Mason's hand was slightly on top of hers as he carefully pulled it back. Even though his touch was gentle and light with hardly any pressure, her hand followed obediently. "You can pay for it, but you need to be twenty-one. Are you?" His tone demanded attention.
He was right. Submissively peering up to answer his question-which was a big mistake-she saw his supple, kissable lips. They spread across, giving her a smile she could die for. With her eyes fixated on his, she pulled her hand away slowly. At that moment, every sound, every movement, seemed to blur around her. Swallowed up by Mason's world, she was breathless. His powerful body just inches away from hers caused a surge of longing she could not control. She hated how he made her feel weak all over. "Thanks. I'll let them know you bought it."
"There's no need for that. Do you need help carrying them over?"
"Nope," she snapped, and then twisted her neck to where his date was sitting. With a compact mirror in front of her, she was checking herself out. The woman reached into her purse, pulled out her lip gloss, and glided it across her lips. Her beautiful blonde hair cascaded down, blocking one side of her face. "Shouldn't you go back and entertain your date?"
"My date? You think I should?" He chuckled.
What kind of answer was that? She felt bad for his date. "You should do whatever you want." She grabbed the bottles of beer and walked away as if she didn't care, never looking back.
"I was beginning to worry," Kayla whispered. "What was going on over there?"
"I'll tell you later, but now we need to toast." Skylar clinked Kayla's and Nick's bottles. "To you, and you, and me." Then she took a sip and almost threw up. Squirting some out of her mouth, she quickly apologized and wiped her chin with a napkin. She didn't know why people liked to drink something she imagined pee would taste like.
Nick laughed. "You'll get used to the taste really fast."
After several sips Kayla wanted to dance. With Kayla's persuading and tugging their hands, Skylar and Nick were pulled onto the dance floor. They were the first to break the ice and more people soon joined in. Skylar was enjoying herself, but in a way, it was forced. She wanted to prove to Mason and herself that he didn't affect her at all.
Soon, after a few more sips of beer, she found herself dancing alongside Kayla, with a complete stranger. Once in a while she would steal glances at Mason. Though he never fully looked at her, she could tell he was watching and that made her happy, like she'd won a contest or something.
As the music continued to blast, the crowd got bigger, surrounding them, and she lost sight of Mason. Not just him, she lost sight of Kayla too. Thoroughly enjoying dancing, the not-so-bad-looking guy she was dancing with was all smiles. By now thoughts of Mason had vanished, and she disappeared into the crowd as she danced like she'd never danced before. The vibration from the bass pumped through her body, enticing and fueling her with energy that had been buried within her. With both of her hands up in the air, she moved in ways she'd never dared to-seductively. Certainly she was having the time of her life.
Skylar felt carefree and at the same time light-headed from the alcohol. Now she knew what feeling buzzed was like. Though she didn't know if she liked the sensation, she knew it made her feel braver, more daring . . . like the way she was dancing with a total stranger. As they continued to sway to the beat, sweat trickled down her forehead. Blood rushed to her face, making her hot from all the movement.
Unexpectedly, her dance partner placed his hands around her hips and pulled her in. Not only did he reek of alcohol, he was sweating so much he looked like he had just gotten out of the shower. His hands were all over her, uncomfortably. Wanting him off her, she pushed him, but he didn't budge and continued to hold on. Then he pulled her arms behind her back to lock them in place. It happened so fast she didn't have time to react.
"Stop!" she yelled. The people around her were so hypnotized by the sound of the music that they couldn't hear her cry for help. Skylar desperately tried to push him off, but with all her pushing and yanking and his moving to her swaying, it looked like they were just dancing together.
"Get off me!" she yelled again. Thank goodness her mom had made her take self-defense classes. Think. Think. Think. Recalling the demonstration she'd observed and practiced during one of the sessions, she decided to try it. With the only part of her body that was free, she jabbed her heel down on top of his shoe as hard as she could and kicked him in the shin to push him away.
Stumbling several steps backward and looking like he was in great pain, he moaned loudly. With piercing eyes holding a look of rage, he pulled his hand back to swing at her. Just before contact he was thrown across the floor, knocking people down who happened to be in his path.
"She said, ‘No!'" Mason looked at Skylar. "You okay?"
Feeling humiliated and stunned, tears streamed down her cheeks. Unintentionally, she darted to Mason and threw her arms around him; she couldn't help herself. She hadn't planned to do it. It just happened, and for only one reason-to thank him.
"Skylar? Skylar!" Kayla shouted, sounding concerned.
Hearing her cousin's voice, she pulled herself from Mason. "Sorry," she whimpered, looking up at him as she wiped her tears away. His eyes gazed into hers with a look of concern, or was it a look of annoyance because she'd hugged him? She didn't know. Whatever the reason, his hands were straight down and his muscles were tense, so she was all too glad to have Kayla come to her rescue.
"Are you okay?" Kayla asked, pulling Skylar away from the dance floor and toward the exit.
Looking over her shoulder, Skylar had a clear view of Mason still standing there stiff as a board. Her body continued to tremble as tears dampened her cheeks again.
Kayla pushed the door open and led them halfway down the block. "What happened?"
After Skylar explained, Kayla thought it was best to go home. Not wanting to ruin Kayla's night, Skylar convinced her to stay. She told her to ask Nick to drive her home later, and she would take Kayla's car.
"Are you sure?" Kayla asked, letting out a conflicted sounding sigh.
"Yes. I'm a big girl. Please go back and have fun. I don't want Nick waiting for you too long, and I don't want to be the cause of you going home early and ruining the night for both of you."
"Wait. This is like your first beer. Are you feeling buzzed?"
"I'm not sure what feeling buzzed is like, but if it was what I was feeling a while ago, then I'm fine now. I don't have that funny sensation, like I'm floating on clouds anymore. I only drank half the bottle of piss water."
"What?" Kayla laughed out loud. "You won't be saying that after several more rounds."
"That's because I'd be too drunk to even notice."
"Ha ha. Let me at least walk you to my car."
"I can drive her home," said a male voice as a hand reached out and gave Skylar her purse.
Where had he come from? Skylar wanted to ask if his date would mind, but thought twice about it. Since she didn't know what to say, only that she needed to be polite, she said the words that first popped into her mind, "Thanks but"-she took her bag-"I can drive home."
Skylar recalled how Mason hadn't held her after the altercation with the drunk. His arms had remained rigidly down at his sides. Not that he should have embraced her, but he could have comforted her at least. A pat, a smile, or any little gesture would've been fine, but no. His body was so uptight it was as if she had the plague.
"You still smell like alcohol and if a cop pulled you over, you would get arrested. Unless you prefer to spend some time in jail."
Skylar wanted to sniff herself. Did she really smell like alcohol? Unsure, she looked at Kayla, but Kayla was too busy rummaging inside Skylar's purse. She pulled out her car keys and handed them to Mason. "Skylar drove my car," she explained. "Thanks, Mason. I feel much better knowing she's in good hands." Kayla turned, gave her cousin an encouraging smile, and strutted back into the club.
Since she hardly knew him, and the times she had been with him had been weird and awkward, Skylar felt a bit uncomfortable. Walking behind him, she took two steps to every long stride of his. With a click of a button, he opened the passenger-side door for her. It was the second nice thing he had done so far, but how had he known which car to unlock?
"Thanks," Skylar said, sitting stiffly as he unexpectedly tried to pull her seat belt strap but found it was stuck. With one forceful yank, it finally budged. Letting out an irritated sigh, he reached over and wrapped the straps around her as he spoke, "Do you have a habit of dancing with strangers?"