“Leave her alone,” she yells.
“Whatever, sis.” He holds up his hands and looks back at me with a wicked smile. “So, wanna drink meow?”
I laugh and walk around the table and loop my arm through his. “Sure, big boy, let’s go get some drinks. Right, meow,” I jest.
I push my arm through his offered elbow, and start to walk toward the bar. I feel like I have to stand on my toes even with my heels to keep our height even as we walk through the crowded dance floor.
An hour later, I’m pretty sure I’ve lost the ability to stand up straight. Not because I’m drunk, well . . . I might be a little, but watching Nate work the room with what has to be the worst pick-up lines in the world has me laughing so hard that I’ve almost fallen over more times than I can count.
“And then he said to her, ‘You sure are beautiful. Almost as beautiful as my sister, but you know that’s illegal.’ And you should have seen her face. She looked like she swallowed a fly. Didn’t even take a second for her to turn and run.”
Everyone laughs when I finish telling them about one of Nate’s attempts at picking up one of the chicks he walked into after our third trip to the bar. Well, everyone except Dani.
“You are so disgusting. I swear Mom and Dad picked you up on the side of the road.” Dani turns her head and rolls her eyes at me.
“What? Hey, I called you beautiful. Doesn’t that give me brownie points?” Nate holds his hands up and actually looks confused by why we find his failed pick-up lines hilarious.
“Dude, you basically told her that your sister is hotter but you can’t do her because she. Is. Your. Sister.” Zac says, holding his sides as he laughs as hard as I am.
“That wasn’t even the best one!” I yell. “He looked at that one,” I pointed across the room to a tall, stunning blonde before looking at Nate and laughing so hard I almost fall off my stool again. Thankfully two strong hands grab my hips before I can move too far off. I look up at Zac and smile my thanks for him catching me before I fell on my ass. “Then he says to her ‘Taco Bell isn’t the only thing that’s open late and I love tacos’ and she,” I pause to laugh harder when he narrows his eyes at me, “And then, she said ‘baby I’ve been waiting to have someone offer to play with my taco since I had my sex change!’”
After that, there was no way my laughter could have been stopped. Everyone around us starts laughing and Nate just rolls his eyes and takes a pull of his drink.
“Hey, I love this song.”
I jump from my seat and run around the table and into the mass of bodies dancing on the dance floor. I turn and see Dani, Maddi and Stella have joined me as we dance and laugh as each song starts to blur into the next.
We had been dancing for a while now, each of us laughing and having a great time. Nate and Zac seem to be on watchdog duty, because each time someone tries to get too close, they step in. I have a good feeling that they both only showed up for girl’s night to keep an eye on us. Or at least they had been until Mr. Cowboy started to get too grabby.
I had just turned to straighten my body after spinning around in a few circles and wiped my hair out of my face with a smile that died instantly. The stranger that we had been fending off for the last five or so songs gives me a sinister looking smile before pulling me into his arms. I look around, frantic, before I realize my spin dancing must have separated me from the group. I can just see the top of Nate’s head standing a good distance away from me. At six and a half feet, the fact that I can only see the tip top of his head has me swallowing a hard lump of fear. Being this far away, I know he can’t hear me if I call out for him.
I watch Nate’s head disappear as Mr. Cowboy starts to pull me further away.
“Hey! Let go, jerk!”
Pulling me against him, he drops his head and puts his mouth against my ear. The feeling of his breath making my skin crawl instantly. When his mouth opens and he pulls my earlobe into his mouth I start to struggle against him with renewed vigor. My fear turns to panic when his teeth bite down on my ear, causing me to scream out—only to have the sound be swallowed up by the loud beats of the music around us.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come to me,” he slurs and pulls me against his hips. I want to vomit when I feel his erection poke me in the stomach. Memories long since suppressed, start to float to the surface and I start struggling harder. I can feel his frustration as his grip on my arms tightens. My arms burn with the strength of his hold and I just know I’ll have two nasty bruises.
“I could tell you wanted some of Big Daddy,” he moans when I stumble as he pulls me toward the back hall and my stumble does nothing but push me closer to his body. “Yeah, baby. I knew you wanted some of this.”