by Claire Adams
I dove into my work right away and spent most of the day on the phone, going back and forth between Navy big sticks and the testing department to make sure that the equipment was up to their standards. Rick did most of the work, but I had to sign off on everything. At the end of the day, I decided to take a trip down to testing.
Rick was sitting in the warehouse office next to a three-screen console going over some of the video feed when I walked in. “Hey.” I leaned against the desk next to the door.
“Uh-uh,” he said, laughing. “You can’t just come walking up in here looking like that. Smile.”
“No, I flat out refuse, and I mean it.”
“You’re backing out, aren’t you?” He wheeled his chair back to get a good look at me.
“I should. I’m running on less than seven hours sleep in two days.”
“So, you’re going?” He lifted one eyebrow, as if that were a big surprise.
“Yeah.”
“How about I pick you up around nine?” Rick asked.
“Yeah, fine by me.”
“Good. You wanna see the display?”
“I’ve been staring at screenshots for the past hour. If it works, it works.”
“It does.”
“Good.” I straightened back up. “I should probably get going, man.”
“Nine o’clock.”
“Yeah.”
I checked my phone when I left. It was only four-thirty, but I was too exhausted to go back to the office, so I took the car back home and crawled into bed. If I was lucky, I’d get a few hours of sleep before we had to go to the club. I closed my eyes, laid my head down, and tried my best to think about absolutely nothing. No Mona. No Hawkeye. No twins. Nothing.
I wondered how they were doing. Abel was sick just a few days ago. What if he struck a fever and they couldn’t bring it down? What if Andrew got sick from his brother? Mona was capable, but she didn’t have magical powers. There were some problems that nobody could solve.
I opened my eyes and looked over at my phone. I wasn’t going to get any sleep unless I knew that the twins were okay, so I called Mona and waited while the phone rang and rang. Then it went to voicemail.
“Call me. ASAP.” I texted her and held the phone up, waiting for a response. Mona had never done this before. She always answered as soon as I called. It was worrisome. What if something had happened to her? I tried calling her again, and it went to voicemail. This wasn’t acceptable.
“Mona? What is going on?” I texted.
Nothing.
I wanted to run out and drive down there, but I knew, logically, that there was nothing to worry about. She would’ve called me by now if there was a problem, unless she couldn’t handle that problem. I called her again, and it went to voicemail. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I had to learn to keep it together, but it wasn’t easy knowing that I had two precious lives under my care.
I threw a pillow over my head and leaned back. It was just like she said. The boys were fine. I kept telling myself that as my thoughts grew quieter and quieter until they were replaced by the sound of my breath and finally sleep.
The sound of a violin playing shot me up out of bed. I grabbed the phone. It was Mona calling. “Hello?”
“I am so sorry. Tell me you’re not halfway here.”
“I should be. You scared me to death.”
“Andrew got my phone and put it under the couch cushions when I wasn’t looking. What’s going on? Are you okay?”
I lifted the phone away from my ear to check what time it was. “I’m all right, I guess. Two more hours of sleep. Yay.”
“Get really drunk and don’t call me for three days.”
“Ha, that’s rich.”
“Wishful thinking, I guess.”
“Well, I guess I’m gonna head out. If you need anything, let me know.”
“I will, and try to have fun.”
“Thanks.” I hung up. I could go to the club and act like a zombie or stay at home and get the rest I so badly needed. It wasn’t really a choice. There was no way I could go to the bar feeling like this, not if I wanted to find somebody to take home. I decided to lay back down and block out the world. Rick could wait.
As soon as I got comfortable, my violin ringtone started going off again. It was Rick, of course, which meant that he probably wanted to make sure that I was coming. I ignored the call and laid back down, but he wasn’t having it. He called right back.
“Oh, come on,” I answered. “Do you have any idea how exhausted I am?”
“I’m outside,” he said.
“You’re what?” I sat up.
“I’m staring at your front door right now.”
“Jesus, give me a minute, will you?” I rushed into the bathroom.
“You have five minutes.”
“Fine.” I hung up and started rinsing off. I didn’t know what I was going to wear. I went to bars all the time, but this was different. This was a nightclub, where the only thing that mattered was the way I looked and how much money was in my pocket. I chose a navy-blue button-up and a pair of tight jeans. It was simple, maybe a little too simple to go to the club, but it looked good, and I liked the way the jeans bunched up around my crotch.
Rick was hanging out of the passenger seat when I walked out. “You’re late,” he said.
“Yeah, well, you’re early.” I climbed into the car. “Where are we going?”
“Oxygen.”
“You mean that hipster bar downtown? We’re gonna be the oldest ones there.”
“Exactly.” He got in and got the car started.
I watched out the window as we weaved through traffic until we reached downtown, where the kids were out, wearing brightly-colored outfits and tight-fitting dresses, all of them ready for a night of sex and debauchery.
We parked across the street from the bar, next to a ridiculous lime-green lowrider with spinning rims to match. I felt like an old man. This wasn’t my world. It never was. The people were shallow and undisciplined, more worried about how much drugs they had than whether or not they’d find a way to wake up and go to work in the morning. I couldn’t respect people like that.
We walked inside. I felt my body swaying, back and forth, my hips swinging to the club beat. There were people everywhere, crowding the dance floor, and of course, the bathroom, where most of the magic was happening that evening.
“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 customer 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.