Page 10 of The Senator: Raphael

“You will definitely get laid.” I chuckle and she squeals excitedly.

“Yes!” She beams. “Now it’s your turn. What are you wearing?”

I frown, tilt my head, and try to find a response to her question. “Pajamas and face mask?”

She crosses her arms over her chest. I don’t like where this conversation is heading. Her intentions are written all over her face, and when she speaks, my suspicions are proven true.

“No, you are not. It’s our day off and you are not spending it in here like a nun. You are putting on something sexy and getting laid too.” She points her perfectly manicured finger at me.

“No, please. I need to sleep and rest. I don’t want to go to some club.” My voice is pleading, but her arching brow tells me I’m not convincing her.

“You can sleep and rest tomorrow. The good thing about working in a nightclub is that we don’t have to go to work until night and we can sleep in in the morning,” she points out logically.

I know she’s right. I should go out and enjoy my day off like a normal person, but I keep replaying the conversation I had with Ice last night in my head, wondering if he knows something more. I can’t get it out of my mind that he pointed out my exact fear: my nonexistent past. Maybe he’s just good at reading people and he’s noticed how I tense up when someone brings it up. Or maybe he noticed that I never talk about it with my colleagues, but there’s something nagging me about the fact that he thought about that and pointed it out.

“I’m not in the mood,” I whine and she growls at my response.

“This is exactly why you have to come out. You’re moping around more than usual these days and I’m tired of seeing your pouty face. I heard about Ice’s tirade, and you can’t stay here thinking about it. He is an asshole; we all know it. Don’t let him get inside your head,” she scolds.

“I don’t have a pouty face!” I chuckle.

“Oh, yes, you do!”

“You’re not giving up, are you?” I sigh, knowing she can be relentless when she makes up her mind.

Her arched eyebrow is answer enough. I sigh, stand up, and walk to my room with Lola hot on my heels. I don’t want to go out, but maybe she’s right, all I need is some fun to get Ice out of my head.

“I hate you,” I grumble, opening my dresser.

“I know, but you’ll be thanking me tonight when you come home with some hot guy.” She shrugs and starts to go through my things to find an outfit for our night out. At least I don’t have to worry about what to wear—we both know Lola will have the final word on that.

***

The club we pick is one of those where you wait in line for hours if you don’t know the right people. Approaching the entrance, we smile brightly.

“Hi, Cameron!” Lola chirps, leaning on our ex-colleague’s arm. He was one of the bouncers working at our nightclub until a few months ago.

“Hello, sweetheart! How are you doing?” He is genuinely happy to see us.

Lola gives him a languid onceover. He is tall with wide shoulders, buzzed brown hair, and dark brown eyes. His button-down shirt is so tight over his muscles it almost rips when he flexes his arms. He is exactly Lola’s type and I think they hooked up a couple of times when he worked with us.

“I’m doing great, but Silver needs to cheer up. Ice was an asshole with her last night. Do you think you can get us in?” she pouts.

I roll my eyes. I should have known she would use my misfortune to skip the line. “It’s not like he fired me, he was just…Ice,” I explain.

Cameron chuckles and Lola turns to glare at me.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I got you covered,” he says, lifting the black velvet rope and letting us in.

“Thank you!” we answer in chorus and kiss his cheek on our way in.

“Hey! We’ve been in line for hours, that’s not fair!” a guy shouts.

I turn around to see a sandy-blonde, blue-eyed surfer staring at us. He’s with a couple of friends just as gorgeous as he is. He doesn’t seem angry, just tired of waiting in line.

I smile sheepishly at him. “Sorry, when you get in, find me and I’ll buy you a drink!” I wink at him, and he grins. The loveliest dimples appear on his cheeks.

“Good call, I like him. And his friends too.” Lola grabs my hand and drags me toward the entrance.

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