AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Breathe, Malia, breathe.
“It’s broken. Do you need a hand?”
“What?” I look down at my shoulder and see that the strap is gone, hanging uselessly down by my elbow now. I sigh. This is Summer’s dress. She’s going to kill me.
“Do you want me to help you get cleaned up?” Cove asks. I frown at him and he points to my dress. The matte silver sequins are sprayed with blood which is already drying and turning coppery. I shudder.
“T-there’s blood on me.” I blink. I can’t stop staring at it. I guess I didn’t step far enough back, or I didn’t react quick enough but my skin itches now and I need to get this dress off me right now. Sorry Summer, I’m also going to have to burn it.
“Oh my god, what happened? MT are you okay?” Summer asks with concern. Her hands are full, balancing four drinks precariously in them. Cove steps forward to take two off her and she smiles graciously at him. “Thanks cutie. Let me talk to my bestie and we can chat in a minute.”
“Take your time,” he replies with an easy smile. He seems amused by Summer’s flirting but if she gives him her full attention, he’s done for. It’s no wonder she’s got five guys chasing after her.
“What happened, Mali?”
“Just some dick. He broke your dress and got blood on it. Sorry.” There’s blood on me. Someone else’s blood. A stranger’s blood.
“Fuck the dress! Are you okay? Where is he? Do I need to kill him?”
“No. Cove took care of him for me.” I smile weakly and Summer’s head whips round to face Cove. There’s even more interest on her face this time.
“So you’re my hero of the hour then?” she says, batting her lashes at him.
“Technically, I think I’m Malia’s hero.”
“You two know each other?” Her head whips back and forth between us so fast that some of the drink she’s still holding spills.
“We’ve met a time or two. Hung out at the beach. We’ve got plans to go out again,” Cove tells her with an easy smile. I frown. It wasn’t like that at all. “Actually, if you have somewhere we can put these drinks, I’m going to take Mai-Tai to get cleaned up.”
“Mai-Tai?” Summer whips back to me, an elated grin on her face. “He has a pet name for you?”
“It’s more like a nickname,” I mumble.
Cove overhears and beams at Summer. “She’s my girl. Well, I’m trying to make her my girl. Do you mind if we go get cleaned up and then I have a dance with your friend? I promise she’s in safe hands and I won’t treat her like that douche did.”
He hasn’t even finished his speech and Summer is nodding eagerly like a damn dog.
“Oh yes, that’s fine. I’ve actually got some friends to meet up with myself so if you’re good together I’ll leave you to it.”
“Friends?” I ask even as panic at the thought of being left alone with a guy, a cute guy, floods me.
“Boyfriends, Malia.” She winks, kisses me on the cheek and saunters off, calling over her shoulder, “Catch ya later!”
I stand in stunned silence and watch her go.
She left me.
She left me alone. With a stranger. In a club.
“Drink?” Cove offers one of the glasses he’s still holding and takes a sip of the other. He pulls a face. “What the hell is this sugary shit?”
I laugh. “Summer loves her cocktails. They taste awful.”
“Let’s ditch them, get you sorted and do some shots. Sound good?”
I nod. Ditching the drinks and cleaning the blood off my dress does sound good. Doing shots with the cutest, friendliest beach boy I know sounds terrifying, but I can cross that metaphorical bridge when I come to it.
I let Cove take me by the hand, which is surprisingly nice, and lead me to the bathrooms. He pulls me into the ladies and chases everyone out so that we have the place to ourselves. In here, the music is muffled but I can still feel the driving beat vibrating through the floor. Looking around the generous space, I realise that this is pretty nice as far as public toilets go.
