Page 58 of Ever After

Before she can walk away, Rudy says. “Hey Brandy, can you get us all another round of shots?” He gives her a wink, and she walks away.

What the hell? We haven’t even taken the first ones. What was up with that wink? He’s already shown way too many red flags in a short amount of time. How long is Lia going to endure this? As if reading my thoughts, Lia stands.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom. Will you join me?” she asks, looking at me.

I nod and give a small pat to Jay’s leg, silently letting him know I’ll be back. I turn around and we both start heading for the bathroom. The second I walk in, I turn around and face Lia. She slams the bathroom door shut and locks it.

“What the fuck!” she mutters.

Facing Lia, I say, “Now I know why his dates turn out so bad.”

“You think? His cousin said nothing about this. She probably doesn’t even know. I bet he’s the one who put the blame on all his dates.” She throws her hands in the air. “And what the fuck is up with his questionnaire?” She huffs out a huge breath. “And he doesn’t want to pay for me. Way to make a lady feel deserving.” She catches her breath and turns to the mirror and fixes her hair.

“I’m very shocked at everything that’s gone down in such a short time.”

Lia walks over to me and grabs my hands. “Thank you guys for coming. I don’t know what I would have done if it was just me.” She stares at something behind me. I turn around and see a small window. “We could jump out the window and leave.”

“Jay is out there. We can’t leave him.”

“Ugh, fine. Let’s go.”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad after he has some alcohol in him. The alcohol might loosen him up a bit.”

Lia pulls me out of the bathroom. We walk out hand in hand.

“Let’s hope.”

We get back to the table and find Jay and Rudy talking amongst themselves. They seem a little deep into the conversation because they barely acknowledge we’re back. I look over and see both of Rudy’s shots are gone—and most of his beer. I picked up my shot to cheer everyone at the table. Lia and Jay grab their shots and we all clink our shot glasses together. All three of us shoot them down. One down, one more to go, plus my beer.

I look over at Lia and she has the second shot in her hand, ready to take it. I grab my other shot, waiting for Jay to pick his up. Round two is done. Rudy is still in conversation with Jay. Mostly Rudy is in the conversation, and Jay is only listening at this point. I look around and see the waitress coming by with our food. Thank God these shots are going to get me buzzed soon.

We are all pretty drunk now after a few hours and a few rounds of shots. Rudy wouldn’t stop ordering us shots until we asked the waitress to close our tabs. I’ve seen people drink, but not this much. He drinks liquor down like water. He rarely pays any attention to Lia the whole night. I’m sure she’s happy about that. All of us have moved ourselves over to the pool tables. Rudy and Lia are playing right now. Jay and I have been sitting at a tall round table watching their game. Guys keep eyeing Lia all night. Or maybe they are eyeing us with Rudy. He’s so drunk he can barely stand. The waitress already had to cut him off; It’s getting a little embarrassing.

Lia finally wins, and Rudy doesn’t seem fazed about it. I look up and see a guy heading in our direction. He steps next to Lia and asks if she wants to play a round of pool together. Lia’s face lights up so big and bright. I don’t know if it’s because she’s attracted to him or because she can now finally stop interacting with Rudy. We all look over at Rudy and he throws his hands up like he doesn’t care. Of course, he doesn’t. He sits on the other side of us, babying his beer because the waitress cut him off.

Jay walks over to me and leans in for a kiss. His kiss and the smell of his cologne are doing things to me I never expected. He whispers in my ear, “Don’t you wish you could have me? All of me.” He bites down on the top of my ear, and I feel his breath on me. Goosebumps run through my body. My vagina pulses for him.

He spreads my legs open wider and stands in between them. He leaves a trail of kisses down my neck. His hand comes up and with one finger, he pulls my shirt down a little, exposing the top of my breasts. He has no care in the world who’s around us or watching us. The alcohol is benefiting me. He’s so big his whole body hovers over me, covering everything he’s doing to me. I look up into his eyes. They’re glossed over from all the alcohol. I reach up and grab in between his legs. He’s pulsing for me, too. A small moan comes from his mouth. I take his tongue into my mouth and suck.

“Don’t you wish I had my mouth on something else?” I say, tugging at his jeans that are holding down his cock. He lays his forehead on mine. I reach up a little further and close my eyes to grab his tongue again.

The next thing I know an icy breeze hit me like a brick of ice. A loud crash echoes in front of me. I open my eyes and look up and I see Aiden and Jay on top of the pool table. Aiden managed to get on top of him. He’s straddling Jay on top of his stomach. I get up from the chair and pull at Aiden’s shirt. “Aiden stop. What are you doing?”

Aiden looks at me, his eyes glossed over and red. “Who the fuck is this?”

Jay pulls his legs up and wraps them around Aiden’s midsection. He pulls him down so quickly I fall from being so close to them. I hear Lia scream in the background. Feeling a touch on my head.

“Lilah, are you okay?” It’s Jay’s hand on my head. I reach up to touch it. My head pounds. The alcohol isn’t helping me here. I can’t focus on what’s going on. Aiden pulls Jay away from me and swings to punch him in the face. Jay blocks it and swings right back, knocking Aiden to the ground. Jay runs over to me and helps stand me up. I look over Jay’s shoulder and Aiden is standing, wiping the blood from his face.

“Who is this Lilah? What the fuck is going on?” Aiden yells.

Jay looks between Aiden and me. “Is this who I think it is?” Jay asks. I can’t make out any words. I stand there in silence. “Lilah?” I nod my head. That’s all I can do. Jay notices my silence and backs up a little from me. I stare at both of them in front of me. How did my life come to this?

“Lilah!” I hear Aiden yell. His voice is a lot louder this time. He points over to Jay. “Who the fuck is this?”

Lia comes up behind me and stands between Jay and me. “He’s with me,” she says. I look over at Jay and he backs away even more. He looks at me, waiting for me to answer Aiden’s questions.

The look on Jay’s face is telling me he wants me to choose right now. I stand here, confused about what to do. Questioning myself at this moment, why I’m standing here in silence. I don’t want Aiden back after what he did. He’s the one who cheated on me. So why do I feel so bad? Aiden’s face is radiating so much anger I can feel it shooting all around me. Blood is dripping from his face to his shirt.

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