Page 79 of Faithful

I don’t know how to act here exactly. A jealous boyfriend? A polite sidekick? Pretending I’m straight?

My mind is a vacuum, and while I’m having a little panic attack on the inside, the lead singer of Filthy Magic embraces me and bro-slaps me on the back.

“Hey, man, how you doing?” he yells before removing himself from my personal space.

We’re then ushered toward the table and are introduced to Bash’s friends. Some seem to have met Kai before. Many are dressed up and highly intoxicated and the evening takes off like a runaway train.

More alcohol is poured. Weed comes next. A suspicious-looking white powder is offered to me later. I politely refuse the gift and make sure Kai doesn’t get his hand on it either. Somehow I feel that it’s imperative I watch what he’s doing because he’s three shots and two cocktails in and he’s not a drinker. He also doesn’t say no to the weed.

The kind of possessiveness that overtakes me is new. I’m not certain how to explain it. I just have this gut feeling that I have to ensure he doesn’t end up doing something he can’t undo.

Like Ava did.

There’s a moment when, in the midst of this skin and sweat parade, Kai pulls me closer and licks the shell of my ear and whispers drunkenly, “Relax. Bash and his friends are cool.”

“I gathered,” I tell him as I cup his face and look into his eyes, other people be damned. Besides, I’m several drinks in myself and my brain is foggy, my body filled with an unusual helium-like lightness that makes me believe I could float at any second. I’ve also given up on my quest of trying to figure out if Bash Spade is straight or not. He’s equally friendly with everyone.

“Let’s go dance!” someone at the table slurs.

I have no say in the choice of activities when I’m with Kai anyway, so I don’t protest despite being the shittiest dancer alive. I just get swept up like a dust particle by a gust of wind. Five or six of us including Bash all but tumble down the stairs and spill onto the dance floor.

There, in the sea of bodies moving to the fast beat of yet another pop sensation of this year, Kai begins to sway. He’s not quite on the same wavelength with the rest of the crowd. His eyes are shut and his head is tilted back a little. He looks like he’s not from around here, like he’s just visiting, like he’s trying this universe out.

And I desperately want him to stay.

The shooting lights running across the floor illuminate his features for a second and his face glows under the stream.

I don’t get why some people actually think he’s evil just because of the online rumors claiming he drinks blood and other delusional nonsense.

If those people saw him right now, at this very second, they would know it’s not true.

A hand lands on my shoulder and I whip my head around only to see Bash’s face inches away from mine. He grins and shouts, “He’s a fucking alien, your boy!”

And then he’s gone. He dissolves into the crowd seamlessly as if he wasn’t here in the first place.

The song starts to wind down, giving way to a slower track, and the next thing I know, Kai’s arms are wrapped around me and we’re a warm space of heavy breaths and shifting limbs.

He stares at me with his fucking all-consuming eyes like he’s never seen me before. “Are you having fun?”

I nod and tighten my grasp on his waist.

He wiggles his hips.Drunk tease.

“Don’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

Kai reaches up and sinks his hand into my hair, tugging on it a little. “Ah, but I like to hear you say those things to me… How much you want me…”

His voice is soft like melting ice cream, and I don’t remember him ever sounding so normal because I don’t remember him ever drinking this much in my presence.He’s supposed to be staying away from booze.

In my peripheral vision, I glimpse people pairing up all around us. The music dictates they do, actually.

Kai presses himself to me with every part of his body that’s anatomically possible, given our current positions, and for a few long moments, we simply shuffle in one spot, the same as the rest of the crowd.

It’s weird, slow dancing with another guy in a gay club for the first time. It’s weird and scary and nothing I would’ve let myself pursue if Kai hadn’t brough me here.

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