“Yeah, there’s a club down the street that’s supposed to be pretty good, the owner is one of Sam’s friends. He can get us in.” Drew quickly gulps down the last of his drink and Dana has already finished hers.
I’m definitely not too eager about this plan. What will get me out of this? Tired? Dinner already planned at home with Mom? There is paint I have to watch dry? As I try to think of a good excuse I see Joel pick up his drink and down it in one shot.
“Sounds great to me.” He looks at me expectantly now and I gaze back silently, my thoughts scrambling to keep up.
What is he doing? What is he up to?
“I guess, maybe we can check it out.” Clubs and I don’t really mix, but I feel pressure from both Joel and Dana to say yes. I, too, finish my drink off and we all get up to leave. Joel’s hand lightly touches my back as he makes room for me to pass him and it takes my breath away.
That definitely needs to stop happening.
Chapter Four – The Club
The club is busy, even given the early hour, and the music is loud with heavy bass running through it. It vibrates through me and helps distract from the nerves I’ve been fighting since Joel took hold of my hand outside of MAY.
We manage to find a free table where Dana and I sit on the stools, waiting for the boys to bring back some drinks.
I feel out of place with all the women around us who are wearing a lot less than Dana and I. I have a black fitted shirt on that doesn’t show any cleavage, and a loose skirt that goes down to my knees. Dana is wearing black pants and a knit tank top. We look old. It’s too late to change, though, and impossible to go back in time in order to remember to bring an extra set of clothing suitable for a place like this, so I try to push what we’re wearing to the back of my mind.
I glance down at the jacket resting over the stool next to me and it makes me smile. Joel took his jacket off and his tie as soon as we came in. I had to bite my lips shut to stop drool from coming out. His white, fitted shirt shows off his obvious muscles underneath and I mentally berate myself when I imagine myself undressing him. No matter how much of a jerk he is being, something about him keeps drawing me in. My instincts are conflicted about what I should be doing and I think I need to trust Dana. It has been a while since I’ve been in this situation. Maybe I’m just scared of putting myself out there in case I get hurt.
Dana leans into me, her mouth close to my ear just so I can hear her. “I think he likes you.”
I lean back to see if her expression displays sarcasm.
“I’m going to kill you,” I reply instead of denying it. All that’ll get me is a lecture about how “amazing I am” and how I “always sell myself short”.
“At least wait to fill me in on the juicy details after tonight before you do. I want to hear everything.” She winks at me and leans away just as the boys find their way over to us.
Joel places a cocktail down in front of me and I make a point of thanking him this time. He sits down on the stool next to me and then moves it forward so we’re close enough that our legs touch. My eyes immediately gravitate over his legs then up to his chest and I have to sit on my hands to stop from reaching out to touch him.
I need to get a grip. I feel like a horny teenager.
“So have you come here before?” he asks me, his hand purposely brushing over my thigh, or at least, I think it’s on purpose.
I take a large gulp of my drink before answering him. “No, this isn’t really my thing,” I say honestly as I lean into him to be heard. I look down his neck and see his shirt has pulled away from his neck and I’m able to see down to the undershirt he’s wearing beneath. I’m suddenly desperate for him to take his shirt off and I lean away from him as heat flushes my body. Unfortunately he follows me back, keeping the close distance between us, and his warm breath tickles my neck as he speaks to me.
“This isn’t really my thing, either.”
He’s agreeing with me? We have something in common?
“So, you’ve never been here?” I ask.
He hesitates and I lean back to watch him wince slightly, his eyes drifting to the beer in his hands.
“Actually I have been here once before, with Candice.” He speaks like I should know who that is. Is it rude of me to pry and ask who Candice is?
“Who’s Candice?” I blurt, not giving myself time to back out of asking.
He laughs at me and rests his hand over my thigh, this time leaving it there. He leans in towards me again. “One of the infamous blonde fakes,” he answers and I instantly lean away from him. I remember hearing the rumor that he’s dating one of them and now I know it’s true. Why is he here with me then?
I nod, not sure how to answer him and then I glance over at Dana and Drew. They’re leaning towards one another, much like Joel and I were, and they’re both smiling while they speak to each other, or more likely flirt with one another.
“It was the most boring night of my life. We stayed for an hour and then I told her I had an emergency and left,” he admits, needing to talk loudly for me to hear him since I have shifted to my side so he can’t easily lean into me.
I don’t know what to say to that because I don’t really know why he’s here with me.
“How long have you known them?” Joel points at the lovebirds, changing the subject. They look like they’re about to start kissing and I really hope they don’t. This is awkward enough.
“Too long.” I inwardly groan when they do start kissing, and not an innocent kiss, but an intense one that leaves little to the imagination as to what they might be getting up to tonight. I look away from them and curse Dana for putting me in this position. “We all went to school together,” I explain, grateful when I notice his gaze hasn’t left mine. I try to look away from him, but my eyes lock onto his and I stare into his deep blue eyes, finding myself mesmerized by his interest in me. I notice the song changing, yet time slips away quickly and my eyes won’t shift from his.
Dana’s arm comes around me and I’m horrified to realize I just lost myself staring at Joel. How long did I space out for? Did he notice that? Why is he still staring at me carefully? I’m honestly not that interesting.
“We’re heading to the dance floor, come join us,” she says to me, her eyes pleading with me.
“Later.” I smile at her while hoping things might be less awkward without them making out in front of us.
I watch both her and Drew disappear and I jump when Joel’s hand touches my hand gently.
“Do you want to dance?” he asks me and I shiver at the pleasure that moves through me when his breath touches my neck again. He’s moved his stool so he’s next to me again.
I shake my head. No way am I going to make a fool of myself; well, more than I already have in front of Joel.
“Come on; just one dance?” He trails his fingers slowly up my arm and I don’t even realize I’m nodding at him until he takes my hand and pulls me up off the stool.
I don’t get a chance to protest as I’ve lost my ability to speak when he pulls me against him and wraps his arms around me, moving us backwards into the surrounding crowd. I rest my hands on his chest and then as he pulls me closer I move my hands up around his neck and try to ignore what his body is doing to mine. I know if he removes his arms from around me my legs won’t be able to hold me up. I smell a waft of his cologne and it overwhelms me.
His hand travels up my back and he moves it to my neck then to the front of my chin where he forces me to look up into his eyes.
“You’re beautiful; you know that, right?” he says and I fear I’ve had my drink spiked.
“You smell really good,” is my reply. Now I know I’ve had my drink spiked. Did I seriously just say that?
He smiles down at me then leans towards me and closes the distance between my lips and his. He’s gentle at first and my mind goes into overdrive as my instincts try to punch me in the guts with the urge to run away from him. I even move my hands down to his chest, ready to push him a
way, but then the kiss changes. It grows more urgent and his tongue slips into my mouth. He tastes so good that all thoughts of running away leave me. My hands instead grip his shirt roughly and I pull him closer to me, opening my mouth even more for him as I lose myself to him.
When he pulls away from me, I’m struggling to breathe and my body is flush against his.
“What are you doing to me, Zoe?” he whispers to me. I want to say the same thing to him. What is he doing to me?
We sway to the music together; his arms stay firmly around me the entire time and his eyes never stray from gazing down at me. His look gives me shivers and I glance at his lips, hoping he might kiss me again. He leans down and I hold my breath, waiting for him to kiss me, but his lips move to my ear instead. “This is going to sound weird, but I feel like I know you from somewhere.”
“Could it be from work? I think we might work in the same office,” I joke, loving that I feel his smile against my neck. He’s leaning into me and he kisses my neck briefly—too briefly—before he pulls away and moves back to my ear again.
“Smart ass. No, I’m serious. I dreamt about you before I even started to work at Nanbrook,” he admits.
“Really?” I should probably feel curious about this or maybe even flattered, but I don’t. I feel dread over it and I’m not sure why.
“Yeah, I’ve had the same dream every night since.” He pulls away from me and frowns this time.
“What happens in it?” I feel another urge to run again. I stop moving to the music and he stops, too. We’re just standing still in the middle of the dance floor.
“I don’t want to freak you out.” He looks away from me and I feel his arms loosen around me.
Too late for that. “You won’t, I promise.” He looks back at me, his eyes gazing into mine and I think he’s searching for something. I don’t know what, though.
“You get shot,” he whispers, but I manage to hear his words loud and clear.
My legs drop out from under me and I fall to the floor. My hand is stomped on by a high heel instantly, but I don’t feel the pain.
Joel quickly takes hold of my arms and pulls me up, leaning me against him as he drags me away from the crowd and over to our table. We have left our drinks unattended there and Joel’s jacket is still on the stool, so no one has moved to take the table over.
He sits me down on the same stool I vacated earlier and stands between my legs, causing my skirt to ride up. His hands hold each side of my face carefully.
“Are you okay?” He’s worried and I feel numb from his touch.
“Who shot me?” My mind replays my own dream in my mind. I wonder if Joel has the same ability as I do. I wonder if he can see the future, too. If he can, then I’ve just had my dream confirmed. I’m going to die. Next Saturday I’ll be murdered.
I shake, my body is going into shock and tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just a stupid dream,” Joel rushes to say.
“You had it before you met me?” I ask, already able to recall those were his words.
“Just forget I said anything. I’m sorry.” His hands caress my face gently. “My dreams are always messed up; it’s been this way my whole life. When my parents were killed a couple years ago, they got worse. It doesn’t mean anything, I promise.”
I try to take in his words, but I can’t. I know without a doubt that my dream is coming for me and there isn’t anything I can do to stop it.
“I’m feeling a bit sick. I think I might just—”
“Don’t go, please, don’t go,” Joel begs me. I know that he won’t leave me alone. Not when I’ve just reacted this way to his words.
“—go to the toilet,” I lie, fully intending to leave as soon as I’m out of view of him. “I’ll be back.” I quickly move off the stool, taking my bag from the ground that was hidden under the table. I don’t give him a chance to argue and I don’t give him a second look. I let the crowd around me suck me up and I practically run to the exit.
I see my bus pull up down the road and I sprint after it while trying to ignore the freezing cold outside and wishing I hadn’t left my coat with Sam at MAY’s, saying I would be back to pick it up later. I just make it to the bus before the doors close and I jump on, not looking back to see if Joel followed me through the crowd to realize I left.
I sit down towards the back and search my bag. I find my cell and send Dana a quick message to let her know I’m okay and on my way home. I don’t want her to worry about me.
I’m distracted the entire drive home, my panic building inside me until I can barely breathe properly. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do and I know I’m stuck in this alone. I have to figure this out and I only have a week to decide what to do.
Chapter Five – The Week Off
Sunday April 1st
My questions don’t stop all weekend and I decide if I’m in fact going to die on Saturday, then I’m not going to be spending any more time working. I haven’t taken a single holiday since I started working for Nanbrook & Associates and that isn’t right. If I’m going to die, then I’m going to be well rested.
I stay in my pajamas all weekend and ignore every call. I’m sure all of them are for Mom, but in case one is for me, I ignore it. I don’t feel like talking. Mom picks this weekend to run her feet off working and I don’t see her once. Although I do feel guilty that I’ve missed finding time to spend with her.
I try to write down some words to her, however I find I don’t know what to say. Even writing something to Dana doesn’t seem right. If they get a letter from me, then they’ll know I have seen this coming. How can I explain that to them? How can I explain about my dreams?
When I first met Dana, she had been heavily Christian and her favorite book to read, or at least try to read when we were six, had been the Bible. I had mentioned to her early on about seeing the future and she told me that was evil, that it’s impossible and I couldn’t be her friend if I was evil. I was too afraid to tell her that I hadn’t been lying when I said that and I learned to keep the truth to myself. Dana isn’t very religious anymore, yet deep down, I’m still afraid that she’ll think I’m a freak; that she’ll reject me. Even if I did tell her now, it won’t really work, either.
I do trust her to eventually accept me, but I can imagine the questions I would get. One being, why have I kept it a secret for so long? If I’m going to be killed, do I want her thinking that I haven’t been able to trust her and that I’ve been keeping something from her? Do I want her wondering what else I kept from her? There isn’t anything else about myself that Dana doesn’t know, but I won’t be here to assure her of that. She’ll be alone with those fears and feelings of betrayal. She can’t ever know, not now. So every letter I begin, I get stuck on until I just give up. I can’t give Mom or Dana closure.
I pick up the phone downstairs while I wait for the toaster to pop up my bread and dial in Mom’s work number. She picks up straight away, usually I get her receptionist, but on a Sunday Mom must have to answer her own phone calls.
“You’ve reached the office of Ruth Holloway. Ruth speaking.”
“Hey, Mom.”
“Zoe, dear, is everything okay?”
I hear a rustling of pages and I easily picture Mom searching through manuscripts. Mom has never been able to put her full attention on just one thing, myself included. She’s always trying to do a million things at once.
“Everything is fine, Mom, I just wanted to ask you if we could do dinner this week.”
“This week? I’ve got four deadlines to collect this week, sweetie, and one of my authors is already dodging my calls which is not a good sign. If only they were all like Donna, she was an angel.”
Donna is Dana’s Mom. Mom works at a publishing house and it’s how I met Dana. Her Mom published a self-help book many years ago and Mom helped it happen. Dana and I would have play dates while they had meetings and then we ended up both starting at the same sc
hool. I think that’s why Dana is so in love with reading, she got the love from her Mom.
“It’s just, I wanted to see you for my birthday.” I hope I can at least get one last meal in with Mom. It feels wrong to not see her.
“Oh, of course, sweetie. I’m sorry. How about Saturday night?”
Saturday is the night of my birthday. What if I’ve been killed by then?
“I was thinking maybe Friday? Or Thursday?”
“I’ve got meetings every night this week. Are you planning a party for this Saturday? You know you can always have one at the house?”
“No.” I practically shout the word and I hear silence on the other end of the call as Mom stops shuffling pages for a moment, probably shocked by my sudden outburst. “Sorry, I just really don’t want a party.”
“Okay, then dinner it is. Did you want Dana and her family to join us?”
“No, I want it to just be the two of us. I’ll most likely spend the day with Dana.”
“All right, sweetie. I’ll pen it into my calendar. Now I have to go. I’m expecting a call.”
“Okay, bye, Mom.”
Mom hangs up and I put the phone down. I had hoped that would have gone better, though at least we have made plans. Now, I just have to make sure I’m alive long enough to go through with them.
***
Monday night, Dana knocks on my door. I hadn’t been expecting her. I had sent her a text message saying I wouldn’t be able to meet her at MAY tonight. Part of me wants to spend every last second of my life with her, but another part of me wants to wallow in self-pity. The self-pity won today.
“Dana?”
“What’s going on? Are you sick?” Dana holds her hand to my forehead after I let her inside the house.
“What? No.”
“Then why didn’t you go to work today?”
“How did you know about that?” All I had said in my message was that I couldn’t make it to MAY, not work.
“Joel came into A Novel Idea today, said you had called up work to say you wouldn’t be in all week. What’s wrong?”
Taken By Surprise (Taken Trilogy Book 1) Page 4