Page 316 of Dark Love

“I mean he should have called the cops…but do you blame him?” All of this fits with the intense but kind man that I just met.

“You’re nuts.” Mindy nudges Diane. “Are you two going out on a date?”

Both of their eyes get even wider if that’s possible.

They are crazy. “What? No. He just helped me out with a creep at the bar. Vex—” That name is just too weird. “—is a really nice guy. It wasn’t anything like that.”

“He kept his arm around you the entire time you two were talking,” Mindy points out a fact better forgotten.

How do I even respond to that? It was just so comfortable to have his arm there… Absolutely not going to say that. Vex made me feel safe… Nope, not something I want to admit to either.

“Ladies.” A man in an all-too-tight bouncer shirt walks up to our table. “Drinks. Compliments of the boss.” He sets a shot down in front of each of the girls, and a glass of champagne in front of me.

Is it real or a glass like I got before?

The bouncer doesn’t leave the table. Are we supposed to tip him or something?

“What gives?” Diane asks.

“After you finish your drinks, I’m to escort you out of the club and safely home.” The bouncer crosses his arms like he doesn’t expect us to go easily.

“Why are you kicking us out? My boyfriend works here—”

Before she can finish that thought and get us in trouble, I cut in, “He’s kicking me out. If I leave, can they stay?”

The bouncer doesn’t noticeably react. “Boss said to escort all of you.”

Well then. “I’m sorry.”

“No worries. The entertainment was worth it.” Mindy lifts the shot up and nods towards the table I just came from. She doesn’t even hesitate to pour it down her throat. Diane follows suit, and they wait for me to do the same.

But I can’t look at him again. Not tonight. “We’re ready.” I slide my purse up my arm and stand up.

“Your drink isn’t done.” He doesn’t move.

“I don’t want the drink.”

A gasp can be heard around the table.

“You can tell your boss thank you, but I’m no longer thirsty. I’m leaving.” With that, I turn on my heel and stride towards the front doors like a big semi-scary man didn’t just tell me to do something.

Mindy rushes up and loops an arm through mine. “You’re insane, do you know that? I didn’t know just how brave you were until you walked away. Wanna be my ride or die?”

Um, no. That doesn’t sound at all fun. And I’m not brave, just stubborn. “Maybe. If I don’t have other plans.” I’m totally going to have other plans even if I need to book a last-minute flight to some foreign country with no return ticket.

Mindy laughs like that’s some weird joke.

We step outside and my ears continue ringing from the noise. Will they ever be the same again? Probably not. Oh well, who wants to be able to hear anything when they’re in their sixties anyway? This will be an experience I can tell the others in the nursing home.

“Leaving so soon?” Tac asks from the velvet rope before he notices the bouncer behind us.

“Prue got us kicked out,” Diane says that way too cheerfully. “Vex likes her.”

Tac’s eyes go wide.

What is the point in even trying to explain how wrong she is on all levels? None of these people seem to listen to anything I say anyway.

“I knew she was trouble.” Tac glares at me.

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