Catching Avery Read online

  The best way to explain our life’s viewpoint is that we played defense. If you were good to us, we were good to you. If you came at any of us stupid, we hit back. We weren’t bullies, but we weren’t pussies. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t perfect and didn’t profess to be, but we didn’t use or hurt innocent people either.

  Maybe tonight with a few drinks in us, we may be able to come up with a game plan to catch Spillner with his dick in the trap. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve brain stormed while drinking and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

  I grabbed my keys and wallet from my dresser and headed out. Riding my private elevator down to the lobby I was actually starting to feel good about going out. It’d been awhile and we deserved a carefree night with no pressure.

  Well…except if Chase didn’t get laid.

  Chapter 3

  Sloth: Because I don't dance or take shots, so how much fun is this night really going to be?

  Nicholas~

  Looks like I’m not going to have to punch Chase in the face after all.

  Xavier’s was exactly what Chase claimed it would be. Not a hipster in sight.

  We were standing near the bar looking for a spot, when a familiar face came walking towards us. “Hey, guys, welcome to Xavier’s.” Brian Sloane held his hand out to shake our hands.

  He shook my hand, Julian’s and then Chase’s. “Brian, my man, you work here?’ Chase asked.

  “Nah, man, Xavier’s is mine. I own it,” Brian replied with a huge, proud smile on his face.

  “No shit? That’s awesome.” Chase pulled him in for one of those slap on the back guy hugs.

  The year we all turned eighteen, we spent it investing and making as much money as we could to get out of Oakland, but when Chase and Julian turned nineteen, they finally enrolled in college. We knew we were going to need some fancy degrees before anyone would take us seriously, and, at least one of us was going to have to know more about financing than what we did. I spent the next two years taking random college classes while focusing on our investments and once Julian graduated with his degree in finance and Chase graduated with his degree in marketing, I took on more classes and a couple of years later graduated with a degree in business management and economics.

  Brian and Chase had been old college buddies. “What are you guys down for tonight?”

  “Just came to check the place out and have a few drinks,” Chase answered casually.

  Brian nodded his head. “Well, there are three VIP sections here. The balcony sits two of them and then the third one is on the other side of the dance floor over there.” He pointed to all three sections as he explained where they were located. The two on the balcony were side by side, but separated by the landing at the end of the stairs. The room on the left was made up in greens and the one on the right was decorated in blues. The dance floor room was a chaotic mix of blacks and greys. “The Black Room is already reserved for tonight, but I can set you guys up in one of the room upstairs,” Brian offered.

  “Hell, yeah.” Chase was already on it. “Just put it on our tab.” While we didn’t flaunt our wealth, we still indulged in the finer things from time to time.

  “Nah, it’s on the house tonight. It’s good to see you guys, and to be honest, it won’t hurt business if word gets around that you three are known to chill in one of Xavier’s VIPs,” Brian laughed.

  “Anything we can do to help,” I posed. Hell, this was a win-win as far as I was concerned. We had a spot where Chase can check out every female who walked into the place and I was far away from the action that I could drink in peace. I still wasn’t sure where Julian stood on his plans for this night. One could never tell with Julez.

  As Brian called over a server, I gave the place a curious glance around and noted that there was already a decent amount of people here even though it was still fairly early. There was music playing through the speakers, but I could see from where we were standing at near the bar that the DJ was already setting up his set.

  Brian’s voice brought me back to the discussion at hand. “Cheryl, will you please escort these three men to one of the VIPs upstairs. Let them pick which room they prefer better.” Looking back over at us, Brian let us know that he wanted us to have a good time. “Let me know if you guys need anything else tonight.”

  Cheryl made no bones about looking all three of us up and down before she smiled coyly, “Of course, Boss.” She turned to head towards the stairs and looked over her shoulder with that smile still plastered on her face to make sure we were following her. “Just follow me, gentlemen.”

  “Thanks man, we appreciated it.” Chase shook Brian’s hand one more time.

  We followed Cheryl like three little ducklings in a row; Chase, Julian and, lastly, me. Once we reached the top landing, Cheryl placed one of her hands on Julian’s chest and leaned in close. “Which room did you guys want?”

  It wasn’t that she was ugly. On the contrary, she was hot. She just happened to look like every other young, hot blonde you saw. Nothing stood out as original. She had the big hair, fake eyelashes, big store bought tits and fake nails…the works.

  Julian smiled as he placed his hand over hers and casually removed it from his chest. “We’ll take the Blue VIP, doll.”

  I had to keep myself from laughing at her confused expression. Julian was so smooth, she couldn’t tell if he was rejecting her or not. I decided to help save him. “The Blue VIP is fine, Cheryl. Thank you for escorting us.”

  She looked over towards me. “Uh…okay, yeah. Unfortunately since you guys didn’t pick the Green VIP, this is where I must leave you. Becky and Rhonda have the Blue Room tonight. Marla and I have the Green Room.” She pouted, trying to cute us into changing our minds. Little did she know pouting wasn’t cute to any of us, plus we weren’t here to fuck Brian’s staff. If this place turned out okay, we’d want to be back as drama free as possible.

  Chase came to the rescue. “But if no one reserves the Green VIP tonight, that means we can find you down on the floor where not everyone can see everything,” he smooth-talked her with a wink.

  “Good point,” she giggled.

  She fucking giggled.

  If I wanted to hear females fucking giggling, I hang out near the middle schools.

  She opened the door leading into the Blue VIP. “Make yourselves comfortable and I’m sure Beck and Rhonda will be up shortly.” She winked then closed the door behind her.

  “This is some nice digs,” Julian stated as he started walking around the room. Chase headed straight for the large couch centered in the middle of the room and sat down.

  I gave the place a curious glance around. The room was very tastefully decorated. The carpet was so blue it looked almost black. The walls were painted a faint light blue, where without all the blue accents in the room, the walls would look white. As Julian was opening shit up, I could see that the wooden door at the end of the room lead to the bathroom. There were three very large paintings hanging in the room, one on the wall near the bathroom door and two hanging on the back of the room behind the bar. They were just abstract paint brush strokes in a variety of blue shades. The stand-alone bar against the back wall matched the wood of the bathroom door.

  “It’s stocked with nothing but water,” Julian announced as he searched all the cabinets and cubbies around the bar.

  “Smart,” Chase added from the couch.

  The dark blue couch sat right in the middle of the room and had two matching armchairs on either side facing inward. There was a large glass coffee table that ran the length of the couch and it had a matching glass vase in the center. The vase contained fake flowers with many different blue shades. The front wall was made entirely of glass, so you could look out directly into the club. The walls facing the stair landing were glass as well, so we could get a clear view of what was going on in the Green VIP and they could see inside the Blue VIP. The Green VIP looked to have the same layout as the Blue and anyone who was so inclined, could view everythin
g going on in these two rooms from the club floor.

  I walked over to the front wall and looked down at the club. It was a great set up and from our room you could see the front door and bar area clearly. To the left was the dance floor and stage that was in direct view of the Green VIP. High top tables and chairs were placed along the front door wall and booths and couches aligned the far right side of the club, past the bar and leading to the restroom area. The only true privacy was the Black VIP room. There was simply a black door with a door sign identifying it as such and no one could see inside. I had no doubt that whatever went on in that room, there was a penal code attached to it.

  “Brian’s done a good job. This place has a perfect party to relax vibe to it,” Chase boasted.

  Julian laughed. “We’ll see. It’s only seven Chase. The freaky shit doesn’t go down until at least eleven.” He came over and sat down on one of the armchairs.

  “I don’t care what weirdoes this place brings in. The fact that these rooms have their own restrooms is a win in my book. I hate having to fight people to get to the restroom. And more often than not, there’s someone fucking in those dark back hallways.” I sat down on the chair opposite Julian.

  “Order up boys,” Julian nodded his head towards the door to the room.

  Chase looked over and when I turned to look behind me, I saw a waitress walking onto the landing and entering the room. “Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Becky and I will be working with Rhonda tonight as your server. What can I get you guys to start?”

  Chase gave her an appreciative smile, while he looked her up and down. She was gracing us with a very pretty smile and was remaining very professional, unlike our escort earlier. Becky had red hair, with blue eyes and a petite figure. I’d describe her as pixie-like if anyone were to ask me to. The club uniform of a tight black top with the word Xavier’s blasted across the chest in white and the matching white short shorts actually looked tasteful on her with her slender features. I was suddenly very glad to know she was serving us tonight and not the blonde earlier. “I’ll take a Seven & Seven and just keep them coming, sweetheart,” Chase winked at her.

  She smiled as she looked down and wrote down his order. Raising her head, she looked pointedly over at Julian. “I’ll take a Bud Light with a side shot of Casadores,” Julian ordered.

  After taking Julez’s order, she looked over to me. “I’ll take Johnny Walker Blue neat and we don’t deviate much, so just keep these coming all night if you will.” I smiled to soften my statement into more of a request instead of a demand. I hated pricks who thought money was an excuse to be rude to others.

  “Thank you, gentlemen. I will be right back with your orders.” With that, she walked out and back downstairs towards the bar.

  Chase jutted his chin towards the club floor. “Ten guesses on what goes on in that Black VIP room.”

  Julian snorted. “I can tell you in two; felonies and criminal acts against nature.”

  “Hopefully, instead of a vase full of fake flowers, they have a bowl full of condoms on their table,” I agreed as I looked out towards the black door.

  “And some antibiotics,” Julian added.

  “And Plan B pills,” Chase finished.

  I laughed. While we didn’t judge stranger sex, we all three were very careful about our shit. Wearing condoms was like breathing to us; done automatically, no matter how horny we were. And because some women could be manipulative, we only wore condoms we personally purchased and put them on ourselves. None of us have ever had sex without a condom and we also got tested regularly though the company’s health and wellness program.

  Becky came back with our drinks and explained that there was an intercom button on the bar that we could use if we needed anything in between her visits. I had to admit, Brian really set up these VIP rooms to include all you needed to avoid the crowds.

  “Holy shit,” Chase rushed out as he stood up from the couch and walked over to the glass wall. “I think I already see our picks.”

  Julian was seated on one of the armchairs and he leaned up from his chair to get a better look. I walked over to stand next to Chase, and following Chase’s gaze, I let out a slow whistle, “Damn.” The trio Chase had noticed were standouts, indeed.

  “Look elsewhere dickheads. That group of females is off limits,” Julian announced as he returned to his original position in his chair.

  Chase turned to look back at him while I continued to look out over the club at the trio of ladies. “Fuck too! What do you mean they’re off limits? You know them?”

  Julian stretched again to look over at the girls. “We technically know two of them. The third one is irrelevant since the other two are a no-go.”

  “Bullshit, Jules. Trust me. I would remember if I had met females who looked like that!” Chase raised his arm and gestured back towards the glass wall.

  “The one with the grey top and the one in the blue top, work for SMA. I don’t know who the third one is, but again, doesn’t matter,” he sighed, like Chase was a simpleton.

  “You’re lying. You just don’t want to see my dick happy,” Chase accused. “You’re an asshole, Julez. You know…an asshole.”

  “Not trying to kill your dreams, dude, just stating the facts. They report to that twatwaffle Spillner,” Julian explained. “I’ve seen them around the admin office floors.”

  “Where’s that fucking button? I need a goddamn shot to ease this sting,” Chase muttered, heading over to the bar. “I mean, look at them. Just look.”

  I was looking and I had to agree with Chase. They were a beautiful sight and if they worked in the finance division of SMA, the odds were neither Chase nor I would have ever run into them. We just had too many employees and we were too busy heading up our own divisions.

  “How am I supposed to drown my sorrows? I don’t take shots.” I raised my brows over towards Chase.

  “You do tonight, Casanova.” And with that, Chase ordered shots for all three of us.

  Avery~

  We arrived at Xavier’s a little after seven, and it looked to be everything Q promised. It was very classy and the floor plan was very open to help limit crowding. Luckily, it was still fairly early, so it was easy for us to find a table. We chose a high top table near the bar, because nothing sucked worse than having to wait in line for a drink and losing your buzz because it took so long.

  “Okay, I have first round. What are you two drinking?” I asked, already needing to get some alcohol in me if I was going to get through this night.

  “Just get a bucket of Bud Light for now,” Izzy responded. “It’s only seven ladies, we need to pace ourselves and not hit shots until at least ten.”

  Quinn raised her brows at Izzy. “You think you’re going to be able to pick up a stranger to fulfill your sick, twisted fantasies sober, Izzy?” she asked. I have never slept with a man who I didn’t at least go on a couple of dates with, so I don’t know about Iz, but I was going to need shots to do this.

  “Uh, no…however, I didn’t know we were picking them up as soon as we got here. I was thinking the freaky ones wouldn’t make an appearance until after ten for sure.”

  “She does have a point, Q. If I ask a guy to smear peanut butter on me and sprinkle me in glitter after ten that makes me sexually open minded. If I ask him before ten then that makes me a pervert,” I pointed out.

  “Ditch the glitter fantasy. That shit gets everywhere and you’re washing it out of the crack of your ass months later. No glitter,” Quinn advised.

  “Okay, no glitter. But I still need to be trashed to bring up the peanut butter,” I reasoned.

  Abandoning the conversation, Izzy rolled her eyes and hopped off her seat to head to the bar to order our drinks. I think I heard her mutter something to the effect of, ‘Bat shit crazy, I say. Bat. Shit Crazy.’

  I leaned in conspiratorially towards Q. “I think Izzy just called us bat shit crazy.”

  Q waved my comment away. “Trent from Match.com, need I say more?�
�

  “Oh, yep. I had forgotten about Trent.” I leaned back in my seat. “Good Point.”

  Q’s face was full of shock. “How can you forget about a man who brought his mother along on his dates?”

  I scrunched up my nose. “Probably, because the more unbelievable part of that entire story, was that Izzy actually sat through the entire date with both of them. Not to mention, she actually became Facebook friends with his mom afterwards.”

  “Exactly! Which means, if she’s going to start throwing around phrases like ‘batshit crazy’….”

  I looked over at my beautiful friend as she walked back to our table with a bucket of beers. I know she didn’t think it, but she was truly beautiful, so I didn’t understand her need to use internet websites to find dates. She went about life just too seriously. “Take it back,” I eyed her.

  Izzy didn’t even pretend not to know what I was talking about. “Fine. I take it back. You guys are not batshit crazy. You’re free thinkers.”

  Quinn smirked, reaching for a beer. “Trent.”

  Isabella’s eyes rounded like saucers. “You whore! Do pinky swears mean nothing to you?! You guys were to never mention that name again in my presence!” She then proceeded to yank me out of my seat and switch places with me.

  “Uh, you do realize there are only three seats and no matter which one you choose, you’ll still be sitting next to Q…right, you psycho?”

  “I needed to make a dramatic point. The results are irrelevant,” Iz huffed as she sat down.

  “I guess Izzy’s going for The Psychiatrist and The Psychopath fantasy tonight.” Quinn looked around the club, presumably looking for a “Psychiatrist” candidate for Iz.