AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The guy leans in on the bar, maybe a bit too close to me. I can smell his cologne, mingled with sweat and the kind of stale peanut odor that lingers in bars like this.
“So, breakup celebration, eh?” he echoes, turning his face toward me. “Sucks. For the guy, I mean. You’re a catch.”
I realize just how close he is to me too late. I can see the pores on his face and the clarity of his blue eyes. I just barely react in time to put my hands on his chest before he can kiss me.
“W-Wait?—”
“What?” He raises a brow. “You’re single, yeah? And obviously looking to mingle. So what’s the issue?”
He cups my hand in his and tries to draw me closer. But there’s resistance. Quinn grips my shoulders and leans over from behind me.
“Girls. Only.” Her words slur just a little, but her tone is pointed and unwavering.
The guy narrows his eyes at her and scoffs. “Whatever. Pay for your own drinks next time, bitches.”
Quinn sticks her tongue out at him as he stalks off, disappearing into the mass of bodies dancing.
I frown. “Can’t guys just be nice these days? What the hell is wrong with the male species?”
“Don’t look so long in the face, boo.” Quinn hugs me, patting my head. “He looks like he’d be a terrible rebound lay anyway. A guy with lips that thin? There’s no way he knows how to eat a woman out competently.”
“You’re awful,” I giggle, though she isn’t wrong. His lips were kind of thin. “Ugh. Anyway. Not gonna let him ruin the buzz!”
“‘Buzz’ is way back in the rearview mirror, babe. You’re straight-up drunk.”
“Soooo what?” I giggle again. I’m doing that a lot. I slip off the barstool and wobble. “Gotta pee! Be back soon!”
The trip to the bathroom is full of stumbles, slurred apologies, and accidentally touching a few too many strangers’ asses. No one notices or maybe they just don’t care. By the grace of God, I manage to get to the bathroom without falling on my face.
Not from lack of gravity doing its damndest to drag me down, however.
It’s a one-toilet situation and, better yet, it’s empty, which is great because my bladder is practically overflowing when I sit down and do my business. I sway as I do, my eyes roving over the multicolored graffiti drawn and carved into the bathroom walls. Scrawls of numbers, poop jokes, angry declarations against cheating ex-lovers.
That last one hits a little too close to home. I shudder, finish up quickly, and start washing my hands.
Suddenly, the bathroom door opens. I jump out of my skin and suppress a scream. Hadn’t I locked the door behind me? Was I so drunk I forgot to?
“Hey, sorry, girl. I’m almost?—”
But it’s not “girl.” It’s not a girl at all.
It’s the man with the thin lips.
He closes the door behind him and leans back against it, smirking with his arms folded smugly across his chest. “You look a little lost, sweetheart.”
I blink up at him as the first tendrils of fear snake their way into the pit of my stomach. “N-No. Just using the bathroom. I’m done.” I blink again. “Is this the guys’ bathroom?”
“Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p’ at the end in a way that reads as weirdly sinister.
“Oh.” I swallow. “Well, I’m done, so…”
He chuckles. “No rush. I just figured, you know, since I bought you and your friend those drinks, maybe I could get a little thank you.”
I don’t like the way he says that. It’s uncomfortably slimy, like the words themselves are slicked in oil.
“Uhm. Right. Well, thank you,” I say, trying to make my voice as clear as possible. “They were very good drinks, so… yep. Thanks.”
I go to move around him, but he blocks my way with his broad body. It occurs to me suddenly how alone and vulnerable I am. I’m a caged rabbit in a pen with a wolf.
