Page 76 of Tell Me I'm Enough

She stumbles slightly in her heels, and I reach out to grab her legs so she doesn’t face plant on this counter or on the floor. She doesn’t even notice, though, righting herself and running her hand along her chest to emphasize the lyrics.

After her full performance, she tries to hop down during her grand finale, and I grab her before she breaks an ankle.

“Someone get me a shot,” she yells, “and find my girls Lani and Lydia!”

Tank laughs. “I think you need water, girl.”

“Youneed water,” she shoots back, mockingly, making me snort out a laugh.

“How about you go find waterandyour friends, and I’m going to find a bathroom,” I tell her.

She nods and shoos me away.

I throw my empty drink away and walk through the crowd of people into the hallway, trying to find a bathroom. I’m definitely past buzzed, and everything is starting to get blurry. Walking past each door, I open them all, trying to find which one is the bathroom.

When I make it almost to the end of the hall, I hear fighting or some kind of commotion. All I really hear is yelling and things breaking. I push the door open where the sound is coming from and see two guys fighting on the floor…well, one of them is doing all the fighting, and the other is just underneath him, getting the shit beat out of them.

My vision clears up for a moment, and I see that it’s Bash.

What the hell?

Fists are flying.

It’s not two guys drunk fighting; there’s no shoving. This is…different. Bash is obviously sober, and his face is twisted, eyes wild, veins popping in his neck. The guy beneath him is barely even guarding himself. Blood is everywhere—on his face, on the floor, on Bash’s shirt.

“Bash! Stop!” I yell, but it’s like he doesn’t even hear me.

I quickly pull him off the guy that he’s clearly about to kill, and he tries fighting me off at first.

“Get off me,” he snarls.

“Dude, chill!” I bark. “He’s done! Chill, man!”

He looks up to see it’s me, and then stops fighting, eventually letting me pull him up. I look over to see that there’s a girl on the bed who looks terrified. I blink a couple of times and realize it’s Lydia—Simone’s friend.

What happened here?

The doorway is starting to get crowded, the commotion drawing everyone in to see what’s happening, and then three people push through, one of them being Simone.

I grab her arm as she rushes in, turning her to look at me, trying to make sureshe’sokay. She just shakes her head and pulls out of my hold. She doesn’t even look around the rest of the room before running straight to Lydia.

Simone’s other friend and roommate, Lani, follows, both of them going to check on Lydia. The guy who came in with them stands in the middle of the room, taking in the scene.

“What the fuck,” he says, confused, with a hint of protectiveness in his tone.

Simone pulls Lydia into her arms and then finally looks up, finding my eyes. She looks worried and scared. Her eyes plead with me to make whatever is happening okay, or at least explain what’s going on.

“What happened?” she asks, not dropping her gaze from mine. She pulls Lydia even closer, like she’ll be able to keep her safe now that she’s here.

“I don’t know…“ I tell her. “I was headed to the bathroom when I heard a commotion like someone was fighting. When I walked in here, Bash was beating the shit out of this kid, and I pulled him off.”

The guy in the room looks over at the guy lying on the floor. “Is he…dead?” he asks, worried and disgusted.

I bend down and check his pulse. “Nah, just knocked out,” I say, looking at him for a second longer.Damn, Bash really fucked him up. “Probably needs some kind of medical attention if you want my professional opinion. Definitely gonna need some stitches.”

I wince and stand back up. The sight isn’t pretty, that’s for sure. But this is Bash…he wouldn’t hurt anyone unless they deserved it.

“Someone get him the hell out of here,” the guy shouts.