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Touch-starved, I want to supply, but I haven’t had enough alcohol to loosen my tongue, so I’m able to bite it back.
“I like the colors,” he says, dropping his hand to twine our fingers together and hold them on his thigh.
A lot like the make up, it’s something I only do when I go out like this with Noah. Black, gray, white, and purple, each color painted on a different nail. That’s not always the combination I go with, but tonight it was for Atlas. A show that I see him.
“I’ll scrub it off in the morning,” I say, finishing off my drink and feeling the warmth spread in my gut.
“Nah, I like it.” His smile turns shy. “Ace, right?”
I nod, and he tips back the bottom of his own drink.
“Wanna dance again?”
“Depends.” I push off the stool, Atlas’ hand still warm in mine. “You gonna be gentle with me?”
I drink more than I plan to. Something about the music and Atlas, about the protective way he holds me as we sway, how his hands grip me tight when someone tries to step in or whisk one of us away.
We dance, we drink, we dance some more. At some point Atlas leaves me at the bar to check in with Shiloh, and my nerves get the best of me. I’m not a hard liquor kind of person, but I have had a few too many shots in too short of a time span. Now my head is spinning, and I’m not sure how long Atlas has been gone—but the worry sets in that he won’t come back.
He wouldn’t be the first to ditch me here because he had a fun time but not that fun. Sometimes guys get fed up when I won’t let them grab my junk or slip away to the bathroom for a quickie. I don’t usually come to Knockout for the hookups. I come because I need to be touched and this is the easiest way to fill my meter.
“Blair-Bear?”
I blink back the mist of tears in my eyes at the sound of Noah’s voice, then force out a smile when his smaller arms wrap around my shoulders. His mussed up hair tickles my cheek, and then those bright eyes are peering up at me, making my smile more genuine.
“Hey, Baby Bear. You heading out?”
“Mhm.” He nuzzles his nose against my ear, making little hums and grunts but no actual words.
I slip an arm around his waist and give it a firm squeeze. Over his shoulder, the man whose name I still haven’t learned, other than that Noah calls him ‘Papa’ is standing with Noah’s sweater draped over his shoulder.
I hold Noah closer and catch eyes with the older man. “Got a hotel and room number?”
The man smiles, small and indulgent like always, and hands me a card with the name of a nearby hotel on the front and both a room and phone number on the back. Just like usual.
I kiss the top of Noah’s head just as he lets go. “You be safe.”
He smacks a quick, wet kiss to my lips before grinning wide and bouncing back to the other man’s side. When they walk away, it takes me a moment to notice Atlas standing beside me at the bar, leaning on the counter with the sweetest smile I want to kiss.
I almost do, which is how I know I’m definitely on my way to getting drunk.
“You’re a great friend,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. I’m a little unsteady, so he rests his free hand on my waist and lets me lean on his shoulder. “And I think it’s time to get you home.”
I spread my hand out between his shoulder blades, only half paying attention to the conversation—the other half is busy appreciating the way his muscles flex under my fingers.
He tips my chin up. “Home, B.”
Something about that sounds off, but I can’t put my finger on it with how much my head is swimming. “Noah took off, and I can’t drive like this.”
“I’ll take you back. Shiloh took my Jeep back to the dorms. One of his buddies got a little too wasted, so he gave them a ride. You cool with that? If I drive your car?”
I nod because Atlas can have or use anything of mine he wants.
That includes some naughty things my alcohol riddled brain decides to conjure up.
Atlas puts both arms around me, and for a moment it’s like we’re slow dancing. It doesn’t make sense with the pounding beat and strobing lights all around us, but when I rest my cheek on his shoulder and he lays his head on top of mine…
It feels like being embraced by a lover.
