24. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
ANDREA
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I groan as Maisie and I pull up outside a club called Elite .
The line snakes down the block, a sea of people buzzing with energy that almost makes the air electric.
It’s insanity, and I’m already yawning. It’s way past my bedtime, and a strong drink is definitely in order if I’m expected to last the night.
Maisie rolls her eyes, grinning as she leans over the console to check her lipstick in the mirror. “Suck it up and suck it in. Let’s go!”
The moment she opens the door, we’re swarmed by flashes and shouts.
Paparazzi crowds around us, their cameras snapping away as we step out.
We clasp hands to keep from losing each other in the madness as Caesar keeps them at bay as best he can.
Maisie’s dressed in an embellished, strapless baby-blue minidress with silver heels shimmering like a star.
I borrowed her sleek black spaghetti-strap dress and her iconic red bottom heels—understated yet classic, making me feel like someone who belongs in her world, if only for tonight.
Security waves us inside without a glance at our IDs, a perk of being Maisie’s best friend. As soon as we step inside, the music slams into me, a heavy bass vibrating the floor beneath my feet. Neon lights flash and dance along the walls, painting every corner of the packed club.
Maisie pulls me toward the bar, completely unfazed by the lingering stares she attracts. She’s always been a magnet to the male gaze. It’s not exactly something she minds. She eats the attention right up.
Luckily, the club is exclusive so she shouldn’t be hounded by fans tonight. At least, that’s us being hopeful.
We slide onto two open barstools, and the bartender is immediately in front of us. Maisie leans forward, flashing him a playful grin. “Two shots of your best vodka, please, handsome.” He grins back, smoothly grabbing two glasses and pouring the drinks with flair.
I sigh, eyeing the shots with disdain. “I’m going to regret this in the morning, aren’t I?”
Maisie gasps, pretending to be offended. “You could never regret spending time with me,” she says, nudging my shoulder.
"Do you remember that time we went to San Jose for your twenty-first birthday?” I ask her, knowing she’ll remember when we rented a house along the coast. She got wasted and wanted to go streaking on the beach.
I told her a hundred times it was a bad idea, but that didn’t matter.
Like the friend I am, I couldn’t let her do it alone.
Not long after that, we found ourselves sitting inside of a police station looking like two drenched rats. We were lucky that Carter was in Sacramento at the time trying to piece his life back together after taking the hit that his MLB career was over.
“We don’t talk about that,” my best friend states as the shots are placed in front of us. Maisie downs hers immediately and twirls a finger in the air. “Keep ‘em coming.”
I laugh. “You’re insane.” Grabbing the small glass, I toss it back, my face twisting in disgust.
“You’re insane, I’m insane.” She spins on her barstool, arms stretched wide, and loudly shouts, “We’re all insane! ”
Someone whistles and another guy shouts, “Hell yeah, baby!”
I shake my head with a chuckle. Across the room, my eyes connect with a familiar face—Felix Hawthorne.
He’s surrounded by a flock of women. I can see the initial surprise on his face when he spots me, but then the corner of his mouth rises as he tilts his glass in greeting.
When the bartender sets down another round of shots, I return Felix’s greeting by raising the tiny glass.
I watch his eyebrows lift in amusement before I turn back to my friend who’s pulling us both to the dance floor.
We stay close, only dancing with each other as we dodge handsy men.
After a while, we take a quick bathroom break and do more shots before heading back out onto the floor.
Each song blends into the next one, and it doesn’t take long before our skin is coated in sweat.
The black and silver confetti falling from the ceiling sticks to us and of course, a piece manages to land directly in my mouth.
Maisie’s head is tipped back, and it feels as if nothing in the world could wipe the smiles off our faces.
We’re lost in a sea of bodies, and it feels good to let go and lose the sense of time.
At least for a while anyway, because then a body slides behind mine. Sober me might have politely maneuvered away but drunk me screams bloody murder and lurches forward.
“Oh, hell no.” Maisie steps around me and toward the man, placing me behind her as she points a menacing finger in his face. “Fuck off, you fuck!”
He laughs, lifting his hands in defense. “Damn, that’s a dirty mouth you’ve got. Relax, I thought—”
The rest of his sentence gets caught in his throat as a movement in my peripheral steals his attention. The crowd parts and then Felix is there, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt. “You thought what?”
The guy tilts his head back, eyes widening. “Oh, shit.” People around us slowly stop dancing to see what’s going on. All I can do is stand here in shock—Maisie, too.
Felix shoves him backward, amused when he stumbles. “Leave.”
Finding his footing, he rolls his shoulders with a huff. He glances somewhere over my head and for whatever reason, the man listens to Felix. I stare at his back through the crowd as he walks out the front door of the club.
Looking over his shoulder, Felix stares down at me. The music grows louder at the same time he opens his mouth to speak and his jaw feathers in annoyance. He jerks his chin toward the bar, and I nod in understanding. Maisie and I follow behind him casting wordless, confused glances at each other.
The second he steps up to the bar, a glass filled with an amber liquid is placed in front of him. Maisie whistles under her breath, catching his attention.
He faces her, lifting a brow. “Something to say?”
Her eyes narrow as she gives him a once-over.
“There was no need to put on a show. If you couldn’t tell, I had it covered.
Who even are you?” She puts a hand on her hip, waiting and that’s when his eyes slide to me.
His eyes sparkle with mischief, and it surprises me how quickly he tampered down his anger.
Clearing my throat, I motion between them. “Maze, this is Felix Hawthorne. He’s a friend of Julian’s. Felix, this is Maisie Dupont.”
“Oh, I know who she is,” he states smoothly, causing Maisie’s brow to lift in surprise. Openly checking her out, his tone is curious when he asks, “Maze?”
“It’s a nickname,” she bites out. “My eyes are up here, playboy.”
“That’s a new one.” He smirks. “You get lost a lot?”
“Nope.” She bats her eyelashes with a flirtatious smile. “But you would.”
His chuckle is dark and dangerous. “I doubt that very much, sweetheart.”
My eyes widen as she presses her tongue into her cheek to keep from laughing. “You’re funny,” she says, stepping closer. “Though, I don’t remember ordering a clown.” With that, she turns away from him, walking around to the other side of me to grab the bartender’s attention.
“Your friend is feisty,” Felix tells me as I step up to the bar.
When I catch him staring at her ass, I smack his shoulder. “You better watch it. If she murders you, I’ll help her hide your body.”
“That so?”
“Yes, and I’d hate to ruin a good outfit because you can’t keep your wits about you.” I slide onto the barstool as the bartender appears. “A cosmopolitan, please.”
When I glance back to Felix, a large man with an earpiece leans over to whisper something to him. There’s a flicker of annoyance and then his face hardens. He nods once and the man departs.
“Sorry, ladies. I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere.”
“How unfortunate,” Maisie says dryly beside me.
I snort. “Thanks for the rescue.”
He raps his knuckles on the bar before standing. “Just doing what he would have done.”
He means Julian. The very thought of him has me wishing he was here.
With a knowing smirk, he saunters off. I watch him slip through a door that’s blocked off from the rest of the club and my brows furrow.
A chill rushes through my body—a strange inkling skating across my spine. It feels like I’m being watched.
Beside me, Maisie sways on her feet as she chats with a brunette man who looks like he just stepped out of a Calvin Klein catalog.
His hand falls to her waist to keep her steady, and she holds onto his wrist, her head tipped back as she laughs.
He looks entranced by her, and she seems to be enjoying him well enough, so I keep my butt glued to my barstool.
I reach for my cosmopolitan and take a small sip. As I do, my eyes connect with dark ones. Not the mysterious kind, but the kind that makes your skin crawl.
“Wanted to apologize for my friend earlier,” the man says, but there’s nothing sincere about it. His thin hair is spiked with too much gel, and he smells like cheap cologne.
I wave a hand through the air. “Don’t worry about it. It’s already forgotten.”
He pulls at his lip piercing with his teeth.
“Yeah, I thought you might say that. The problem is, I can’t forget it.
” Wariness prickles through me at his smile and I look around the room.
A glass filled with a cool blue liquid is pushed in front of him and he takes it, raising it toward me. “You enjoy your night.”
I say nothing in return as I watch him return to his friends on the other side of the club.
A hip bumps mine and I find Maisie staring over at me. Her chin juts in the direction of the man. “What was that about?”
“I have no idea.” I throw back the rest of my cosmopolitan, which is not how it’s meant to be consumed, but I need something to take the edge off. “Who’s the hottie?” I ask her, wiggling my eyebrows toward the brunette.
She laughs, but the sound dies suddenly in her throat, her gaze freezing over my shoulder. “Uh. . .”