Page 38 of His Obsession
We got out of the car and walked towards the front door. “Yep. Understood.”
“Good.” Jake interlaced our fingers together, and I gave him a look of confusion. “Just go with it.”
We walked to the entrance, holding hands, which made me feel strange and caused my toes to curl with discomfort.
I noticed people staring at us as we bypassed them to the front of the line, causing me to become self-conscious and jittery.
In all of my excitement to see Lucy, I forgot my appearance. I was a sweaty mess, my hair was in a messy bun, and I had a considerable bruise and knot on my face. I looked battered and misused. I pulled myself in close to Jake to hide from the prying eyes.
“I changed my mind. I can’t go in there,” I whispered as we came up to the bouncer that I thankfully didn’t know.
“You’ll be fine. Just do as I told you.”
My heart was racing, and a nervous sweat broke out across my brow. I hid my face as the bouncer removed the rope and passed us through.
Once we entered the club, part of my insecurity went away with the lights. It was dark as usual, aside from the lasers and strobe lights. I could deal with this. I tightened my fingers around Jake’s hand as we battled the crowd to the steel bar. It was time to think of a story of what happened to my face.
Battles ran through my head as Jake kicked someone out of their seat and plopped me down in their place.
“Remember the rules, stay right here. Alek won’t be happy if you don’t listen, and if I get in trouble because you decide to be a brat, I’ll make your life a living hell.” His threat was audible and clear over the music I didn’t care to listen to anymore.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Jake. My life is already a living hell, and I’ve been sleeping next to the devil.” I smirked.
“You’re so naïve.”
“Relax a bit, Jake. I’ll listen.” I shook my hand from his, forgetting I still had a hold of it.
“I’ll be right there,” he said, pointing to a door a few paces away from me. “I can see everything from there.”
Somehow, I’d never seen a door there in all the years I’d been coming here, and the odd comfort that came from him being able to see me struck a nerve.
I flagged Lucy down as Jake slipped through the door.
“You came!” Lucy beamed, holding up her signature offering of liquor.
I nodded. “Let it rain vodka, Lucy.”
Her eyebrows shot up as she watched me shoot back three rounds without thought. I choked on the fourth as she reacted to the damage on my face. “What the fuck happened to your face, girl? Did thatfriendof yours do that?”
I pounded on my chest to clear my lungs and shook my head. “No, some bitch punched me over a cart at the store. Can you believe that?” The lie slipped off my tongue as if I rehearsed it for days.
“Did you kick her ass?” Lucy said, leaning on the bar with her elbows.
“I got a hit in.” If you mix part lie with part truth, it’s easier to keep the story straight. Again, another trick I’d learned from the movies.
“Well, did you call the cops?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Lucy.” I didn’t enjoy lying to her. I had never done it before, and now I felt like that was all I ever did. Lucy refilled my shot glass, and I swallowed, relishing the burn as it went down.
“I’ve got to get back to work, Liz. Are you going to stick around for a little while?”
The night had just started for her, but I had a feeling it was going to be ending for me shortly. I knew Jake was in a hurry to get home for sleep.
“I don’t think so, I just wanted to see you before—”
A man spoke in Lucy’s ear, interrupting my explanation that would have been another lie. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go. Message me later, m‘kay?” Lucy leaned over and gave my good cheek a kiss, and I watched her flip her bottles, entertaining the crowd.
Shortly thereafter, Jake put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a soft smile. “Let’s go.”