Chapter 31
An hour later, when the band took their break, Anna couldn’t deny she was having a good time, and when she went to the bar to get more beer, she could almost pretend she was a normal young woman and that the thing had never happened and that she hadn’t found a dead body only hours before.
Her face ached from laughing, and her hair was damp and curling from dancing with Melissa next to their booth, ignoring the looks from the women purring and flirting with the men around them as they made faces at each other and did comedy moves.
It was almost like those early days of college when partying was just fun and they were all still fresh from high school.
She handed over some crumpled dollars, happy to have avoided Suzy serving her, and was about to grab the beers and get out of the crush when she heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, Anna.” In jeans and a T-shirt, his hair mussed, Todd was almost unrecognizable at the bar counter beside her. Her heart thrummed unpleasantly, being so close to him as more people crowded them, eager for service. “You here on your own?”
“Why would I come here alone?” She tried to step backward to put a bit of space between her and the scent of him carried on his citrus aftershave. “I’m here with a friend.”
“Oh, that’s good.” He sounded surprised. “Glad you’re getting to know people.” He leaned forward, his face close to her ear to make himself heard above the shrieks and laughs and loud drunken talking around them. She didn’t like the proximity of his warmth. “You okay after today?”
“Of course I am.” She wanted her body to harden tough like a tortoise’s shell so she could hide safely inside it.
“Hey, Todd.” Suzy appeared, bubble-gum-bright smile, no word of hello for Anna, not even a glance in her direction. “Can I get you something?”
“These your beers, sweetie?”
Anna turned to where a red-faced man swayed close behind her. Tall and fat, with a shit-eating grin, he was holding up two bottles of beer. Her two bottles of beer. Her skin chilled despite the sweaty warmth.
“Don’t touch my fucking drinks.” She spoke quietly, Todd forgotten.
“Hey, no need to curse.” The man made no move to put them down. “Doesn’t suit a lady. How about you ask nicely?” He leered at her, holding the beers a little out of her reach, but then leaned forward and his sour breath engulfed her. “What about a kiss in return for them?”
Suddenly she was almost back there, she almost remembered, and she couldn’t get any air in her lungs and that smell, that smell and then on instinct she was lashing out, everything in her vision a red mist, and she pushed him hard in the chest with a burst of all the energy she had.
“I said don’t touch my fucking drinks!” Even in the noise of the bar, her shout was loud and angry, her rage powering her like thunder, and she watched as everything around her moved in slow motion.
The man’s grin dropped into a surprised O and his eyes widened.
As his arms pinwheeled to try to keep his large body upright, beer sprayed in circles before he dropped the bottles, his center of gravity gone, and she watched as they tumbled to the floor, breaking on impact.
For his part, the drunk man fell through two younger men, knocking them sideways as he continued staggering backward, and as she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her away, she almost lashed out again until she saw it was Todd, his face full of concern.
As the man finally crashed through a stool and hit the deck, she realized the bar had fallen close to silent, only titters and giggles and mutterings, one voice she recognized as Suzy’s saying, “Whoa, crazy.”
Todd still had her arm, and she thought maybe he was asking her if she was okay, if she needed help, but her ears were ringing too loud to hear and her face was hot and as she realized the whole bar was staring at her, she thought she might pass out.
The man got to his feet, full of rage. “You little bitch!”
As Anna pulled her arm free, in a white panic to run, the man lunged toward her again.
“You motherfucker!” Melissa, snarling like a wildcat, sprang from nowhere and pressed the jagged edge of the broken bottle neck into the fat man’s throat, hard. “You going to hit a girl? It’ll be the last thing you do.”
“Jesus H. Christ.” The man leaned back, eyes wide with fear, and as Melissa gave him another shove he toppled onto his ass again.
“If a girl wants your attention, Alan Atwater, you’ll know, asshole.”
“Melissa, enough.” Todd stepped forward. “Anna, I’m not sure…”
Anna didn’t hear the rest. She and Melissa were moving through the debris, parting the crowd and running out into the night air.
“That was wild, Anna!” They ran around to the side of The Shamrock in case anyone followed them out. “You took him down! His face!” Melissa made an exaggerated surprised expression and waved her arms around, stumbling backward.
“You almost gashed his throat!”
“That greasy fuck didn’t know what hit him.” Melissa started laughing.
Suddenly Anna was laughing too, all her anger and fear becoming a rush of exhilaration. The beer buzz and the adrenaline kicked in, and then they couldn’t stop. The two of them bent over, leaning on the wall outside the bar, trying to catch their breath, laughing until they cried.