Page 2 of Havoc

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, my friend.” We both knew she was. Her ex used to say obnoxious things constantly. That guy was good at putting his foot in his mouth.

She drained her wine glass and motioned to the bartender for another round. Giving me an embarrassed glance, she said, “You know how Rex was. Of course, I knew that from experience.”

Maritza whispered, “Don’t look now, but we’re getting sized up by a group of bad boys on the other side of the dance floor.”

Bad boys were my kryptonite. They made me weak at the knees. I turned to look and damn, they were all tatted-up bikers and smoking hot. The waitress dropped off our drinks, and we sipped and talked, wondering if the hunks were going to come over to our table or not.

Maritza leaned forward, “There are five of them and four of us.”

Now, I knew that wasn’t just some idle comment on her part. “What are you saying, girl?”

She grinned unrepentantly, “It means I get two.”

Everyone laughed, and when she added, “And I get first pick,”

I took a big gulp of my drink before pointing out the obvious. “You can try your best to pick, but my best guess is they’re too dominant to allow that. I’ll bet my bottom dollar they’ve already decided who they’re going to approach.”

Dae asked, “So, what’s your advice about tonight, life coach? Are we just going to sit here passively and let them make all the decisions, or are we going to take control of our own destiny?”

Downing the rest of my drink, I thunked the glass down on the table. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, a wild thought jumped into my head. “I say we put on our big girl panties, go out onto the dance floor, and shake our asses hard enough to attract every single guy in the bar. Then we pick the one we like best and party the night away.”

My friends downed their drinks and followed me out to the dance floor. We wove our way through the throng of people, emboldened by liquid courage and ready to make a night of it.

We were having the time of our lives when I ran right into a wall of muscle on my way to the restroom. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of the hot, sexy bikers. It was Detective Aaron Slater, an off-duty police officer who had been annoying the crap out of me for several months.

At first, I hadn’t realized what was going on because we had only crossed paths about once a week. But once he started asking me out, cornering me whenever he could, and talking at length about what a good fit we would be, I realized he was staying in my orbit intentionally. No matter how many times I declined, he just kept circling around to take another shot. He flat-out refused to take no for an answer.

I immediately stepped back. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

His lips turned up into a smirk. “I think you just want to get into my personal space, Miss Riley. If you want a hug, all you have to do is ask.”

Judging by his swagger, too-loud voice, and the slight slurring of his speech, he’d been drinking that night. I’d never bumped into him out of uniform, much less intoxicated. This didn’t bode well for another round of whatever it was he was trying to pull with me.

He reached out and grabbed my arm. “Let’s dance.”

I resisted, trying to pull out of his grasp without being obvious about it. “I was just on my way to the restroom.”

“That can wait,” he said arrogantly. “Just one dance. Surely that’s not too much to ask?”

Putting on my big girl panties, just like I always told my clients to do, I put my hands on my hips and said firmly, “No, thank you. I really need to go to the restroom.”

Dodging around him, I continued on my way without giving him an opportunity to respond. There was something about that man that I just didn’t like. My instincts about other people were usually spot on, and my gut was telling me to avoid this guy like the plague.

Still, I knew from previous interactions that Slater was prideful. Turning him down needed to be done with tact and sensitivity. The last thing I needed was to make an enemy of an officer of the law. And bruising his ego while he was drunk could have gone very badly for me, especially if I accidentally humiliated him in front of others.

I sat on the toilet and tried to process the whole situation in my head. My big fear was that if I gave him that one dance, it would be game on. He’d take that to mean that if he caught me off guard and pushed me enough, I’d cave in to his wishes. I didn’t want to do anything that might encourage his advances. This was a classic no-win scenario where I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.

I finished my business and began washing my hands at the sink. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, trying to brainstorm a way to slip his grasp without offending him. The lesser of two evils was to give him his damn dance and then leave. I hated everything about this man spoiling my girls’ night out. I dried my hands and slowly walked back towards the dance floor. I could see my friends all dancing together, and I wanted to be with them.

Unfortunately, I saw Slater leaning with one shoulder against the wall. He was standing between me and my friends and had an irritated look on his face. “You ready for that dance now?”

I forced myself to give him a tight smile. “Yes, of course. But just one friendly dance. It’s girls’ night out, and I don’t want my friends to think I ditched them for a man.”

It was clear this man didn’t care about anything I had to say except hearing me say yes to dancing with him. The thought of him having his hands on me made my skin crawl. But I bit the bullet and let him lead me out onto the dance floor.

Once we were in the throng of dancers, the fast song ended, and a slow one began. He gleefully put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer until my breasts brushed against his chest. I glanced away, feeling uncomfortable and angry.

I put my hands on his shoulders and stiffened my body to put a little space between us.

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