Chapter 1: Taking a Plunge
Imagine
Dragons was playing on the radio on this lazy Saturday afternoon. The apartment
was quiet and peaceful, with soft music as a background to add some sort of
effect to this eventful chapter of my life.
With my eyes
closed, I sighed and laid my head on the couch.
It was hard to
imagine that my unexpected encounter with the City's famous Leonardo Russo
happened only last night. Honestly, it felt like it was a lifetime ago. Things
became from simple to complicated in a span of little time. Who would've
thought?
“Tough luck,”
commented Sarah, who was sitting beside me.
I just told
her everything because I was too mind-blown last night to do so. After my
conversation with Leo, I just went straight to my room and hit the sack. I
hoped so bad that it was all just some bad dream.
But no, it
wasn't. I really had a one-night-stand with one of New York City's most wanted
bachelors. Not to mention, he was the sole heir of a multinational corporation.
To make things worse, he was also the son of a Mob Boss.
A week ago, I
only had my sister, my job, and the bills to think about. Now – thanks to my
raging hormones that didn't realize I wasn't a teenager anymore – I had to
think about a man who made me weak in the knees, too. Figuratively and literally.
“So the guy
you slept with last week is the Leo Russo?” Sarah added in a question.
Her facial expression screamed of shocked disbelief.
I nodded
without opening my eyes.
“Bridget,” she
whispered. “He's Leo fucking Russo! He's practically a walking example of
everything you stand against to. Wow, how freaking ironic is that?”
“I know. Don't
rub it in.”
She snorted.
“Well, he surely rubbed himself in you.”
At that, I
opened my eyes to glare at her. I completely ignored the fact that I could feel
my cheeks heat up from what she said.
“You're not
helping at all,” I told her, getting up and heading to the kitchen to make
myself a sandwich.
“I didn't
realize you needed help,” she muttered.
I swung around
and faced Sarah, who didn't move from the couch.
“I need help
to get rid of this –” I paused to exasperatedly gesture on my body. “– this
attraction I have for him. I need it to go away and be gone!”
“You wouldn't
like to hear the solution for that, babe,” said Sarah a-matter-of-factly,
flipping her ridiculously shiny red hair while she rolled her green eyes.
I put my hand
on my hip and raised an eyebrow.
“Try me.”
“All right,
fine,” she shrugged, standing up. “The only way to get rid of that desire is to
satisfy it with the object of your arousal. There you go. That's your
solution.”
I stared at
her, letting the words sink in me. When the realization hit, it was like a ton
of bricks thrown at me.
“You're not
seriously telling me that I have to sleep with Leo again, are you?” I asked
incredulously, fearing her answer.
She smiled
weakly. “As much as I hate to break it to you . . .”
Oh, no.
“That's . . .”
Please, no.
“That's
exactly what I'm telling you, Bri.”
I wasn't as
eager to go to Rusty's for work as I was used to on weekends. My mind
was too preoccupied for me to be able to focus on making the orders right and
keeping drunk men happy. I tried to keep my head on what I was doing at the
moment as much as possible, but the thought of Leo just kept coming back.
The part of me
that wanted to see him again was starting to question the reasons why I didn't
want to in the first place.
It was
frustrating as heck.
“Bri!”
My head
whipped around at the sound of my name. Then, I sighed in relief when I saw a
wavy brown head with a friendly face. I walked over to the other end of the
counter where he was at in order to greet him.
“Hey, George,”
I grinned broadly.
It was always
nice to see a familiar face, other than the regulars who hung out at the bar to
pass the time. At least, I went to high school with George. He was also
Maggie Brendan
Barbara O'Connor
Jan Washburn
Terri Blackstock
Norah Simone
Barry Kemp
G.P. Taylor
Alan Cumyn
Linda Barnes
Lisa Jackson