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“What about Josh?” Iasked.
Erika shrugged. “I’m not going to do anything,” she insisted. “It’s justflirting.”
“You’re giving guys the wrong impression.” I shook my head and Erikagroaned.
“Come on, Harlow,” she pleaded. “Just tonight. Please – no judgment – justfun.”
“I think we should–” Erika ignored my final protest and grabbed my arm, dragging me to the general vicinity of where I guessed the female restrooms were. I sighed and just let it go. She could flirt all she wanted, I wouldn’t. Inside, it was dingy, but I could tell that at some point it had been a rather nice bathroom. The tiles on the floor and halfway up the walls didn’t need a thorough scrubbing as much as they needed to be taken out and replaced. The mirrors were clear of any lipstick notes or water marks. It was surprisingly clean for a dance club – or any kind of club for thatmatter.
Erika stopped at the furthest sink, turned the hot water up to full blast which was only a trickle faster than it was at normal, and she proceeded to scrub the crap out of the back of her hands. She pumped the soap furiously as she washed. I sighed and stepped up next to her. I didn’t want to be the only one with black X’s. I started scrubbing as well. The markings came off after several more washes. Erika, in her determination, was done long before me and she waited impatiently by the door as she dried herhands.
“Finally,” she said when I approached, the backs of my hands scrubbed red, but clean. She grabbed my wrist and tugged me out into the crowded club. It seemed that while we had been in the relative safety and quiet of the bathroom, more people had arrived. I wondered briefly why no one had been in the bathroom with us, but then I figured it might have been too early in the night for bathroom lines to have started yet. No one was drunkyet.
“Let’s dance for a little bit before we hit the bars,” Erikaannounced.
I couldn’t help the small amount of relief I felt. We hit the dance floor just as the song changed. I smiled when I recognized the opening tunes and began to dance. Erika laughed and jumped up and down as others did when the beat started moving rhythmically. I swayed and laughed and tilted my head, singing loudly, confident that no one could hear me above thecrowd.
I was starting to sweat and remembered that I had wanted a water earlier. Just as I was about to snag Erika’s arm and ask her to go with me to the bar, a pair of wide biceps curled around my middle and jerked me back into a strong chest. I looked up, startled and half irritated before I recognized the electric blue irises of the man holdingme.
“Grayson?”
He didn’t smile at me. Instead he was glaring over my head at something. I whipped my chin around and saw that several guys were either subtly looking away or leaving the dance floor entirely. Erika was still too caught up in jumping alongside a group of other girls to notice what was going on. I turned back toGrayson.
“What are you doing here?” I called over themusic.
He looked down at me and his frown deepened before I felt him lift me up. With my back to his chest, Grayson walked me towards the edge of the dance floor. Irritated, I swung my legs, trying to walk despite the fact that I wasn’t touching the ground. I debated on kicking him to get him to let me down, but then decided against it because I didn’t want to risk him droppingme.
When we reached the edge of the dance floor he put me down, but I didn’t have time to demand answers, because the next thing I knew, his hand was wrapped around my upper arm in a tight grip and he was dragging me through the club. To where, I couldn’t see. Grayson shoved bodies out of the way and skirted whole groups with me in tow. I didn’t realize the crowded noise was growing quieter until we stepped out onto a back-patio. There were several filled tables of people smoking, clutching their cigarettes as they laughed and chatted and inhaled so hard that the cherries on the ends of their cigarettes burnedbrightly.
“Grayson,” I said, immediately shocked by just how clear and loud my voice came out. I lowered my volume. “What are you doinghere?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” he snapped. “What was that outthere?”
“What was what?” I asked,confused.
“Those animals were practically ready to dive on top ofyou.”
“I was just dancing.” I took a step away from him when he dropped myarm.
“Do your boyfriends know you’re here?” he demanded. “Do they know about that–” he looked pointedly down at my X-less hands. “That’s not very ‘good girl’ ofyou.”
I bristled. “Who said I had to be a good girl all the freaking time? Yea, the guys know where I am. But who said I have to follow the rules and do what I’m told all the time? I can leave and go somewhere and not tell them. If I wantto.”
He raised his eyebrows before narrowing his gaze. “Are you drunk? Have you already been drinking?” When he reached for me, I slapped his hands away and took another stepback.
“No, I have not been drinking and I amnotdrunk,” I whisper-yelled when I noticed some of the smokers had turned their attention to us. I narrowed my eyes at him, mimicking his expression. “What are you doing here? Are you following meagain?”
He groaned, rolling his eyes. Placing his hands on his hips, Grayson tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling as though he were praying for patience...or praying that it would fall on him. I was kind of hoping for the second option at thispoint.
"Grayson," I said – done with this whole situation. "What. Are. You. Doing.Here?"
"I came here to find a friend," he replied, finally looking back down at me. His blue eyes crackled with heat and something more. I resisted the urge to take a third step back. I felt like that would be noticeable and maybe, just maybe, a littleoverkill.
"Me?" I asked. "Am I that friend? How did you even know I washere?"
At that, he smirked. "No, Harlow, you’re not the friend I’m here lookingfor.”
“Okay, if I’m not, then how do you explain us being here at the same time? Don’t you think this is a littletoocoincidental?”
