“I’m gonna go get us some drinks,” Rick said. “Go find us a table.”
“I don’t think I’m gonna drink tonight. It’s probably not a good idea.”
“Suit yourself.” He left me standing near the front entrance.
I waded through the crowd, pushing past people as best as I could without disturbing anybody. There was a table outside on the patio, where we could sit and look at the dance floor. Flashing red and blue lights streamed across the room, offering brief glimpses of couples kissing and holding one another. I took a seat and waited for Rick to come back. The mood was infectious, but I wasn’t sure I could really dive into it, not with the way that I was feeling.
Rick came back to the table with a cup of beer so dark it was almost black. “What are you doing just sitting there?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You should dance.”
“By myself?” I asked.
“Why not?”
“Because it’ll make me look like an idiot.”
“Well, at least take a look around. You’re not going to find somebody if you’re staring into space like that.”
“Fuck it.” I got up and walked to the bar, where six bartenders were running back and forth, making one order after the other. It looked like they were trying to suppress a riot. I cut through to the edge of the bar and waited.
Something shifted, and I caught the scent of wildflowers. I looked over to my right. There was a girl—no, a goddess—leaning over the bar. She noticed me, but she didn’t let on. She probably wasn’t interested, but at that moment, I knew I had to have her.
She was tall and blond, with curves in all the right places. From the way she stared straight ahead, I could tell this woman felt as out of place in this club as I did. I wanted to say something, but when I turned back to her, she was gone.
Chapter Six
Zoe
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Chloe over the phone. I had my cell in one hand and was using the other to sift through different outfits.
“I couldn’t be surer. You’ve had a stick up your butt for far too long.”
“Yeah, but we don’t even know those guys.” I pulled out a short red dress. The ruffles were nice, but it made my skin look red, so I moved on.
“It doesn’t matter whether we know them or not. You don’t have to get with them. I just want you to get out and have a little fun.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’ll go.”
“Good, because I’m on my way.”
“You’re what?”
“It’s almost nine. We have to go. Are you dressed?”
“I will be.”
“Well, hurry.”
“I’ll see you in a bit.” I hung up and went back to my closet. Chloe could be a little insistent at times, but she knew what was best for me, even when I didn’t know myself. This was a good idea, but I couldn’t help but feel guilty about it.
I finally decided on a black dress with ruffles that gathered up at the bottom. It was short, tight, and sexy, and it matched my black pumps and cat eye makeup. I felt ridiculous doing myself up like that, like I was putting on a costume or something. I was too old for this.
When I walked out to meet Chloe, she was standing next to her car holding a suspicious looking brown bag. “What is that?” I asked.
“Shooters.” She threw me a tiny bottle of cinnamon liqueur.
“You want me to get drunk before I go to the club?”
“I just thought it might help you open up a bit, you know? Get you excited for tonight.”
I looked down at the bottle. I needed a drink badly. There was no way I was going to waste this. It went down hard and left me with the aftertaste of cheap liquor. Then, it hit my stomach, and I felt a warm glow surrounding me. “Fuck yeah.” I hopped in the car. “Come on.”
“Whoo!” Chloe threw her arm into the air and jumped in. “Party!” She turned the radio on and blasted a pop beat while we made our way downtown.
We pulled up to the club, dancing, clapping, and singing. She handed me another shot before we got out. I took it quick. “How many of those do you have?” I asked.
“Not enough,” she said playfully. “Come on. Let’s go inside. The guys are probably already here.” She got out, and I followed her.
“How do you know? Did they text you?”
“Brandon said that they’d be here around nine-thirty, and it’s almost ten. They probably think we aren’t coming at all.”
“Let’s just see what happens.” I waited across the street for the light to turn red so we could run across. The line at the club was ridiculously long, and it didn’t show any sign of shrinking. In fact, people were coming by the dozens, all of them scrambling to get inside. “Do you think we’ll get in?” I asked Chloe when we got to the back of the line.
“Probably.” She pointed at the front door, where the bouncer was starting to let people inside.
“Good. Let’s just hope the place doesn’t reach maximum capacity. I want a drink.” We moved slowly while Chloe scanned the crowd for the twins. They weren’t outside, so she figured they’d be inside when we went in.
There was no way to tell, though. We had to wait at the entrance just to get through to the bar. I didn’t mind. I was already buzzing, moving around just a bit. Chloe was right. This was a fantastic idea.
Finally, they let us in. I wanted to dive into the dance floor and let the music wash away all of the stress that’d been building up over the years. I earned this. I worked hard, and I was succeeding. There was no reason to worry. At least, not tonight.
Chloe walked off and got us a table while I walked up to the bar. Most of the people there were younger. There were a lot of college students and business interns, along with the usual thuggish rabble that I expected to find in a place like this.
I didn’t fit in. I looked like I did, but I was mature. I’d seen this world. I knew what was going on—people doing coke in the bathroom and screwing each other in the stalls. Oxygen was a shrine to unrepentant indulgence, where people spent their entire check in one night and drank to the point of blacking out. I didn’t want anything to do with that life. It simply wasn’t me. But I did enjoy the music and the glances I got when I walked by the groups of men clustered near the dance floor. It gave me a boost of confidence.
I waited on the edge of the bar while the bartenders worked the crowd. Maybe we should’ve gone somewhere else. I wanted a real man, not an infantile minute man that had no idea what a clitoris was or what it could do.
“Hey.” Chloe walked up behind me. “Have you seen the twins at all?”
“No, have you tried calling them?”
“I want to, but it’s too loud in here.”
“It doesn’t really matter, though, does it?”
“I mean… I don’t like getting stood up.”
“You just want that guy.”
“Who wouldn’t?” She walked back to the table while I waited. There must’ve been at least two dozen people crowding the bar, and most of them were waiting for drinks.
“Hey,” I called out to the bartender. He didn’t seem to notice. “Hey.” He didn’t answer. “Jesus.” I took a seat. There was a man standing next to me. His bright green eyes sliced down my body, and a smile crossed his lips. He wasn’t even trying to play it off. I wasn’t going to give him the time of day, not after he gave me a look like that. I kept my eyes straight and did my best to ignore him, but this wasn’t the kind of man who could be ignored. He was too big, too rough, with five o’clock shadow and his sleeves rolled up to reveal an armful of tattoos. This was a real man.
I could tell that he wanted to say something to me, so I decided to walk over to the other side of the bar where the bartender was pulling a beer out of the fridge. “I need a drink.”
“You’ll have to wait.” He stood up and started to walk away.
“I’ve been here for nearly half an hour.” The bartender sighed and walked away to give a custo
mer their beer. “Wait.” He didn’t turn back. Instead, he leaned in and talked to the girl ordering the beer. “I’m going to kill him,” I said to myself.
“Zoe,” Chloe said, coming up behind me.
“What?”
“Look.” She pointed toward the entrance. “It’s Mr. Beetle.”
“What? No way.” He was there, standing next to the DJ booth, staring directly at me.
“Let’s go.” Chloe grabbed my arm and pulled me outside to the patio. “I think he saw you.”
“He did.” I sat down at a table. Chloe sat down across from me. “What is he doing here?”
“I don’t know. I can’t believe they let him in.”
“Well, they did, and now he knows I’m here,” I said.
“I think we should go somewhere else.” Chloe started to get up.
“I don’t know, Chloe. What about the twins?”
“I could give a fuck about the twins. Right now, I’m worried about you.” Her eyes shifted to something behind me. “All right.” She walked around the table to confront Mr. Beetle, who was standing behind me, sending out waves of body odor. “You need to go.”
I got up. “No, Chloe…”
“No,” she said. “You’re a freak.”
“Chloe, I don’t want to fight with you,” he said.
“Yeah, let’s just avoid a confrontation,” I agreed.
“Thank you.” He turned to me and reached out for my hand. “Will you dance with me?”
“Uh.” I pulled my hand away, and he jumped back, eyes wide.
“Get out of here!” Chloe said.
“Excuse me, sir.” The voice was so deep, it hit me right in the gut. I turned around. It was the man from the bar. The one with the green eyes.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” Mr. Beetle said.
“You think you can just walk up to my girlfriend and start harassing her?”
“Y-your girlfriend,” Mr. Beetle stammered.
“Yup,” Chloe said. “Now get out of here.”
He looked from me to Chloe and finally to the man from the bar, who was staring at Mr. Beetle like he was ready to rush him. “You…don’t want me here?” he asked me.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, as nicely as I could.
“Mmm,” he groaned and stamped off.
“Your girlfriend?” I confronted the man.
“If he thinks you’re taken, he won’t bother you.” The man took a seat. “Besides, you look like you could use some company.”
“Hmm. Well, you did rescue me.”
“And he’s sexy as sin,” Chloe whispered.
“What are you having, ladies?”
“Don’t even bother. You’ll just end up waiting in front of the bar the entire night.”
“My friend got a drink pretty quick.”
“He did?” I asked.
“Yup,” he said. “Hey, Rick.” He called to a man staring at his phone a couple tables away.
“What’s up?” his friend called out.
“Go get these girls something to drink.”
“What’ll it be?” Rick walked up. He was just as rough as his friend with the same straight-backed, military posture.
“Vodka tonic.” I wanted to get drunk.
“Sex on the beach,” Chloe added enthusiastically.
“Coming right up.” Rick turned around and walked back to the bar, leaving us sitting around awkwardly. I didn’t know what to say to the guy. He was too intense, the king of his world. A man like that wouldn’t waste his time on boring conversations. If it didn’t fit his interest, he’d probably just walk away, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to walk away.
“What’s your name?” Chloe asked, cutting through the silence.
“Archer,” he said.
“This is Zoe. She’s here to get as drunk as possible and go home with a sexy guy like you, but she’s too shy to say so. You should hit her over the head with a club and take her back to your cave.”
“Chloe!”
“What? You weren’t going to say anything.”
“That doesn’t… Jesus.” I sat back in my chair. “You’re not getting with me tonight,” I told him.
“I’m not your type?”’
“No, you are,” Chloe interjected. “She’s just stubborn and uptight because she forgot what it means to have fun.”
“Chloe.” I tensed up. “Why don’t you go talk to Archer’s friend?”
“Is he taken?” she asked.
“No,” he said, laughing. “He’s kind of a lone wolf.”
“Good.” She walked off, her hips moving to the music.
“You’re not going to ask me to dance, are you? I have two left feet.”
“I have three,” he said, a little playfully.
“Thank God.”
He leaned in, suddenly serious, with his eyes trained on mine. My stomach jumped. “Tell me.” His voice was soft and dark, like hot fudge. “Are you really here to meet somebody?”
“No,” I said.
“Good, cause I like a challenge.”
A man like him would never accept no for an answer. I was powerless to stop him, and he knew it. He just wanted to play with me before he took me home, like a cat that lets a mouse get far enough away to make them think they’re safe before the cat pounces on top of them.
“Where are our drinks?” I asked. He was so close, less than two feet away, giving me a wicked grin.
“Look.” He pointed to something behind me. Rick and Chloe were walking up, both of them holding shots of something clear and dangerous looking.
“We should make our escape,” he said.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Wait, what do you mean by escape?”
“You’re coming home with me,” he said. “Maybe we could do it sooner rather than later.”
“I like to draw it out a little bit, take my time, you know?”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“Here.” Chloe handed me a shot that smelled like rotten vomit.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Not tequila.”
“It’s on special,” Rick said.
“Fine.” I grabbed the shot and waited for everyone else to take one. Archer waved his away.
“To partying.” Chloe lifted her shot glass.
“To partying.” I clinked mine against hers and Rick’s.
As far as I was concerned, there was nothing in this world that was quite as disgusting as tequila. It went down slow, snagged my gag reflex, and hit my stomach hard. I had to hunch over just to keep from getting sick.
“God, I hate that stuff.” Rick slammed his shot glass down and grabbed his beer. “Come on,” he said, motioning for Chloe to go dance with him.
“I want you gone by the time I get back,” she told me. “And don’t come back until you’re good and happy again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and walked off.
“No, I think you are,” Archer said in my ear.
I was, and he knew it.
“You’re a little cocky; you know that?”
“Do you like cocky men?” he asked.
“Depends on how big they are.”
I could smell his cologne when he moved closer, like fresh, good leather with a hint of pine. He was so close now that I could feel the heat coming off his body. It was like standing next to a white-hot flame. Then he leaned in closer, his rough cheek brushed mine, and he whispered into my ear. “You wanna find out?”
That did it. “Let’s go.” I stood up.
“Nice.”
I let him wrap his arm around my waist as he led me through the crowd and out into the street. He pulled out his phone.
“Are you calling a cab?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “I’m calling my driver.”
“You have a driver? Are we going to a mansion?”
“Yes,” he said.
“You know what? No. I’m going back inside.”
He grab
bed my wrist when I turned around. “Look.” He pointed at a black sedan pulling around the corner. I’d never seen the model before. It looked custom made, something that only the richest of the rich could afford.
“No way.”
“Yeah, come on.” He waved the driver down, and the car stopped in front of the club. Archer opened the passenger door for me. There were TV screens embedded in the back of the front seats. “Are you coming?”
I didn’t even notice that I was gawking. “Uh.” I shook my head, still shocked. “I guess.”
“Good,” he said.
I got in and took a seat next to him. “You’re not a drug dealer or anything, are you?”
“No,” he said. “I’m much worse than that.”
“What do you mean?” I pulled away to get a look at him.
“Maybe I’ll tell you sometime.”
“Well, I want to know what I’m getting myself into.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“I haven’t done this in years.”
“Neither have I,” he said. I sat up to get a look at him. His eyes were red and droopy, and his head was low. I was entering this man’s world without any idea what that would mean, and it frightened me. It also excited me. My whole life was based on safety and stability. I didn’t take risks.
“Tell me something about yourself,” he said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Anything.”
“I have a bakery just a couple blocks away from the club.” It was the only thing I could think of to say.
“Hmm, sounds nice.”
“It isn’t. It’s terrible, honestly, but it was my dream, so I’m not giving up on it.”
“You’re ambitious.”
“Definitely. My pastries are going to become a household name.”
“You know,” he said, moving away to look me in the eye. “I almost believe you.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. I know what it takes to become successful. I see it so much I can smell it. You have something.”
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure I believed him. I was struggling to hold things together, but I needed that reassurance. “Are we really going to a mansion?” I asked.
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