Page 55 of Wanted

My first thought was that Alek might end up showing up at theclub, being the owner and everything, and what kind of tension it would causebetween the two of them. But the bigger Megan’s smile became, the less Iworried about it.

“Sure. Sounds like fun. Whydon’t we invite Alexa and Matt to go with us? They love Throttle, and I’m surethey would be up for some new musical talent.”

Again, she looked annoyed, but as soon as she smiled, I thoughtI’d misread her.

“Great. You can let them know we’ll be meeting up at eight-thirty.The band doesn’t go on until ten, but I thought we could relax and hang out beforethey start.” Our conversation ended when she took off to help the customer whohad walked in.

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The night had been going well. Everyone was laughing and tellingstories, mainly about some asinine customers who had come into the shop. Thankfully,there weren’t too many of them to regale.

“Then, as he was asking me to fill out the card for him—for hiswife, mind you—he asked if I was free later that night.” Megan grimaced as shetold us her story.

“What an ass,” Alexa bemused. “Guys are creeps.”

“Hey,” Matt fussed. “Not all of us are creeps. Some of us aregood guys, you know.” Even though Matt was smiling, he looked as if somethingwas bothering him. Matter of fact, he’d been wearing the same look on his facefor a while now. Trying to convince him to open up and talk about it was likepulling teeth. Worse even. He’d shut down if I pressed too much. I assumed hewould talk when he was ready.

“Some of you are all right,” Megan chirped, smiling wide inMatt’s direction. I’d seen her curiosity at the way the three of us interactedtogether.

Matt was like our brother, warning off unwanted attention. Therewere obviously no romantic intentions flitting around our group. Well…with theexception of Megan, I supposed. The way she watched my friend was a little sad,only because she seemed to really like him. The one thing he did open up to meabout was when he had to shoot down her advances toward him, an awkward situationfor sure because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But she was alwaystouching him and asking if he wanted to grab drinks after work. He let her downeasy, though, stating he only viewed her as a friend and nothing more.

But tell that to her heart. Or was it another body part whichneeded to be told?

She watched him when heflung his arm around Alexa’s shoulder, pulling her in close to give her a kisson the cheek. He’d done the same thing with me earlier.

As the night wore on, the more Megan’s mood seemed to sour. Ididn’t know if it was because Matt wasn’t paying her as much attention as hewas to Alexa and me, or if there was something else bothering her altogether.

“Can we move closer?”Alexa asked as she grabbed my hand, already pulling me forward before I evenanswered. “I hear these guys are amazing!” she shouted over her shoulder.

Megan and Matt followed us as we approached the stage. The bandwas busy chatting with some patrons while they set up their equipment.

An hour into the show, I suddenly became a little woozy. I triedto blame it on the alcohol, especially since I hadn’t eaten in hours. Drinkingon an empty stomach was never a good idea. Taking some deep breaths, praying itwould do the trick, I fumbled to find something to lean against. There were somany people crowding me, it was hard to breathe. Add in my sudden attack ofdizziness and it didn’t make for a good time.

Staggering toward the edge of the bar, Iaccidentallybumpedinto Megan, spilling a bit of her drink on the floor. My other friends wereturned away from me, thoroughly enjoying the music to even notice I wasn’tokay. She looked annoyed at first then concern washed over her as she saw meswaying where I stood. And it certainly wasn’t because of the music.

I knew something was wrong. My mind instantly flew to thinkingsomeone had spiked my drink. But I reasoned it was impossible since the onlypeople who had touched it before me were the bartender, Matt and Megan. Theyhad each bought a round for the group. In fact, it was Alexa’s turn to buynext.

“Sara, are you okay?” Megan asked, shoving her shoulder under myarm to try and keep me steady. Her support of my body was a relief, and Ileaned into her even more. I was terrified I was going to face-plant rightthere, in front of everyone.

My head spun.

My muscles were like jelly.

My body started to heat up and my vision became cloudy.

My eyes glanced over at Megan, and in a split-second I saw astrange expression cross her face. I didn’t have the energy to read into itbecause it was gone not a moment later.

Suddenly, pain radiated across my cheek. Confusion swept over meas I stared at the woman holding me up. She’d slapped me in an attempt to keepme coherent.

“Sara, you don’t look well. Do you want to go home?” I heard Alexa’svoice behind me, but she sounded so far away. It was almost as if I wasdreaming. I couldn’t focus on anything, all of the people around me blurringinto one large mass.

In a way, I was frozen.

I was unable to turn around.

I couldn’t speak to tell my best friend something was wrong.

The last thing I heard was Megan telling her she would take meoutside, that she lived around the corner and would pump me full of coffee,sobering me up and returning me to our night out.

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