Two alphas, One heart.

It has been a few months since Erica had been out on a night out. Spring had just started turning into summer, she had been in hibernation since February. It was never a good time for her, February as it was the anniversary of her father’s passing. He had died to cancer two years previously; she was incredibly close to her father as her mother had passed when she was just 4 years old. Her Mum had passed away in a car accident. Since that time, her dad had started working from home and would not let Erica out of his sight. It was all very difficult when she was a teenager, trying to go out with friends and have boyfriends. Nobody was good enough for her and her dad was sure to make his opinion known, still she loved and missed him every day.

Erica woke up with a start, somebody was hammering at the door. ‘LET ME INNNN’ a loud wine made its way through the letter box. Erica stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching in amusement as Ellie’s lips were nearly suckered through the letter box. Erica snuck up to the door and quickly opened it, Ellie nearly fell through it. That would have been a picture, Ellie’s mouth squashed to the floor. ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ Ellie shouted, stood there looking all proud of herself with a ‘30’ balloon in one hand and a hamper full of wrapped presents tucked under her other arm. ‘Come on then, move to the side and let me in. We’ve got a day full of plans you know!’ Ellie smiled.

Erica sighed and forced a smile, ‘come in’ she said, trying not to yawn. She looked down the driveway and saw Norman the gardener was trimming at the hedges. Erica put her hand up and waved, Norman waved back. Erica was relieved that Norman enjoyed gardening, her Dad had paid Norman to help him as he loved the garden and being outdoors. Norman had retired from the fire service a few years before, and his wife Maureen had been groaning that he had too much time on his hands, Norman was quite happy to have a little job and Erica had offered him a pay rise as this time, he was doing it all himself which he was happy with.

Erica shut the door and walked to the kitchen at the back of her house, knowing that Ellie was probably riffling through her kitchen cupboards. She heard a pop of a corkscrew as she walked into the kitchen. ‘Is it not a little early for Champagne Elle?’ Erica winced, standing there in her silk dressing gown. Ellie made a noise at her as if she felt she was insane, ignoring Erica’s protests Ellie poured a glass of Champagne for Erica. ‘It’s literally 10am, Ellie’ Erica couldn’t help but giggle at her friend’s stubbornness, her zest for life was infectious. ‘So, what’s the plan then?’ Erica braced herself.

Ellie clicked her tongue, with her one hand on her hip and sipping on her champagne in the other. ‘Well, I’m glad you asked’ she replied. ‘We’ve got a day planned! First, shopping, then the spa and my friend Mario is giving you a massage’ she said with a wink, ‘then we’re going out, out’. Ellie slugged down the rest of her drink and grimaced. ‘F*ck*ng hell, I’ve never actually liked the taste of that stuff you know’ and burped.

Erica started laughing, ‘Who is Mario?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. ‘You don’t mean THE Mario…I don’t want your sloppy seconds’ Erica shook her head and screwed her nose up, trying not to think about what Ellie had told her at the Christmas party.

Ellie scoffed, ‘chill, he is very professional’ she wiggled her eyebrows. ‘I’m teasing, he won’t do anything Erica other than work his finely tuned fingers across your back’ she winked again. ‘Right, here, croissant’ she threw a packaged muffin bar at Erica. Erica looked at it, not a croissant but she was not going to bother telling Ellie that. ‘Go and get dressed’ she nodded to the stairs and tipped the bottle, so the Champagne glugged into her glass.

They had spent a day out shopping and at the spa and were just tucking into a curry at Erica’s favourite place. Dev had made her favourite mango curry with saffron rice. ‘So, how was it with Mario?’ Ellie raised her brows at Erica. Erica started laughing looking at Ellie digging for information.

Ellie stabbed her fork into a chip, ‘Well come on then, spill the beans!’ she exclaimed. Erica looked around to make sure nobody was listening. Dev came over and topped their wine up, Erica thanked him and waited for him to give them some distance.

Erica whispered to Ellie, and she looked at her and gave her a high five. Erica knew exactly why Ellie was always having massages by Mario. He was an older man, but he aged like fine wine, and she was right, he was a god with his fingers massaging out any knots in her back. Her back had cracked like a 90-year-old by the time he finished along with other things that she wasn’t going to spill to anybody.

After they had finished their meals, they thanked Dev and paid the bill leaving a nice tip. Ellie flagged down a taxi, they had left their bags at Ellie’s apartment in the city after getting ready at hers. Erica had a little tight black dress on, and embarrassingly, Ellie had insisted on her wearing a ’30 today’ banner around her. Her hair was curled down her back and her nails were freshly painted with red shiny nail vanish. She completed her look with a red clutch and red heels. Ellie was wearing a little sequin jump suit with a half up doo and wedge boots on. Ellie opened the door and let Erica in, ‘to the wolf shack on the high street please’ she said to the driver, he nodded and roared down the road.

Erica looked at Ellie, ‘The wolf shack? Really?! What if Simon is there’ Erica groaned.

Ellie shrugged, ‘It’s your birthday, f*ck that w*nk*r!’ she roared, dancing to the music in the background. Erica took a deep breath and tried to loosen up. If Simon, her wacko ex was there she would just ignore him. They had not ended things well; he was drunk, and Erica was fed up of his b*llsh*t. When he come home from a stag do smelling like somebody’s perfume at 9am in the morning, still p*ss*d as a fart Erica had thrown him out and told him to f*ck himself. She had blocked his number and changed the locks since then and hadn’t seen him since. The wolf shack was his stomping ground with his childish friends.

The taxi pulled up outside the club, a long queue of people was waiting to be let in by the bouncers. Clive was one of the bouncers, he looked like a rough fella, but he was one that was always nice to Erica and Ellie, he had even drove them home on a couple of occasions and unlike some wankers, had not tried it on with either of them. Ellie tipped the taxi driver and waited for Erica to get out the cab. They linked arms and Ellie dragged Erica to the front of the queue, nobody protested but Erica could feel their eyes on them as they moved towards the front. ‘CLIVE, Clive, we’re on the VIP list’ Ellie shouted. Clive looked at his clipboard and nodded, letting them past the queue and into the club. ‘Ah, follow me’ Ellie shouted over the music, the room went dark and strobe lights flashed around the place as the music vibrated around them. Ellie took Erica’s hand and led the way up the stairs.

They got to the VIP lounge and all their friends were waiting in the booth. ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ they shouted as they saw Erica, and all came over to give her a hug and to make a fuss. Three waiters bought over trays of shots, Erica found herself grabbing a couple without thinking and throwing them back. She needed to be very drunk to enjoy tonight and not be a party pooper. Ellie danced with Erica on the dance floor, their friends had found somebody to dance with.

Erica felt herself starting to panic a little as the dance floor become more packed out, a man with dreadlocks had started dancing with Ellie. He looked like a surfer dude, Erica thought maybe that’s what turned him to Ellie due to her predator nature. Ellie couldn’t keep a boyfriend because of her stubbornness and feistiness. She left them in the gutter once she had enough, but if he wanted to try his chances, Erica would enjoy watching the fireworks. ‘I’m going to grab a drink Elle, I’ll see you in a bit’ Erica shouted down her ear and then winked, gesturing to the man she was grinding up. Ellie nodded and winked back at her.

Erica made her way up the steel steps to the VIP lounge; the waiter came over and asked what she would like to drink. Erica ordered in for a whisky on ice. The waiter nodded and strode off to get her drink. Another waiter bought it over on a silver tray. Erica took it and watched over the balcony as people danced and chatted on the floor below. She swirled her whisky and downed it. She noticed something amongst the bodies, two amber eyes appeared to dazzle her as they stood out from the rest. She could make out some features, but the place was dark. Every time the strobe light hit his face, she could see the outline of a chiselled jaw, dark stubble and dark wavy styled hair. His gold chain twinkled almost when the light hit it. She felt her nervousness and tensed muscles relax as she focused on him, her ex was away from her mind. She was intrigued by the mysterious eyes watching her.

Erica noticed he had a lot of female attention but for some reason, he was looking at her. It made Erica feel slightly awkward and weird, so she forced herself to look away when their eyes met. She would keep getting glances when she got the chance from watching over her friends on the dance floor. This man who got her attention had a lot of attention, he had a group of friends with him and almost all the girls in the club were around them like flies, but him and his friends weren’t really paying attention. She watched them move to the bar; she saw he had a big chunky watch on his wrist that looked expensive. He was wearing a tight black shirt that highlighted his fine muscles in his back and chest. His muscular arms looked like they were ready to burst through the seams. Tribal tattoos crept up his arms from his hands. He had a peachy bum in jeans, she felt herself blush as she eyed him up like a piece of candy.

Erica’s attention was taken by a waiter, ‘Erm hm, Ma’am. The gentleman at the bar has asked to bring this to you. He said happy birthday’ the man stuttered. Erica thanked him and put her head down, feeling her cheeks flush red. He got her a whiskey with ice, just how she liked. She looked over to the bar and he was casually standing leaning up the bar and put his glass up to her and gave her a wink. He lifted his drink to her and took a swig. It was the man she had been undressing with her eyes, Erica put her drink up politely and gulped it back. She went to the bar and ordered five shots and another whisky. She felt so embarrassed, she was tempted to go home but didn’t want to ruin the night when Ellie and her friends had gone to so much trouble.

Erica gulped the shots back and the whisky and made her way down the steps to the dance floor. She could feel the man with the amber eyes watching her, his eyes burning into her. She ignored him, he had embarrassed her enough. She made her way to Ellie and felt a hand grab her arm and pull her. ‘Eric…a, Happy birthday bubs’. Erica looked up to see a very drunk Simon. His blonde hair swished over his one eye. He was clean shaven and wearing a crisp white shirt.

Erica pulled her hand away from his grip, ‘F*ck off Simon’ she warned and stomped on his toe when he tried to reach for her again. Erica made her way through the people to Ellie who was still dancing with the dreadlocks guy. Erica felt somebody grab her hips when she got to Ellie, it was Simon again. ‘For f*ck’s sake Simon, get the message’ she shouted, ‘I’m not interested, you are a cheating piece of sh*t!’

Ellie turned and saw Simon; Erica swore she saw her eyes turn red for a second, but she was drunk, and it was probably the lighting. ‘Simon, do you want me to break your f*ck*ng nose. Piss off you wank stain’ Ellie shouted. Erica was stood in the middle of them, trying to get Simon to piss off but also keeping Ellie back as she was like a fired up rabid dog. Meanwhile, dreadlock guy was still clung to her hips without a care in the world. Erica felt herself drift away, overtaken by the most beautiful smell, it was like the smell of pine trees and mint.

She heard a gruff deep voice that sent shivers down her spine. ‘She told you to f*ck off, now go!’ he ordered. She looked up to see amber eyes, she couldn’t believe how handsome he was, how his voice made her think of the most devilish things. Even more handsome that she had seen from the balcony. She felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Simon had got the message, thankfully but all this was too embarrassing and too much for Erica. She had drunk one too many shots, and suddenly mango curry was not feeling like a good idea and there it was, all over amber eyes’ tanned shiny shoes mixed in with whisky and luminous pink shots.

Erica was horrified, ‘Oh f*ck. Sorry’ she said as she looked up at ‘amber eyes’ who was staring down at her. Ellie burst out laughing and grabbed her hand, leading the way to the door. They flagged a cab down after Erica threw up by the lamppost, Ellie took Erica home and stayed the night after struggling to get Erica changed and to bed. Erica was dead to the world, but something inside her had awoken with amber eyes, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Erica had a shower, she managed to get herself dressed to a presentable standard. She took her time down the stairs where Ellie was ready in a red skirt and white blouse. ‘Here, coffee’ she smiled pushing the mug to Erica.

Erica took the handle and held it to her mouth. ‘Oh god, I just remembered what I did last night’ she groaned. ‘He was the sexiest thing I have ever seen, like something out of this world sexy and I puked right on his shoes. What the fuck?’ Erica moaned. ‘Oh god, Simon was there too, wasn’t he?’ Erica looked up at Ellie horrified. Ellie nodded and burst out laughing.

Ellie sat down at the breakfast island next to Erica. ‘Oh my god, it was funny though. He was insanely sexy. I’m surprised you liked him; he isn’t your type. He had that cocky arrogant vibe going on’ Ellie shrugged. ‘Anyways, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we’ve got a lot on at work today. I had to organise your diary as we had yesterday off and you had some time off recently, sor