Finding Fate (Playing it Safe Series Book 1) Read online

  Club Spirit is the club we choose. It’s twenty-one or older, but we don’t have any trouble getting in when we show our IDs at the door.

  “This place is awesome, Mads! Let’s go get drinks!”

  A guy has a girl laid out across the barstools doing a body shot, forcing us to wait a few minutes for the path to clear out. I’m a little jealous when I see the way the guy and girl are with each other. It’s obvious they’re a couple, and even though they’re putting on a show for the crowd, they don’t seem to notice anyone besides each other. I can’t wait to find a guy who looks at me like that.

  “What can I get you beautiful ladies?” The bartender is staring down the front of Michelle’s shirt, rather than looking at our faces.

  “Can we get two Cosmos, please?”

  I leave the drinks up to Michelle. I’m not much of a drinker. Most of the time when we go to a party, I only have a one or two.

  “Let’s go see if we can find a place to sit while we finish our drinks, and then we can dance.”

  I follow Michelle through the crowd. There are a lot of people here, so it takes a while to push our way through the crowd to get to some small tables close to the dance floor. They only have seats for two people, so it’s perfect. Some asshole can’t just decide to join us this way.

  “We need to find you a guy, Madison. It would be the perfect night to lose your v-card, then you can enjoy hot sex the rest of the time we’re here. How about that guy over there?”

  I follow to where she’s pointing to a guy who looks like he belongs in a street gang or something. He has tattoos everywhere. I think if tattoos are done right, they’re sexy, but this guy looks like his came from an amateur, or maybe prison.

  “Are you crazy? Why would I want to have a memory of that associated with my first time? I get it’s not a big deal, but still… I don’t want to completely regret it later.”

  “The mushy romantic stuff is only in books. If that’s what you’re holding out for, you’ll be a sixty-year-old cat lady who still has her virginity. I’m telling you, do it and get it over with. It’s just fucking. The only thing you need to worry about is finding a guy who knows how to get a girl off. Forget about all the bullshit you read in your books, it’s not real.”

  We watch people out on the dance floor while we sip our drinks. Before we get the first one down, Michelle’s already ordered another round. I pull my phone out to shoot a few texts back and forth with my parents. The last thing I want to do is give them a reason to be upset with us our first night here.

  “Let’s dance!”

  When a popular Hip Hop song starts playing, Michelle pulls me from my seat to the dance floor. I love to dance. Michelle and I have spent a lot of time learning sexy dances from watching tutorials on the internet. I might not be a drinker or a partier, but the dancing I can handle.

  There’s another group of girls on the floor who know all the same moves, so we all dance and show off for a while. When we can’t take it anymore, Michelle and I finally get through the line to use the restroom, and then we get more drinks.

  “Seriously, Madison, I want to find a guy to talk to for a while. We need to find a couple of guys who are together, so you’ll have someone to hang out with too. Let’s hit the dance floor one more time. After that, if we haven’t found anyone, we should go to another club.”

  “How about we dance one more time, and then we go to the house and get our beauty rest. You’ll survive one night without hooking up.”

  “Yeah, whatever, let’s dance.”

  Chapter Two

  “Jensen”

  Even though I’ve been back home for a while, I still don’t know what to do with myself sometimes. After being medically discharged from the army, I knew I had to find something to do with my life. It’s taken some effort to break the habit of living with strict routines and schedules, but I’m hoping to find a balance between being responsible and allowing myself to enjoy life more.

  It was such an honor to serve this great country. Unfortunately, the accident that shattered my right leg paved the way to an early retirement. I was almost to the end of my four years, and I had every intention of re-enlisting.

  Along with working to get my leg back to normal, I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching. I think I’m much closer to having a few things figured out. My grandma always said when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Everyone always made jokes about the little proverbial phrases she would toss out to us almost daily, but this is one I can apply to my life now.

  The military is hard work, but it suited me just fine. I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself physically. I participated in various sports until I graduated high school. There was a time when I considered making a career out of that, but I could never dedicate myself to just one sport. After a lot of thought, and talking it over with my parents, I chose the military.

  I’m sure the main reason my parents got on board so easily was because, during my senior year of high school, I let things get out of control with girls and parties, mostly girls. I even dated a college chick for a few weeks my senior year.

  My leg is almost normal again after surgeries and hard work. Luckily, my injuries aren’t going to prevent me from pursuing a career in law enforcement when I return home to Durham, North Carolina after this little vacation is over.

  A few of my buddies met up with me here in South Carolina, after I sent out a text to let them know what my plans are for the next week or two. Since we got here, we’ve been catching up on what everyone’s been up to, while we laze around the beach all day.

  Being the horny fuckers we are, we’ve spent a lot of time checking out a group of hot women who are staying a few houses up from us. Each day, they lie out on the beach and soak up the sunshine for a few hours. A couple of my buddies have been flirting with them, but since they’re staying close by, I tend to hang back and leave the flirting to them. The last thing I want is to have some girl think she’s falling in love with me. It’s best to avoid the ones I’m likely to run into more than once while I’m here. That doesn’t keep me from looking though.

  When the sun goes down, we hit a club to look for our hot little rides for the night. My buddies and I have the same rules when it comes to pussy, hit it and quit it. Then we don’t have to deal with the damn drama some of these crazy women like to stir up.

  The army set me straight on a lot of things, but it did nothing to stop my desire to have a tight warm pussy wrapped around me. I’ve had to make do with my hand a lot lately, but now that I’m out here roaming around with the rest of the civilians, I don’t plan to rely on self-satisfaction any longer.

  “Are you about ready to hit the club?” My best friend Drew is more of a man whore than I am.

  “Yeah, I’m ready to have fun tonight. You called us a cab?” That’s one thing we always take seriously. If we know we’re going to be drinking, we always make sure to have a designated driver, or we call a cab if we’re all planning to get shitfaced. There’s no sense in risking our own lives along with everyone else’s.

  We picked a club that neither of us has been to. Club Spirit is loud and packed with people. The atmosphere really helps to get things pumping as soon as you walk through the door. Neon lighting highlights the black décor. A strobe light is focused on the dance floor. Instead of a band, they have a DJ spinning out the tunes. I haven’t heard the song before that’s playing right now, but there’s a large mass of scantily clad women burning up the dance floor, moving their asses along with the rhythm. Hip Hop really isn’t my flavor, but I don’t have a problem with the way these babes are moving to it. There seem to be more women than men in here tonight. I take that as a good sign because I plan to get lucky with at least one of them before this night is over.

  I’m not the least bit conceited, but I know the ladies like what they see. I exercise and pump the iron almost every day. The ladies especially seem to dig my abs and my arm muscles. I don’t look this way for the ladies though. I can thank my d
ad for good genes, plus I like being fit and healthy. I don’t mind the effort it takes to stay that way. Exercising is also good to relieve stress and frustration.

  I shoulder bump Drew to get his attention. “Hey, man, I’m going to go get a drink.”

  I make my way to the bar and order a beer. I have to hand it to the bartenders, this place is packed, and I only have to wait a few minutes to get service.

  I move a little closer to the dance floor. A couple of obviously drunk women try to get my attention, but nothing I see impresses me, so I keep moving forward.

  I don’t mind a lady who wants to have a good time, but I’ll pass on one who is so sloppy drunk she’s past the point of being able to give consent. The only service I’ll ever do for anyone in that condition is call them a cab.

  Damn, some of these women know what to do with it out on the dance floor.

  I almost miss my mouth when I go for a quick sip of my beer, and my eyes land on a smoking hot blonde.

  Fuck.

  I watch as she starts twerking her tight little ass along with some other chick, and I feel my cock twitch. Fuck, I’ve just found what I need tonight.

  I watch her dance for a while, hoping like hell she isn’t here with some other dude. She’s wearing a tiny little black tank top that fits her like a glove. It looks more like a sports bra than a shirt. Her tits look like they could spill over the top at any second. Damn, she’s got a fine rack on her. I take in the rest of her body. She’s wearing skin-tight booty shorts, and that ass is fucking perfect. She’s not too tall, but her legs seem to go on for days.

  Yeah, I’m thinking I need those gorgeous legs wrapped around me later tonight.

  I must’ve been lost somewhere deep in my little fuck fantasy, because I almost miss it when blondie and her friend head right toward me.

  Just when I step in her path to get her attention, Drew walks up. Cock blocker…or maybe not, leave it to Drew not to waste any time. He goes straight to blondie’s friend. That’s good, because had he picked the hot little blonde I can’t stop looking at, there would’ve been a little issue to settle between the two of us tonight. I’m not gay or anything, but I can tell you, Drew has no problem being able to attract the ladies. There’s no reason he should get the first pick tonight.

  “Ladies! How about you let us buy you a drink? You were burning the dance floor up, you must need something to help you cool down a bit, huh?” Drew flashes them with what he calls his panty dropping smirk. I call it his bullshit look, but whatever.

  “Or better yet, how about I keep both of you dolls to myself? We can let my buddy, Jens, find his own date for the night.”

  I zone out again when I allow my eyes to roam from her head to her toes, as I take in more of her beauty. I don’t miss the way her tight nipples are pressed against the thin material of the top she has on. I can tell she isn’t wearing a bra. Fuck. For all I know, I’ve been staring at her chest for the last five minutes. I’ve lost track of how long we’ve been standing here.

  When I finally come to my senses, I realize Drew is having a conversation with them. It’s time to cut my friend off before he steals the entire show.

  “I’m Jensen. Please, try to excuse Drew. He can be a little over the top.” I chuckle a bit so they know I’m joking… for the most part. “Would you ladies like to join us for a drink?” I keep my eyes on the pretty one, because she’s the only one who has my interest tonight. Drew can do whatever the hell he wants with the other one.

  “I’m Michelle, and this”, she points over to her friend and rolls her eyes a bit, when she sees the blank and uninterested look on her face. “This is my best friend, Madison.”

  Madison…I like the sound of that name. She looks down at her feet for a second or two too long, but when she finally looks up, I see the sexiest blush I’ve ever seen on a woman’s cheeks. And, fuck…I feel both my hand and my dick twitch when I think about what her other perfect set of cheeks would look like if they were that same rosy color.

  Those green eyes of hers draw me in the most. They remind me of a cat’s eyes, only just a tad darker. I’ve never seen eyes as beautiful as hers. I quickly put that thought aside. The only thing I need to worry about right now is getting Madison alone for a few hours.

  “Madison, it’s nice to meet you. Would you like to have a drink with me?”

  Or, maybe this one isn’t going to fall for my charm quite as easy and as fast as most of them do. She stares at my outstretched hand, but doesn’t give in right away to the drink, or the offered handshake. I can’t hide a small chuckle. This makes me more determined to win her over. I like a challenge.

  Michelle smirks a bit and gives her friend a little push in my direction. “Madison, why don’t you have a drink with Jensen? I’d like to hang out with Drew and get to know him a little better.”

  It seems Michelle might be turning the tables on Drew. I think he’s about to be the one who gets picked up tonight, instead of the other way around. She seems to have her tiger claws out, ready to pounce on him. He loves women, but I’m not sure how he’ll feel about letting one take the lead.

  Without much thought, I take Madison’s hand in mine and pull her in closer to my side. The second I take her hand in mine, I feel an unfamiliar spark zip through my body. What the fuck was that? I shake it off and turn us in the direction of the bar. I hope she doesn’t put up a fight because I really want to spend some time with this sexy woman.

  I can tell she’s nervous. I should probably move on and find a different girl. I usually don’t do the shy and awkward ones, but for some reason, this green-eyed beauty has me wanting to do all kinds of things I don’t normally do.

  Any other time, I would just grab the first one who shows any interest and take her ass to the bathroom. There’s no sense in dragging things out when we both know what’s going to happen. It’s not like I’m looking for a relationship. That’s the last thing I want in my life right now.

  Since my eyes landed on Madison out on the dance floor, I haven’t noticed any other women here tonight. I’ve been carrying around a half hard cock since I watched her tight little ass out there working it to the music.

  She might be a little shy now, but there was nothing shy about her earlier when she was teasing the whole damn place with that delectable little body of hers.

  Fuck. I’ve got to have her.

  Some stray hair is hanging down, hiding part of her face. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I reach out and gently move the hair back to tuck behind her ear.

  “Have a drink with me, Madison. Your friend is getting to know my friend right now, so I think we owe it to them to spend a few minutes getting to know each other.”

  At this point, I’d be content just to spend some time talking with this girl. This isn’t like me at all. I haven’t wanted to just hang out and talk with a girl since I was in high school.

  “Fine. I’ll have one drink. Just one.”

  Pleased she’s decided to join me, I hurry to place the order before she has time to change her mind.

  Right when I hand her the beer, a group of guys who are trying to move closer to the bar, pushes her tight little body right up against mine. I hear her small gasp. I’m certain she just felt the same shock I felt when our bodies connected. She’s standing so close to me, I can smell her delicious fruity scent. She smells like cherries. Unless it involves fucking, I don’t recall ever taking the time to think about what a girl smells like.

  I place my hand on her hip to hold her steady. My hand meets the soft smooth skin between her top and shorts. I like having my hands on her. I think she likes it too, because I can sense a change in her. I could swear I felt her body quiver. When she looks up at me, I can see she’s trying to work something out in her head.

  I hope Madison isn’t spending time with me only because she’s bored, and doesn’t want to be alone while she waits for her friend. I’d like to think I’m having the same effect on her, as she is on me.

  Chapter Th
ree

  “Madison”

  I can’t believe Jensen wants to spend time with me. When he and his friend started talking to Michelle and me, I was completely swept away. He looks nothing like the guys I know. Of course, I’m sure he’s not in high school either. He looks like he’s probably in his early twenties.

  I feel like shit, because I’m sure he thinks I’m older. I don’t want to spoil anything by telling him I’m only seventeen. I know, since I got in the club, he must think I’m at least twenty-one.

  He leads me to a booth in the back. We aren’t very close to the bar, or the dance floor where everyone is hanging out. It’ll be easier to have a conversation.

  I sit down and to my surprise, instead of walking around to the opposite side Jensen slides right in beside me.

  “So, Madison, do you live around here?”

  I take a minute before I answer his question, because I need to decide how much, or how little, I want to tell this stranger. Thinking back to the messages I received earlier, I start to get a little worried.

  He watches me closely. I’m sure he can tell I’m uncomfortable. If this were Michelle, she’d have no trouble at all. She’d just give him some big super-fake story then move on to the next stage, which for her would be finding a dark corner somewhere and dropping to her knees. She’d rather show a guy who she is than tell him anything real about herself.

  “Relax, Madison. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. How about I tell you a little bit about myself?”

  He smirks and reaches up to thread his fingers through his dark hair. He has the sexiest messy hair I’ve ever seen on a guy. It’s so dark brown it almost appears black at times. It’s not too long on the sides, and the top is just a bit longer. I’m sure he usually shaves, but I can see a hint of stubble on his face. I have to force myself not to stare for too long.

  “I’d like that, Jensen. Where are you from?”