“No. I’m not going to give up my spot.” I turned my back to the both of them.
She mumbled something inaudible.
“Talk as much shit as you want. You’re not getting my spot.” I tossed the words over my shoulder with a shrug.
“It’s not fair!” the woman wailed loudly as I continued staring down at the growing crowd. “It’s not like I can see around her.”
“Then go somewhere else,” I retorted even though she wasn’t talking to me.
My fingers tightened around the metal rail. It took everything in me not to turn around and curse her out. Because even though she wasn’t saying exactly what she meant, I could read between the lines.
“Just great! Another one,” she grumbled as Nina appeared next to me. “How am I supposed to see with the two ofthemin the front?”
Nina, not missing a beat, handed me my drink and then turned to glare at the woman. “What was that?”
Nina towered over the shorter, smaller-framed woman. I glanced over my shoulder and watched her cower slightly. She looked unsure if the verbal confrontation was going to turn physical.
Because I knew Nina wasn’t going to fight, I smiled at the fear that flashed in the thin woman’s eyes.
Even though she ignored Nina’s question, she continued complaining to Stephen and the others in her group. “Let’s just go somewhere else. It’s not enough room for all of us over here.”
“It sure isn’t!” Nina yelled behind them. Turning, she flashed me a confused look. “What was that all about?”
“She wanted our spot,” I answered with pursed lips.
“Don’t they always?” she replied.
We both laughed.
The crowd below was packed to maximum capacity, and the crowd behind us was just as tight. The air-conditioning was working overtime, but it was as if warm air was being blown around. I looked at the people below and shook my head. If it was hot where we were, I could only imagine how the people down there felt.
“Oh!” Nina exclaimed. “Look at him.”
“Who?” I wondered.
“The one in the white shirt. He’s walking through the crowd toward the exit sign. Right there! Walking with the girl with the ponytail.”
I followed her pointed finger toward the speaker on the far side of the stage. “I don’t see…” My sentence trailed off as I laid eyes on the man she was talking about.
“He looks good as fuck,” Nina observed, bumping me with her hip.
I swallowed hard as I watched him disappear through the doorway. He did look good. He also looked very familiar. “I think that was Ahmad.”
“What?”
Blinking rapidly, I nodded. “That was Ahmad.”
“That was Ahmad who?”
“From Onyx. The bartender.”
“The one who you said was like your wingman?”
I nodded.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit.” Waving a dismissive hand, she gawked at me.“That’s not what wingmen look like. That’s a damn leading man. You said he was giving wing, and the whole time, you should’ve been giving him thighs and breasts.”
I howled.