Ugh. Of course it is.
I glance past him, locking eyes with Naomi. She looks as unimpressed with our new friends as I am. When I catch Milena’s eye, she mouths “help me”, and I stifle a grin.
“We’re gonna go grab drinks!” I scream at Matt. “Nice meeting you!”
“We’ll come too!” he yells.
“Nope!” Milena cuts him off, grabbing my hand and Naomi’s and dragging us away.
“Oh my God,” Milena groans when we’re back at the bar. “He was telling me about his stock portfolio.”
“At least he was hot,” Naomi’s face sours. “Mine told me he’d—and I quote—‘never been with an Asian before’.”
“Oh, fucking gross,” Milena blanches.
I wrinkle my nose, shaking my head. “Yeah, nope. You wanna get out of here?”
Naomi frowns. “Not yet. I like the vibe here. Let’s just put a hard stop on any more finance bros.”
“Deal,” I groan.
“Shots?” Milena grins at us.
I make a face. “I don’t know if—”
But she’s already flagging down the bartender. Before I know it, the saltshaker is in front of me, another chilled shot of tequila is in my hands, and the fiery alcohol is burning my throat again.
I wince, choking a little as I bite down on the lime afterward.
“Wow,” I hiss, blinking. “That one…”
“Yeah, we gotta go dance it off,” Milena laughs.
“I have to pee, actually.”
“Same,” Naomi chirps.
In the end, we all end up heading to the bathroom at the back of the club together. The line is, predictably, a menace. But eventually we’re at the front. The single bathroom is tiny, so there’s just room for two people to squeeze in together.
“You go, I can wait,” I tell them, since Naomi’s been crossing her legs for the last ten minutes.
I’m waiting in line feeling the pressure building in my own bladder when a girl steps out from around the corner of a dark hallway and glances at me. She grins at me and leans close.
“There’s actually another bathroom down that hall and around the corner,” she whispers conspiratorially. “No line, either.”
Oh hell, yes.
I blurt out a thanks and then dash off around the corner and down another hallway. At the end, past an empty coat check and a door that looks like it leads outside, is another ladies’ room, just like she said.
And there’s not a single other person here.
Perfect.
I step inside to find a much larger bathroom than the tiny one we’ve all been waiting in line for. This one has four stalls, one of which I quickly occupy.
I’m just finishing up when I hear the bathroom door swing open. It pauses, like someone’s holding the door open.
Then I hear heavy footsteps slowly move into the bathroom, and the door closing again. The footsteps move down the line of stalls, until they come to a stop right outside mine.
My eyes drop, and I shiver when I see heavy black motorcycle boots.
Men’s boots.
Something dark twists awake in my gut as I listen to the slow, deep breaths coming from the other side of the stall door. Feel the lurking malice. Smell the danger in the air.
My skin tingles as I stand and pull my underwear back up, the faceless danger lurking barely a foot away on the other side of the stall door.
I could scream. I should scream. But would anyone even hear me down here? I pull my phone out of my bag, my hand shaking as I glance down at it.
No service. Of course.
“You tried to dodge me.”
I almost shriek when he speaks. My hand flies up, clamping over my mouth as I tell myself that if I’m quiet enough, he won’t know I’m here.
Yeah, right.
“You can’t hide from me, BrokenBee.”
