up into the most adorable smile that I can't help but return. I'm not sure what I did to deserve a reaction like that, considering I'd just ignored him for, well, a while, but I'm more than happy to be on the receiving end.

"Oh, wow, Aeri, you look…" he trails off as he makes his way toward me, and I tug at my skirt, worried it's too much. "Beautiful." He pulls me into his arms for a hug, and it takes me a second to respond, caught off guard by his compliment and, honestly, by the hug too.

Fuck, he smells good, like cinnamon and vanilla.

Well, I guess I didn't overdo it after all. I'll have to remember to kiss Lea for this outfit.

He pulls back, and I swear I have to blink a few times to clear my head.

"You clean up pretty well, too," I say, and I immediately want to smack myself because that was stupid, but also, I can hear how breathless I am. I sound like a needy freaking bitch, which I am, but I'm not supposed to be just flaunting that around.

Ugh, this is why I was hesitant to message him back. I have no idea how to date someone, what to say or do.

I should have just let our one night live on in my memory as one of the best of my life and left it alone.

"Thanks," he says with a laugh that's even more devastating than his smile was, and I just want to be a puddle. "I hope you're hungry. I've heard the food here is amazing."

Without waiting for my reply, he links our fingers together and pulls me back to the host. There, I find out that he did, in fact, have a reservation and that his last name is Lewis.

I'd been afraid to do this whole date thing, but it's really not that bad. Something about Oliver feels familiar, easy in a way I didn't expect, and by the end of our lunch, we've already set up another time to see each other.

He didn't call it a date, and I won't either, but I can't deny I like him, which seems like a new trend for me.