Because of Lila

  top that tied above her navel. Then the heels. Did she really plan on walking around New Orleans in those heels?

  I was still trying to decide if her “sex on the beach” comment had been completely made up or she’d been as serious as she looked when she said it. That was completely irresponsible. If she had then she was even more naïve than I ever thought.

  “That’s completely functional,” I drawled trying not to be annoyed that most of her body was on display. I could see men turning their heads to check her out without even looking at them. I knew men. I was one. And I wanted to look at her too.

  She lifted one bare shoulder as if I knew nothing. “I thought so.”

  She had two other bags in her hands. I was carrying the one full of her toiletries she’d picked up at a pharmacy before we walked to this place. “Don’t get any more shit. That’s all that is going to fit on my bike.”

  “This is plenty,” she told me. “Let’s drop it off at the hotel then I want to see Bourbon Street. “

  Of course, she did.

  We headed back from where we came and she seemed completely fine with the idea of walking in those damn heels. Didn’t they hurt? I decided to let it go and asked something else I’d been putting off. “You talked to your parents?”

  I was expecting her to say “yes,” she called them as soon as she got to the room. Instead, she shook her head no.

  “They’re probably worried,” I pointed out.

  She shrugged. “I’m grown.”

  That was not a Lila Kate response. I couldn’t decide if I liked this change or not. I’d grown up knowing there were two things I could depend on. That my dad was never going to make me forget what was expected of me. And that Lila Kate Carter was going to always do the right thing.

  She’d just blown that out of the water.

  “You’ve been grown awhile. What made you decide to embrace it?”

  She didn’t look at me. She kept her gaze straight ahead. “Life.”

  That was all she was going to say. Life. As if that made sense. I was in New Orleans babysitting her, and she was dressing like . . . like . . . like a fucking girl I’d pick up in a club, giving me one-word answers, and rebelling against everything she’d ever done.

  I pushed for more answers. “What inspired this fit of rebellion?”

  The pinched frown that came over her face was interesting. There was something, but I doubted if she was going to tell me. At least not yet. Our journey had just begun. Eventually, she’d tell me.

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” was her final answer.

  I didn’t push. I would let it go for now. “Fine. So tell me what is it you want to see on Bourbon Street?”

  This brought a smile to her face. “I have no idea. I just want to see it. And can we get beignets? I’ve always wanted to try the real things.”

  “Yeah, we can. Beignets are better if you eat them sober. Let’s do that before we hit Bourbon Street.”

  I expected her to tell me she didn’t plan on drinking. But she didn’t. She just nodded in agreement. Jesus. I hoped she wasn’t planning on getting drunk. Not dressed like that.

  “How far can you walk in those shoes?” I asked.

  “Miles.”

  I started to argue and decided to let it go. If she wanted to walk in them, it wasn’t my business. Her toes could hate her later.

  Lila Kate dropped her bags off quickly. She grinned like a little kid on our way to get beignets. I kept waiting for her to complain about the shoes she was wearing, but she never did. She seemed completely taken in with the scenery around her. Watching her experience New Orleans was more fun than my first trip. She was soaking it in. We had to stop to watch a group of guys doing a street show, flipping over people. Then we had to stop to watch a kid dance. Both times she left tips and clapped excitedly. It was fucking cute. That was the side of Lila Kate I knew. The innocence that only she made appear beautiful.

  When the white powder from the beignets got all over her hands and shirt, she laughed as if it was the best thing that had happened all day. She dusted it off with ease, and then asked if there were places to go dancing.

  Night had finally started to fall, and it was time to take her to the center of it all. Lila’s wide-eyed wonder as we entered Bourbon Street from Canal Street made me wish I had a fucking camera. Just to remember this. I needed a drink. My head was getting all fucked up. I needed to drink and get shit straight. Not think about taking photos of Lila.

  “We’ll start here and make our way down,” I told her turning into a bar with live music. It was hit or miss with these places. You just had to go in them all until you found the best music. Most of them had the same drinks.

  Lila beamed as we walked into the first bar. It was already crowded; the music playing was old eighties rock. I went directly to the bar. “What do you want?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know. What do you suggest?”

  “You’ve drunk before, Lila.

  “Yes, but I always order the same thing. I want to do something different. Be someone different.”

  “We’re in New Orleans. Why don’t you try a hurricane?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  I wasn’t into drinking the sweet shit, but most girls liked that kind of drink. I ordered a Jack Daniels and a hurricane. The bartender was a female with creamy tan skin and clear blue eyes. The top she was wearing left little to the imagination, and I didn’t mind enjoying the view. When she turned to get my order, she winked at me and although I knew those lashes were fake they were hot. So were her ass cheeks hanging out of the shorts she had on. God, I loved Bourbon Street.

  I glanced back to see Lila Kate studying the place as if she needed to memorize every detail. She was fine, so I turned my attention back to the bartender. She swung her hips as she walked back my way carrying the drinks. “I get off at two,” she said as she slid them in front of me.

  “I’ll remember that,” I replied and gave her a fifty. “I don’t need change.”

  She looked over my shoulder. “The girl with you?”

  “A friend,” I replied.

  “Well, your friend may need some help,” the bartender told me. Snapping my attention off her nipples I could see through the thin fabric of her shirt, I looked around to find Lila Kate.

  Two guys were saddled up beside her doing their pretty boy flirting. She seemed nervous but was smiling and talking to them. When her eyes swung over in my direction, I saw the uncertainty there, and I moved toward her.

  This was going to be a long night. Maybe I should have ordered a double.

  Lila Kate

  “IT’S THE FUCKING clothes,” Cruz muttered to me after he handed me my drink then slipped his arm around my waist and moved me away from the two guys who had been trying to convince me to come to some frat party they were having nearby.

  “What is?” I asked confused.

  “The guys. You dress like that, and you’re gonna have guys swarming.”

  He sounded annoyed. After I had just watched him all but drool over the bartender who might as well have been wearing a bikini. Or heck, topless. I could see through her thin white shirt from where I was and she wasn’t wearing a bra. I looked classy compared to her.

  “There is nothing wrong with my clothes,” I spat back at Cruz. Then took another drink of the delicious concoction he’d gotten me.

  “Skirts too short and you’re showing off your stomach.”

  I spun around and glared at him. “That waitress you were ogling is barely clothed. Her bottom is hanging out of her shorts! And you’re saying I’m not dressed okay? But you enjoyed seeing her naked boobs through that top that is pointless.”

  He scowled. “You’re not like her.”

  What the heck? “You are a pig!” I yelled then stormed past him into the street. I needed my distance because I was tempted to toss this red drink in his face.

  “Lila!” he called out behind me. I kept stalking off. I had no idea where I was
going, but I was going somewhere. “Lila, for Christ sake stop!”

  I ignored him.

  “You’re being dramatic,” he said and I thought about that. Maybe I was a touch sensitive. So I slowed down. This street was packed with people, and as exciting as it seemed it probably wasn’t safe for me to get lost on.

  “All I am saying is you look . . .” he paused and rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. “You look like fucking Snow White has decided to go naughty. Okay? It’s very fucking erotic to see someone who looks like you dressed in something like that. The waitress in there—a guy expects her to dress that way. She looks like a porn star. You look like a Disney Princess dressed up like a porn star, and that is exciting to a man. Don’t ask me why. I can’t explain it. We are all bastards, okay?”

  I studied him letting his words sink in. Then I started to laugh. I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t the drink because I’d barely drank any of it. The way he had just described me was hilarious.

  “Why are you laughing?” he asked, his face frustrated and confused.

  I caught my breath and then laughed some more. He watched me like I had lost my mind. When I could finally breathe enough to form a sentence, I said, “You just called me a Disney Princess porn star.”

  Cruz kept his frown at first, and then he slowly started to grin. “It was the best example I had.”

  I took a sip of my drink. “I don’t look like Snow White.”

  “Yeah, Lila, you do. I once wondered if birds dressed you every morning. I was eight at the time, so it made sense back then.”

  I laughed again. I had to. He was right. The old Lila was very Snow White-like. She was proper, poised, polite. And boring. That was my past though.

  “Okay, I agree. I was very Snow White-like but not anymore.”

  Cruz stopped smiling. “Yeah, I noticed.”

  “Let’s try this again,” I suggested. Then pointed at a bar across the street. “Let’s try there,” I suggested.

  “No way in hell,” he said as he took my elbow. “I’ll pick the place.”

  “What was wrong with that place?”

  “I’m not ready to take you into a topless bar.”

  Oh. “Okay, yeah. You better pick the place.” I agreed.

  “How’s your drink?”

  “Good. Sweet,” I told him.

  “Yeah. Never tried a hurricane. I don’t like sweet,” Cruz said then steered me into another bar with open doors and live music. This time it was more Cajun type music. “I need another drink. You’re coming with me.”

  I followed along beside him, and this time the bartender was a man. However, he also was checking Cruz out. I didn’t blame him. Cruz was something to look at. I just didn’t let myself look at him. At least not for long.

  I scanned the place, watching the people dancing and drank more of my hurricane.

  “Come on, Snow White,” he said once he had his drink.

  We walked over and found a tall table with two empty stools and sat down. The beat was different than anything I had danced to so I watched the people who knew how to dance to that music. I learned quickly. Once I was sure I could do it, I finished my drink.

  “I’m going to dance,” I told him as I stood up.

  “To that? You can’t dance like that,” Cruz argued.

  I wasn’t secure about a lot of things, but I was confident in my ability to dance. Feeling the buzz from my drink, I winked at him then walked out to the dance floor where others were dancing. The song started up and I joined in. The style of dance was easy to pick up, and before long I had forgotten about Cruz, Eli and everything else. I was just having fun. Letting go. Being someone else. Someone who didn’t live the same old everyday life.

  “You from around here?” a guy asked me after a song ended. He was tall with long dreadlocks and big brown eyes. His thick accent told me he was from around here.

  “No,” I replied.

  “Who taught you to dance like that?” he asked looking impressed.

  “I’m a dancer. I watched and learned.”

  “You shouldn’t be dancing alone.”

  I started to say more when the music started back up. He held out his hand and raised his eyebrows as if he was issuing an invitation. I raised mine, and placed my hand in his. I didn’t feel like me at all. I loved it.

  We began dancing together, and before I realized it, everyone else had moved back and given us the center of the floor. I was twirled and dipped, and we moved like we’d done this dance together before. I had no idea what it was called, but I let him lead and I followed. I heard whistles and clapping. It just kept me going. Once the song ended, my dance partner tilted me back and placed a kiss directly on my lips. That startled me.

  I stood up quickly and forced a smile, then turned to walk away, but ran right into Cruz’s arms. He was glaring at my dance partner over my shoulder. “You’re either gonna get me killed or arrested,” he muttered under his breath for only me to hear him. Then he slid his arm around my waist and we left the bar. Back outside and onto the street.

  Cruz Kerrington

  BOURBON STREET HAD always been fun for me. Tonight was more stressful than fun. Why was I so damn overprotective of Lila? I had barely drunk anything. I stopped at the next bar and ordered a double shot of whiskey. I needed to lighten up. Enjoy this. If she wanted to dance with strangers, she could, and I would let her. I hadn’t come to be a fucking babysitter. I wanted to have some fun too.

  “I want something too. No sugar though. Maybe a Goose with soda,” she said over the noise.

  I had caught myself before I asked her if she’d had too much. I was acting like the damn hall monitor again. Instead, I ordered it and handed it to her. Then I walked over to the woman that had shots stuck in her naked cleavage and handed her a twenty-dollar bill. She waved her hand for me to assume the position on the table in front of her, then she climbed on top of me straddling my waist and stuck the shot of whiskey in her tits before leaning down to pour it in my mouth.

  The people around us cheered. After I slugged back that shot I handed her another twenty from my pocket and we did it one more time. The buzz from her large tan breasts in my face mixed with the whiskey had me feeling like myself. I winked at her, and she brushed her almost bare nipple over my mouth while smiling at me wickedly before climbing off me.

  When I stood up, I had to take a moment to steady myself. “You come on back when you want some more,” she said her accent thick and exotic.

  “You keep talking to me, and I might never leave,” I told her.

  She lifted both breasts and shook them at me. Damn, I loved this place. I picked up my drink that was on the table and finished it off. I remembered Lila Kate, but the concern for her safety had eased off a bit. I scanned the area expecting to see her off dancing again with some stranger, but I didn’t see her at all. I was feeling relaxed and more than a little turned on. Not being able to spot her snatched that feeling away real damn fast.

  I looked through the crowd again, but she was nowhere.

  “Your girl left. Don’t think she was a fan of watching you drink from another woman’s boobs.” I jerked my head to the left to see a tall redhead with a disgusted look on her face. “Can’t say I blame her,” the woman said as she pointed at the exit to her right. “She went out there before the second shot.”

  I should have thanked her or corrected her assumption, but I did neither. I hurried for the door Lila had left out of hoping she hadn’t gone far. This street was getting packed already and finding her among all these people and all these bars would be difficult if not impossible.

  I just wanted to have some fun, and she couldn’t let me have it. She couldn’t stay fucking put for a few minutes. Jesus, she was more trouble than I’d anticipated. Her dark hair was the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the bar. She was standing by a street light only a few feet from the bar.

  Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her shoulders slightly bent. Like she wa
s cold and trying to keep warm. That couldn’t be it though because it was hot as fuck out here.

  “Lila!” I called to her. She slowly turned to look at me and then resumed her stance—like she saw me but wasn’t interested in me at all. Or like she was pissed.

  I took the few steps to reach her, ready to ask what the hell she had been thinking coming out here alone. But when I got to her she dropped her arms and kept her gaze on everything and anything but me. “Ready for the next bar?” she asked.

  She was upset. It was in her tone. “Why did you just walk out?” I asked frustrated by this whole scenario. I’d just started enjoying myself.

  “I didn’t like that bar.”

  What? “You don’t like a place so you just leave. You couldn’t wait to tell me?”

  “You were busy.” The sarcasm dripping from her voice wasn’t missed.

  “I was just starting to enjoy myself. Jesus, Lila.”

  She started walking away then. Like she was angry and wanted to get away from me. I’d done nothing wrong. “Then go back in there and have fun. If that’s what you want to do, I have no problem with it.” The tone or her voice didn’t sound like she had no problem with it.

  I reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. “What is with you? Are you pissed that I drank shots from that girl’s tits? That’s what she’s there for. Some of the bars here have a lot more than that. It was tame. I wasn’t hurting anyone.”