Love Roulette

15

Fifteen
MASON

Two years ago

Music thuds through my ears and alcohol drains through my system like a broken floodgate. I'm sitting at a bar in some random sex club that I happened to stumble upon. It's perfect. I can find someone to fuck, no strings attached and forget about what happened to me three months ago. Faking my death to avoid a drug gang, and scaring the living shit out of my family probably wasn't the best idea because I did in fact nearly die.

I don't know how I got out of a burning building, I know for certain I did not pick my ass up and haul myself out after nearly being blown to smithereens. Someone helped me. Because the next time I opened my eyes, I was in some private hospital all bandaged up. I questioned the doctor, about how I had got there but he just gave me an annoying smile and told me not to worry.

It's safe to say I won't be faking my death again to avoid a drug gang who I hope thinks I'm dead or that would have all been for nothing.

You would have thought after experiencing a near-death I would take life more seriously and 'settle down' like my older brother has told me to do. But no. I'm in a sex club, looking for what everyone else in this place is looking for.

Sex.

"Bourbon, please." A deep voice asks the bartender, taking the seat right next to me. I roll my eyes.

"You couldn't have chosen any of the other free seats? You had to choose the one right next to me?" I question the stranger, finally turning to look at the giant fucker who would probably knock me out with one punch. His polite manners do not fit with how he looks. Tattooed- even on the face — and more muscular than my brother-in-law, Phoenix, and that fucker is scary.

But this guy? I wish I had just kept my mouth shut.

When I think he's about to smash a glass around my head, he smiles. My face drops. It's a warm smile, not a 'who the fuck do you think you're talking to, you stupid fuck?' smile.

"You're not going to punch me?" I stupidly question and his eyebrows raise in amusement.

"You want me to?" He smirks and I chuckle shrugging my shoulders.

"I probably deserve it." I pick up the glass and down the rest of my drink. "You're Australian?" I question him, noticing his accent. It's clearly not American.

"And you're British?" He points out and I purse my lips. "I'm Gunner."

He holds his tattooed hand out for me to shake and it takes me a second before I do. His shake is firm but his smile is always warm.

"Mason." I cough covering up the nerves in my voice. This guy is making me feel uneasy.

"Nice to meet you, Mason. So what are you doing here?" I watch him pay for his drink, thanking the bartender with a firm nod, the smile still there. I've already come to the conclusion that he smiles too much.

I scoff. "What every other man is doing. Looking for a quick fuck." I say like it couldn't be any more obvious. And for the first time tonight, Gunner's smile drops — it's now more of a sad one. "You not looking for that?" I turn and nod my head to the bartender to refill my drink.

"I'm looking for a girlfriend." I burst out laughing. Like a full bellow laugh that turns many heads and almost quietens the room. "What's so funny?"

"You do realise where you are, big man?" I question struggling to keep my laugh at bay.

"I know where I am." He nods, observing the area.