Devil Inside (2 page)

Hottie smiled quietly, “You are welcome.  But you really didn’t have to buy me a beer for that.”   Harley met his eyes.  They weren’t unfriendly, but there was a hardness to them that Harley found intriguing.  It would have been easy to describe his eyes as cold; yet, the intensity of their navy color reminded her more of a warm summer sky darkened with storm clouds.  Harley took a deep breath to give herself time to speak clearly.

“Oh, I’m glad to.  My name is Harley by the way.  Harley Finn.”

“Seriously?” he chuckled

Harley laughed.  “Yeah.  My dad was a Batman fan.  It’s even worse,” she answered sheepishly.  “My middle name is Quinn.”

Hottie laughed a little harder.  “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.  I’m used to it.”  She held the beer up and raised her eyebrows.

“Sorry—sure.  Thanks,” he quickly recovered, extending his hand somewhat reluctantly towards the empty side of the booth.  “My name is Levi Bonham.”

“Nice to meet you,” Harley responded, sliding into the booth.  It was when she sat down that she realized that she hadn’t really thought things through much further than this.  Now that she was sitting on the other side of the table from him she wasn’t sure what to do next.  Willing herself to not be a socially awkward, weirdo she smiled and tried to think of a question that was conversational and yet not cliché.

“Have you ever been here before?” 
Wow—that was just a rearranged version of do you come here often.  Good job, Harley.

Levi seemed to be trying to suppress a laugh as he answered, “No.  I’m just passing through really.”  He seemed to relax his shoulders and let go of some of his reluctance as they talked.

“Sorry.  That was the lamest question ever, right?”  Harley decided to own her awkwardness.  When social graces fail—self effacing humor saved the day.

“It’s pretty classic,” Levi finally let loose the soft chuckle he had been holding back.  His laugh raised the hairs on Harley’s arms.  She couldn’t figure out what was so enticing about this guy.  He was good looking in her opinion—really good looking.  But she realized that plenty of women would have seen him as too rough and scruffy.  No, it wasn’t looks that Harley found so captivating.  Harley suspected that it was the coarse and guarded attitude that he gave off.  It was in the tense way he carried his shoulders and the wary look in his eye.  Harley almost sighed out loud.  The man’s entire demeanor screamed enigmatic and troublesome.  Predictable.  That was just the type of guy that she always gravitated towards.

Levi seemed to take pity on her, “Do YOU come here often?”

Harley chuckled.  “Yeah, my friends and I come here quite a bit.  There are not a lot of bars in Lexington that have good bands and good crowds.  You said you were passing through, from where?”

“All over really.  Most recently I was living just outside of Atlanta.  I’ve been here for about a week.”

“Nice.  What brought you to Lexington?”

Levi seemed to hesitate.  “Sorry,” Harley tried to retreat.  “I guess that could be a personal question.”

“No, no it’s fine.  I do consulting work so I get to travel a lot.  I decided to rest here for a while.”

“Wow, that’s pretty awesome.  I’ve kind of always wanted to do that—travel for work.”

“It’s incredibly freeing.”

“I bet.”

The conversation reached a natural lull.  They both watched the band for a minute.  The silence didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.  Instead, it felt as if they were both feeling the music.  Just enjoying the sounds.  Harley was well aware of him sitting across the booth from her.  It was like a line from one of her favorite TV shows—her body was like one of those dogs that point—and her body was pointing at him.  He seemed to relax even more as they listened to the music.  Harley couldn’t help thinking it was because she wasn’t pressuring him to talk.  Guys like him didn’t talk a lot and bombarding him with words would on put him on edge because he would be forced to talk more than he would really want, either that or be rude.  Harley let him settle in even more and waited.  Not overly talkative herself, she had always enjoyed being able to silently appreciate the moments around her.

He shifted in the booth and his knee brushed against her knee.  The touched zinged all the way up her leg and pulled at her breath for a second.  He glanced at her as if he felt the same thing.  It was all Harley could do to not reach out and touch him.  She wanted to run her hand along his forearm that he rested on the table.  She wanted to brush the fine hairs and feel the muscle flex beneath his skin.  Harley tore her eyes away from his arm when she noticed him notice her staring.  She felt her face heat up slightly even though she willed it to not give her away.  He didn’t seem concerned by her staring; rather his eyes softened for just a moment before he smiled softly at her before refocusing his attention on the band.  Harley did the same, relieved that he let it go.  She knew she wasn’t experiencing some sort of mystical, meeting of souls.  She was simply feeling the rush of endorphins that came along with meeting someone that she found incredibly attractive.  That combined with the alcohol made her entire body alive and extra sensitive.

They both continued to watch the band for a while.  A young blonde woman swayed drunkenly in front of the small stage, teetering on her high heels.  Suddenly, the drunken girl’s equally blonde and drunk friend stumbled out of the crowd and half fell and half hugged her.  Giggling they both crashed to the ground.  Harley laughed and covered her mouth slightly embarrassed for the girls but mostly glad to be entertained by their antics.  She realized that Levi was smiling slightly too.  Their eyes met in a shared camaraderie that relaxed them both even further.

“They remind me of these sorority girls that used to come to the bar that my friends and I went to when I was in college. They always got too drunk, too early, and ended up dancing in front of the bar like that,” she told him.

Harley told the first “drunken people show” story and Levi matched her story with one of his own.  Before she knew it they were trading stories like old friends.  Despite the fact that he appeared to be enjoying himself, he never seemed to fully let go and laugh unrestrained.  Instead, his laughter—or chuckle—died rather quickly on lips that never fully opened.  Harley didn’t think it was due to a lack of interest or humor.  It just seemed as if he had something else on his mind.  It was just enough to maintain his mystery but not enough to deter her interest in him.  Whenever she would begin to think that maybe she should leave him alone, he would draw her back in with a question or a light touch on her arm or hand.  Each touch tingled long after he pulled away.  Eventually, Harley found herself relaxing and getting more and more comfortable with Levi.

After Harley told a particularly entertaining story of watching a guy try to pick up a girl their laughter died off in an awkward silence.  Harley was pretty sure that their unspoken, yet mutual, attraction was now hanging in the air.  She imagined that she could see the chemistry in the air between them.  A blue electric current flowed back and forth between them.  Their eyes locked and neither one of them backed down.  It wasn’t a stare down in some creepy way.  Instead, it was as if they were trying to figure each other out through eye contact.  Issuing a challenge and seeing who could come away with the upper hand.  Harley was fully aware of how hard her heart was beating and how shallow her breathing had become.   She wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and taste his skin—but first she was going to have to work up the nerve to make some sort of move. 
Otherwise, if I dive across the table and lick his face he’s probably going to think I’m pretty weird.
  Finally, Levi looked away taking a sip of his beer.

    Subconscious victory flowed through Harley and instilled in her a greater confidence.  As Harley searched for a way to invite him back to her place without sounding like an idiot, Levi broke the silence.

“Look, I’m not really someone you should to get involved with.”  He held her gaze intently.  Knowing where she was headed, he had apparently decided to forgo any pretenses.

Unable to stop it, a laughed barked out Harley.  “Seriously?  Does that usually work for you?”  She was a little disappointed.  While his demeanor was strong, he hadn’t struck her as arrogant, or as someone who played games.  While she was somewhat disenchanted, it mostly just made her a little less intimidated.  He didn’t seem quite as perfect now and she was surprised that the mystery had been contrived the whole time.

He looked baffled for a minute.  She decided to cut away the bull.  “Look, you don’t have to work some kind of angle at this.  Don’t try the whole ‘bad boy—I’m dangerous’ game.  OK.  It’s kind of old.  I appreciate the effort though.”

Levi sputtered.  “No.  I’m not playing some kind of game,” he seemed a tad annoyed.

“I’m not either,” Harley answered.  “I’m just looking for a good time.”  Harley was used to guys who were good at the game—even when they didn’t realize they were playing it.  He would insist that he wasn’t interested in a relationship for one reason or another.  He would build her up, insisting that she deserved more than he could offer.  Then he would not be able to resist and take her home.  He would insist that he would call, or he would try to nicely end things in the morning.  Making promises that he wouldn’t keep.  Harley would end up feeling jilted and confused.  And if Levi was going to try to play by traditional rules, then it was just end up messy with them both claiming foul.

Levi was definitely caught off guard at that.  His look shifted from slightly annoyed to slightly amused.   “Are you sure about that?” recovering, he asked slyly.

“Am I sure about what exactly?”  Could she go home with this guy and have a brief but intense fling?  Sure.  She knew that going home with a strange guy was risky.  But that was part of the allure.  That was what made it more exciting.  She was a good judge of character, and admittedly lucky in the fact that she hadn’t come across any serial killers.

“Are you sure that you want to go home with me?  Just for tonight?”

“Oh, I’m positive about that.”  Harley purred, fully in the swing of things now.  Now that she knew that she wasn’t off base and that Levi was equally interested in her, she was off and running.  She was ready to cast aside the games and subterfuge and simply finish what they both had started—and do it honestly.

He chuckled and held her gaze, “Ok, well I need to pay my tab.”  Harley was pretty sure that he was trying to call her bluff.  She figured he didn’t take her for the type of girl to go home with a strange guy.  He was going to be in for a surprise, Harley wasn’t afraid of her sexuality.  She understood why she did the things she did.  Some people would probably judge her for it, but she enjoyed sex.  She was an adult who made responsible, albeit, sometimes impulsive decisions.  This wasn’t the first time she had gone home with a guy—and it wouldn’t be the last.

“You do that.  I’m going to go to the bathroom before we leave.  I’ll meet you out front?”

“I’ll see you there,” he said, meeting her challenge and sliding from the booth.

Harley’s pulse pounded harder.  Her hands were cold and every nerve felt jumpy with excitement.   Harley was as excited as she was nervous; she had to restrain herself from doing a happy dance on the way to the bathroom.  Levi was seriously hot—she couldn’t believe her plan had actually worked.  He caused the kind of smoldering that you only read about in trashy, erotic novels.

Luckily the bathrooms were mostly empty.  Harley quickly peed, washed her hands and assessed her reflection in the mirror.  She blotted away some of the shine on her face with a paper towel.  Wiped away some smudged mascara.  She ran her fingers through her dark red hair.  Her green eyes sparkled impishly.  All in all, she would have to say that she was having a good body image day.  Her face was strong and her mouth small.  She was pretty, but in an everyday kind of way.  She might not stand out in a crowd, but she knew she was pretty the unique way that was her own.  She was thin but not skinny.  Short but not awkwardly short. She may have been average, but there was nothing wrong with that. 
OK, enough pep talk.  Let’s do this
.  She smiled at herself and left the bathroom.

A small part of her feared that Levi wouldn’t be waiting for her.  That he had changed his mind, but she forced that thought away.  Coming out of the bathroom Harley looked across the bar and found Jamie and the rest of her friends at a table on the other side of the bar.  She made eye contact with her friend and waved goodbye.  Jamie laughed, shook her head and returned the wave.   She turned towards the door and saw Levi waiting for her just inside the bar.  She smiled at him and he smiled back as she began to thread her way through the crowd.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm, halting her in her tracks.  Looking back she saw a trim, blonde guy grabbing her arm.  Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to be creepy.

“Hey, you aren’t leaving are you?”  He leered drunkenly with glassy eyes.  He wore a tight white graphic tee-shirt and equally tight jeans and reeked of obnoxiousness.

Harley narrowed her eyes at him, “Yes, I am actually.”  She tried to tug her arm away but he held on.

The guy studied her for a moment and with a look that was astute enough to show through his drunkenness.  “I know you.” He said simply.

“No.  You don’t know me,” Harley rebuffed his lame come on. 
Wow, most definitely a creep.