Haunted (18 page)

I was ready to go.

Matty yelled across the room to see if I wanted to grab a bite to eat while the others went home to prepare for the night's shenanigans. My stomach nearly growled on cue, reminding me that I hadn't really eaten all day. He said there was a good place not far from where we were going and we could meet everyone after we ate. It sounded great to me.

As we headed out the door it dawned on me that I had no idea where I was driving to for the night.

“So where exactly am I going? I'm going to need directions,” I called out to the group as we made our collective way down the stairs.

“I always forget that New Hampshire doesn't know where to party in the city,” Shannon yelled up to me as she took the final step down into the foyer. “You’re going to the best club in Boston.”

“And that would be?” I asked, drawing out the “be” as long as I could.

“Vain, Ruby. We're going to club Vain.”

23

“Are there no other clubs in the this city?” I asked Matty, lamenting as I drove through the confusing streets of downtown Boston. I breathed through my frustration, not looking forward to my march into the lion's den. “Why am I asking you? Are you even old enough to get in this place?”

I turned and smiled at him in the dimly lit car. He didn't look nearly as amused as I knew I did.

“Yes, I'm old enough to get in. You, on the other hand, are going to have to leave your walker at the door.”

“Touché, my friend,” I said as I rounded the corner onto our destination street. “Hey! Maybe they'll think I'm your mom.”

“Ugh, Ruby, that's so not the mental imprint I want to have right now,” he said with a contorted face that mirrored his sentiment to a tee.

“Alright, alright, I'll stop,” I said, as one last jab flashed in my mind. “You know, I could just be your older sister.”

“Enough already!” he shouted, weakly punching me in the arm. “You're freaking me out. I don't want to think about you being related to me in any way.”

Ouch.

“Wow, not sure where that's coming from but consider it fully dropped,” I snipped as I focused my eyes straight ahead, silence flooding the TT. Matty had seemed off from the start of class, through dinner, and during the car ride to Vain. I wanted to ask what was up with him, but just didn't know how. I didn't know enough about him to know if I should press the issue or let it drop, but I did know him enough to know something was getting to him and he wasn't dealing with it well at all.

* * *

We spotted the others in line outside and made our way to join them, walking past the chubby guy who had worked the ropes the night I'd met Cooper there. He looked at me strangely, like he was trying to figure out if he knew me from somewhere and I half-smiled at him as we continued past.

“Friend of yours?” Matty asked, his question dripping with sarcasm.

“Uh, that'd be a big, fat negative.”

I no sooner had that response out of my mouth when I heard my name being hollered out from over my shoulder. Matty and I turned in unison to see that same chubby guy waving us in.

“Big, fat negative indeed,” Matty said with an incredulous look on his face.

“It's a long story,” I offered. “Go grab the crew from the line. Looks like we're getting in through the express lane tonight!”

After we all made it in, got drinks, and pushed our way to the dance floor, Matty asked for a more in-depth explanation. I threw Cooper under the bus as it was the easiest and least otherworldly explanation. I knew Matty would buy it since he'd just had his suspicions confirmed about Cooper earlier that evening, and it wasn't a big stretch to think that someone with a drug problem would enjoy drinking and partying as well. He let the whole thing go after that and seemed to lighten up in general.

It was nice to be there with a group. We managed to find our own little plot of dance floor and lay claim to it for the night. Some of the guys in our company were amazing at hip-hop and whenever proper inspiration came blaring through the speakers, we'd push our circle outward, leaving them room in the middle to work their magic.

We made spectacles of ourselves in true Broadway musical style, singing at the top of our lungs, and breaking out into choreographed montages; it was the most fun I'd had in my life. Hours passed, drinks vanished, replenished, then vanished again, and my face hurt from smiling and laughing uncontrollably. I wasn't fall down drunk, but I was leaning pretty hard.

Matty drew nearer to me as the night went on. I wasn't sure, but he rarely seemed to have a drink in hand; either he was a champion chugger, or he wasn't much of a drinker. He hovered over me, making sure that nobody got too near, and that I stayed upright – my very own personal babysitter/bodyguard.

“I think maybe you've had enough for tonight, Ruby,” he said soberly as he plucked the G&T from my hand.

“I think maybe you should have another,” I replied, snatching my beverage of choice back from him. “Lighten up a bit; you're a total downer tonight. What gives anyways?”

“I just think you should slow down a bit. It's still kinda early and you're already pretty toasted.”

“Whatever,” I tossed in his direction as I sipped, instead of guzzled my drink. It was a concession of sorts.

“I'm not trying to be a dick, Ruby, I just don't want to see—”

“OH MY GOD! I love this song!” I shouted, cutting him off entirely. “Dance with me.”

I slammed the rest of my drink and tossed the cup into the crowd behind me. Crashing into his body, I wrapped my arms around his waist and threw my head back to look up at him.

“This is the best night ever!” I yelled over the pounding music before proceeding to belt out the lyrics to Katy Perry's “Teenage Dream”. I continued to sing as we moved together on the floor, bodies enmeshed as I leaned into him for stability and he into me for whatever reason he had at that moment, the most likely being to placate me.

Music made me forget everything. It had always had the ability to transport me somewhere else in my mind as a way of escape. That night was no exception. I forgot about the petite birthday girl, my roommate the junkie, and the gorgeous but inhuman question mark that normally plagued my mind. I let the music move me, taking Matty along for the ride.

“I think I should take you home, Ruby,” Matty said, bending down to speak into my ear. I stumbled away from him a bit so I could see him.

“But you don't live in New Hampshire,” I stated, thinking it was a completely logical argument in that moment.

“Not your home, Ruby…mine.”

“Oh,” I said as I crashed into his chest courtesy of a flying elbow to the back from some other club-goer. “Your house?”

“I don't think that'll be necessary, Ruby,” a voice said from behind me. “I'm pretty sure I can manage to get you back.”

I turned to respond, but faltered again, Matty catching me before I crashed into the floor.

“I'm good, I'm good,” I proclaimed to Matty as I steadied myself.

“Do you want to go with him?” he asked, tossing his head in the direction of the man behind me. “With Gravity?”

His tone was serious, as was the look on his face, and I turned to see that Sean was returning his gaze with equal intensity.

“Yeah, yeah, it's fine, Matty. He's fine. It'll be fine.”

“That's a lot of 'fine's',” he said disbelievingly. “I can take you…if you'd feel safer.”

Even in my moderately drunken state I could hear the subtext in his reply – this guy broke your heart, and he looks like trouble; it's not fine.

I pulled Matty's face down to me and kissed him on the cheek.

“He's okay, Matty. It'll be alright,” I said to reassure him. “I promise.”

He looked unconvinced, but let it be. He asked me to call him when I got home so he knew I was safe, and made a point to say it loudly enough that Sean heard him.

He really is a good kid.

“Let's go, you lightweight,” Sean said as he slipped an arm around my waist, directing me away from my friends. “And no puking in the car.”

“I'm not that drunk!” I protested.

“Right,” he said, ushering me through the mass of bodies.

“I'M NOT!” I yelled adamantly.

He said nothing and continued to guide me towards the exit. I wriggled out of his grip, shouting one more denial as I did. He looked down to see me standing, arms folded over my chest.

“Fine, you're not drunk. Happy now? We need to go.”

I said nothing, but just stared at him. The way the lights fell on him in the club made him look so angelic, it actually took my breath away for the briefest of moments.

And then it happened.

I was fully making out with him in the middle of the dance floor before it dawned on me that I'd even moved. My mind seemed to be working slower than my libido. Entangling my fingers in his hair, I pulled on it hard to leverage myself tighter against him. He grabbed the backs of my thighs, lifting me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. I kissed him like I wanted to crawl inside him, become a part of him, and his enthusiasm equaled mine. Once my mind finally caught up with my body, I quickly pulled away from his face.

“Why do we need to go?” I asked, breathing heavily.

“Unimportant right now,” he answered, placing my feet on the ground. He grabbed my hand in a vise-like grip, before nearly running us out the door.

We exited the club and made a left down the street, Sean fumbling around in his coat pocket for the first few paces.

“But my car is that way,” I observed, pointing towards the parking across the street. Sean was too busy texting on the phone he'd managed to find in his jacket to respond.

“Helloooooo. Earth to Sean,” I said, waving my hand near his face. He was totally unfazed by my antics.

“We're not going to the car.”

“Then how am I getting home?”

“You're not going home.”

His phone beeped and he read the screen quickly before putting it away. Not liking the potential implications of his statement, I sought clarification.

“So where are we going then?”

“An apartment,” he replied, looking straight ahead. “A block away.”

“How many apartments do you have in this city?” I asked as I walked clumsily beside him.

“Me? None. My brothers have them.”

“Do your brothers actually live in their apartments?”

He stopped abruptly, pulling me in close enough to see the dark flecks invading his irises.

“Not if I don't want them to.”

My spine tingled at the power in those words. Not if I don't want them to…

“And why would you not want them—”

He looked down at me with an expression that said “I'm starving, you're dinner”, and it became extremely clear why he didn't want anyone around; Sean was a man on a mission.

“Oooooh,” I finished, my face warming in the cold night air. Sean frequently had that effect on me.

I felt an annoying buzzing sensation in the back of my head as we continued to make our way through the downtown streets. It was like a nagging voice, a warning trying to remind me of something, but my blood alcohol content seemed to be drowning out my ability to interpret the message. My hormones weren't aiding the cause either. Nervous anticipation electrified my senses as I thought of what was about to happen. I'd never been with someone in that way before, not voluntarily at least, and Sean was the only person I'd dreamt of being with. The reality of actually carrying it out, however, was terrifying and I did my best to block that part out of my mind; surely Sean would know to be delicate.

He looked down at me again as we rounded the corner, his expression warm, but hungry. He pulled me under his arm, close to his body and I snuggled into his embrace. We entered the brick four-plex as one, strolling down the hallway silently, both no doubt focused on what would transpire once behind closed doors. In all fairness, I needed a few drinks in me to even have considered it. Sober me would have found some awkward way of ducking out, undoubtedly making an ass of myself in the process and hating life the next day.

Sober me wasn't around.

He opened the unlocked apartment door and pushed it open, gently ushering me through it in front of him. I felt pulled into the room, called by the architecture. It was a beautiful turn of the century building with tons of character in the trim and worn, wooden floors. The ceilings were high with decorative medallions around the leaded crystal chandeliers, and there was a stunning fireplace with original marble facade – it was conveniently burning when we arrived. I mindlessly wandered into the unfamiliar apartment, taking in the little nuances that made that era of building my favorite, and for the briefest of moments I forgot about Sean entirely, about what we'd come there to do.

His cell phone startled me and I whipped around to see him standing motionless in the foyer, watching me intently. He pulled it out and glanced down at the screen, frowning at what he saw.

“I have to get this,” he told me, sighing as he hit the “talk” button. “Not now. I'll call you back later.”

I didn't want to listen to the one-sided conversation, but aside from the crackle the fire provided, the silence in the apartment was penetrating. I couldn't have avoided it.