Trust me, I knew better than most people my age just how meaty we were as a species.
We stood around Kelly’s car and waited for her friends to find us. As she messaged them back and forth on her phone, I looked around at the nightlife surrounding us. The streets were still busy; the night sky so polluted with lights you could hardly see any stars. People our age walked along the sidewalk in groups. Hardly anyone walked alone. Safety in numbers and all that.
It was Friday night, the busiest day of the week for these clubs and bars. As I stood there, waiting with Kelly, the night air blew around us, and while my friend shivered, I didn’t. I was on guard; I didn’t feel as though I was being watched right now, but that’s the thing. Sometimes that paranoid feeling swept over me with no warning whatsoever at the most random times.
Was I losing my mind? Maybe being locked up for two years damaged me in ways that were only now presenting.
I didn’t know how long it was, but eventually Kelly’s other friends called out to us. Kelly and I pushed away from her parked car as they strolled down the sidewalk. Two of the girls I met at the party all those months ago, when they asked me what it was like being kidnapped. The other girls were newer friends, but we were all acquaintances by now, and no one ever asked me a question about my kidnapping again.
I could almost pretend I was normal when I was with them, in their large friend group. Just a girl with fun-colored hair and cool eyes.
Nicole, one of the newer friends, slowed down to walk next to me. She was the only one wearing a looser dress that looked more like a homecoming dress than a clubbing one. Her black hair was down and pin-straight, her brown eyes wearing thick black eyeliner. I liked her. She was nice—which was more than I could say for most of Kelly’s friends, unfortunately. Let’s just say I wouldn’t trust them with my life.
“I’m glad you came,” Nicole said with a grin. “You look good, too.”
“Thanks. You, too.”
She shrugged and glanced down at herself as we made it to the end of the line of people waiting to be carded and pay to enter the club. “Eh, thanks. Hopefully I can make it longer than thirty minutes in there.” When I gave her a questioning look, she shrugged again and added, “It can get hot and claustrophobic sometimes. I don’t do well when I’m sweating and there’s people all around me.” She laughed nervously, but I didn’t judge her for that.
I kind of agreed with her, in a way. The only acceptable time to get sweaty and be surrounded by people was when you were getting down and nasty with said people. Of course, I wouldn’t really know, since I couldn’t get my three guys to share me at the same time.
It was a goal of mine, a dream, you could say. Definitely on my bucket list. I just needed to get them all on the same page together.
It’d happen. Soon.
I hoped.
When it was finally our turn to get into the club, the bouncer checked our IDs, took our money, and then gave us a thick stampon our upper left arm, signifying none of us were twenty-one yet. It was an ugly, garish stamp that totally ruined the looks we were all going for, but we couldn’t exactly complain. The ink was red, so it clashed with my outfit badly.
Oh, well.
Stepping inside the club, we were instantly greeted by loud, pounding music and flashing lights. The bar had a few stools, but most everyone who had drinks were disbursed through the crowd, most of which was packed near the speakers in the far back of the club. It had two areas that overlooked the dance floor, one on each side, and said areas looked to be built atop the restrooms—the men’s was on the left, and the women’s was on the right.
Kelly dragged me to a club when I first got out, when I wasn’t quite ready for it. I remembered she’d danced with Kieran, and I’d gotten so upset I had to storm out—and Mike had come with me. It was the first time I felt the connection between Mike and I snap into place. For such a big, strong man, he had a soft side to him when no one was looking.
I wished he was here with us. His presence always calmed me down.
We headed deep into the club, to the dancing crowd, where the music was so loud you couldn’t think straight, where you could hear it pound inside your bones, in your very soul. We arranged ourselves in a makeshift circle, dancing with each other, but it wasn’t long before some of us gained nameless guys behind us, grinding as we twerked and shook our bodies.
Some of her friends got into it way more once there were guys behind them. I played my part, although I got no joy whatsoever out of feeling whoever it was start to get excited behind me. Hard dicks gave me a thrill only when they belonged to my guys, not some stranger.
Eventually I needed something to drink, so I excused myself by wordlessly slipping away—the guy behind me didn’t mind. There were other girls he could grind on. I made it to the bar and caught the bartender’s attention, then I had to shout since the music was so damned loud: “Can I get a glass of water, please?”
Listen to me and my manners. I was proud of myself.
As the bartender got me what I wanted, I turned around and leaned on the edge of the bar, surveying the club. So many people, all around my age. If I didn’t already have three boyfriends, I supposed I’d be looking for someone to go home with, or someone to bring home with me. There were a good number of guys, yes, but none of them really drew my attention. Some were cute, but they were missing something.
What was it? What were all these guys missing?
Hard lines on their face. Intense expressions. The kind of thing that only came with age and experience. These guys did not draw my attention because they weren’t my type. Clearly, your girl Laina had a thing for older men, and a club like this was not the place to…
Right when I had that thought, it was like everything snapped to a halt. I saw someone standing on the opposite balcony, wearing all black. Though there was a good forty or so feet between us, the flashing lights showed me enough: tattoos. Loads and loads of tattoos… and a head of thick silver hair.
My curiosity meter was instantly charged, just like that. An older man here? What were the odds?
The man stood up there, with his arms on the railing, surveying the club much like I was just doing. Though we were not exactly close, when his gaze landed on me, I sucked in a breath; I couldn’t help it. Even from far away, I could tell he was a good-looking guy.
Behind me, the bartender set down my drink in a plastic cup, and before I could think better of it, I grabbed it and movedthrough the people, to the upper balcony on the other side of the club. If someone were to ask me why I was going, I wouldn’t have an answer. I didn’t know why, I just had to.
