Vampiric: Chapter Nine, Part 10

“And now to start the year off right for the couples in the crowd,” the DJ announced, starting the music back up with a slow song.

“May I?” she asked hesitantly.

“Why not?”

Caroline spun me in a circle before we started slow dancing. Part of me knew it was dangerous because she probably still liked me, but I always hated sitting out on slow songs. And she was good about keeping it a dance between friends.

“Mind if I cut in?” the cutesy girl—the one Ian had been dancing with earlier—asked. She twisted a blond curl around her finger and ground the toe of her right shoe against the floor.

“For whom?” Caroline asked, though I’m not sure she actually saw the girl.

The girl’s dark eyes darted to the floor. “You.”

“Go ahead;” I stepped back. Caroline eyed the girl, and I could tell she was thinking how this girl was so unlike her past girlfriends. It was healthy for her to be uncertain, though. After they started dancing, I headed to the bar, the energy that had filled me previously replaced by extreme thirst.

“Lime water, please?” I took a seat.

“Hi,” a guy beside me said, slightly waving with the hand not holding his beer.

I nodded, otherwise choosing to ignore him. He was darkly tanned with sun-kissed brown hair and green-blue eyes. “Thanks,” I said to the bartender who handed me my water. I pulled a dollar from my wristlet and left it in the bucket on the counter.

“What’s your name?” he asked as I slipped from the stool and headed to the tables on the other side of the dance floor. I wanted to have fun, not be hit on by some gorgeous stranger. Even as I reminded myself I wasn’t looking for someone—not even to dance with—my mind argued that I still wanted the attention, that it wouldn’t hurt to hear someone tell me I was beautiful.

I caught sight of Ian at a table, but he was busy talking with the uptown miss, occasionally kissing her. The music returned to remixes as I found an empty table. The guy from the bar was following me. Not too close, but he wasn’t trying to disguise it either. I wasn’t sure if I was glad he had followed—if that was a compliment to me that he even would—or if I wished he would just go away. I did know that I wasn’t emotionally ready to deal with him. I had just started dealing with my other problems.

“Anyone sitting there?” He flashed me a dazzling smile. Pretending not to hear, I wondered if it’d be easier to turn him away if he didn’t look so handsome. Taking my silence as a no, he sat, sitting his beer on the table and saying, “Now, a lovely lady like you should have a name.”

Taking a sip from my water, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “Not one you need to know.”

He leaned forward on his elbows, capturing my gaze for a moment before I pulled away and stared at the crowd. “I’m Dominic, but everyone calls me Dom.”

“Well, Dom,” I said, glancing around again as if looking for someone, “I’m not interested.”

Dom didn’t say anything, but he pulled his chair closer to mine. One of his fingers trailed down my forearm, sending goose bumps along my skin. “You will be,” he insisted, the words just audible over the music.

I pulled my arm away from him, finishing my drink. At this point, I had two options. One of them I knew was the wrong choice, so I went in search of Caroline.

“Lovely, lovely lady,” he called, grabbing my hand and twisting me into his embrace. He was strong; I could feel the muscles in his arms flex around me. His body against mine was hard and sculpted. I wouldn’t have minded staying there if the proximity hadn’t reminded me of Drei. Of our dance lessons and how those often resulted in kisses.

“Let go,” I demanded, struggling to hold myself together. All I wanted now was to be home. To go to sleep and hope I could stop finding him everywhere. It didn’t seem possible I could go from being okay with thinking about him to being close to tears because of one stranger. I hated it.

“What’s the matter, lovely lady?” I could feel his eyes scanning my face as I tried to find Caroline. If I could see her, I could send her a message. I could ask her to make him stop, because I couldn’t without drawing too much attention and I was technically supposed to be dead.

His lips found mine and, for a brief moment, I was caught up in the alcoholic smokiness of his breath before it started to choke me; smoke turned out to be far worse than water. I tried pushing him away, breaking from his embrace, but he wouldn’t let go; I knew tears weren’t too far off. Blanketing the room, I searched for Caroline that way, trying to ignore his nipping at the base of my neck. His lips were tickling my skin, bordering on being consummately distracting. And in all the wrong ways.

“Caroline,” I whispered, finally finding her in the crowd. She turned in my mapping, apologizing to her partner. “Stop,” I said, trying to pull away.

“Why are you crying?” he asked stupidly before his head jerked backwards.

“Maybe because she doesn’t like being treated like that,” Caroline yelled, yanking on his hair some more. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling but waves of heat were washing from her and the people nearby were backing away. He let go, pain etched across his face.

Without staying around to hear whatever she was saying to him, I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to find my way out. I couldn’t stay here. I had to go. I needed fresh air, to breathe, to try and slow my racing pulse.

Someone grabbed my hand from in the crowd and pulled me along. Ian glanced back at me. “No worries, love,” he said, smiling grimly. He didn’t let go of my hand until we were outside. I wished we were at the beach still so I could walk out over the water, inhale the heavy sea breeze and calm down. But we weren’t at the beach. And all I could inhale was the stale city air, traces of smoke finding its way into my lungs.

Caroline wasn’t far behind us, running to catch up. When she did, she wrapped her arms around me saying, “God, Abs. That was awful. I’m so—”

I tore out of her embrace, not wanting her to touch me. At that moment, I couldn’t stand her. Drei wasn’t here because of her. And though Dom wasn’t her fault, being at that club was. In that instant, I could have blamed her for almost anything. We had toasted to a happier New Year and it was already worse.

“What’s wrong, Abs?” she asked, her voice soft and pained.

Waving it off, I knew the wisest thing to do was to not say anything. So, filled with anger and a renewed hurt, I hailed a cab back to the apartment, wishing more than ever she would have let me move out.