No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 74

DARCY

“Peyton,meet me at the Mad Pirate. I need to get out of this house.” I pulled on a comfortable but cute outfit and combed through my hair.

Peyton—always down to party—answered in just the way I knew she would. “Hell yes!”

We met at the bar, and it was more packed than it had been the last time we were there. I had already made a pact with myself that while getting drunk was my focus for the night, I would not be getting the Mad Pirate hat and would certainly not be too drunk to remember what happened. I was going to be a responsible adult. I was going to drink water in between my alcoholic beverages even, that’s how good I was going to be.

So, imagine my surprise when I was sitting at the booth with Peyton after having drank one total ounce of water and four shots of tequila.

I slammed my hand down on the table we were sitting at, taking a break from dancing. “I can’t believe Conrad. When did he get married, and how did we not know about it? The fact that he would still have the audacity to come over to my house as though I would be like, ‘Cool! Yes! Please, put your penis in me even though you have impregnated another woman,’” I said, feeling my face flush from the alcohol.

Peyton shook her head. “I always hated that guy. From the moment I met him and he told me he didn’t believe my boobs were mine.”

“But you have had your boobs done,” I said, squinting my eyes.

“Yeah,” Peyton said. “But they are still mine. Oh my God. He was talking about my boobs when he was with you; that should have been your first clue he was a grade A jackass.”

I rubbed my hands over my face and through my hair. “I need to make sure his name is scratched out on the wall so well that you can’t even see it.”

“Yes! Screw that guy! And while we’re at it, screw Penn! Both of them!” Peyton leaned forward and tried to get her mouth over the straw of her drink as she began laughing. “I mean you have. You have literally screwed both of those guys.” She giggled, and I threw my straw wrapper at her.

“Shut up. I’m in the depths of despair, and you’re laughing at me! Not cool.”

A waitress arrived at our table. “Aye ya scurvy dogs! What can I get ye to eat?”

“Oh! Cheese fries! And nachos!” Peyton exclaimed. “What else do you have that has cheese?”

“We ‘ave cheese sticks,” the pirate lady said, and Peyton’s eyes grew wide. I wondered how much they paid these employees to talk in this pirate accent all night. The tips must be really good.

Peyton grabbed at the waitress, and she took a step back. “You’re my hero! Cheese sticks. And two beers. Please!”

The waitress nodded and stepped away, and I turned to Peyton. “You aren’t going to be able to poop for a week eating all this cheese.”

She batted her hand at me. “You let me worry about my poops, and you worry about your dudes.”

I looked at my phone. I had been doing it incessantly since Penn had called earlier, and I was angry with myself for my need to check it. Still nothing. My leg was shaking under the table so quickly, it was making the whole booth bounce.

“Why do you keep looking at your phone?” Peyton asked.

I locked it quickly. “I’m on an auction site.”

“Yeah? What are you trying to buy?”

She was ruthless.

I hesitated. “Um . . . drugs.”

Peyton snorted. “Shut up. Spill.”

I sighed. “Fine . . . Penn called me today.”

“Really? What do you think he wanted?” Peyton asked, moving her mouth back to the straw of her drink.

“I don’t know. I’m really curious, though. My dad always told me my nosiness would catch up to me one day. I never knew what he meant, but now I think I do. I think he meant one day I would be dumb enough to want to know what a jerk like Penn wants when he calls. Do you think I should text him?” I bit my bottom lip, waiting for her to tell me it was a bad idea, that we had just decided moments before to forget about him.

“Do it!” Peyton yelled, spitting slightly as she did.

I shook my head. “You’re a terrible influence.”

“Do it!” she said again. “Oh, take a picture with...” She looked around, spotting someone. “That guy! Tell him you’ve moved on.”

I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m not doing that. I just want to know what he wants and then maybe tell him to leave me alone.”

“Right, yes. Or that. That sounds very adult.”

I clicked on Penn’s name. “Okay, I’m going to.”

“Do it,” Peyton repeated, leaning over the booth.

“Okay, I really am going to...here goes.” I swallowed hard as I typed and then hit send before I could change my mind.

DARCY: You called. Whatdid uou want?

I knew my words were scrambled, but I couldn’t see the tiny screen well enough to type them correctly. My vision was fuzzy from the tequila.

“Oh my God, I did it.” I started panicking, not sure this moment was the right time to dive into a conversation with Penn about what had happened. “I should unsend it.”

“Don’t you dare!” Peyton threatened, but it was too late anyway.

PENN: Where are you?

I scoffed. “Can you believe this? The audacity. Like I would tell him where I was. Like he has any right to know.”

“Tell him that!” Peyton chimed in.

DARCY: None of your business

I giggled like a schoolgirl. “I did it!”

And then my phone rang, and I dropped it like a hot potato on the table. I obviously did not think this through fully.

“Don’t answer it!” Peyton said quickly. We both watched it ring and ring and ring until it finally went to voicemail.

PENN: Darcy, seriously, where are you?

“Tell him, ‘Your mom’s.’” Peyton and I giggled as the waitress brought us over our food.

I grabbed a handful of fries and licked the cheese off my fingers. “Good one!”

DARCY: Your mom’s

My phone rang again, but this time I answered.

“What, Penn? What do you want?” My mouth was full of fries, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to talk to him and have to remember the way he betrayed not only me but also my whole town and everything I loved.

I needed to keep this anger. I needed to remember the volcano and the molten lava. It would be easier if I could just hate him.

“I’m in Aveline. Where are you?” Penn asked.

When I heard his voice, I felt everything go silent. My body froze, and I remembered exactly why I couldn’t shake him from my mind. I closed my eyes, but that made the room spin even more, so I opened them again.

“What do you mean? Why are you in Aveline? Going to trick some other poor sucker into liking you? Well joke’s on you because everyone knows who you are now.”

At least, that was what I had said in my mind. I wasn’t sure it came out as anything other than a slur of incomprehensible words, but I kept going either way. “Even Jonie is mad at you, even though she can’t stop talking about your stupid eyes.”

“Darcy, I’m here for you. You didn’t answer my call, and I figured maybe you would talk to me if I showed up here. In person. Where are you?”

I scoffed. “Well, joke’s on you . . . again . . . because I am not in Aveline.”

The same pirate waitress came back to the table and gestured to a man standing next to the bar. “The gentleman o’er there would like to buy ye a drink fer a dance, what do ye say?”

I peered over, and the guy waved. From across the room and with a substantial amount of liquor goggles, I thought he might look appealing. A little hairy, but fairly attractive.

“Darcy, say no,” Penn demanded.

I blew out a heavy puff of air. The audacity of this guy to tell me what to do. I thought for a moment, squinting my eyes, a smirk spreading across my face. “Why, yes. That sounds lovely,” I said to the waitress.

I heard Penn growl. “I’ll be there. Do not do anything stupid, Darcy.”

I hung up the phone and downed my shot before heading over to dance with Aquaman.