Chapter 4 #2
“I’m going to say hi.” I turn to Tyler, who grins at me and shoots me a wink as I peel away from the dance floor.
My feet carry me faster than I expect, and suddenly I find myself halfway across the club, standing before my roommate.
Just like yesterday, he’s dressed in a tight black shirt with a leather jacket, and his spicy cinnamon scent surrounds me.
I nearly suck in a breath, but with the way he’s watching me so intently, I know he’d notice.
“Hey,” I start and cringe. Hey? Say something else! Not just ‘Hey!’
Xander smiles down at me. “Having fun with Tyler?”
I check over my shoulder to find the man himself grinding against another dancer. The look of amusement is smeared across his lips, and a blush creeps up his neck. Well, he certainly wasn’t doing that kind of dancing when I was next to him.
My shoulders sag. “I guess?”
Xander tilts his head and looks down at me with furrowed brows. “Is everything alright, Noah?”
I shiver at my name that falls from his lips. The way his deep voice makes my name sound sexual, and the heat in his eyes as they travel across my chest and down to my exposed stomach has something inside of me heating up.
My hands flinch to cross over my chest, but his gaze isn't scrutinizing; instead, he looks interested. So I keep my hands at my sides, arching my back a little to show off my trim waist.
“It’s just been a weird night.” I cough, still seeing the flashes of the strange driver. “But how was your day?”
How was your day? Like, I'm his husband, asking how his day went in the middle of a nightclub? I internally berate myself for how dopey I look right now.
Xander’s smile falters, but not for long. His eyes flick over my shoulder as Tyler calls my name and bounds over to me.
“Hey, Xander! Long time no see!” Tyler bounces on the balls of his feet with a cheery smile on his lips. “The boss has been asking about you.”
Xander shrugs, but his eyes don't stay on Tyler for long before they slide back to me, “Just been a bit busy.”
I smile sheepishly as he speaks to Tyler with his gaze transfixed on me. Yet Tyler doesn’t seem to notice as he giggles and wraps an arm over my shoulder. “Well…care to look after my new friend tonight? He needs some cheering up.” Tyler winks at me, and I blush.
Xander chuckles, “I’d be happy to.”
“Great!” Tyler nearly screams as he peels away, only to come running back with his arms stretched open. “Can’t say bye without a hug.”
His arms encase me as he pulls me into his embrace, and his sugary perfume fills my nostrils. I stand stock-still, feeling the thrum of my heart in my chest. It’s been months since anyone last hugged me, and it takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up.
Finally, I force myself to hug him back, but as he pulls away, his mouth opens as if he’s about to speak.
The words never come. His gaze drifts over my shoulder, unfocused and far away, before his eyes roll back and his jaw goes slack.
A second later, all the strength drains from his body, and he drops, dead weight, toward the floor.
In the blink of an eye, my world tilts as I go down with him, but before either of us hits the floor, movement flashes beside us. Xander catches Tyler’s head in one hand while his other arm bands around my waist.
The three of us are all only inches apart. Face-to-face-to-face, I can only stare in shock at Tyler. He looks as though something has possessed him.
“What the hell!? Tyler!” I yell out.
Sucking in a raspy gasp, the whites of his eyes glow when he speaks, yet his cheerful voice is gravelly and cold.
“Someone’s already holding a piece of you. If they break it, you’ll break too,” Tyler croaks. The entire club seems to go silent as his voice echoes around us as if we’re in a tunnel. Tears fill my eyes as my heart pounds in my throat.
“Tyler!” I cry out, trying to shake him from whatever seizure he’s having.
Xander is deadly quiet beside me. I don't even think he’s taken in a single breath, and his eyes are laser-focused on my friend.
With a sputtering cough, Tyler begins to shake. Only after a few more desperate gasps and whines does his eyes finally roll back towards the world of the living.
His skin is clammy and cold, and his lips are blue. “Cole,” he whimpers.
Xander lifts his head. “Cole,” he commands.
Within seconds, a shadow looms over us, and I'm bundled against Xander’s chest as another figure steps in beside us.
Tyler practically climbs the man with tears rolling down his cheeks and fragile mewls slipping from his lips.
“What happened? Is he alright?” I ask Xander. His body heat encases me and sets my nerves to rest as we watch Tyler be carried from the club in bridal style, his head buried in the guy's chest.
“He’ll be fine,” Xander states, his hand finding my hair as he sweeps his fingers through the strands. It immediately calms my raging heart. “Let’s get out of here.”
I nod and stand on shaky legs. Xander grasps my shoulder, steadying me, his eyes asking me a silent question. I shake my head and walk to the exit, despite the shiver that scrapes down my spine at the sudden coldness. Finally, I wrap my arms around my middle.
The club is still raging as I walk onto the sidewalk with only the neon red sign lighting up the street before me. Tyler and Cole are nowhere to be found, and Xander is close behind.
“Here.” He wraps his leather jacket over my shoulders. It’s toasty warm, and his smell is so deeply embedded into the material that I can smell it as I follow him away from the club and into a dark alleyway.
“Will Tyler be okay? Who’s Cole?” I can’t seem to find which question is more important. Tyler’s well-being or the strange, untalkative man who took him away.
Xander is kind enough to walk beside me, his large frame filling most of the tight space as we reach the backside of Church where a vacant car park awaits.
“Cole is Tyler’s childhood best friend. He’ll be fine with Cole,” Xander explains, his hand finding the small of my back as we cross the lined tarmac to the far corner where a sleek motorbike awaits.
Xander’s bike.
I halt. I’ve never ridden a motorbike before. Maybe I can call for a ride instead? Then the thoughts of the driver flash in my mind, and my stomach churns.
“I’m going to be si—” I can't even finish my sentence before my Cosmopolitan is crawling up my throat and splattering on the ground at my boots. Xander is at my side, his arm wrapped around my middle, supporting me as I heave again. My body shakes and my eyes water. I feel absolutely disgusting.
He gently hushes me and rubs a soothing hand against my back until I can finally breathe again, despite smelling the acid of my bile. It makes me want to be sick again.
“You need something to eat,” Xander states. He’s quick when he scoops me up and hauls me against his chest, while stepping over my puddle of vomit and carefully depositing me onto the seat of the bike.
I shiver as the cool metal of the seat sinks into my skin and chills my bones.
With practiced hands, Xander unhooks his helmet from the handlebars and slides it over my head.
He isn’t even phased that I likely still have puke on my lips when he’s throwing a leg over the bike and settling in behind me.
Kicking the bike into a rumble, the engine shakes my core, and I tense, looking around for something to hold onto.
But I find nothing. My heart races, and I open my mouth to argue against the idea of riding home on this beast. It isn’t until Xander’s muscular arms grip the handlebars, caging me in, with his chest firmly pressed against my back, that I suck in a gasp.
He’s so warm. Like a walking furnace. His heart thumps against my spine, and his biceps bulge as he kicks the bike from its stand and zooms out of the car park.
The red light of the club whizzes past us as we fly down the main street. The rumble of the engine is like a roaring lion, and the wind whips past us, biting at my exposed stomach. I clutch Xander’s jacket, pulling it tight to try to stave off the chill.
Moonfell blurs around us as we twist and turn through the streets. Despite the chaos of the world spinning around us, I lean back into Xander, feeling his constant warmth and large frame pushing back against me.
Maybe under different circumstances, I'd test my luck and push my ass out a bit more. But now isn’t the time. Not with the taste of stomach acid on my tongue and my mind still racing with tonight's insanity.
Insanity.
That is exactly what’s happening to me. I’m going completely insane.
The house pulls into view as we round the corner, and I feel my entire body drop with relief. My eyes are like lead weights, my chest is heavy, and every one of my limbs is cold. I just want a hot shower and a good sleep.
And maybe then, I’ll wake up tomorrow and the madness of today will feel like a strange memory.
Xander pulls into the driveway, the garage door opening to reveal a black Mercedes that could pay off the mortgage on a well-endowed house.
We pull up beside it, and Xander kills the engine. He carefully helps me off, his hand around my waist tightening when my knees shake beneath me. He’s quiet as he gently slips the helmet from my head, giving me a slight smile.
“Let’s get you fed.” Xander offers his hand as he pushes open the garage door and we step into the entryway.
My mind is ready for peace and quiet now that the scream of bass music only leaves my ears slightly ringing.
But what I don't expect to find is utter pandemonium that threatens the last of my sanity. The entire house erupts with terrifying screams and shouts. The air grows painfully humid, and the scent of Sulphur surrounds us.
Xander is quick to shield me; his arm crosses my chest and pulls me back. But what develops before us has my blood running cold and my breath lodged so deep in my throat I'm sure I won't be able to breathe normally ever again.
Crawling on its hands and knees, with open eye sockets and a mouth full of needle-like teeth, the thing scrambles across the living room floor, leaving behind a thick trail of slimy gloop.
As it opens its mouth, hundreds of different screams fill its throat as it reaches for us.
With skin as pale as paper and dark veins spreading up and down its body, it looks like a burn victim, but its proportions are completely wrong.
Long, gangly legs and a short torso; everything about it is wrong.
Finally, my lungs open enough for me to let out a blood-curdling scream, my hands wrapping around Xander’s arm, my nails dragging through his skin, causing red welts to cover his bicep.
“NYX!” Xander’s voice booms over the creature's screams. It continues to crawl forward, and even Xander takes a step back, pushing us both against the wall.
“JESUS-FUCKING-CHRIST!” I howl and start kicking my legs at the thing.
On cue, the tuxedo cat bounds through the opposing wall. Her body shifts between the wood and the wallpaper until she stands behind the creature, her hackles raised and fangs gnashing. Her hiss is extraordinary, overpowering every other sound in the house.
She pounces on the creature, claws sinking into its flesh and drawing rivulets of red blood.
The creature thrashes against the cat, yet as I feel my world tilt and my legs grow numb beneath me, the floor beneath the creature opens up, and an inferno encases both Nyx and the thing, swallowing them whole.
The house goes deadly silent. As if the entire nightmarish fiasco had never happened. Yet the final straw that breaks my fragile sanity is when I turn to Xander, only to find something else looking back at me.
With his lips pulled back into a snarl, four sharp teeth sprout from his upper jaw. Two long, pointed fangs are paired with a smaller canine behind them. His silver eyes glow under the dim light of the house as his dilated pupils reflect back at me.
I shake uncontrollably, but Xander cradles me against his chest.
“I’m insane,” I choke out, feeling my legs fall out from beneath me, and the world goes dark.