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I nodded.

“And…oh man, does this mean he hates me already? Cause I’m your friend and you left him in the lurch? Am I going to get the heat for that?”

I nodded again. “One hundred percent. He already doesn’t like you.”

“What?!” Alex squawked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, I mean good luck with that one. If I can’t escape his anger, I doubt you’ll be able to.”

“Dude,” Alex slumped against the headrest. “You’re gonna have to help me out with that. Maybe you could, I don’t know—” Alex went quiet for a second. Then I caught it from my peripheral, his hand cupping the air, his tongue pushing against his cheek, the universal mime of sucking dick. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Get the hell out of the car, I’m done with you,” I said, but couldn’t help the laughter that spilled out between the threats.

Alex was whining, but he listened, practically crawling out of the car, still hanging on the passenger side window as I put the car in reverse. “Noah… why do you gotta be a sex fiend?”

Chapter twenty-nine

Club Phantom

NOAH

The place for the party wasn’t hard to find—I just followed my GPS and the extending glow of the nightlife establishments the deeper into the city I went. All in all, the drive was a bit longer than what I was used to, considering I didn’t really take myself places anymore. My hands were a little shaky on the wheel of Damian’s Mercedes as I took the last left turn and saw Club Phantom at the end of the street. I’d been dry from any sort of meds for like six hours and I could feel the itch under my skin, that hollow empty feeling that made everything both too sharp and too dull at the same time. The interactions with Damian, Serenity and Alex had made it worse, and I had stayed longer than I anticipated. Now, I was on edge.

On the bright side, I had three Addies in my pocket, pressed into a napkin, just waiting for me to use. I fished them out while I was a half a block away at the light, dry-swallowing two of them right there in the driver’s seat. The bitter drip hit the back of my throat and I chased it with the water from the cupholder, already waiting for that familiar lift, that focused buzz that made everything possible. I patted my pocket afterwards. One more pill, and one plane—safe and sound.

I pulled into Phantom and parked, checking my hair in the mirror. The moment I stepped out of the Benz, the crowd outside noticed—heads turned, whispers, eyes on me. Of course, if the car hadn’t been enough of an eye catcher, seeing a Hansen out in the wild would have been. Especially me with my stellar reputation.

By the time I crossed the parking lot, the speed was starting to hum in my teeth. The street was packed—hundreds of people, no exaggeration, all pressed up against each other just trying to get a glimpse inside the club. I pushed through them, my heart doing that thumping thing it does when the Adderall hits my empty stomach, and I looked down at myself to assess my appearance.

Shit.

My button up was wrinkled and I probably smelled like smoke and sweat. I tried my best to make the most of my outfit as I walked past the line right to the front door, fully aware I was bypassing a ton of people who had waited a lot longer than me. Their glares dug into my back. I kept my gaze down, walking fast, my legs jittery, needing to move, but I didn’t get very far. The security guys were massive, a solid wall of steroid muscle lining the entrance, and I suddenly felt even smaller, like I was seventeen again, and trying to sneak into a bar with my fake ID.

This giant in all black stepped in front of me, blocking the colorful lights from inside.

“Name and ID.” Not a question. A demand. My brain stuttered for a second, the Adderall not quite kicked in enough to smooth out the panic. Even if I had a legit ID, it wouldn’t help my cause—he’d see that I had just turned twenty. If he let me in, I’d be getting a massive black X on the back of my hands that prevented me from the actual good stuff—the drinks.

“Uh—” I reached into my pocket, fingers clumsy, trying to look calm and collected as I searched for my wallet. I knew full well there was no legal ID in there, but I didn’t want to seem suspicious. “Noah. Noah Hansen.”

The guy’s eyebrows went up. “Hansen, you said?”

I nodded, my hands slick and clammy, wondering if this was the moment everything fell apart. But instead, the body guard turned, gave some signal to the people inside, and the red rope dropped. I walked through fast, trying not to look at the faces of people who groaned out their complaints loudly. Although I did feel bad, the guilt only lasted like half a second, because then the drugs wrapped around the feeling, smothered it, turning it into something distant and unimportant.

The lights were strobing, blue and gold, and my eyes found Delane immediately. Like my brain had been tuned to her frequency, I spotted her through hordes of people pressed together on the dance floor.

And nothing else really mattered at all after that.

She looked amazing. I had no idea if she picked the outfit herself, but the black material that hugged her body combined with the bouncy red curls atop her head was already driving me mad. She was at a table near the back, surrounded by people but alone somehow, her chin resting on her hand, looking almost bored.

I knew that look. She was somewhere else, her mind drifting, and I wondered with a sudden desperate clench in my gut if she was thinking about me. If she remembered my mouth on her neck, my hands on her hips, or the way I felt buried inside of her.

The light caught her face and she turned. Smiled.

My stomach flipped hard, and for a second I forgot about the Adderall buzzing in my veins, forgot about Damian’s car parked outside, forgot about everything except the way she was looking at me like I belonged there.

She was beautiful. God, she was beautiful, and I was already thinking about how soon I could take the third pill in my pocket, how long I could make this feeling last.

DELANE