AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After buckling me in as fast as he could, he backed out and sped to the nearest emergency room.
“Hold on, baby. I’m going to get you some help. Please hold on. Please be okay.” Dylan’s right hand held my limp left hand tightly, desperation evident in his pleas.
Of course, I remembered none of these beautifully sweet and heroic things. I blacked out as soon as I fell into his arms before we left the club.
CHAPTER 8: DYLAN
When I drove up to Zia’s apartment building around nine forty-five p.m. on Friday, I saw that she was already standing just inside the front entrance waiting for me. When she saw my truck, she walked out and let herself in the passenger side.
We were meeting Zia’s roommate, Clara, and Clara’s date, Cason, at the Thunder Lounge. It was essentially a dance club with loud, rhythmic music, dark with various colored moving lights.
As soon as we went inside, we met up with Clara and Cason. It was apparent that Clara was not feeling well, and she was complaining of a headache. Zia offered to take her home, but Clara insisted on taking a cab while Zia stayed here and had a good time without her.
It seemed to be enough to get Zia to stay, but she at least walked Clara out to the cab to see her off. I could tell Zia was worried about her friend until she got a text notifying her that Clara had made it home safe and sound.
Meanwhile, I went to find us a table while I waited for Zia to return. Cason accompanied me. I recognized him as the same guy who had approached Zia and Clara’s table that night at the Book Shelf the day before Zia and I had met.
“Sorry about Clara, man. I hope everything is okay,” I offered as small talk to Cason as we sat at the table, just the two of us.
“She’s fine. Probably just a little dehydrated or something,” Cason said casually. Then he added, “So, you and Zia?” with one eyebrow raised suggestively.
I wasn’t sure how to answer that, so I went with the truth to be on the safe side. “We’re just friends.” For now, I hoped. I didn’t know him enough to open up with any personal details.
Cason gave a wide-eyed nod. “You don’t say,” he said. Then he began looking around for a waitress. “I’m heading to the bar. First round’s on me. Whiskey sour?” he offered.
“Sure. Thanks,” I agreed. Then he stood and walked to the bar.
When Zia came back in from seeing Clara off, she found me at the table. “Sorry about that,” she said.
“I hope she’s okay. Do you think we should have gone with her?” I asked with concern. Clara really hadn’t looked well, dehydrated or not.
“She didn’t want us to, but the cab driver seemed happy to help her home. I’ll call and check on her in a few minutes just to be sure,” she said as she sat in the chair next to me.
About that time, Cason approached the table with the round of shots and took a seat.
I could tell Zia felt an obligation to include him in the conversation, but quite frankly, I couldn’t figure out why he was still there. His date had left feeling sick. I couldn’t fathom why he would stick around and not have seen her home himself. If it had been Zia, I would have been right there beside her, making sure she was okay and tending to whatever she might have needed.
Something was off about this guy, Cason, but at the moment, he was making friendly conversation. I assumed Zia knew him well enough since he was obviously dating Clara and had been for as long as Zia and I had known each other.
When he finally got up to use the men’s room, leaving us to ourselves for a bit, Zia seized the opportunity to point out a girl she had scoped out for me to talk to.
This was not how I was hoping this night would go.
“Go over there and talk to her. Get her away from her friends and maybe ask her to dance a song or two. Then take her off to a quiet corner to talk and get to know her a bit,” Zia instructed.
Great, I thought. I’ll be over there talking to some girl I know I have no interest in, while Zia is sitting here with some guy I trust as far as I could throw. Actually, I trusted him less than that, considering I could probably toss his ass pretty far if I had to.
I considered telling her that I wasn’t into this. If I opened up to her now, I wouldn’t have to waste my time playing this whole charade. Then again, that might have just sped up the inevitability of her telling me to get lost. I decided to stick to the plan, which was to go through with whatever course she had me on for the evening, and open up to her after we left when I drove her home. At least we’d be alone then.
I walked over to the girl Zia had pointed out. She was underdressed compared to her two friends, who were both wearing glittery outfits and jewelry just about anywhere they could put it. This girl had on a few understated pieces of jewelry, but she looked nice. She wore a one-piece pant suit that looked like something J-Lo would wear, along with a pair of open-toed ankle boots.
I could tell why Zia had pointed her out of the crowd. She was the only girl who wasn’t trying too hard to be noticed. She was classy, appeared confident in her own right, and quite honestly looked bored and out of place in this electronic dance club.
As I approached, I noticed the two friends of the girl eyeing me up and down appreciatively and conspicuously. I had to walk past both of them to get to the girl, and as I passed them to approach her, I could see their jaws drop open in disbelief from the corner of my eye.
“Hi, I’m Dylan. Mind if I steal you away for a while?” I held my hand out to her.
The girl looked up at me in disbelief before looking to her to friends, then back to me. “Me?” she asked.
