Chapter Four – Laina
Classes were boring as usual, but I was there, present, learning… I guessed. College wasn’t something I enjoyed, and as much as Kelly tried to drag me outside of my comfort zone, I found I preferred to hang out with Lola in the city rather than go clubbing with her.
Somehow, though, Kelly wore me down during the week, and I agreed to go with her and her friends to the clubs in the surrounding area on Friday night. My guys were sad at the revelation, but Mike and I had a date planned for Saturday, so I couldn’t go too hard with Kelly.
Maybe going out and acting like I was a normal college girl would get my mind off feeling I was being watched…
or maybe it’d make whoever it was doing the watching make a move.
Either way, I’d be ready. It’d be a public space, I wouldn’t go to a secondary location alone with anyone—and if I did, I was certain my guys would raise hell to find me, just as they had before.
Kelly and I got ready together. She helped me pick out a dress from her closet, the slutty side, that went well with my hair and my colored contacts: a light pink number that was both tight and revealing, with cute little flats to go with them.
While she went all-out when it came to her makeup, I stuck with the basics, wanting the focus to be my eyes and my blue and pink hair.
Eyeliner, mascara, and just the barest hint of eyeshadow to give myself a faint smoky look.
All said and done, I looked cute, killer cute. Just to tease my guys, I snapped a picture of myself in the floor-length mirror of my bedroom once the look was complete, sending it in a group message with the caption: Going out with Kelly tonight.
As I waited for Kelly to finish, I sat on my bed and grinned at my phone. Seconds ticked by, and the first response came almost instantly, from Fang, of course: You look delectable, Princess. Have fun.
I could see when the others viewed it, because a moment later, Kieran was quick to respond with, But not too much fun.
After that, a second message from him popped into the chat: He’s right, though.
You look good. You sure you guys don’t need bodyguards tonight?
I’d hate for other men to think they could have you.
His jealousness made me smile harder, and when Mike finally responded to the group chat, I had to stifle a laugh: Why. Not even with a question mark. Just a period. Now, whether he was asking why I was going out with Kelly or why I included him in this group chat was up for interpretation.
I typed in a message with a winky face and hit send, Just wanted to make you three jealous.
Fang was another instant reply: I’m only envious I’m not there with you.
Kieran, on the other hand, was more than okay to revel in his jealousy. Well, I am. I should be there with you, keeping all those hungry hands off you.
And Mike? The big, stoic guy who never said more than was necessary, even when texting? He only said, Be smart. Have fun. He’d probably have more to say when I saw him tomorrow, during our date—he always said more when it was just the two of us.
Kelly appeared in the hall, and she tapped my open door and said with a smile, “I’m ready. Are you? Damn, we look hot. You should totally send your boytoys a pic and make ‘em go nuts that they aren’t here with you.”
“I’m way ahead of you,” I said as I waved my phone through the air.
“Good,” she said with a clap of her hands. “Now, we should get going. Parking near the club is a bitch.” As we walked down the stairs together, she added, “I’m so happy you’re finally going out with us tonight. I’ve only been trying to get you to come since, what? We first moved in together?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
She grabbed her keys and we were out the door soon after that, getting into her car. Dad offered to get me a small vehicle so I could drive to and from, but I much preferred to be like Lola and have people drive me everywhere.
The night air was chilly, so I was glad when we kept the windows up and had the heat on low.
My friend had told me about many of her outings with her other friends, so I knew what to expect already.
I wasn’t nervous. I knew I looked damn good and wouldn’t have a problem attracting the attention of the opposite sex—I didn’t necessarily want to go home with anyone for obvious reasons, but knowing I could turn heads was always a confidence-booster.
Plus, it would be nice to know that I could play on Lola’s level, if I wanted to.
You’d think that, since the college was only a twenty-five-minute drive to downtown, the nightlife would be downtown, but no, there were other clubs, bars, and places to hang out just minutes away from the college’s campus. It was one of these clubs we went to, a place called Highroller.
Highroller was just a normal-looking building by day, but when the sun went down, the neon signs came to life. The light from the signs reflected on the glassy exterior, creating an almost otherworldly glow, illuminating the sidewalk in front of it, along with the road and the cars on it.
We managed to find a place to park down the street, although Kelly swore like a sailor when she was forced to parallel park.
She didn’t have one of those newer cars that assisted you, so she had to rely on old-fashioned skill, something that’s dying out nowadays.
So many people were willing to give up everything, including their creativity and their own brain power for ease and fake societal praise.
Me? I’d never be like that. Maybe it’s because I had an old soul, but I preferred doing things the old-fashioned way, parallel parking notwithstanding.
I liked having a brain and using it. Truly, your thoughts were your identity, so if you gave those thoughts up, then who were you?
Were you even human at that point, or just a meat sack waiting to die?
Trust me, I knew better than most people my age just how meaty we were as a species.
We stood around Kelly’s car and waited for her friends to find us.
As she messaged them back and forth on her phone, I looked around at the nightlife surrounding us.
The streets were still busy; the night sky so polluted with lights you could hardly see any stars.
People our age walked along the sidewalk in groups.
Hardly anyone walked alone. Safety in numbers and all that.
It was Friday night, the busiest day of the week for these clubs and bars.
As I stood there, waiting with Kelly, the night air blew around us, and while my friend shivered, I didn’t.
I was on guard; I didn’t feel as though I was being watched right now, but that’s the thing.
Sometimes that paranoid feeling swept over me with no warning whatsoever at the most random times.
Was I losing my mind? Maybe being locked up for two years damaged me in ways that were only now presenting.
I didn’t know how long it was, but eventually Kelly’s other friends called out to us.
Kelly and I pushed away from her parked car as they strolled down the sidewalk.
Two of the girls I met at the party all those months ago, when they asked me what it was like being kidnapped.
The other girls were newer friends, but we were all acquaintances by now, and no one ever asked me a question about my kidnapping again.
I could almost pretend I was normal when I was with them, in their large friend group. Just a girl with fun-colored hair and cool eyes.
Nicole, one of the newer friends, slowed down to walk next to me.
She was the only one wearing a looser dress that looked more like a homecoming dress than a clubbing one.
Her black hair was down and pin-straight, her brown eyes wearing thick black eyeliner.
I liked her. She was nice—which was more than I could say for most of Kelly’s friends, unfortunately.
Let’s just say I wouldn’t trust them with my life.
“I’m glad you came,” Nicole said with a grin. “You look good, too.”
“Thanks. You, too.”
She shrugged and glanced down at herself as we made it to the end of the line of people waiting to be carded and pay to enter the club.
“Eh, thanks. Hopefully I can make it longer than thirty minutes in there.” When I gave her a questioning look, she shrugged again and added, “It can get hot and claustrophobic sometimes. I don’t do well when I’m sweating and there’s people all around me.
” She laughed nervously, but I didn’t judge her for that.
I kind of agreed with her, in a way. The only acceptable time to get sweaty and be surrounded by people was when you were getting down and nasty with said people. Of course, I wouldn’t really know, since I couldn’t get my three guys to share me at the same time.
It was a goal of mine, a dream, you could say. Definitely on my bucket list. I just needed to get them all on the same page together.
It’d happen. Soon.
I hoped.
When it was finally our turn to get into the club, the bouncer checked our IDs, took our money, and then gave us a thick stamp on our upper left arm, signifying none of us were twenty-one yet.
It was an ugly, garish stamp that totally ruined the looks we were all going for, but we couldn’t exactly complain.
The ink was red, so it clashed with my outfit badly.
Oh, well.
Stepping inside the club, we were instantly greeted by loud, pounding music and flashing lights.
The bar had a few stools, but most everyone who had drinks were disbursed through the crowd, most of which was packed near the speakers in the far back of the club.
It had two areas that overlooked the dance floor, one on each side, and said areas looked to be built atop the restrooms—the men’s was on the left, and the women’s was on the right.