Hailey nudged me again. “Just wait. If what happened at the end of the night last Saturday happens again, you won’t want to miss it!”
I glared at her, making her laugh. Why did I ever hang out with this bitch?
So this was why Gianna quit the crew, for a job like this that she didn’t even need? Didn’t she know I’d eventually go to this club and see her here? Had she noticed me here tonight yet? Crap! What if she saw me with Hailey? I planned on getting her back someday and didn’t want her thinking I’d hooked up with Hailey while we were apart.
Not that she ever looked my way at school anyways, but she sure wasn’t now. She probably hadn’t spotted me. The bar area was dark compared to where she was under the lights. Plus, she didn’t seem to really pay attention to any of the guys who were loitering around her. She was simply intent on her dancing and the beat of the music.
What did Hailey mean by that end of the night remark? Was that when they poured water on the dancers or something? If so, I was hauling Gianna down from there. I leaned in and shouted in Hailey’s ear for her to elaborate but she shook her head, grinning like a maniac. Bitch.
I was drunk but not wasted as planned. Since there was the promise of more in store that night, I figured I shouldn’t get too sloshed.
So, at one in the morning I was still sitting at the bar, waiting for the night to end. The club was hopping and people were reluctant to go home. Gianna was still dancing. I was still slowly drinking. Hailey was still being an uninformative bitch, taking off now and then to dance with various guys, mostly just getting free drinks out of them.
The club closed soon, and I hoped my misery would end with the festivities. My hopes weren’t very high, though. Life had sucked lately. I’d spilled some beer and was placing napkins on it when Ian walked up.
My archenemy entering the scene made my night complete.
Ian leaned back against the bar, near Hailey and me. She gave him a dirty look he didn’t acknowledge. A year or so back he’d hit it and never returned her calls afterwards.
“Hey, Caleb, isn’t that your girlfriend dancing up there?” Ian asked nonchalantly.
I greeted him with, “Go away, dickhead!”
“Oh wait, I forgot! That’s my girlfriend!” He smiled maliciously and moved away towards Gianna.
My Gianna.
I glanced over at Hailey and her matching malicious smile.
Oh, hell no.
I followed Ian, catching up with him just as he grabbed Gianna by the waist and she gripped his shoulders. He helped her down off the platform and onto the floor below. As they were facing each other, smiling, I stood to the side of them, not smiling.
That was when Gianna finally noticed me. She looked startled, so I guess she hadn’t known I was here at the club.
CHAPTER TEN
“I got my eyes on you. You’re everything that I see.
I want your hot love and emotion endlessly.”
-Hold on, We’re Going Home by Drake
CALEB
I stared at where Ian’s hands were still gripping Gianna’s waist. “Get your filthy hands off her!”
Ian, never one to back down, especially from me, turned to face me, arm now around her waist. “Quit cussing in front of my girlfriend.”
Gianna shifted uncomfortably. As she should. She placed a palm on Ian’s chest. “Let’s just go.”
Ian tilted his head down to look at her. “Okay, babe.” As if the confrontation was over, Ian, hand at the small of her back, began leading her away.
Instead of heading for the exit, they stopped in front of a set of black double doors with the words Staff Only painted in white on them. Naturally, I followed them there. Gianna slipped inside while Ian leaned against the wall to the right of the doors, obviously intent on waiting for her.
As I stopped five feet from the doors Gianna had disappeared through, someone bumped into me from behind. Whipping around, I faced a Hailey with a shit-eating grin on her face.
So smug in her cruelness.
Before dealing with Ian, I had to know something for sure. “Hailey, did you know this would happen tonight?”
Nodding her head, the smile never left her face. I was done with Hailey. Years of friendship had come to an end. I hoped it was worth it for her.
“Where did she go?” I asked Ian.
“To grab her bag and change her clothes,” he answered coolly.
“And then what?”
He shrugged the shoulder not leaning against the wall. “Then my princess will probably be hungry. I’ll take her out to eat at a diner she likes to go to.”
Ian calling her princess, my nickname for her, made me see red, his blood spilling on the floor. She must have told him and he was using the information to taunt me now.