Chapter Twenty-Five #2
I don’t make it four steps before Ashton and Zelda have hooked their arms through mine, dragging me backward until my own heels drag along the clean, shiny floor of the lobby.
I watch with sorrow as my planned night ahead slips away from me, washed away by the kidnapping I knew was coming.
I just never anticipated a kidnapping so soon.
I should have. I didn’t, and now I’m helpless to do anything but let them drag me out of the apartment building without any of us uttering a single word.
As I’m being dragged to my demise, Baxter and Rayne finally start making their way over, a little slow given that they’re actively watching someone being abducted right before their very eyes.
They keep their eyes on me, watching closely, and I’m pretty sure Baxter’s lips twitch when he notices that I’m not actually putting up a fight.
Fighting these lovable assholes is trivial.
I won’t win, and that’s spoken from years’ worth of experience.
“Is this something we should be worried about? Call the police, maybe?” Bax calls, crossing his tatted arms over his chest as he raises an eyebrow at my limp form being dragged to the depths of hell.
“Yes,” I deadpan, sighing as my best friends all speak at the same time, talking over one another.
“This is a consensual kidnapping,” Zelda drawls, her sexy Scottish accent trickling out of her with a humorous lilt that almost makes me smile. Almost.
“She’s a willing victim. No police needed,” Ashton chimes, agreeing with Zee.
“She’s being punished for giving us the silent treatment,” Henley answers, her crisp English accent holding a hint of betrayal she has no right feeling.
If anyone has been betrayed, it’s absolutely me.
They were the catalyst of this entire shitshow.
The silent treatment was highly deserved, especially when the threats didn’t work.
Rayne’s pale-blue eyes collide with mine, and I already know the words that are about to come out of his mouth before they slip free. “She’s giving you the silent treatment, too?”
“Too?” Zelda asks. “What did you do? Not more lube, I hope.”
Oh my God, kill me.
“We actually don’t know,” Baxter answers, keeping his eyes on me with a twitching lip and humor-filled eyes that are sprinkled ever so slightly with irritation. “Maybe you can find out for us.”
Okay, so I deserve that, but I’ll be damned if I don’t narrow my eyes on the gorgeous bearded bastard, making him fully grin at me.
It’s a sight to behold, and I realize just how much I’ve missed it now that it’s aimed right at me, causing my heart to skip several beats and those butterflies I haven’t felt in days to come swarming back with a vengeance.
“Trust us, we’ll get to the bottom of everything.
Have no fear. Look after this for her,” AJ assures, removing my camera from my shoulder and delicately placing it on the floor before hiking me up a little more just before we reach the front doors.
To me, she says, “Feet up, asshole. We’re taking you on an alcohol-centered adventure. ”
Resisting is futile against these three women, and so I don’t bother at all.
I simply lift my feet and drop my weight entirely, letting AJ and Zelda carry me out of the building, Henley assuming the lead since I still can’t see her.
Though they may be little in stature, they make up for it with their underlying strength.
And that goes for all three of my best friends.
Their appearances are incredibly disarming, enough to lower your guard until you least expect to be hauled over a shoulder, carried bridal-style from a boutique store, or dragged unceremoniously out of your own apartment lobby.
Dignity is an actual myth around AJ, Henley, and Zelda.
It can’t exist. Because if it did, I’d have none left at this point, my experiences with these ladies being plentiful enough to drain every drop.
It’s the only reason I’m so calm with being manhandled, offering the two men staring after me instead of helping a pathetic little wave that Baxter actually reciprocates.
They disappear the moment we’re out of the building, and I’m carted off like I’m nothing more than a purse to be carried.
“So, where are you taking me on our date?” I question with a comically conversational tone that contradicts the way I’m being manhandled, practically swinging as I dangle from AJ and Zelda’s arms.
“We’re getting drunk tonight, sugar tits, and you’re going to get everything off that chest of yours. We’re going to listen, bitch, and then get so wasted you’ll hate us in the morning,” Henley calls from the front, a determination in her words that tells me she’s a woman on a mission tonight.
You know what? Hell yeah. I can get on board with that. Maybe an alcohol-filled night is just what the love doctor ordered. I can’t be sad if I get drunk enough and fall asleep in a burger-and-fries combo like I did last time I had a drinking session with my girls.
So, with a renewed sense of vigor, I clap my hands to the best of my ability and never once complain when I’m shoved ungracefully into the back seat of a taxi, promptly bookended by AJ and Zelda, while Henley takes the front seat and instantly begins yapping to the older woman in the driver’s seat.
It doesn’t take long to arrive at our destination, a club we frequent called Pulse, where the music is loud, the people are fun, and the drinks never run dry.
The bass of the music pounding inside the club greets me as soon as I step out of the car after Zelda, my Scottish delight linking her hand with mine the moment I’m standing on my own two feet.
There’s a line of pretty ladies in cute outfits and men dressed to impress stretching down the sidewalk and around the corner, Friday always the busiest night for the club.
Thankfully, AJ has friends in all kinds of places, and she waves over at the big, burly Hawaiian security guard we’ve all been carried out of the club by at some point in our lives. “Koa!”
The tank looks over at us and instantly smiles, jerking his head in one of those manly greetings that makes him look cool.
We four know he’s secretly a puppy, the cutest freaking guy in the world, but he has a badass persona that would make you believe he’d kill you with nothing more than his pinky finger.
Checking the road before we cross, all four of us hurry over and surround the guy, making him chuckle under his breath. “Ladies. How are we tonight?”
“Peachy,” Henley answers.
“Feel like dancing,” Zelda quips.
“Better for seeing you,” AJ teases, winking at the guy.
Pretty sure he blushes. It’s actually adorable.
“Ready to get blackout drunk,” I reply, dead serious and itching for my first cocktail already.
When Koa looks down at me from his impressive six-foot-four height, an actual skyscraper to my two-story house, he raises a dark eyebrow and asks, “Rough week, shorty?”
I snort. “Rough isn’t the word for it. Think you can let us in? There’s a cocktail in there screaming my name.”
Laughing, Koa nods once. “I got you. Don’t make me carry you out of here by the end of the night, though.”
Just as I hold up my hand in a solemn promise, AJ swears, “We’ve got her covered, big man.”
Koa salutes her before unlatching the rope that cordons off the public from the doors, gesturing us inside with another one of those head jerks, and we all smile and wave at the guy before hurrying inside.
My senses are overwhelmed as soon as we enter.
Strobe lights flash all around the spacious room, the DJ deck sitting atop a platform where a pretty girl with pastel hair, a bunny mask, and fun clothes is jumping to the beat of the track that’s playing.
Everyone looks to be having a great time, the vibes tonight nothing short of immaculate, and I mentally thank my trusty sidekicks for literally dragging me out for the night.
Head bopping to the next song, my feet carry me after Zelda, the music pulsing loud enough that I can’t hear anything unless one of the girls presses her lips to my ear and yells. Something Zee has to do as she asks, “You want your usual?”
Answering with a quick nod, I let her tug me along to the bar, walking through throngs of gyrating bodies while Henley dances behind us and AJ tries to drag her toward the bar with us.
I’m grinning when Henley yanks AJ into a dramatic dip, convinced I hear a squeak from Ash as she falls backward even though I know she’ll deny it if I ask.
The pair continue dancing as we order drinks, putting on a show several guys are noticing.
It’s not even a sexy show. It’s more like that dance-off battle scene in the movie White Chicks, more street dance than slutty club dancing, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
Several eyes are watching them, some leering, some watching with amusement, and I roll my eyes with a smile just as I accept the fancy pink cocktail from the pretty bartender who looks small enough to put in my pocket.
Flashing her a smile, I turn and take a hefty swallow of my drink, sighing as it goes down an absolute treat. I wait for Zelda to accept hers and pay, right before we both delve into the fray, joining AJ and Henley in their very obscure dancing.
It’s how we spend the rest of the night.
I surprisingly get everything off my chest as promised, my three girls listening and chiming in with wild ideas that make me feel so much better by the end of the night.
We spend hours filled with a whole lot of laughter, dancing, and an entire canal’s worth of cocktails consumed until I start to see double.
It’s quite possibly one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.