“Dibs,” he calls out, never taking his eyes off me as he pounds a woman into the wall.
A second guy looks up and catches my eyes in the reflection of the mirror where he's railing another woman over the sink and licks his lips suggestively. “I got next, then. Unless you wanna join right now, baby girl?”
I don’t feel remotely safe, and nearly trip over my own feet in my haste to escape. I hustle to the front door, and when the bouncer lets me out, he frowns at my tear-stained cheeks. “You ok? Did someone hurt you?”
“N-not physically,” I try to laugh, but it comes out garbled. “I’m ok, j-just waiting for someone to c-come and get me.” I manage to muster a weak smile, which only makes his browfurrow further. He says something into his comms and within a few minutes, someone hands him a chair through the door. “Here. Sit.” He places the seat next to the outdoor heater for me.
I’m taken aback by his thoughtfulness, and it only makes my eyes sting again. His attention is taken away by more patrons arriving, and thankfully, this couple doesn't even seem to notice my existence. They only have eyes for each other, and it makes my heart sore. That's what I want.
I sit there stewing in my thoughts for a while, and when I look down at my phone again, I see that Brad's pin isn't far away at all now. I just can't wait to get away from here and never see Jake again. But obviously the universe hates me, because no sooner do I have that thought than the devil himself struts out of the building, hair mussed, unlit cigarette in hand, and a smug look on his face.
“You're still here? I thought you'd be long gone by now, Princess. Unless you've changed your mind? If you give me twenty minutes, I can be ready for another round,” he punctuates this by grabbing his crotch.
“How exactly was I supposed to be long gone, Jake? We're out in the sticks, I can't get an Uber, and you were my,” I cannot bring myself to say ride when his mind is already in the gutter, “transport.”
“Couldn't get your knight in shining surf gear to come and save you, then? Maybe he does have two brain cells to rub together after all if he's figured out you're. Not. Worth. It,” he punctuates each word with his pointer finger against my sternum, his face getting menacingly closer and closer to mine, until suddenly he's on the floor six feet away.
At first I'm confused until Brad yanks Jake up by his collar and seethes in his face, “You don't ever touch her again! You don't look at her. You don't call her. You don't even speak hername when you're alone. Do you hear me? Shari doesn't exist to you!”
I didn't even hear him arrive, but he's here. Brad's here and looming over a sneering Jake. “Or what? You gonna hit me,boy?” The last word is emphasised as an insult, but Brad doesn't even seem to care.
“You don't want to find out, old man,” he pushes Jake away and stalks over to me, the anger on his face morphing into concern. “Are you ok, Blaze? Did he hurt you?” He gently cups my face in his hands and stoops to look me directly in the eye.
I shake my head as much as his grip will allow, and relief trickles down my cheeks. My eyes sure have leaked a lot tonight. Brad thumbs my tears away and pulls me into his chest. Wrapping my arms around his waist, we stand like that for several minutes as I hear Jake seething in the background. Sounds like he's being dragged away by the bouncer.That guy deserves a raise.
I pull back and part my lips to tell Brad just how amazing he is and how I'm so grateful for him, but I get caught in depths of his ocean eyes and find myself leaning in. I feel him inch towards me too, hands back on my cheeks, when I spot movement in my periphery.
“Larissa! Oh my god, I didn't know you were here!” I jump back and my eyes flick back to Brad who has his closed, his jaw pulsing. “Have you been waiting in the car this whole time?”
She shares a weak smile with me, “It's ok. Jake looked like he was out for blood when we pulled up, and Brad was on the warpath as soon as he got out of the car. I didn’t want to get in the way.”
“I’m so sorry I ruined your night.” I feel awful that they had to cut their date short to drive all this way. I feel worse that I think I would have kissed Brad just now if she hadn't appeared when she did.
“I’m just glad you're ok, Shari.” Fuck, why does she have to be so damn likeable?
The drive back is silent after I tell them the short version of what happened – I felt it was best to leave out the part where Jake taunted me about Brad – and there seems to be an awkward tension in the car.Did Larissa think we were going to kiss, too?
They drop me home after much arguing about how I shouldn't be alone, but they finally relent when I remind them that I have Pickles for both protection (debatable) and comfort (factual). I promise to come over for breakfast as soon as I'm up, hugging them both goodnight and thanking them again for coming to my rescue. But the way Larissa says goodbye feels...off, somehow. I really want to assure her that she has nothing to worry about but, is that even true?
34
YOU MAKE EVERYTHING…SUCK LESS
SHARI
After I letPickles out for a wee, I lock up the house and trudge upstairs to my room. I'm so drained I could collapse on my feet, but I feel...dirty. I just need to scrub this whole night from my skin.
I lean in and turn the shower on to heat up – I thinkscaldingshould do the trick – and I can't stop my mind from wandering back over the shitshow that was tonight. Jake turned into a completely different person, it was scary how quickly he changed. He's never given me any reason to think he wasn't the guy I believed he was, though. I just can't get my head around it.
Didn't he, though, Shari?My subconscious chimes in as I scrub theickfrom my skin. Did he? I suppose he was quite condescending at times. Especially to Brad and Larissa at dinner last week. And there were times when he didn't seem to want to listen to me if I told him no during sex...that's a huge red flag. Have I just been blind to it all? Jaime said he love-bombed me to make me forget the bad parts. Am I so starved for love that I fell for it so easily? No, I have plenty of love in my life. Was I justdesperate to take my mind off Brad falling for Larissa? Was Jake just a master manipulator?
As I'm drying myself off, I swear I can hear Jake shouting at me again. Or at least Ithinkit's an echo of memory until Pickles starts going nuts. I quickly tug on my pyjamas and run downstairs after the dog, this is really out of character for him so it has me freaked out.
As I get halfway down the stairs, the shouting amplifies and is joined by a repeated banging on the door. Shit, I didn't lock the porch! He's in my porch!
“Shari! I know you're in there! Open this fucking door!”Bang bang bang.“You got my membership suspended, you fucking cunt! I've been a member of Deviancy for six years and never have I been thrown out until you!”Bang bang bang.
He's been a member forsix yearsand never once mentioned it to me to even test the waters? Pickles is jumping up at the door, barking and scratching, trying to get through to the threat outside.
