Page 94 of Boost

Roxiee hummed nonchalantly. “So, are we going dancing after this?”

After the day I’d had, I didn’t feel physically up to hitting the dancefloor.

“Dancing?Really?”

“Shake off the day and leave it behind us,” she said, with a shoulder shake that made her boobs jiggle within her loose-fitted top.

“No promises,” I stated, with a direct point of my finger.

* * *

Five mojitos and two hours later...

The moment we stepped into the club, my day turned from average to better. Roxiee and I danced the songs away until my feet ached and my head swam with the pumping music. Just shy of midnight, the dancefloor became crowded for a Monday night when a large group of women arrived, evidently celebrating someone’s promotion at work.

They joined us on the dancefloor, drinks raised high and spilling around our feet. We were all in high-spirits and drunk enough to ignore each time we bumped and jostled against each other as we danced, and we all sang at the top of our lungs to each song.

One woman in particular was noticeably more inebriated than the others, and she spilled more wine on the floor than she managed to drink. She headed to the bar, and came back with another glass raised above her head, stumbling as she went.

I saw the moment she lost her footing on the wet floor. She teetered on her high-heels, over-balancing forward and back as she tried to stay upright.

Pure reaction to help had me reaching for her, but her erratic movements were hard to predict in my intoxicated state. I got a hold on her waist and tried to steady her stumble. It seemed to work for a moment, until she snapped backward again.

Pain burst through my nose and mouth when her head slammed into my face. Releasing her as I reeled from the impact, I then bent in half and cupped my nose as blood began to drip from my clasped fingers. The group of women around us split in two—half of them helping their friend, and the other’s gathering around me. The bartender pushed his way into our circle and handed me a cloth for my nose, then dropped another on the floor to mop up the blood.

Roxiee led me to the bar, and I perched on a stool while she fussed over me. My nose throbbed and already felt alarmingly swollen. Only once the bleeding had stopped and I could stand without getting dizzy, did she hail an Uber. I needed today to be over already.

We sat in the back seat on the journey home, and remorse scrunched Roxiee’s expression. “I’m so sorry this happened, babe. They shouldn’t have served her more drinks. She was already hella drunk—anyone could see that.”

“It was still an accident,” I replied in a muffled voice, while holding a cloth filled with ice to my nose.

An accident that signaled the moment my life started to completely unravel around me, and no amount of ice and band-aids could stop it.

Chapter40

-Greer-

The next morning, I hurried past Christian’s office with my head down, hoping to slip by without him noticing.

While my hair shielded my face from view, I should have known that slinking past was more suspicious than walking by with my head high and shoulders back, as per usual.

“Gree?” came his questioning voice.

I didn’t acknowledge, and I didn’t stop. I had to get to the sanctuary of my office to reassess the damage for the fifteenth time this morning. Sure, the concealer hid the bruising, but no makeup could hide the swelling.

Roxiee pushed her to her stilettoed feet and rushed into my office, hot on my heels. While she saw the accident happen and helped me clean up, she hadn’t seen the damage in daylight.

“How bad is it?” she hissed, coming up behind me as I inspected my face in the mirror hanging on my office wall.

“I guess it could be worse…”

“I still can’t believe it happened. I’m so sorry I didn’t see it coming.”

I eyed her through the reflection. “This is in no way your fault; just wrong place, wrong time.”

She turned me by the shoulders and assessed the damage at close range, concern radiating from sharp gaze.

“I’m okay, Rox, just a little sore.”

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