Unspoken(30)

“Fight’s over,” Phil said, explaining as he was pulling us backward. “Everyone’s a little chippy at the end of the fight.”

“Who won?” I yelled. Phil ignored me and Ellie merely shrugged her shoulders.

Phil lifted Ellie and then me onto a barrel similar to the one that we’d been sitting on when Bo first walked in. This time we stood to avoid Phil from crushing our legs. He planted himself in front and repeatedly diverted the crowd by pushing them away.

“Was it like this when you and Tim were here?” I yelled at Ellie above the din. She grinned madly and nodded.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” It was crazy. Adrenaline was an airborne drug here. Everyone was affected, and I wasn’t exempt. I could feel it coursing through my body, making me think of things—want things—that I shouldn’t. I could feel it in my fingertips, my throat, and that ever-dampening place between my legs. I squeezed my thighs together, but I wasn’t sure if it was to increase sensation or make the feeling go away.

Bo’s coterie stood at the edge of the lighted ring. It looked like the bookie was handing him something, probably money. Then the music that had been playing suddenly stopped and the dimly lit bulbs all brightened. The sudden lack of a soundtrack and the bright lights acted like a bucket of cold water and the mini squabbles that had broken out seemed to die down immediately. People began to be herded out the door.

“Where does everyone go from here?” I asked Ellie.

“Usually to the downtown bars, only Tim and I had to go home.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“Why did you ever break up with him?” I shook my head at her. It seemed like fight night and what came after ranked among Ellie’s college highlights.

“One can’t live on sex alone,” Ellie quipped. This made Phil turn his head to look at Ellie, and she leaned down to pat his shoulder. “No matter how hard you try.”

“Maybe you aren’t doing it with the right guy?” Phil offered.

“Is that an invitation?”

Phil’s response was delayed by a long look up and down Ellie’s body. Then his lips curved upward into what should have been a grin, but maybe rusty from disuse, it looked more like a sideways grimace.

“You look like a lot of work to me.”

“Everything worth having takes time in the acquiring.” Phil made no verbal response, but the two stared at each other for some time.

“What about Ryan?” I whispered to Ellie.

“He’s a laxer.” She glared, but I thought I detected a hint of dejection.

Phil’s attention was diverted by his phone. In response to a text message, he turned around and pulled us off the barrel, almost pushing us out into the back alley where people were dispersing fairly rapidly.

“Can you guys go wait in Continental?” Continental was a bar next door.

“What about my money?” Ellie asked.

Phil grunted, texted someone a message, and then replied, “Someone will bring it to ya at the Continental.”

Ellie nodded before I could formulate a response and dragged me off. Inside, we found a table at the back of the bar and sat down with our drinks.

“How long are you thinking of staying?” I asked.

“What? Until closing time.” Ellie looked miffed.

“Really?” I was coming down off an adrenaline high and wondered what exactly I was doing wearing Bo’s sweatshirt and ostensibly waiting for Bo and his crew to come in. Reason was creeping back in and telling me to get out. Now. Sensing my agitation, Ellie grabbed my arm to keep me from fleeing.

“What’s so wrong with giving Bo a try?”

“I’m just not ready for that kind of hurt, Ellie.” I lightly shook off her grip and traced my finger in the pool of condensation formed from our beer glasses. My impulse-driven behavior in the dark of the basement seemed unwise now.

“Don’t be a fatalist. This could be amazing.”

“How?”

“You could date him, sleep with him, go back onto campus with him on your arm.”

“Like I’m a big game hunter? Do I mount the condom on my backpack?” I mocked. “Or I could sleep with him, have him blab it all over campus, thereby ensuring at least a decade more of therapy.”

“You can’t live like every guy at Central is going to run naked down the campus yelling that they’ve just bagged you.”

I shook my head slightly. “I’m not living like that. I just don’t think that the first time I take my training wheels off, I should get on a motorcycle.”

“I still think you should give Bo a try.”

“I agree.” I heard a voice behind me say. A large male hand appeared next to mine and my eyes traveled up the corded muscles to the cuff of a gray T-shirt. Bo.