“We?”
He turns to my brothers, the three exchanging a quick set of words, before they nod at Everett. “I’m going to get you back to the hotel,” Everett tells me. “And I’ll send the car back for them when they’re done.”
“Oh, no. Everett. It’s really fine. I can go on my own.” I take my shoe laying on the floor and start to carefully guide my foot through the tight straps. When the hard buckle grazes my cut, I wince.
Everett ignores my protest and wraps his arm under mine, easily hoisting me up and supporting my weight. “Just let me take you.”
One look at Everett, and I know it’s a pointless objection. He’s dead set on getting me back to my room himself. I give up and wave at Josh and Andrew as we walk by. “Tell Mina that I’m really sorry,” I tell Josh. “And I’ll make it up to her tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Josh says.
“And make sure you ice that,” Andrew instructs. I throw them both a thumbs up and shuffle off in Everett’s arms.
Once we’re outside, it’s about twenty feet from the door to the car waiting on the sidewalk, but it feels like a hundred. I take the first step slowly, using Everett for support. After the first five steps, I feel my feet sweep out from under me.
“What are you doing?” I gasp, my eyes round in shock as Everett scoops me up against his chest.
“It’s easier this way.”
“Oh my god, Everett,” I cry, covering my face with my hand. “Please put me down.”
“We’re right here, Teen.”
“This is so embarrassing.”
“Stop complaining,” he playfully argues. “Plus, it’ll keep the drunk creeps away.”
“Oh, so that’s the plan,” I comment. “This has nothing to do with the damsel in distress situation I’m in.”
I feel Everett’s chuckle rumbling through his chest, and I laugh too. His cheeky smile, my awkwardness, our easy playful banter. It all makes me feel like a kid again, my heart so full of hope and optimism. So blind to the future that lies ahead of me.
The driver standing with his hand clasped in front of him opens the door for us as soon as we reach it. I hop in, being careful not to bump my already feeble foot against yet another hard surface, and Everett follows.
The car pulls out of the narrow driveway in front of the club, and we leave behind the loud noise and flashy lights and expensive alcohol. Well, I guess not the expensive alcohol since we seem to have quite a selection inside the limo. Everett reaches for the open bottle resting in the bucket of ice dripping with condensation.
He takes a long pull and shrugs. “Can’t let it go to waste.”
I extend my hand, requesting a share. “I guess not.”
“So, I guess I was wrong.”
I take a long sip. “About what?”
“About walking around the Las Vegas strip in high heels not being such a bad time.”
The alcohol starts to course through me, and I hand the bottle, now more than half empty, back to Everett. He takes it by the narrow neck and tilts back another long pull.
“I warned you.”
He nods. “You did.”
Before we know it, the bottle’s empty and we’ve pulled into the entrance of our hotel. I urge Everett to refrain from carrying me, and instead ask that he help support my weight to the elevator. Once inside, I remove the heel from my uninjured foot, looping the straps to both shoes to dangle from my fingers.
“I’m sorry you had to leave early,” I say quietly inside the low hum of the ascending elevator.
“It’s fine.” His words are spoken so gently, the last thing I feel like is a burden. Almost as if he would’ve chosen this had it been up to him. But then again, I guess it was his choice. He could’ve let my brothers handle things. Let them help me into a cab and send me back to my hotel, but he’s the one who offered his help. Like he’d been waiting for the opportunity to be my knight in shining armor, and he simply swooped in at the first chance to come to my rescue.
We remain quiet, the tension filling the small space to the point that it feels suffocating. We arrive on my floor, and I expect Everett to watch me get off and be on his way, but he doesn’t. He gets off with me. We reach my room at a slow pace with my limping and Everett matching my steps. The dimly lit hallways make the moment more intimate than it should be just as I reach my room, I pull out my key card.
