7. Faith
When I returned to the private room again, Hudson was dancing. He’d dragged Oaklynn and the tall one—Alec—out of their seats as well and convinced them to try the Cotton Eye Joe with him, while the remaining four were relaxed back in their chairs, watching the show.
Keene was still missing.
Just as Hudson tried to hand over one of his shots to Alec, I lifted my hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. No alcohol for the minors in here, sorry.”
“Stalker!” Hudson cheered in surprise as he pulled the glass away from Alec just as soon as Alec reached for it. “You’re back.”
I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head in reprimand as I answered, “Yeah. It’s kind of my job to keep coming back.”
“Then I am so glad you work here,” he decided as he tried to share the shot with me. “Are you a minor?”
“I’m afraid so, yes,” I said, turning my face aside to decline the drink. “Until May, anyway.”
“Well, damn,” he moped before throwing back the drink himself and swallowing it whole.
His features puckered before he blew out a breath and shook his head. Then he focused on me. “At least you’re still legal to dance with,” he announced and took control of my hand before I even realized he was reaching for it.
“Oh!” I jumped in surprise, yet went with the flow as he coaxed me into a light little two step. But the moment he tried to tow me closer, I resisted and started to shake my head. Too many people were watching. I was working. He had Genesis. It was just all wrong. “No. No. That’s enough.”
“Alright, Ivey. Hey,” Thane said, shooting from his chair and stepping forward to intervene. His voice was both gentle butfirm. “I think you better let Faith do her job, okay? Let go.”
Hudson immediately eased up his grip, even as he wrinkled his face into a pout. “But I just wanted to dance with her.”
“I know, buddy.” Sounding sympathetic, Thane not-so-sympathetically shoved him toward Alec. “Now go back to dancing with Younger.”
“Fine.” Hudson sent me sad eyes and sighed but then complied, turning away to slap Alec on the butt, which made Alec’s curly hair flop crazily when he jumped and twisted his backside away from Hudson to escape.
“Sorry about him,” Thane apologized. “He’s harmless, I swear. But if he’s making you too uncomfortable…”
“No. He’s fine,” I said with a grateful smile. “But thank you.”
“He also has a girlfriend,” Parker answered, coming up to stand on the other side of me.
I glanced at him in surprise, and he lifted his brows knowingly as he took a sip of his draft.
My face immediately heated. “But I wasn’t?—”
“Now, if you’re looking for someone who’s actually available,” he cut in, turning to me with lifted eyebrows. “I could recommend a different option.”
My jaw fell open in actual shock.
But all evening long, Parker had acted completely bored by everything that had been transpiring around him. The fact that I even rated his notice was kind of flattering. And yet, I still wanted to shy away from his attention because he just wasn’t…Hudson.
“Ohrley!” Thane scolded from the other side of me. “Really, man? You too?”
Parker only lifted a single shoulder. “I’m sorry; did you want to hit on her instead?”
“What? No!” Thane seemed horrified by the suggestion and even slashed his hands insistently when I turned his way. “I was only trying to keep Ivey from bothering you, that’s all. I swear.”
“Hey! No hitting on my stalker,” Hudson called from across the room as he pointed threateningly toward Parker and then Thane. “That goes double for you two.”
“Oh my God,” Thane groaned in embarrassment as he ducked his face and pressed a hand to his brow. “Someone, make it stop.”
“Vargas.” Hudson snapped his fingers and motioned toward me. “Can you save her?”
Yes, please, I wanted to beg, stepping toward Oaklynn immediately when she popped up to take my arm. Get me out of this awkwardness, stat.
“Sorry about them,” she murmured to me as she hooked her arm through mine and walked me to the door. “I honestly don’t know what’s gotten into them tonight. It’s like someone just threw a piece of juicy, rare stake into the middle of a pack of starving dogs.”
I laughed over the analogy, relieved to be free of them while also flabbergasted by the attention. I wondered what Iesha and Hannah would say if they knew so many members of the seven thought I was such a hot commodity.
Just as Oaklynn and I reached the doorway, Keene came blowing inside, and we had to pull up short to keep from being trampled.
“There you are!” he told me with a huge grin. He gripped my face in both hands before I could stop him, and then he slapped a quick, grateful kiss to each of my cheeks. “I owe you lots for getting that note to Hannah. Thank you, Faith. Thank you.” Then he waggled his brows and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “And now would be a great time to get an update from her about all the things I can do with my tongue. You know, while her memory’s still fresh.”
“Eww,” Oaklynn shrieked, shoving him away. “Did you seriously just hook up with someone in the damn bathrooms?”
“God, no.” Keene pulled his face into a grimace. “The stalls were way too nasty. We found a supply closet instead.”
Oaklynn didn’t seem to be impressed. Lifting her hand to block him, she said, “Just… Go wash your mouth out before breathing your pussy breath on me again.”
“Dude.” His eyes lit up with excitement. “Can you really smell pussy on me? Cool.” Blowing into his palm, he leaned in, trying to smell his own breath as he started for the tables. “Hey, guys! Smell my breath.”
With a sigh, Oaklynn glanced my way. “This is the best chance you have to escape.”
So I did.
* * *
About half an hour before closing,Hudson asked where the bathrooms were. He seemed completely blitzed by this point, and all his friends were otherwise occupied with various conversations, paying no attention to us, so I decided to accompany him there myself.
He was slow-moving and could no longer walk a straight line, so I hooked my arm through his and manually steered him through the backdoor of the private room. Thankfully, the restrooms were nearby, and we didn’t have to enter the rest of the restaurant to get there.
“Got it from here?” I asked once we reached the door.
He nodded and winced before he was able to say, “Yeah. Thanks.”
I waited a moment after he disappeared inside to make sure I didn’t hear any crashes, and then I returned to the kitchen, where Candace was about to have a meltdown because her order had gotten all mixed up. So I spent the next ten or fifteen minutes helping her straighten that out.
By the time I was able to check on my party again, Oaklynn, Damien, and Foster were nowhere to be seen, Thane was standing as if preparing to leave, and Hudson was gone too.
Disappointment flushed through me because I hadn’t even gotten to tell him goodbye.
Alec and Keene seemed to be arguing over something, so I headed to where Thane and Parker were talking.
Parker glanced my way and lifted a finger. “I can settle the check now if you want to tally our bill,” he said.
Nodding, I left again to figure out what they owed, and when I returned with a receipt that had to be two feet long, Keene and Alec were gathered around Parker with only Thane gone this time.
“Dude, he lives with you,” Parker grumbled. “Why do I have to take him home?”
“Because I want to see what Hannah’s doing after she clocks out,” Keene begged.
Parker shook his head in dismay. “I thought you already nailed her.”
“Yeah, but maybe she’s game for another round.”
Alec noticed me then and grinned engagingly before rolling his eyes and motioning between the other two. “Mom and Dad are arguing over custody again.”
“God, fine!” Parker grumbled as he lifted his hands in surrender. “Younger, you’re with me. Now, clean up some of this shit so Faith doesn’t have to do it all herself.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I assured, but Alec had already turned away to rip down a handful of streamers and pop one of the balloons under his foot, while Keene hurried out the door.
“Got me a bill?” Parker asked, motioning me forward.
“Yes, sir.” I gulped, hoping he didn’t shit bricks at the price because I definitely would have if I were in his shoes. But I carried it over, anyway, and he didn’t even bat an eyelash. He reached into his wallet and handed over a stack of green.
“Keep the change, darlin’,” he told me as he glanced Alec’s way to check on his progress.
My brow furrowed because he hadn’t even counted out what he’d given me.
Certain I was being short-changed, I sorted through the hundreds, only for my jaw to drop in dismay. Lifting up four of them, I said, “Uh… This is at least four hundred over what you owe.”
“What?” he asked, freezing in place. “Is that not enough of a tip for ya?”
“Huh? No! It’s…” I shook my head, dumbfounded. Then, I exploded, “It’s way too much!”
Parker only chuckled. “Never had a woman complain about getting too much before.” Then he lifted his fist for me to bump. “You keep every cent of that tip, honey; you were worth it.”
I opened my mouth, still not sure how to accept such a sum when Cadence popped her head into the room again. “Faith, can you help me, please?”
Oh, for the love of Pete. I was beginning to wonder if the girl could do anything by herself.
But I nodded to her and then waved to Parker in farewell—and gratitude—before I hurried out the door.
* * *
It was closingtime before I was able to return to the private room again. All traces of party supplies were gone as were all the members of the seven. I breathed out a long sigh, thinking tonight had been…interesting.
I’d gotten an up-close-and-personal encounter with the guy I’d been secretly—or not so secretly, according to his friends—obsessing over. And he’d been…
Perfect.
I mean, damn, I liked him even more now that I’d actually met him. He was so personable, a little bit naughty, definitely mischievous, but so freaking friendly and just plain likable. He was everything I’d daydreamed he might be but…more.
Ugh. This was bad.
Thank goodness there was only the final left to take in my Statistics class. I wouldn’t have to watch him and Genesis suck face on that bench through the doorway anymore after next week.
But then, would I get to see him around campus at all after that? What if he was graduating this fall? What if tonight had been the one and only chance I ever got to talk to him?
My stomach clenched as I wiped down the tables in the room before I lifted the chairs onto them and then swept the floor.
The seven had been remarkably tidy and clean in the space they’d rented, so I finished taking care of my area way before anyone else. Which meant—shit—I got stuck with bathroom duty.
There were four restrooms in total, all private, single-stall units.
I pushed on the first door I came to, only to find it locked.
Freaking coworkers. There was always someone—without fail—who got out of cleanup by spending way too long in the bathroom at the end of the shift.
I rolled my eyes bitterly and moved on to the next bathroom, figuring I’d come back to that one after finishing the next three.
All were unpleasant, the second was the worst—some genius had tried to flush a tampon—so I’d had to find some tongs to remove that before plunging down about ten different people’s waste. By the time I was done with the first three rooms and was returning to the last, just about everyone else had finished in their stations and had gone home. Only Ravi and Bianca lingered behind, waiting on me.
I was bone tired and ready to go too, but no one seemed willing to help me with the last bathroom, so I blew out a breath and tried to open the door to get this done already, only to find it still locked.
“What the hell?” I pounded on the door and then yelled, “Hey? Hurry it up. Everyone else has left.”
When no one yelled back, my brow furrowed in unease.
I knocked a little more gently this time, growing worried. “Hello? Is anyone in there?”
Ravi poked his head into the hallway. “Damn, Woods. What’s the holdup?”
I lifted my hands to let him know I was blameless. “This door’s locked.”
He straightened, letting me know he also thought that was suspicious. “Who the hell is still here?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “No one’s answering.” I knocked on the door again to show him I wasn’t lying. When no muffled reply came back, I pointed. “See.”
“Jesus Christ,” he grumbled, stepping fully into the hall and digging a hand into his pocket to pull up a set of keys. “We better not have a fucking stiff in there. That’s the last thing I need on my shift.”
“A stiff?” I blinked, not even having considered the idea that someone might’ve gone in there and died. Then it struck me that this had been the very bathroom Hudson had gone into, and my stomach tightened with dread. “Oh, Jesus,” I croaked.
I pressed a hand to the base of my throat and held my breath, hovering pathetically as Ravi fumbled through his keys, trying to find the right one until he finally slotted the correct piece of metal into the lock. Then he turned the handle and pushed the door open.
From that point on, my heart stopped cold in my chest.
Because the first thing I saw was a familiar black leather wrist cuff wrapped around the arm of the slumped figure on the floor, lying in a pool of his own vomit.