Page 33 of Hide From Me

“This is Noir. We are going to get you out of your little shell if it kills me,” she said. “You need to date. Be young and crazy.”

Her voice pulled me back to the moment. I was going to party and be me and independent. I was going to get drunk if I could, to try to not process what the hell had happened over the last few days.

I didn’t want to process that there was a camera in my apartment. Or was it more than one? I didn’t want to think the man I’d built up in my head might be one of the demons my mother had tried to run from.

I nearly stumbled as Cali grabbed my hand. We walked up to the doorman. A quick look at the line Cali had just bypassed made me want to pull away and hide.

“Where are you going? We can’t just cut in line.”

“What are we? Twelve? I told you my friend can get us in. Just follow my lead.”

I wasn’t going to pull away from her, but I was out of my element. I should have partied more in college. I should have gone wild and been crazy. But I had enough crazy in my life that control was what I craved. Until tonight.

Probably. Suddenly, the questions were bouncing around in my mind. I’d just run from a man that had a camera in my apartment. I should confront him. I should call the police. Except my entire body warmed at the memory of just how I’d lost control. For him. Cas unnerved me, and not in the way I’d thought he would. Which was something since the moment I’d seen him, he took my control from me and I let him. I had so many questions. Maybe, had I ever gotten the shrink I probably needed, I wouldn’t be running from a problem that should have me freaked the fuck out. Instead, I was just out here trying to prove he couldn’t control me.

I was a giant red flag.

No, Cas was a giant red flag with fucking neon all over it.

“We’re on the list,” I heard Cali say.

The massive man at the door, who I wasn’t entirely sure had a neck, checked a list and nodded as he checked off something. Had to be our names, I figured. I caught a glimpse of ink peeking under the collar but couldn’t make it out in this lighting. Still, I could imagine the tag that he wore.

The guy’s massive hand gripped the rope and let us pass.

I took a deep breath and followed Cali inside to the thump of the beat of music.

This was a bad idea.

“Cali,” I said and tried to pull on her arm.

She turned to me and smiled.

“I just don’t think I can,” I said before she pulled me closer. She wasn’t a hugger, and neither was I, but something about her made me trust her more than I’d trusted anyone, and I let her pull me up to the bar.

Cali leaned in close and nearly yelled into my ear, just to be heard.

“This place has the best drinks. I didn’t bring you here because I like to party. I brought you here to forget just how fucked up our lives are.”

She pulled away, and I scrunched my nose.

“Don’t lie to me. No one works with dead people because we are normal,” she said.

She pulled me deeper into the club, stopping at what looked like a marble counter with blue and black swirls along it. Nothing about this club screamed dive or cheap. Again, maybe I should start getting to know the city I’d been only briefly introduced to years ago.

The bartender had dreads and more piercings than I could count that glinted under the blink of the lights. He had inkcovering every inch of his exposed skin, and this time I was positive I saw an hourglass on his neck when he turned to look at us.

“Hey, Cal, house specials?”

She nodded, and the guy went to work pouring shot after shot into a large cup before stirring and placing them on the bar.

I pulled out the credit card in my bra and went to hand it to him, but he just shook his head.

“Cal’s money is no good here, and neither is a friend of hers. Go, forget your problems.”

Cali winked at him and turned back to me.

“Bottoms up, babe.”