Page 6 of Saved By the Wolf
We donnedour costumes at my place and drove twenty minutes out of town to the community center where the party was being held. It was lit up like Christmas! Orange lights hung around every edge of the building, including the entranceway, which looked like the open jaw of a monster with paper mache fangs welcoming you into its belly. Techno beats were drifting out the doorway, and I could feel my feet starting to tap to the beat as we stood in line waiting to have our invitations scanned. There were all sorts of costumes here tonight, ranging from hockey players, to wolves, to a bee costume, and even to her partner, the farmer.
A group of five men were standing off to the side, all wearing the same costume, which included a black t-shirt and black jeans, and each of them had a wolf mask covering their whole head. They looked like bodyguards the way they were standing, and sure enough, right then, one of the masked men escorted a male dressed in only his pants out the door. The half-naked male was exclaiming a bunch of profanity, and when he tried to head back into the party, a couple of the other wolf men came to stand in front of him. The half-dressed man didn’t even stand a chance when he tried to swing a punch at the masked men. Before I could blink, he was knocked to the ground with a bleeding nose.
I froze when I saw the blood spurting from his nose, rich and red and flowing freely. The sight of it triggered memories of Rich and the many times he’d beaten up others to get what he wanted. I could feel vomit start to surge up my throat. I ran to the woods, far away from the crowd, with Becca following close behind.
“You okay, Jill?” I felt her hands pulling my hair back, which had come out of Mario’s hat.
I couldn’t talk as bile was purged from my stomach. Tears were streaming down my face. “I can’t do this, Becca. I need to go home,” I managed to rasp between heaves.
“Okay, let me just tell Brandon we’re heading out, and I’ll take you home.”
“Brandon is here?” I tried to turn to look at Becca, but my head spun.
“Yeah, he and his brothers put this party on every year. He thought it would be a safe place for you to wet your feet.”
I groaned, slowly pushing upright. “I want to stay then.”
“It’s okay, Jill. I can take you home.”
“No, I want to stay,” I insisted. Brandon and Becca were the reason I was free now. If he thought this was a safe place to wet my feet, I wouldn’t bail on him now.
“Why don’t I ask if there’s a private place for us to sit inside?” Becca rubbed a hand up and down my back, and I started to calm down.
“Is everything okay?” a deep voice suddenly said from behind us.
We both turned to see who it was, but the man had a wolf mask on, and we were so far away from the light outside the club that I couldn’t discern his features.
“Everything’s fine,” Becca said. “We just needed a moment.”
I couldn’t say anything because something about his presence was familiar. A longing came over me, along with a sudden urge to raise my hand to take off his mask or touch his arms—anything to be closer to him. That’s when I noticed he had a cup of water in his hands, which he was holding out to me.
“I thought you might like some water to clear your palate,” he said.
It was at that point I wished I had a mask on, because I could feel a blush starting to sweep across my cheeks. I couldn’t decide if it was from embarrassment due to the vomit he could no doubt smell, or the warm feelings I was having for him, but I was hyper-aware of the people lined up out front the club who were starting to stare at us.
I took the glass from his hand to move things along. “Thanks. That’s very kind of you.”
“Why don’t you come in? I have something that might help you.”
“Okay,” I replied, though I had no idea why I said that. I didn’t even know the guy!
The crowd parted, and we followed Mr. Wolf—as I decided to call him—through the jaws of the doorway and into the rhythmic beat of thrashing bodies. There were a lot of people crammed inside, and I could smell sweat emanating from the dancers.
I instantly grabbed Becca’s hand and kept close to Mr. Wolf. Rich would have fit right in here . . . .
Wait! A few months before I left him, Rich had started calling his group ‘Wolfhound.’What if this was his group?The men all had masks on, and their bodies were all cut just like Rich’s group. Could it really be them?
I could feel my heart rate increase, and I squeezed Becca’s hand tighter, giving her a frantic look. The dancers moved in, starting to surround me. Their hands and arms and bodies started to blur together, and I could feel my legs slowly giving out.This was a bad idea. I’m not ready for this.The last thing I felt were strong arms closing around me. I heard Becca’s shout before it all went black.
* * *
I woke up on something soft, with my face lying against a fleece-like material. A groan escaped my mouth, and I rolled over and opened my eyes to see an office desk and a number of bookshelves with hoards of books. Becca was walking toward me from the office chair. I tried to sit up, but she held me down, and I saw the look of worry in her eyes. Why worry about aging when you could have a friend like me that could expedite your life expectancy? I owed her another apology.
“I’m sorry, Becca.”
“Don’t be sorry, sweetheart. You’re going through a lot, and I pushed you too hard too soon. I shouldn’t have asked you to come to this party. I should be the one who’s sorry.”
“Don’t say that!” I groaned again. I could really use some Advil right about now.