04 - Born to be Wilde.txt (25 page)

"Why not?"

His sister's disappointment traveled through the phone line, and Joel hated that he was responsible for Mia's crestfallen tone. Out of all his siblings, he related the most to Mia, and was closest to her. They'd both been adversely affected by their mother's death, in ways that had bonded them and made each of them understand the other's wild, adventurous behavior over the years.

Luckily, his sister had found a man to settle down with. A man who accepted Mia, flaws, smart-mouth, and all. She seemed so happy and content with Cameron Sinclair, secure in herself as a woman and an artist, yet Joel being at the gallery opening meant more to Mia than he'd realized.

Torn, he scrubbed a hand along his jaw. "I'm on assignment right now."

"Are you out of state?" she asked.

"No. I'm in Chicago, but I'm standing in as a bodyguard for a friend's sister, and I have no idea what the situation will be like by next weekend." He'd like to hope that Zach's predicament would be settled somehow by then, but Joel wasn't holding his breath for any quick and easy resolution.

"Why can't you bring her with?" Mia suggested. "Squeeze in a bit of fun around business if you can. It would mean so much to me to have you there."

It was difficult for Joel to resist those words. Even more difficult to say no to his sister. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," she said, and he heard the relief and pleased tone of her voice.

"So, how are you doing?" he asked, wanting to make sure that everything was going well for her.

"I'm busy with the gallery opening, but overall, I'm good."

He smiled. "Does Cameron still want to marry you?"

She laughed at his teasing question. "Of course," she said confidently. "The guy knows a good thing when he's got it."

Joel chuckled, though he knew the feeling was mutual, that Mia realized how lucky she was to have found a man like Cameron. He loved seeing his sister so happy and mellow. So content with her life. Just like the rest of his siblings and cousins. Being the only single one left in the family, Joel was beginning to feel like the odd man out.

After a few more minutes of conversation, he said good-bye and promised once again to do his best to be at the gallery opening. Just as he snapped his cell phone shut and stood up from the couch, Lora and Cassie exited the bedroom—with Cassie more sparkly than before.

"Okay, we're ready to go," Lora announced, her sexy genie costume wreaking havoc with his best intentions all over again.

He led the way to the front door and prepared himself for another long night at the bar—made more so because now, with that peekaboo outfit she was wearing, he had to worry about fending off all those unruly frat boys who drank too much, then decided the waitresses were fair play.

And he absolutely hated when other men touched Lora.

LORA made her way through the growing crowd of customers entering The Electric Blue and stopped at a table to take a drink order. Though it was still early, the atmosphere was already loud and festive, with the strobe lights flashing above, black and orange streamers fluttering overhead, and the Halloween song "Monster Mash" blaring through the speakers. A fog machine pumped out plumes of gray mist that rolled across the dance floor and added a graveyard feel to the bar, while rubber bats and big, fat spiders swung from the ceiling.

Everyone was dressed in some kind of costume, from the basic witch, devil, and Playboy bunny, to a fireman, jailbird, and even Elvis. There was a guy dressed as the tooth fairy, and another as Batman with Catwoman as his sidekick. Then there were the typical scary outfits, such as a zombie, Hannibal Lecter, and other gruesome masks that were straight out of a horror movie.

Currently, Lora was stopped at a table with a vampire, Cleopatra, and a mermaid. "Can I get you guys something to drink?" she asked over the noise and music.

A sumo wrestler bumped into her as she was jotting down the table's order, his big, cushy stomach causing him to bounce from her to another customer, who laughed at the man's wacky choice of costume. The vampire ordered a Bloody Mary, the mermaid asked for a blue Hawaiian, and Cleopatra requested a Screaming Orgasm.

After collecting a few more drink requests, Lora headed back to the bar, set her tray on the counter, and placed her order with Sydney. Her friend looked like a sexy wench in her very provocative pirate costume, and the roguish outfit suited her personality perfectly.

"I've been meaning to ask if you noticed anything unusual when you dropped Cassie off at the Halloween party." Sydney asked oh-so-casually as she started mixing Lora's drinks.

Lora unloaded the dirty glasses she'd cleared off a table and glanced back at Sydney, who was way too anxious and worried about her daughter's fun night out. "Unusual how?"

Sydney frowned at her, clearly annoyed that Lora was making her spell things out. "You know… did any certain boy rush up to greet her when she arrived?" she asked as she grabbed two bottles of beer, uncapped them, then set them on the bar top for Lora. "Were the parents there at the house like Cassie said they would be? Did you see any evidence of any alcohol one the kids might have snuck in?"

Lora shook her head and laughed, truly amazed at how a fifteen-year-old could shake her best friend's normally cool, calm, and collected composure and make her a basket case.

"What's so funny?" Sydney demanded, much too defensively.

Lora added fresh napkins to her tray. "You are."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad you're so amused," Sydney retorted in a mocking tone as she poured the liquor for a Screaming Orgasm. "I'm just trying to be a responsible parent."

More like overbearing and too protective, Lora thought, but kept that observation to herself. "There was no particular boy ogling her," she finally said to put her friend out of her misery. "And yes, I met the parents, who seemed to be good, decent people. And if any of the kids brought alcohol, they didn't leave it out for the adults to find."

Sydney made a face at her, the jaunty set of her pirate hat on her head making her look all the more comical. "Gee, thanks, I feel sooo much better now."

"It's a Halloween party for high school kids, Sydney. There's no predicting what's going to happen. All I know is that you did the right thing by letting Cassie go, and trusting her. I haven't seen her that excited about something in a long time."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she admitted reluctantly, and dropped a celery stalk into the Bloody Mary she'd just made. "But I don't have to like it."

That was fair enough, Lora supposed.

As Sydney started in on a blended drink, Lora added a wedge of lime to the rim of the tomato-based cocktail and glanced across to the other end of the bar, where Joel now sat on a nightly basis, rather than at a table out in the middle of the crush of people. He'd told her that he felt more in control, and more at an advantage, being seated up at the bar, where he could see everything going on around him. And, quite honestly, she felt safer, too.

He'd taken the seat next to Daniel, and over the past week the two had become friends as Joel alternately watched over her and carried on a conversation with Sydney's new guy. And despite Joel's numerous complaints and protests about dressing up for the Halloween bash.

Lora had to admit that Joel looked gorgeous and incredibly sexy in his simple '50s costume, like her own personal James Dean.

Then there was Daniel's outfit as a swashbuckling pirate, complete with a parrot perched on his shoulder, which made him and Sydney a perfect pair.

"Don't you and Daniel look cute," Lora said when Sydney finally turned off the blender. "Did you plan on matching costumes?"

"Of course not," she said with a shake of her head as she poured the frozen, frothy piña eolada mixture into a tall glass. "Daniel asked what I was dressing up as, and picked his outfit to match mine." She cast a quick glance over her shoulder at the man in question, a slow smile kicking up the corners of her lips. "I do have to say, he looks damn good with an eye patch."

Lora garnished the fruity drink with a slice of pineapple and a paper umbrella. "Ummm. I take it you're having wild and wicked fantasies of being ravished by a pirate?"

"Don't I wish." Sydney's tone was wry, and borderline annoyed. "I swear, I've never been so frustrated and sexually on edge in my entire life. I've been on three dates with Daniel, and I've made it very clear that I'm game for sex, yet we've barely made it to second base. He's driving me crazy."

Lora laughed, because it was so much fun to see her best friend so tied up in knots over a man, instead of the other way around. "Yet you keep going back for more, don't you?" That she hadn't dumped Daniel spoke volumes about just how much Sydney liked the man.

"Hey, at this point I'm counting on a huge payoff when we finally do the deed." She cleared off the empty glasses and put them into the sink behind the counter.

Lora couldn't help but wonder what kind of payoff Daniel was hoping for. Having gotten to know the guy a bit over the past few weeks, she was guessing that Daniel wanted the real deal with Sydney, and was willing to wait until she came around to his way of thinking—to accept that their relationship wasn't just about quick, temporary sex, but something deeper and more lasting.

"You know what I think?" Lora asked as the "Monster Mash" song segued into a beat-heavy number that had people heading toward the dance floor.

"No, but I'm sure you're going to enlighten me."

"I think Daniel Barnett is a good influence on you and your wild ways." Before Sydney could come up with some kind of smart-ass comeback, Lora picked up her full tray and headed back toward the sitting area to deliver her orders.

Over the next few hours, The Electric Blue swelled to capacity. The Halloween bash was a huge success, with a long line of costumed patrons waiting outside for customers to leave so they could enter and join the party. After a few drinks, the people inside lost inhibitions and grew rowdy and raucous, which made it difficult for Lora and the other bar waitresses to take and deliver orders, not to mention trying to squeeze their way from one end of the establishment to the other.

It was also strange to Lora to see everyone dressed in a costume, and while most of the outfits were fun, outrageous, and even eccentric, it was the customers who wore masks over their faces that bothered her the most. The gorilla, funky chicken, and Darth Vader all made her feel uncomfortable, and then there were the more gruesome disguises like Chucky, Freddy Krueger, and Jason from Friday the 13th that completely unnerved her and made her think of those two men who'd attacked her—both of whom had been wearing ski masks.

She tried not to think of that awful night as she cleared tables and attempted to keep up with the demanding crowd. But as a jester with a painted face bumped into her, then a werewolf with a hairy mask trapped her between himself and a guy dressed as a skeleton, she started to panic and wonder if those men were here tonight wearing masks, just waiting for the chance to get her alone again.

She was jostled from person to person, and each masked costume seemed to mock her. Too many people were touching her—a hand grazed her bare back, then another slid down her arm, and she shuddered, trying desperately to keep her growing anxiety at bay. Someone pulled on one of the veils attached to her costume and the opening of her genie pants caught on something, nearly yanking her off her feet. Her tray slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor, but she couldn't bend down to pick it up since she'd been pushed out to the middle of the dance floor, with an evil clown bumping and grinding against her, his depraved, leering grin sending chills down her spine.

Everything closed in on her and she suddenly couldn't breathe. With the thick fog curling around her and the strobe lights flashing, she felt as though the room was shrinking in size, and she had no way to escape. As she was shoved against a man wearing a Bart Simpson mask, and he caught her by the arms in a firm grip, adrenaline and terror spiraled through her.

It was all too much, and more than she could handle mentally. She'd been so strong since her attack, so determined to live her life as normally as possible and not let trepidation and fear rule her every thought or every move she made. But now, tonight, it all came to a head and she could no longer hold back all those emotions and feelings she'd bottled up tight inside of her.

Her heart pounded hard and fast in her chest, and she struggled out of Bart Simpson's grasp. Struggled to find a way out of the crush of people pushing and shoving and suffocating her with their bodies and masked faces. She started to sweat and gulped for air, but oxygen seemed in short supply, and she couldn't seem to inhale a sufficient amount into her lungs. Her head spun, her vision blurred, and a dry, frightened sob nearly strangled her.

As she was frantically pushing her way toward the bar, and Joel, she felt an arm snake around her waist and haul her against a hard, solid chest. Then she was being dragged away. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no sound emerged.

Oh, God, she thought. Not again. Please, not again.

She grew lightheaded and dizzy, her entire body tingling in cold, stark terror as she kicked and clawed and did everything she could to escape this man's steel embrace. It was no use. The more she fought, the more the person behind her tried to subdue her efforts—and he was much bigger, and more powerful, than she was.