Take Me Home Tonight (Wild Nights Book 1) Read online

  Contents

  5 p.m

  6 p.m

  7 p.m

  8 p.m

  9 p.m

  10 p.m

  11 p.m

  Midnight

  1 a.m

  2 a.m

  3 a.m

  4 a.m

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by Trista Jaszczak

  This is for every time that I have had a crazy string of events happen to me that have made me side eye the universe.

  I have learned to love my wild nights…if anything for the laughs.

  5 p.m

  I’ve been planning this trip for weeks, months if I’m being completely honest. My friends and are traveling from Ithaca to New York City for the biggest Halloween bash that we could dream up. Since all of us are turning thirty next year we really wanted to end our twenties with one big ass bang. Halloween in New York City seemed like just the thing for us.

  We’ve planned the weekend to a tee. We leave Ithaca by three or so and hit our hotel in NYC around seven, eight at the latest. We would get in our costumes, get dolled up, and hit one club after the next. Just me and my two best friends hitting up the big city.

  Today around lunch time though, my boyfriend of four years thought it best to inform me that he’s been cheating on me for about a year. In a fucking text message no less. I have to seriously wonder who in their right mind thinks that it’s okay to end a relationship through a text message. In my honest and humble opinion he wasn’t man enough because he knew I would probably try to beat the ever living life out of him. I had this vision in my head that one day I would marry Jonah. In some sick and twisted little dream, the man I had been dating for four years would be my husband. I had somehow pegged the man, who was more like a teenage boy, as my future husband. Nope. Not even close. Instead he broke my heart via text message for some selfish, ugly cow named Paige.

  You may actually think that I’m being harsh by calling her that, but I actually have gotten to know this girl - I refuse to call her a woman - she’s a selfish, two-faced snot who only looks out for herself. It’s sad. I know that I shouldn’t judge, but I’m at least entitled to a little bitch-fest, right? What’s that old saying? “Once a cheater, always a cheater?” I have a feeling that Paige will be getting a nice, cold dish of payback served by Karma sooner or later.

  Needless to say, my mind is everywhere but the New York City trip. I had serious plans of bowing out gracefully so that I could burn the mattress that Jonah and I once shared. Since we’d been planning it for so long my friends refused to let me back down. They kept telling me that I needed the time away from Ithaca, away from Jonah, away from Paige…away from life.

  So, here we are…burning our hard earned money on a limo to New York City while we sip cocktails on the way. Honestly, it feels damn good. And that’s just not the booze talking. I haven’t had much time with my two best friends. We all work and have lives that have gotten out of hand. We hardly have time for one another. We’ve all been upset by that and that’s one of the things that sparked the trip to NYC to club hop. Well, that and turning the big three-oh. Thirty feels…well, not really old, but not really an age that you bar hop either. Come to think of it, twenty-nine isn’t really an age that you bar hop but we figure if we’re turning thirty soon then we all need to end our twenties with one big, fucking bang and hoorah.

  Jonah ending our relationship has made me feel like I’ve spent the last four years of my life just wasting away so I fully intend on making the best out of this. I am going to end my twenties with a bang alright. Me, Ember Ross…I am going to raise a little hell on this Halloween!

  Lucy, one of my oldest friends, leans back into the limo seat, crossing her legs as she chugs the last of her drink. If she keeps up like this she is going to be completely tanked by the time we do reach New York City and we’ll have to carry her up to the hotel and just leave her there while Cindy and I hit the clubs.

  She licks the alcohol off her plump lips and gives her dark, wavy hair a little flip, “You know why I hate Jonah?”

  Lucy has honestly disliked Jonah for the last few years of our relationship. Come to think of it, she’s never really said why. Then again, I’ve never really asked her. Jonah always had an attitude towards Lucy and Cindy and he made it quite clear that he resented that I hung out with them when I could. He always grumbled something about it taking time away from him. I do remember her once saying that he was too needy and too controlling. Maybe that’s it, maybe that’s the big reason that she dislikes him. I let out a little sigh and give her a little shrug. I have to admit that I am curious to hear her reasoning now.

  Her hazel eyes flicker with a little madness as her lips curl into a wide grin, “Because he’s a dick. He’s always been a dick.”

  I giggle at her logic. I guess isn’t exactly a secret that Jonah was kind of an asshole but hearing someone call him a dick out loud makes me a little warm and tingly inside. It sounds harsh of me, but hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, right? Besides, I have every right to be upset. This is how women deal with break ups. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. I’m trying not to let it eat me alive, I’m trying to see some humor in it, and trying to see Jonah as the jerk that he is as I delude myself about the entire situation.

  “No, seriously Ember, the dude was a pig.”

  “And now he has a cow,” Cindy laughs.

  I laugh and have another sip of my drink. “No matter. What’s done is done, he can have the bitch. Karma will bite them both in the ass eventually. Probably sooner than later.”

  “I hope we get to see it happen.” Cindy says, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I would record that shit and put it on YouTube.”

  “You and me both,” I admit.

  “Enough about fucking Jonah. I hope his dick shrivels up and falls off,” Lucy smiles. “What are we doing tonight, where are we going? We need a plan.”

  “First we need to get to the hotel and you need to slow up on the drinks,” I smirk.

  Cindy laughs as she pushes her dark hair from her face. “We don’t need you getting sloshed before we even go out.”

  Lucy makes another face at us. We hardly get to go out so it’s no wonder that she’s cutting loose the way she is. None of us are drinkers to begin with so I imagine she’s really feeling the few that she’s had. Which is why she’s being so open about Jonah.

  “You’re four drinks in, keep that up and we’ll be carrying your ass up to the suite.” I laugh, giving my head a shake.

  Cindy shakes her head. “We can just find the hottest bell boy and make him carry her ass up to the room.”

  Lucy sticks her tongue out at us and I glance at my cell phone for the time. It’s a little after five p.m. Our driver said that if we’re lucky we should get to our hotel by seven or so. That means we’ll head up to our suite, order room service and stuff our face as we get ready. If we’re good then we could be out and about by no later than nine p.m. I smile to myself. Tonight will be the best night of my life, I can feel it. Tonight I will be bold, I will be daring. I will do things that I have never done and thought I would never do. Tonight is my night.

  6 p.m

  I loathe long car rides and right now I feel like we’ve been in this limo for days. Okay, we’ve only been on the road about three hours and I shouldn’t be complaining because we did pool the money to get a limo to and from New York City, but I am beginning to get a little antsy. Judging by the way Lucy and Cindy are starting to fidget in their seats, I’m not the only one. I think we’re all ready to be at the hotel, getting ready as we stuff our face full of food that we’ll ne
ver admit that we’ve eaten.

  Lucy is excited about her costume because for once is her life she is “slutting up,” as she’s called it. She has chosen a not-so-modest police officer costume. Cindy has decided to go with the naughty nurse. I’m the only one feeling a little off as I’m dressing as a gypsy. While it is completely sexy it isn’t one that I feel we’ll be seeing a whole lot of tonight.

  Believe me when I say that Lucy, Cindy, and I would never dress like this, even on Halloween. We’re all…conservative…but since we’re planning to make tonight huge we figured we’d go for broke. All or nothing.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with my hair?” I hear Lucy as she looks at Cindy and me completely clueless as she twists up a wad of her long and thick dark brown hair.

  “You’re a cop,” I tell her, “we can just straighten it and put your hat on.”

  Cindy nods in agreement as she starts fiddling with her own hair. Hair questions are always on me, never fails. Not that I mind. I actually love it. I’m a stylist and have my own salon back in Ithaca. I’ve been doing hair for about ten years now. My salon, Raven Lunatic, is actually a bigger hit than I ever expected. I’ve mixed a salon with a modern art gallery. Kind of an odd combination, but I offer a place for local artists to display and sell their work. It livens up my salon and makes for some interesting conversations.

  Although, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m only ten percent stylist and ninety percent therapist. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that I’ve heard from people in my town. Another reason why I know so much about the cow Paige. People talk and I listen. That’s how being a stylist works, I suppose. I can’t say that I blame people though. I wouldn’t be able to hold in most of what I’ve heard.

  It’s natural for people to want someone to listen after all. Which is why I vent frequently to Lucy and Cindy. It’s just human nature. Even with all the town gossip I still love my job and wouldn’t trade it for anything. At least people are comfortable with me enough to tell me secrets.

  “Can you do something with my mop, too, Em?”

  I nod, trying to envision her little nurse’s cap. “I can do something curly, style your hair around your little cap.”

  “What are you doing to yours?” Lucy asks. “You’re still dressing as the sexy gypsy, right?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s as sexy as either of yours but it’s different, I guess. I was just going to curl it, give it some volume, and wrapping that bandana around it.”

  “Men will fucking drool over you,” Cindy smiles, “you don’t need fucking Jonah when you’ll have the men of New York fucking City at your every beck and call.”

  I laugh so hard that I nearly snort. “I’m not exactly counting on meeting any men tonight but what I am counting on is having one hell of a fucking time in New York City with my two best friends.”

  “Well, we can give you that,” Lucy says, pushing her hair from her eyes. “The men will just be a bonus.”

  “I’m willing to make a bet that our sexy little gypsy here is lucky enough to meet a tall, sexy stranger.” Cindy tells us, wiggling her eye brows.

  “Oo!” Lucy hoots, “what if he’s dressed as Iron Man?”

  Cindy’s hazel eyes grow wide as she makes a face and shakes her head, “Maybe if he’s fifteen. No, what if he’s a vampire?”

  Lucy immediately shakes her head, “too overrated. Firefighter?”

  Cindy laughs, “The gypsy and the firefighter. He can take you back in the bathroom and show you how to work the hose.”

  I burst into laughter. “You two are absolutely fucking crazy. I am not taking some man that’s dressed as a firefighter into any bathroom and fucking him.”

  “You say that now…” Lucy’s voice trails as she raises her eye brows.

  “I say that now because I mean it!” I laugh. “Not now, not ever. Nope. Not happening. Bathrooms are disgusting anyway.”

  “I think it’s fucking hot,” Lucy says. “Think about it. You and some sexy stranger going at it all alone in the bathroom. It’s a rush.”

  I make a disgusted face. “In the bathroom? People shit in there.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Cindy says, “people do it all the time.”

  “Maybe according to Cosmo. This is the real world. People don’t just see each other from across a bar, have a drink together, and then end up having mind blowing sex in the bathroom.”

  Cindy and Lucy both laugh but they have to know that I’m right. People don’t actually do that, do they? I know that there are still one night stands, but in a bathroom? Call me sheltered, tell me that I spent too much time with Jonah, but I guess that I’m in the dark. Hell, I haven’t been on a fucking date in ages. Jonah and I just got too comfortable with each other. We got comfortable and just stopped trying. It’s both of our faults really. Even if we didn’t grow comfortable and boring, I could not imagine rushing to any bathroom for a quick fuck. I shake my head and let out a little aggravated noise.

  “Come on, you two can’t really believe that stuff like that ever happens.” I twist up my face and scrunch my nose. “People just don’t run off to the closest bathroom for a quick and passionate romp.”

  Their silence stuns me as they both nod.

  “Well, if I end up fucking some firefighter in the bathroom you two will be the first to know, but I can assure you that it will never happen.” I raise my eyebrows, “On a side note…why does he have to be a firefighter? Really? Isn’t that just a little cliché?”

  “It would be spontaneous and fun!” Cindy beams, as she grabs my shoulders. “Not to mention, firefighters are fucking sexy.”

  “You do realize that there are all sorts of diseases floating around in this world, right?” I say making a face. “You can’t just trust some random person and think they’re clean just because they’re hot.” I give my eyes a little roll. “I hate to burst your little firefighter bubbles, but have you seen some of the guys who work for the departments in Ithaca?” I make another face and laugh.

  “True…true, you’re absolutely right. I have seen the guys who work for Ithaca and I get what you’re saying. As far as diseases go you have an even better point. Which is why if any of us decide to do something insane, I brought us protection to bring.” Lucy tells us with a bright, wide smile.

  “You brought us a box of condoms?” I ask, shaking my head, laughing.

  “I sure as hell did and some tasers too.”

  “Please for the love of God, tell me that you didn’t really bring tasers with you?”

  “I sure as hell did, three of them,” Lucy tells us. “People are shady as fuck out there and you don’t know who’s a nutter butter. I wanted to make sure that we’re all safe so I took precautions.”

  I begin laughing uncontrollably. “You want me to have sex in the bathroom with a fucking firefighter but you’re giving me a taser. Lord, just get us through tonight in one piece.”

  “Come on!” Cindy says. “No negative thoughts. Tonight will be the best night ever. We will take Lucy’s condoms and her tasers and go out to every club we can find. We will have the best fucking night ever. It will be a Halloween we will never fucking forget.”

  “I’ll drink to that!” Lucy says, moving to open the limo’s mini bar.

  I let out a laugh. I was just dumped by my boyfriend of four years. I have two of the best friends a woman could ever ask for. What have I really got to lose?

  7 p.m

  As our driver promised we arrive at the hotel a little after seven. Not bad if you ask me. I’m pretty sure we were speeding the entire way there but who am I to judge? The city is packed shoulder-to-shoulder and even our hotel seems to be overflowing with people. Needless to say, the hustle and bustle is a bit overwhelming for three Ithaca girls. Overwhelming, but exciting.

  My stomach feels alive with butterflies. I can’t wait to get ready and get out on the town. You would think that being from Ithaca that I have been to New York City at least once in my life. Not q
uite. This is my first trip and the anticipation of seeing the city, seeing something new and exciting, is burning inside of me.

  As we check into our suite I can’t help but think about what Lucy said. Not the sex in the bathroom part, but meeting a stranger part. It’s Halloween! Anything can happen on Halloween, right? It’s the one night a year where you don’t have to be yourself. You can be anyone or anything. I can be that gypsy that’s wild and free, without a care in the world. Lucy, can be that sexy cop that’s bossy, demanding, and wants things her way. Cindy, well she could be the naughty nurse and put some man to bed. I stifle a little laugh as a scribble my name on the registration document and thank the man behind the desk as he passes me our little key cards.

  I hear Cindy squeal. She sounds as excited as I am.

  “Okay,” Lucy starts, “we have got to get into the suite, start getting changed, and order some room service.”

  I nod in agreement. “I’m starving though. I can’t go out and drink like a mad woman on an empty stomach.”

  “Something tells me that we’re not going to want to stop at some diner for food,” Cindy adds, jabbing the elevator button. “Besides, all the really good places may not have their kitchens open too late.”

  The elevator dings open and we’re greeted by an overly cheery elevator operator whose smile seems to be frozen in place. Poor guy. He almost looks miserable and bored out of his mind. I know I would be bored as hell if my one job was to ride up and down in an elevator all day. The music alone would drive me fucking loopy.

  “Top floor, please,” I say.

  He gladly pushes the button and returns to stand with his hands folded neatly in front of him. I’ll be the first to admit, he is adorable though. He looks no more than twenty-five, but if you ask Cindy and Lucy they will be more than happy to tell you that I suck at playing the age game. I see Cindy staring at the young elevator operator from the corner of my eyes. I hide a little giggle as she nudges me to look at him. Alright, so he’s cute, what good does it do us? Obviously the guy is hard at work. I give my head a little shake, mouthing the words, “stop it” to her. I feel Lucy give me another little nudge, this time nearly making me lose my balance. I mouth for her to quit and give her a playful push away from me.