Love You Madly(35)

How long had he been carrying that thing?

It made the danger of the whole situation hit home, and she sat frozen in her seat while Travis came around to open her door.

“Second thoughts?” Travis asked from above her. “I can do this myself, Meredith, if you want to stay out here.” He didn’t sound condescending, though, as he said it. If anything, maybe a tad too excited at the prospect of leaving her behind.

“Not a chance. Let’s do this,” she said with tons more confidence than she felt. With her cell phone and driver’s license in her hand, she climbed out, conscious of Travis’s attention on her legs and hips as she smoothed her skirt down. She swallowed, too aware of the heat that burned in her belly at the appreciation in those green eyes before he looked away.

“Let’s get going,” he said.

They followed behind a group who looked like they’d already started the celebrations, some of the girls wavering as they walked. Meredith’s own excitement and nerves propelled her forward, wanting to overtake and pass the group in her eagerness to get inside and find some answers.#p#分页标题#e#

Travis grabbed her elbow and drew her back. “Slow down,” he said under his breath. “You’re supposed to look like you’re heading in to have fun—not interrogate and decimate every person you come into contact with.”

This time he placed his hand around her waist, and she nearly jumped out of her heels from the unexpected contact. “Relax. Remember. We need to look like a couple. Try and act like you like me.”

Something that shouldn’t be too hard. Considering she’d been trying hard to disguise how much she was coming to like the stupid guy.

At the door, they held their IDs out, although Meredith couldn’t help noticing the guy barely glanced at the IDs before passing them through.

“Here,” Travis asked, holding his hand out. “Want me to put those in my pocket?”

She handed over her ID but stared down at the cell phone. Her lifeline to Darcy. She couldn’t part with it. “I’m going to hold onto this,” she said, and looked down for somewhere to keep it. She settled on slipping it into the front of her top, sandwiching it, for lack of a better term, between her ample breasts.

There. That should hold it.

She smiled back at Travis, who seemed at a loss as he continued to stare at her chest region. Finally, he shook his head and shoved her ID into his back pocket before returning his hand to her waist. They walked into the hubbub of activity.

“We’re heading to the third floor,” he said, brushing his mouth near her ear to be heard above the pounding music. An innocent touch that sent a shiver down her spine.

She nodded as they squeezed past hot, sweaty bodies and nameless faces. Instead of looking past them, though, she studied each and every one.

One of them could be Darcy.

It was a slim possibility and defied everything she’d told Travis about her daughter, but one she clung to nonetheless. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time an eighteen-year-old girl fell head over heels—and into bed—with a guy who stole her breath when he looked at her, disappearing for days basking in her newfound bliss (damn Brian and those damn dimples). Disappeared until the real world broke in and she finally saw the guy for the charming, lying cheat that he was.

“The stairs are over here.” Travis pulled her closer against his side as they made their way through the throng toward the back.

“Shouldn’t we mingle down here first? There are a lot of people and maybe we’ll see Darcy.”

He squeezed her waist, not unkindly. More reassuringly. “If we don’t find this Matt kid, we’ll definitely come back down, see if we can find her. But I think out best bet is finding that kid.”

They reached the stairs and made their way up, passing people along the way, some talking and drinking, others already making their way to second base. She diverted her eyes as they passed. When they reached the third floor, two heavyset guys met them outside double doors.

“Private party,” one of them said.

“Good thing I have my invitation,” Travis said and held up several twenties. “Think this should cover it. And Jasper sends his regards.”

This seemed to do the trick as the men stepped aside, pocketing the money and opening the door. The distinctive and annoying beat of some techno song greeted them as they stepped inside. Compared to the brightness of the hall, the darkness of the room as the doors shut behind them took some time for her to adjust to, and she clung to Travis’s arm until she could regain her bearings.