She took a sip of her drink and fiddled with Ryan’s phone. It was plain, no pictures on the main screen, just the stock standard stuff. Jaz opened up the camera and aimed it at the fedora guy but made it look like she was just typing a text. As her heart rate increased, she checked the flash was off.
What the hell am I doing?
But before she could answer her own thoughts she saw movement at Fedora’s table. A guy in a black suit had joined them, shaking his hand. Jaz took a few happy snaps of them both. The photos wouldn’t be so great in the nightclub but you could just make out their faces from the single lights that hung down on a wire, low over each table.
She took another sip of her drink and then glanced around to see if she could spot Ryan. There looked like there was a big scuffle over by the far wall. God, she hoped Anna and Taylor weren’t near that. Far too much was going on at once.
Jaz glanced back to the table opposite her and just about panicked when she saw Fedora and black suit guy getting up to leave.
‘Oh shit, now what?’ she mumbled. Did she stay here or follow them? Come on Jaz, think quick, her brain screamed.
Leaving her drink, she got up and followed the men who were headed towards the toilet. Great, that’s where she was going too.
She practically ran into the corridor that led to the toilets, afraid to lose them. Crunch. She shouldn’t have stressed. They were chatting just behind the wall and she’d collided right into the guy in the black suit. Instinctively he reached out to steady her as she almost slid down him. Jaz gripped his arm and gathered herself, her heart racing. What an idiot!
He shrugged her off and withdrew his hand but not before she saw the small snake tattoo on his wrist. ‘Sorry,’ she said. It came out a bit wobbly from her nerves.
‘Here, take these and bugger off,’ he said as he pressed a small plastic bag into her hand and pushed her away.
That’s when Jaz realised they thought she was drunk or drugged. She’d never felt so relieved, as she dragged herself along the wall trying to keep up the appearance of being inebriated. She stayed close to the doorway, but hid behind a pole just in case they came back out. In her hands, the packet with pills — it scared her. Did that guy think he was doing her a favour by giving her these? Instantly Jaz wanted to throw them away, but to where?
‘Hey, I found you.’ Jaz jumped. ‘Jesus, Jaz. Is that what I think it is?’ said Ryan snatching it from her hands and putting it in his pocket. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ He stared at her like she’d grown two heads.
‘Chill. It’s not mine,’ she said. ‘Some man with the fedora guy gave it to me.’
‘What? So it’s not yours?’
Jaz slapped her hands on her hips and sighed. Not that he’d hear it over the noise.
‘Good. Great. I’m glad. So this guy…where did he go?’ Ryan glanced around the room.
‘They are just in the corridor by the toilets. They could be still there. But I got photos.’ She handed back his phone and Ryan checked it.
He gaped back at her opened mouthed. ‘Amazing.’ Ryan glanced to the doorway before resting his eyes on Jaz. ‘So the other guy was the one who gave you the pills?’ he said leaning towards her ear.
‘Yep.’ He was so close she had to resist the need to grip his shirt and shake him. ‘Ryan, what’s going on?’
He tucked his phone away into his jeans before bringing his focus back to her. ‘Look, Jaz, you’ve helped me heaps just now. One day I hope to repay the favour. But I think it might be best if you head off, okay. It’s not safe in here at the moment.’
‘That doesn’t tell me anything,’ she said with a frown.
‘Now is not the time to go into it, Jaz.’
She glanced at Ryan’s pocket, thinking of the drugs. ‘What are you going to do with them?’
‘Destroy them.’ The rumble in his voice made it sound like he was going to kill people, not flush pills down the toilet.
‘You really have a beef against drugs,’ she said. Had he seen firsthand their disastrous side affects?
‘Yes, I do. And for a bloody good reason, Jaz. Never go near them, it’s not worth it.’
Jaz hoped one day he’d share that reason. He reached out for her arm, gently this time, and brought her in closer still. The effects of both her drinks, combined with Ryan’s aftershave, were making her light-headed. She was also losing the feeling in her legs. Were they still attached?
‘Jaz, please go home. I’ll feel better knowing you’re home safe. We’ll talk later.’
And then, without even a goodbye, he was off through the crowd. Just the pressure from his touch and the scent of him left lingering, taunting.