Janette stood there; numb, unable to move or think straight. "Um, it's nice to meet you." She nodded politely to the man who Melissa's arms were possessively wrapped around. She forced herself to smile as convincingly as she could in a desperate effort to mask anything on her face that might betray her utter humiliation at that moment.
Melissa looked at her friend excitedly. "Mitch is the owner of this club, plus several other places in town. He's one of the wealthiest bachelors in Washington, aren't you, baby." She said braggingly.
"Oh, is that so?" Janette raised her eyebrows at him, and folded her arms across her chest, a thought suddenly occurring to her. She'd heard about men like Mitch, flinging their riches and good looks around carelessly, bedding a different woman each night. She gazed around the dance floor noticing the wealth of gyrating, bouncing, barely dressed barbie dolls and felt her anger slowly rising through her chest. Why the hell couldn't he have picked one of those bimbos to make a fool out of instead of picking on her?
Mitch gave the buxom blond a stern look. "We need to talk." He said flatly as he dragged her away by the arm.
'Is that what they are calling it these days... talking?'
Janette's eyes followed them as they walked away, Melissa still clinging to him as though they were Siamese twins joined at the hip.
"It seems my rude ass brother failed to make proper introductions. I'm Liam, the co-owner of this club." Liam took Janette's hand in his, raising it to his lips and gently placed a kiss on her knuckles.
Janette quickly jerked her hand from Liam's as though his lips had scalded it.' How dare he touch me,' she thought.' He's probably just as much of a conceded asshole as Mitch is'. She looked around, her nerves on edge, not sure what to do or say. "I have to go to the bathroom. Be right back." She said to Liam before scurrying away down the hall leading to the restrooms.
"Wait, Janette!" She heard Liam call after her before shoving the restroom door open and locking herself inside, unable to catch her breath. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' She thought to herself. 'Why in the hell did you ever think he would want you when he could have someone like her?' Janette couldn't decide what made her angrier. The fact that Mitch had been playing games with her or the fact that she actually fell for it. She gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, suddenly noticing all the lines and imagined wrinkles covering her bland features. 'She's like a model and he's a 'Greek God'. She thought. 'They deserve each other'. Janette was kicking herself for being so gullible. Was she so desperate that she would fall for any line a guy told her just because he happened to be one of the most beautiful guys she's ever laid eyes on? She wiped away the one silent tear falling down her cheek. Refusing to feel sorry for herself she straightened her spine and raised her chin before opening the bathroom door and stepping out into the hallway. She looked to her left, seeing Mr. Full-Of-Himself and her floozy of a friend having what appeared to be quite the intimate conversation. She couldn't bring herself to face them again. She looked to her right and sighed her relief when she saw a big neon EXIT sign at the end of the hallway and decided to take it. Janette raised her chin, taking a deep breath and walked to the end of the hallway and burst through the back door. She was in such a hurry that she almost knocked someone over.
Looking up into the face of the man dressed in all black with sea green eyes, she took a few steps backwards in trepidation. What was it with all the pale faced people around here? They definitely needed to invest in a sun lamp or something. Perhaps a tanning bed? "Are you lost?" The pale, black haired man said grinning wickedly.
"I'm fine thank you." Janette said nervously before bolting away from Mr. Pasty and towards her car in the parking lot across the street.
Jack stood leaning against the building taking a smoke break when he noticed the brunette streaking across the street into the parking lot. With the way she was running, he thought someone may be chasing her. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and placed his thumb on the speed dial button that would ring Thor's phone in case he needed back up. Jack didn't see anyone following her so he watched a few minutes longer as she got into her car and sped away down the street. 'She's an odd one', he thought to himself before stomping out his cigarette and going back inside to finish out his shift.
*
"What did you tell her?" Liam asked, taking another pull from his beer bottle. He didn't hear any of the conversation that Mitch had with Melissa but he did notice her march angrily to the back of the club and new it couldn't have gone well. He certainly didn't envy his brother's situation.
"I simply told her that I didn't want to see her again." Mitch said "I didn't know what else to say to her. I told her that there was nothing between us and that she needed to lose my number."
Liam laughed. "And what did she say to that?"
"Oh, believe me, she wasn't happy about it. She actually slapped me in the face. Can you believe it?" Mitch shook his head in disbelief. "I only met her a day or two ago and she has already slapped me."
Liam smirked. "I can't say I blame her. Sometimes I want to slap you, too."
Mitch couldn't help but join his brother's laughter. He gazed around the dimly lit club in search of a petite brunette wearing a hunter green dress. "Have you seen Janette? I need to talk to her." He couldn't understand why she had been there in the first place. She didn't seem the type to frequent night clubs.
Liam leaned back on his bar stool and peered down the hallway. "She said she was going to the bathroom but she's been gone a long time now." He looked at his brother and shrugged his shoulders taking another swig of his beer.
