Chapter 28
twenty-eight
ISABELLE
“I had no idea they did party buses in Hade Harbor,” I said, trying not to grumble as I filed onto the bus pulled up outside the dorms.
“They don’t. Marcus got someone to repurpose an old school bus,” Eve told me.
I climbed up the steps and moved along the aisle to find a seat.
The bus was crowded. Since she’d arrived in Hade Harbor a year ago, Arianna had already grown popular enough to fill a school bus with people ready to celebrate her birthday. It was amazing.
She also had an impressive, creative job, and a man desperate to marry her.
She was killing it in life, and I was doing whatever the exact opposite of that was.
The bus filled up and music came on.
“Where are we going for this party, anyway?” I asked Selena, who was sitting in the row ahead of mine.
“I asked Ari where she wanted to go and she was pretty low-key about it, so I don’t think far!” Selena shouted over the music.
Good. Not far meant I could continue my new nightly tradition of being in bed before midnight, reading, drinking tea, and channeling my inner grandma. It was the best part of my day, and I didn’t want to lose it.
The bus pulled out of the lot and trundled along. We picked up the birthday girl on the way to wherever we were going. She sank down next to me on the bus and squeezed my hand.
“All good?”
“Yes, of course! Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself… it’s your birthday.” I found a real smile for her.
She laughed and tossed her hair back. “I’ve already had enough birthday surprises to last me the rest of my life.”
I nodded. “That’s what happens when the most fun-loving, party-organizing Ice God is obsessed with you.”
Arianna nodded and then gave me a sideways look. “Are you doing ok? It’s been a bit tense the last little while.”
“Tense?” I scrunched my nose, thinking. “I’ve barely seen you,” I pointed out.
She shook her head. “I wasn’t talking about you.”
Cole.
Just the thought of Cole brought back the last time I’d seen him, sitting by the side of my bed, his hand carding through my hair, more gently than his long, broad fingers should be able to manage. And then… nothing.
Clearly, the man was done with me. I couldn’t really say I blamed him, after I’d finally come clean about my story. He’d even seen my lame investigative board at my dorm, featuring him. He’d called me his stalker. I might have been out of it at the time, but I remembered that.
The bus came to a stop, and everyone stood up. Talking and laughter filled the air, the music loud. Everyone was in a good mood. Except me. I really had to do something about my attitude. I had to get over this.
“We’re here! Let’s get this birthday girl a drink!” Eve called, leading the way off the bus. I tromped down the aisle.
“You ok?” Lily asked, appearing at my side.
“Yeah, fine. A drink sounds good,” I admitted.
“I thought you might be thinking that… when you saw where we were headed,” Lily murmured. I stepped down the bus stairs, barely registering what she’d said until my feet hit the gravel of the lot, and I looked up at the bright, shining lights of the one bar I never wanted to set foot in again.
The Clutch glowed in the darkness. Someone had tied some kind of balloons on either side of the walkway leading to the entrance. I stopped in my tracks as everyone else headed for the doorway.
No. No. No. I couldn’t do it. I did, despite evidence to the contrary, have some shame.
“Come on,” Arianna said, linking her arm through mine and propelling me forward. “It’ll all be fine.”
“No! I’m not supposed to come here. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I’m barred for life.”
“Tonight’s my birthday, and Cole won’t say a thing. I guarantee it.”
“And if you’re wrong, you guys can watch him throw me out on my ass, so I guess that’s fun,” I muttered.
My heart was beating too fast. Was it going against his fury and encroaching on his space again that was making me squirm inside?
Or was it just the thought of seeing Cole again, after nearly two weeks of nothing?
Then we were walking into the bar, and the noise and excitement was sweeping over me, and I had no more time to stall.
The music was loud, something low and sexy, a beat that vibrated the floorboards and all the way up my legs. The dance floor was packed. Some of the girls were already at the bar, and others were claiming a booth with a birthday banner flying over it.
I looked around in a way I hoped wasn’t too searching but undoubtedly was.
I spied some faces I recognized from my previous visits, but not too many. Most notably, Ronnie, behind the bar. She smiled warmly when I approached.
“Wow, long time no see. I thought you were becoming a new regular, and then, zip, nada. You just disappear on us.”
“Yeah, well, your boss wasn’t really very encouraging about me coming back.”
Ronnie raised an eyebrow. “Is that right? Unusual to see the boss get riled up by a woman.”
I slid onto a barstool. “Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s a compliment. I guess I’m just that annoying.”
Ronnie laughed and lined up a long row of shots.
“Who are those for?”
“Ari’s birthday. She’s family around here, remember. Let’s get the night off on the right foot.”
“I shouldn’t drink too much,” I murmured, even as I picked up one of the shots. Ronnie clicked her glass against mine and we drank.
The tequila burned as it went down, but it gave me a comforting warmth in the pit of my belly. I took another straight away, needing that dose of sedative to soothe my jangled nerves.
“Impressive,” Ronnie murmured, looking like she wasn’t sure whether to applaud or call me a cab.
Just then Arianna came to the bar, alongside some of the other girls. They grabbed shots and urged me to do the same. Five minutes later, I’d had four shots, and the room was spinning.
“Let’s dance! It’s dancing time,” Eve said, tugging my arm.
“Ok, ok, don’t pull me right over,” I grumbled, knowing I needed to burn off a little of the booze.
The last time I’d seen Cole I’d been throwing up, drugged, and now, if he came tonight, I’d be drunk.
Great track record. Still, it was easier than seeing him sober and realizing that it was really over.
We danced, the playlist all of Arianna’s favorite dancing songs.
Sometimes someone came up and danced against me, but they’d soon drift away.
I didn’t think about looking sexy, or cool, or anything at all.
I just had fun. I tried to forget that my parents were on my case about that fucking predator creep Grant in the hospital, and coming home more, and deciding what I was going to do with my life after graduating.
My failed dreams slipped away, and the mess of the one relationship in my life that had actually meant something. It all fell away.
“Don’t look now, but I’d say tonight’s about to get more exciting,” Lily shouted in my ear.
I grinned at her, clinking my glass against hers. “Why’s that?”
“We have company,” she yelled, and nodded meaningfully across the crowded dance floor.
I followed her gaze, and my eyes collided with cool, assessing blue ones.
Cole stood at the bar. He was leaning one arm against it, his body turned toward the dance floor, his eyes on me.
Heat weaved through me. I could have felt self-conscious, dancing with my friends without skill or anything close to seductive moves, but somehow I didn’t. Hands landed on my hips again, and Cole straightened up. I danced away a little, but the hands persisted. I twisted to see who it was.
“Remember me?” It was the guy from my first night here… what had his name been?
“Travis!” he reminded me.
I nodded.
“So, you decided to come back. It’s a pretty fun place,” Travis said, pulling me close.
“Oh, right,” I muttered. Travis pulled me closer, taking my acknowledgment as permission to touch me more.
I swung my gaze back to the bar, looking for Cole.
He was gone. The space where he’d been standing mocked me.
Of course, he didn’t care. Why would he?
Then Travis’ hands fell away, and I stumbled back against a hard chest.
I twisted around, and there he was. Cole Bailey, in all his glory, standing right behind me, one long, tattooed arm extended toward Travis, who he held just under the collar in an undoubtedly threatening way.
“Shit, what are you doing?!” Travis yelled, though his voice had little heat to it. This was the Pres, after all.
“Cutting in,” Cole announced, his voice somehow carrying over the music. His eyes never left mine as he held his man back.
“But I was getting somewhere—”
Cole shook his head. “No. You weren’t.”
“Bullshit, man. You know that because?”
Cole’s mouth lifted in an arrogant smirk. “Because, she’s with me.”
I found myself nodding. Travis looked between us.
“He’s right,” I called over the music. “I’m with him.”
Travis turned to Cole and said something I couldn’t hear. Cole answered, something inaudible, his eyes never leaving me.
After a moment, Travis swore and walked away, leaving me facing Cole. We were pressed together in the middle of a packed dance floor, but we could have been alone for how little I noticed those around us.
There was only me and him.
He pulled me close, his hands landing on my hips. The beat of the song just starting was slow, sensual. Couples paired up and the lights dropped even lower.
“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t be here.”
“And why’s that?” Cole murmured, pulling my hair off my neck so he could move his mouth to my ear.
“Someone told me it’s members only.”
Cole chuckled. “Right, true. Members only, unless you’re with someone.”
“Ok, well. I guess it’s good that I’m with you, in that case… like you said before? You said I’m with you.”
The alcohol was making my head spin, and my tongue loosen. After weeks of thinking about this man, longing for him, I just wanted to be close to him. I’d missed him, somehow, like someone misses a part they’d never realized was missing before. Once you notice, it’s impossible to ignore.
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess I said that.” His hips moved against mine, and I could feel him. All of him. He was hard, pressing into my hip, right here in the middle of the dance floor.
“Isabelle!” It was Arianna, bumping into my side. She had two shots in her hand. “Birthday shots!”
I accepted one. She held one out to Cole and he just shook his head. He hadn’t let me go even an inch.
“I’m driving,” he simply said. He was leaving tonight. He was going somewhere without me. Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the thought. In my drunken state, it felt too depressing to bear. I reached out and took the offered shots, quickly downing them both. Arianna stared at me.
“Whoa, that was a lot!”
“I’m fine! Don’t worry about me. I’m fine on my own,” I assured her. On my own, like always. She left to talk to someone else, and I looked up at Cole.
“What else did you say to Travis?” A wave of drunkenness hit me, and I barely kept on my feet. Shit, those two shots had been a mistake.
“What did you say?” I demanded, grabbing Cole’s T-shirt and pulling him forward, bending him to my level.
“I said… hands off, Travis,” Cole spoke in my ear.
“And?” I swayed. Was I going to pass out? It wasn’t impossible.
He waited a beat before answering.
“I said, hands off. She’s mine.”