Free Roses & Thorns by Tish Thawer Page A

his gaze was piercing. He was easily the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
    Jill came barreling out of the nightclub with her escort closely in tow. We all started busting up laughing as we heard her say , “I only wanted a quick shot .” I continued to star e at the gorgeous man a s she started to make her way back to the limo , but as she walk ed pas t him , he reached out and tapped her gently o n the shoulder . I continued to watch, jealous y filling my veins, as s he stopped and started to speak to h im . I couldn't imagine what they could possibly be talking about, but s he kept glancing at the car and then back to him with a huge smile on her face. I'm sure she was trying to make sure we were all seeing that this beautiful man was paying attention to her. I loved Jill, but she could definitely be an attention whore sometimes. After a brief moment , I saw him hand her something and then he walked back inside. My angel was gone.
    I settled myself back in the limo , trying not to let the stickiness of the leather seats on my bare legs elevate my frustration as I anxious ly waited for my best friend to come brag about how this impossibly gorgeous guy had just asked her out or something. I tried to convince myself that their conversation had only been about her using the facilities instead of being a paying customer , but I doubt ed that was really the case.
    When Jill got in the car, she sat there for a moment with a cat-a te-the-mouse grin on her face that I wanted to smack off, but t hen she handed me a business card. I was confused and almost handed it back without looking at it, but she just sat there smiling, so I quickly looked down and examined the shiny card. It had the club ' s logo on the front , which looked like a square hatch opening up with a bright red glow shining from within , and the club's name , The Rising Pit , printed ab ove it. The moment I turned it over however, is the moment my life changed. The first thin g I noticed was a handwritten note that started with m y name. Now I was interested . It said, “Roses are red, but I'll be blue, if I'm denied the pleasure, of meeting you. ~ Christian . ”
    I read it about three times before I looked up and saw that Jillian was still smiling at me . She grabbed the card out of my hand and p ass ed it to my friends . "He asked me your name and then scratched out that poem so fast that I could barely see his hand move. His number's on there too and he said for you to call him after dark in two days . "
    I was stunned into silence. I couldn't understand how this extraordinary man could possibly want to meet me. Me! Not that I wasn't thrilled, but suddenly I was so nervous that I didn't think I could survive two days without losing my mind. My thoughts drifted to the first thing a girl thinks of when preparing to meet her dream guy...what was I going to wear?
    My friend's laughter and Jillian 's question brought my attention back to the present . "Holy crap, Rose. Are you gonna call him?"
    I thought for a moment then answered, "Hell yes , I'm gonna call him! He's frickin' gorgeous."
    The girl's conversations quickly became background noise as I stared out the window. Why would this incredible man want to meet me? I couldn't help but wonder if calling a complete stranger was a monumental mistake. But, a s the butterflies increased their pace in my stomach, I glanced out the window again and could have sworn that I saw Christian's golden swirled eyes staring back at m e from the reflection. Hell yes I was going to call him . A nd suddenly...t wo days seemed like an eternity.

* * * * *
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    S hopping
    (Rose)
     
    I pulled the covers over my head and squinted my eyes against the s unlight that was now blaring in from behind the curtains my mo ther had just yanked open.
    "Rise and shine. We're going shopping." Mom's enthusiasm exhausted me. She was so upbeat all the time , and while I loved that about her, it was something that got old really fast.