Tables. And behind those, curtains partitioning it from the rest of the chaos.
There are still people there, more people than I’m used to interacting with… but it looks calm. More organized.
It looks like I could breathe.
I make my way around the edge of the dance floor, my eyes occasionally catching on couples who have their mouths pressed together, who are holding each other like they don’t care that anyone is watching and…
Oh no.
There it is again. That warm tickling through my body, the soft tingles that led me here to begin with. I’m not sure if I’m actually any closer to having a solid answer, but I’m starting to realize that I wasn’t wrong…
Thereissomething about me that I need to figure out.
“Hey there, you look a little lost.” A voice to my left makes my eyes go wide. I twist my gaze around to see a pretty man. He’s slender with a mesh shirt on, and his pink hair is mussed witha mixture of sweat and product. There’s liner around his bright green eyes—he’s tall and lanky and… really pretty.
But… I don’t think he’s my type. Probably not, anyway. When I don’t say anything, he reaches out, taking hold of my arm. It isn’t until his slender fingers catch on the dark sleeve of the dress shirt I pulled on that I realize I’m swaying. I probably look like I’m about to fall over.
Ifeellike I’m about to faint.
“I…” I really am. I’m so lost, and I’m not sure what I’m doing. My brain keeps clicking over and over like a car trying to start. Something about the way he tilts his head, hair falling into his gaze isofffor just a second, but then he looks me up and down and bites his lower lip.
“I’m Asher,” he supplies, and I shake my head once. Twice. Slowly.
“I’m not supposed to be here.” I finally get out.
“Weird name.” The smirk that crosses his lips is wicked, and he tilts his head toward the roped off area in the back. “Go catch your breathNot Supposed to Be Here.You look like you’re going to faint. If you aren’t careful, your damsel in distress routine is going to catch someone’s attention who might not be as nice as I am.”
“What?” I get out weakly, and he looks behind us.
“Seriously, you’re Little Red, and this place is full of big bad wolves. Get yourself together before someone tries to eat you.”
I realize after a second that he’s pointing toward the area I was looking at. There’s another bouncer at the entrance, and it looks like he’s denying more people than he’s letting in… but there’s a little gap where Asher is glancing, right by a hallway that looks like it leads to the bathrooms.
“Thanks.” I swing my gaze back to him, but he’s already threading his way through the crowd, his body lithe and dancer-like as he weaves between the movement, looking for a place to fit in.
That…
I don’t even know what that was, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. I don’tknowwhat I’m looking for, except a place to breathe.
I make my way forward, slipping through that little gap so I can press my back against the wall in the roped off area with a sigh. My head drops back, pressing against brick, and I blow out a breath.
I wasn’t sure why I thought coming here was really going to answer anything. Maybe it wasn’t even the fact that it was two guys. Maybe it was just the way it sounded like Zandy was going out of his head for Kerian, or the fact that he had to have known I was still there, that I could hear them.
Maybe I’m just a pervert.
God… Thinking like that isnotsomething I want. That’s the kind of stuff my dad would have said, and I’m not letting myself go there.
I force in a deep breath again. The music is just as loud here as it is in the front of the club, but I don’t feel the press of bodies against me, thepressureto join them.
I can do this.
I can look around, observe. I can let myselffeelfor once, to see if I feel anything at all.
I’m allowed to figure myself out.
You can do this, Luca. The whispered pep talk doesn’t do much for me, but I still force my eyes open.
And realize that, as secluded as the roped off area in the back is, I’m notalone.
