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I didn’t know how to respond to that, but he didn’t need it. He saw someone he knew and tugged me along with him.
As Elliott spoke to his friends, I scanned the warehouse. Music vibrated the air, filling the massive space. Groups and couples were scattered around, but the center seemed to be reserved for dancing. There was a pool table and a foosball table. Both were being used. Most held cups, many were passing joints. The scene wasn’t as debaucherous as I’d imagined, but the night was young.
Elliott squeezed my hip. “I need to go take care of a couple things. Are you good for me to leave you here with Shawn and Robbie?” He nodded to his suitemates, who I’d met once before.
“I’m fine. Take your time. I’m enjoying people watching,” I replied.
He touched his lips to my temple. “Stay here, Zadie. Don’t talk to anyone. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He waited until I nodded in agreement, then he disappeared through the throngs of people. Shawn and Robbie didn’t seem to be interested in me, so I sipped my lukewarm beer and wandered away from them a little. I didn’t go far, because I didn’t want to deal with Elliott being angry that I hadn’t listened.
My heart stopped then thrashed when I spotted him. My pulse fluttered madly in my throat. Even from half a football field away and all these months since we’d been in close proximity, Amir made me nervous.
This was his brother’s party. Of course he was here. I’d known he probably would be when I overheard Elliott mention it, but nothing could have prepared me for my reaction to him and the probability he would see me too. If there had been a chair close, I would have fallen into it. My knees were so wobbly, and my stomach lurched like a boat in a storm.
Amir wasn’t drinking. He wasn’t smoking. Leaning against a steel support beam, his arms folded over his chest, he gave the appearance of being relaxed, but I didn’t think he was. He made slow sweeps of the space, turning his head from one side to the other, even as a girl draped herself on his shoulder. He pulled her closer, his hand on her plump backside. She spoke to him, and he replied, but he remained watchful. Vigilant.
Goose bumps puckered my skin at the memory of his eyes on me. The feel of him taking me in, peering at me so intently, as if he could see all the way to my core. No one had ever looked at me that way before. Or since. I wasn’t sure I had even liked it, but I would never forget it.
I hoped he hadn’t forgotten either, because he was the reason I was at this party tonight. My plan had worked perfectly up until this point.
I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but before the party faded, I was going to have Amir Vasquez’s attention.
