AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I go to the restroom and take my time before deciding not to let Eve or Sam dictate my night. I’m going to have a blast even if I’m forced to fake it. This is my night, my celebration of new beginnings. I won’t let them ruin it.
I find myself back in the bar as I go through the motions, faking it until things start to feel fun again. I plaster a huge smile on my face even though I no longer feel very celebratory. I drink more than my weight in alcohol. I dance in the middle of a place that wasn’t meant for busting a move. And I flirt with guys I have no interest in, basking in the attention they give me in return.
The night becomes fuzzier, the later it gets. Memories are hazy inside my head, one blending into the next until I’m not sure which is reality. I feel the graze of a hand on my thigh that I don’t stop. A sloppy kiss from a stranger that lands on my lips when I’m not sure I wanted it.
Suki removes the drink from my hand when I reach for hers. “I love you, Em, but you’ve had enough tonight.”
“Nooo,” I protest, taking it back from her again.
“Yes,” a familiar deep voice insists, stealing it and placing it out of my reach this time.
I glance up into the stormy gray eyes of my roommate. Even through the blur of alcohol, I focus on the handsome lines of his face. The squareness of his jaw that’s clenched, the outline of his lips. And it only makes me madder that he’s so attractive.
“You,” I say, but it doesn’t come out with as much venom as I meant it to.
“Me,” he says, looking over my head at Suki.
“Will you get her home?” my bestie asks.
“I don’t need him to get me home,” I say indignantly.
“Yeah, I got her,” he sighs, reaching for my arm, answering my friend like I don’t exist.
“Why are you two talking about me like I’m not here?” I pout, pulling my arm from his grasp. I look around for Eve, but don’t see her anywhere.
“Because you lost the ability to think coherently about an hour ago,” Suki says. She looks at me pointedly. “We’re going to talk about this tomorrow.”
I glare at her. “Traitor.”
“Let’s go,” Sam says, securing an arm around my waist.
I shrug out of his hold again. He has the audacity to look confused by my vitriol.
I take a few unsteady steps.
“Okay, have it your way,” he mumbles.
The next thing I know, the room is upside down as I’m hanging over his shoulder while he navigates his way through the crowd and out of the bar. I guess it’s good that I wore jeans tonight and not the short skirt Mads wanted me to wear. Otherwise, I’d be flashing half of Chicago right now.
I turn my head to see Eve watching us with her mouth gaping open. But the vision of her disappears from my view as soon as the door shuts behind us.
The sidewalks are mostly deserted at this time of night. The air is rarely still for Chicago, but the chill is still present. At least I have the liquor coursing through my veins to warm me.
“Stop struggling,” Sam demands, gripping the back of my thighs more firmly against his chest. “You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
I scoff. “That’s rich, coming from you, St. Jude.”
He stiffens for a moment before he recovers, and I almost feel guilty. But then I picture him with Eve, and all the self-reproach fades away.
“Right,” he drawls. “St. Jude … patron saint of lost causes. I haven’t heard that in a while. Seems like that pertains more to you tonight than to me.”
He drops me to my feet so suddenly that I stumble to the ground, landing on my butt.
“You dropped me!” I accuse, my head feeling clearer in the fresh air.
“I told you to stop squirming.”
He starts walking again. I scramble to my feet and catch up with him after a few strides. I rub a spot on my bum even though I’m feeling no pain, and Sam notices.
