Chapter 1
“Oh god, not again,” I groaned, wrapping my pillow around my head. When that failed to drown out the erotic noises coming from the bedroom next door, I reached out to by bedside table to turn on the radio. Days Like These by the Foo Fighters filled the air and I cranked up the volume, moaning myself when I saw that it was only 8am. My roommate’s groans and cries of ecstasy had forced me to go to sleep listening to my iPod the night before. Then her cries in the affirmative, yelling to the sex deity, had dragged me from my slumber in the early hours and now this.
I sang along to the rest of the track before grabbing my iPod, stuffing the ear buds in my ears and selecting a track before turning off the radio and venturing out of my room in search of a much needed coffee. “There’s nothing worse than listening to someone else going at it at full volume when you’re getting none,” I muttered to myself as I stomped into the kitchen. I seriously doubted that I could keep up by self-imposed sex ban for much longer if I had to listen to Angel and Chad every night … and morning.
Sipping my coffee and waiting for the caffeine to hit my system, I was drawn to the window by the spring sunshine that was flooding in. As I looked out, I could hardly believe that I was living in Manhattan - in the Upper West Side no less! Excitement coursed through my body and I began to dance around, closing my eyes and surrendering to the pulsing beat that was pumping through my headphones. I gasped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find a rock star standing before me, well, a very small scale rock star with major rock star looks.
“Chad! You made me jump!” I cried, before exhaling loudly.
A grin spread across his handsome face before he gently tugged on my headphone chord to release an ear bud. “Do you want a refill, Issy? I am making one for Angel,” he explained. “Nice moves by the way!”
“Thanks and yes please,” I said, following him in to the kitchen, yawning. “I need the caffeine this morning. Even listening to rock music and dancing isn‘t enough to get me going today.”
“Oh, did you have trouble sleeping?” Chad asked, deftly pouring my coffee. “I guess it takes some getting used to the Manhattan night time noise.”
“Hmmmmm,” I muttered. “Night time noise … you could say that, but I don’t think you can blame Manhattan for the noises that kept me awake last night! Angel on the other hand …”
Chad laughed throatily as Angel appeared - a vision of post coital beauty, her blonde hair was mussed up around her small elfin face - the tell tale signs of a recent orgasm were visible on her cheeks and neck.
“What about me?” she muttered, raising her eyebrows above her baby blue eyes.
Chad drew her to his side and kissed the top of her head. “Issy was just saying how noisy Manhattan is at night,” he said, winking at me.
“What has that got to do with me?” Angel asked, looking puzzled.
I grabbed my coffee, laughed and shook my head.
Angel looked up at Chad questioningly and he raised his eyebrows at her, knowingly. “Ahhhh,” she said, turning to me as comprehension dawned. “Sorry about that Issy. I am just pleased to be reunited with my man!” Chad squeezed his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, a look of complete contentment on his face. “Anyway,” she continued indignantly. “It makes a change for the disturbance to be coming from my room.”
“Yeah,” said Chad, his eyes twinkling. “It makes a change for you to be home all night, alone! What gives?”
I squared my shoulders and raised my chin in indignation. “I don’t know what you are implying.” I said pointedly.
Angel had the grace to stifle a giggle but Chad guffawed loudly which made Angel slap her hand over her mouth in an attempt to stop her from laughing.
“What?” I raised my eyebrows at them. “I am a respectable business woman now and I need to prepare for my big day tomorrow”. I kept my chin in the air and stalked out of the kitchen haughtily.
I just made out Chad’s voice saying, “Bet she gets laid by the end of the day” as I reached my bedroom.
I turned to shout something back but Angel’s reply stopped me. “No, she won’t, she is determined to lay off guys for a while until her new business is established. I think it will do her good”.
My heart swelled to hear her jump to my defense. Yes, there will be no distractions of the male kind, I vowed as sat down in front of my dressing table. I was so determined to make a success of my new interior design company that I had sworn off men indefinitely. Angel’s words of faith further strengthened my resolve. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, noting the slight dark circles around my sleepy green eyes and cursed my pale skin and black hair. I hoped that I would be able to grab some sleep later in the day before Angel and I went along to see Chad’s band play at a club in Queens.