Fighting for Flight (26 page)

“Baby, you still there?”

“Yeah, Jonah, I’m here.” The low hum in my voice
reminds me of Dog’s purr.

“Damn.” His rough and sexy tone vibrates the phone
at my ear. “I’ve been thinking about last night all day. Now I get
you on the phone and you say my name like that. I have a mind to
drag you to my house and hold you hostage. You and Eve will have to
reschedule.”

“Jonah.” My voice is thick with arousal.

He groans then clears his throat. “Get dolled up, go
out with your girl, and have a good time. Call me when you’re done
and I’ll pick you girls up, drop Eve off at her house, and you come
home with me. You’re in my bed tonight. Deal?”

Um, gee, let me think.

“Deal.”

“Oh, and there’s something you should know. Your
name came up during interviews today.”

My body shoots ramrod straight, and I grasp my towel
at my chest. Now my belly flips in an altogether different way.
“What! Why?”

“Big fight, lots of publicity. People talk, you know
how it is. It’ll die down after the fight, but don’t be surprised
if you get approached by paparazzi. Just ignore them, don’t answer
any questions, and if you’re alone or scared, you call me.”

Well, crud. This night just went from bad to
worse.

***

We pull up to the front of Club Six and climb out of
our taxi. The front walk is lined with people awaiting entrance.
Pounding music charges the air as we step up to the VIP line.

Waiting our turn, I fidget with nervous energy and
catch my reflection in the window. My strapless, black mini dress
hugs every contour of my body. The strappy heels cage my feet up
past my ankle, making my legs look impossibly longer. I can’t see
my face, but it’s framed by long silken strands of dark hair, flat
ironed to perfection. Eve did my make-up heavier that I usually
wear, the smoky dark shadow bringing out the strange color of my
eyes.

I’m Ravenstein, put together and brought to life for
a night of shenanigans.

“Stop freaking out. You look gorgeous,” Eve says
close to my ear.

“Ladies. You on the list?” says a large man with a
clipboard.

Eve exchanges words and a handshake with the purpose
of palming him a fifty dollar bill. The man smiles and looks us
both up and down before stepping aside. We’re in.

The strobe lights and black lights make it hard to
see, and the booming bass makes it impossible to talk. Guiding me
through the crowd, Eve leads me to an outside patio bar. The music
is muted out here so we don’t have to yell. We belly-up and order
two Cosmopolitans.

“So, how are you and Jonah?” Eve wags her
eyebrows.

“Better now.” I can’t control the heat that rises to
my cheeks.

Eve narrows her eyes and swivels toward me on her
barstool. “Oh my gosh. You did it.” A slow smile creeps to her
face, and she starts clapping and bouncing on her seat. “You
fucking did it . . . like literally!”

I cover my face with my hands and nod my head. This
information will surely find Dominick’s ears in the next day.
So
much for your plan to make money off my virginity, eh?

“Eeeeee!” Eve jumps from her stool and wraps her
arms around my neck. “My girl lost her virginity, everyone!”

Mortification overtakes me as my eyes dart around
the bar. Other than a few smiles, almost everyone ignores us.

“Eve, please! Be quiet!” I hiss.

She sits back in her seat and takes a huge swig of
her drink. I follow suit.

“Rave, you gotta give me details, girl. Did it hurt?
Was he good? Is he . . . big?” With eyes as wide as gas caps, she
waits for my answer.

“He’s amazing in
every
possible way.”

She stomps her foot and slaps her knee. “I knew it!
I knew he was big.”

I roll my eyes and suck down the rest of my drink.
Apparently embarrassment makes me thirsty. I order another.

Details of my night with Jonah begin to flow out at
the same pace the liquor flows in. I imagine steam shooting from
Dominick’s nose like an angry bull when Vince relays the
information. Satisfied with what I’ve given, I decide it’s time to
broach the subject.

“What about Vince? What does he do?”

“He’s a consultant. I don’t know what he consults
on. Like I said, he’s a private guy.”

More like private eye, I joke to myself and fight
the urge to laugh.

“Does that bother you? That he’s a private eye . . .
um, guy?”

Whoops, almost turned my private joke public. My
tongue feels bigger in my mouth as my words start to slur. I wave
my hand to the bartender and motion for another round.

“Yes. It does.” Her face falls and she dabs the
corner of her eye with her cocktail napkin.
Here we go
again.
Apparently, I’m not the only one feeling the effects of
our drinks.

I spin my barstool so I’m facing her. “Eve, aren’t
you sick of crying over this guy? The only time you don’t cry about
him is when he’s got his tongue in your ear.”

Perfect transition into bad news. I mentally pat
myself on the back.

Her arms fly out to her sides. “Ugh! It’s just I
feel so close to him, you know?”

Okay, this is good. Let her vent and then I’ll go in
for the kill. I nod while gulping the last of my drink.

“I get the feeling that I’m more into him than he is
to me. He never talks about himself. I know nothing about him.” She
sniffs. “Fucking men!”

Sick of the mastodon in the room that’s sitting
right on my lap, I grab a stack of cocktail napkins and slap them
down in front of her. Here it goes.

“Eve, there’s something I need to tell you. It’s
about—”

“Holy shit, Rave! This is our jam!” Her shoulders
bounce to the beat of the music. “Come on, let’s dance!”

“Wait, I—”

She drags me to the dance floor and the familiar
voice of Dev singing “Bass Down Low” makes even me squeal.

Darn alcohol has me acting like a stupid girl.

I’ve only been drunk a few times, and the familiar
floaty feeling taking over my limbs tells me I’m there. I close my
eyes, absorbing the beat of the music, and move with the rhythm.
The bass pulsates around me, every tiny hair on my arm responding
to the call of the music. I slide my hands from my hips, up the
sides of my body and into my hair. I imagine being here with Jonah,
his hands all over me. Grinding against each other as the music
throbs around us. Kissing in the middle of a crowded dance floor,
and tasting the sweat that beads off each other’s skin. So lost in
each other that we’re oblivious to everyone around, I skate my
fingertips down my neck, imagining that they’re his. Remembering
his touch on a cellular level, goose bumps race across my flesh.
Flashes of him above me, memories from last night, have me gripping
my hair.

There’s no place I’d rather be than in Jonah’s arms,
in his bed. It’s time to go.

I open my eyes to see Eve is few feet away. She has
become the meat in a dance-floor sandwich. I move to pull her away
when hands grip my hips and heat hits my back. I react on instinct,
pushing away from the grip and turning around to face the jerk.

A man in a pink golf shirt stands before me. His
lips move, but I can’t hear what he’s saying over the music.
Realizing that, he motions for me to come to him. I shake my head
and turn to get Eve.

My heart is racing and I stumble, the alcohol making
it difficult to control my body. I can’t believe I drank so much
that I lost myself in my surroundings allowing a strange man to
press his crotch to my backside. I’m anxious by the time I pull Eve
from between the two guys she’s dancing with.

“Whad’da fuck, Rave! I was ’aving fun.” Eve speaks
to my shoulder with a heavy slur.

I guide her to the bar, and order us two waters.
Buzzed and freaked out by the forward guy on the dance floor, I
trash my plan to talk to Eve about Vince and grab my phone to call
Jonah for a ride.

“Can I get another Cosmoplothian, pleeese?” Eve’s
attempt at cunning falls flat.

“I think we should call it a night.”

“No!” Her enthusiasm gets the attention of two guys
nearby.

I give them my best don’t mind her, she’s just drunk
smile. Mistaking my smile for an invitation, they walk to us. As
they get closer I recognize the guy from the dance floor.

Crap.

Tapping Eve on the knee, I alert her to our
unwelcome guests.

They’re good-looking guys. Not hot-tattooed-fighter
good-looking, but more like successful-banker-golfer
good-looking.

I try to politely brush them off while Eve gives
them death stares, mumbling something about asswads and pricks.
It’s bad enough that we’re in the club at all, but getting kicked
out for public drunkenness is sure to draw unwanted attention.

Punching a quick text to Jonah that we’ll be out
front in fifteen minutes, I look up to see Eve with her arm slung
over banker-golfer number one. She teases her finger at the collar
of his perfectly pressed shirt.
Guess her anger at men is
over.

“Eve, our ride will be here any minute. What do you
say we hit the ladies’ room and make our way to the door?”

Totally ignoring me, she runs her hand into Number
One’s hair and leans in to whisper in his ear. Pink Shirt steps in
my space, pressing me back into the bar and blocking my chance for
escape.

I flatten my palm to his chest. “Can you please step
back?”

“You ran away from me earlier. Can’t let that happen
again.”

The smell of his breath makes my stomach clench. My
spinning head, combined with fear and a belly full of liquor, has
me tasting bile.

I try to implore Eve for help, but she’s face to
face with Number One.

Pink Shirt hooks a piece of my hair with his finger.
“You’re gorgeous.” He motions to his friend with a tilt of his
head. “My buddy and I have room at Trump. Looks like your friend
and my friend are hitting it off.”

He’s right. Number One has his face buried in Eve’s
neck.

He steps closer so that I’m arched back over the
bar, my head turned away. He leans to my ear. “What do you say you
and me—”

“What the fuck is going on here?” The voice comes
from down the bar, but it’s unmistakably male and mad.

Pink Shirt steps back, freeing me, while Number One
is yanked violently backwards. Eve shrieks and falls back onto her
barstool.

Pink Shirt looks like he’s about to run, but sways
as if he doesn’t know if he should attempt to help his friend.

Number One’s down. A man wearing all black holds him
by the neck of his shirt and shouts in his face. I can’t hear what
he’s saying, but from the look on the poor guy’s face, it’s
terrifying.

The man in black shoves Number One hard to the
ground and turns to Eve. Only then do I catch the face of our
knight in shining armor.

My heart races and I break out in a sweat. Stalking
towards us with a murderous look on his face, he gets right into
Eve’s space. Nose to nose, he stares her down as she looks up at
him doe-eyed.

“You trading me for a pussy-ass, country-club boy,
Eve?” Vince’s body trembles with rage.

Terror works behind Eve’s eyes as she shakes her
head.

“Vince, she didn’t do anything wrong. Those guys
wouldn’t leave and—”

He rakes his eyes over me, and my mouth slams
shut.

“Mind your own fucking business!” All pleasantries
from our first two meetings are gone.

“Vince, please, look at her. You’re scaring her,” I
whisper, trying to control my voice. She’s not the only one who’s
scared.

“Look, you little slut.”

I flinch as his insult cuts deep.

“I told you this is none of your business. You wanna
make it your business, I can do that. You two are coming with me,
and I’ll be happy to make it your business . . . all night
long.”

“You wouldn’t . . . I mean . . . Dominick . . .” The
vicious smile that breaks his angry expression tells me everything.
Dominick doesn’t care about me. As long as I’m able to solicit
myself for him, he could give a rip about what Vince does to
me.

Tears burn my eyes as the reality sinks in. I’m
breathing rapidly. The hurried beat of my heart pounds in my ears.
I should run, but I can’t leave Eve.

He eyeballs me from my boobs to my shoes and licks
his lower lip. He wraps his arm around Eve’s waist, pulling her
from her seat. Her eyes are unfocused as he tugs her close to his
side. His free arm shoots to me. The impact of his grip throws my
body forward. He drags us through the club. I stumble to keep
upright. The crowd of gyrating bodies part as he storms through the
dance floor to the club’s exit.

With a firm kick, the double doors fly open, and
we’re in the secluded alley behind the building. I take a sobering
breath of fresh air to clear my head. I need to get us free so we
can run. But how? Looking around frantically, I search for a way
out, knowing I have only seconds before we’re locked in his
car.

My mind surges with questions. What would Guy tell
me to do? What would Jonah tell me to do? And with that comes my
answer, loud and clear.

Fight.

Adrenaline floods my veins. Energy strengthens my
muscles as I struggle in his grip. I pull against his hold, digging
my heels into the pavement. His eyes shoot towards mine and narrow.
His grip gets tighter and Eve whimpers.

I twist my arm as hard as I can, and his hold begins
to slip. Twisting and pulling, a sharp pain shoots through my
shoulder. Desperate to free myself, I push through the ache. Vince
stops walking and I yank down. My arm slips from his hand. He grabs
hold with his other hand.
He let Eve go.

“Eve, run! Run!”

Blinking wildly as if she woke up from a trance, she
takes off. Vince has my back, his arm locked around my waist, hand
gripped on my throat. Screaming is out of the question as his
crushing embrace robs me of breath. I struggle to get free and my
vision starts to recede. The sound of heavy footfalls pounding the
pavement behind us has me jerking in his hold.