Page 23 of Selfless

“Hey, Ryder? What’s up, man?” he asks.

I hear the pounding of music in the background. “Not much,” I tell him. “I was just calling to see how opening night is going,” I lie.

“Great. You gonna make it out?”

Make it out? Not sure I wanna go there and see Ashlyn with Bradley. They’d be dancing or, worse, kissing. “No, I can’t make it,” I say and tip the bottle back. “But my sister is there.”

“Yeah, she came in with a couple of friends earlier. I’m taking care of them.”

Great! He’s getting them drunk. I’m sure their drinks just keep coming. “Can you keep an eye on her for me, please?” I don’t think he has a clue that I mean Ashlyn.

“Absolutely!” I open my mouth to say thanks when he speaks again. “Hey, man, I gotta go take care of something.”

“Okay …” Click.

He hung up. I throw my phone to the end of the bed. It bounces off and hits the floor with a thud.

I sit up and take another swig. Then another. And then another. I drink until I’ve finished the bottle and my vision blurs. My father was right—come Monday, I’m going to get my ass back in the game and put Ashlyn behind me. No matter how hard it is to do.

ASHLYN

Two hours later, I’m drunk. And doing something I thought I’d never do again—laughing.

I stand at the bar of Seven Deadly Sins, holding a glass in my hand with dark liquid. I’m not sure what is in it, but a nice man bought it for me, and it is delicious. It’s like my fourth one. On top of all the tequila shots I’ve had. And whatever drinks our waitress keeps bringing to our table, thanks to the hot owner himself.

“Where did your friends go?” the man yells over the music as he leans into me.

I spin around, the straw between my lips. I scan the busy club and dance floor. This place is packed with wall to wall people. The man who let us in stands over in the far corner talking to another man who has a security shirt on, but it’s not Miller. He nods his head and points over at a hallway where I know the bathrooms are. I’ve visited them often; breaking the seal was a bad idea.

“I don’t know,” I respond with when I don’t see them. But they could be standing a foot from me, and I’d probably have a hard time seeing them over the neon flashing lights and my somewhat blurry vision.

“Do I need to give you a ride home?” he asks, making sure to yell over the music as he leans into me.

I start shaking my head quickly, and it makes the room spin. He places his hands on my shoulders to steady me when I sway. I giggle. “They wouldn’t leave me,” I manage to say but then tilt my head to the side. Would they?

“Would you like me to help you look for them?” he asks, lifting the beer to his lips and taking a good size drink.

Should I find them? I mean, I’m not all that worried about them. Should I be? “Yeah,” I tell him, setting my drink down on the bar.

He takes one last drink of his beer to finish it off and places it on the bar before picking mine up. “I’ll carry it for you.”

“Thank you,” I say and go to take a step forward but trip over my own feet.

He wraps his arm around my waist, and I laugh that I need the assistance. “Come on, Bambi,” he calls out over the music.

He walks me around the dance floor and down a long hallway toward the bathrooms. He comes to a stop, and I stumble forward. If not for his arm around my waist, I’m sure I would have fallen. “There they are,” he says.

I look ahead just in time to see Becca running toward us. She barrels into me, pushing me backward, and then another set of arms wrap around me, and I know it’s Thomas. “Where were you guys?” I yell over the music.

“We had to use the ladies’ room,” Thomas tells me and then looks at the man I have been talking to for the last hour. “What have you been up to?” He looks back at me and winks.

The nice man just laughs. “Whaattts your name?” Becca slurs.

“Nick,” he says, reaching out his hand to shake hers. And then Thomas.

“Well, aren’t you just adorable,” Thomas says with a wink, and Nick shifts uncomfortably.

“You’re scaring him,” I tell him, and we all laugh but Nick.

---