head properly, reset, have a break. I needed Davey’s. It had been weeks since I’d gone, reluctant to return after what happened with Hendrix in the alleyway. For some reason, I couldn’t imagine taking any other guy out there.
But enough was enough. I just needed to not think about anything for a little while so I could get back to thinking clearly. Going to Davey’s was the only surefire way to do that. I’d have to wait a few days, just get through Christmas, then Harlow would go into a routine of staying up to a stupid hour and sleeping half the day, and Mom and Dad would go back to work until New Year’s. It would be risky, but I could make it work. After all, the risk factor was half the appeal.
Mind made up, I felt better already. And I was shivering.
I waded to the stairs at the end of the pool and dragged myself out, dripping disappointment and failure all over the travertine.
I pulled my dress on over my soaked underwear and tights, slipped into the house through a side door, and locked myself in my bedroom.
Chapter Fifteen
Hendrix
“Huh?” I glanced at Shady when he bumped my shoulder, but almost instantly, my eyes were drawn back to the good girl gone bad.
For all the effort she put into playing a party girl—the messy hair, the heavy makeup, the slutty clothes—she still looked as if she owned this dump and the whole damn town. Even that motherfucking leopard-print minidress somehow looked sophisticated on her. Some women just had that inexplicable class you couldn’t hide. It was why anyone with a dick was watching her as intently as I was as she danced along to some grungy shit. Two games of pool had completely ground to a halt, the bikers at the tables drooling over their own beards as they leaned on their pool cues.
“Dude!” Shady whacked me on the shoulder this time.
I didn’t hesitate to shove his skinny ass back. “What?” I scowled, and he threw his hands up, his mouth twitching into a smile.
“Are you listening at all?” He righted himself on his barstool and took another sip of his bourbon and dry.
I took a long sip of my own drink—mineral water with lemon—and tried to remember what he was talking about. I had no fucking clue. I’d tuned him out completely so I could watch her.
My eyes started to drift to the dance floor again, but I ground my teeth and stopped myself.
“Yeah, yeah. I heard you,” I mumbled to Shady, hoping it was vague enough to fool him. No way in hell was I about to admit I was distracted by a quality piece of ass.
“Sweet.” He sat up a little straighter. “So, you’re in?”
Fuck. That couldn’t be good. With Shady, he could be asking for anything from a lift home to a kidney.
“That’s not what I said.” I gave him a reproachful look. “I’ll think about it.”
He eyed me for a second, eyes narrowing in suspicion, then nodded. “All right.”
Hopefully I hadn’t just agreed to consider selling a pound of pills to the spoiled rich kids at my school for him. The guy had a big heart, but his sense of morality was beyond skewed.
Shady downed the rest of his drink and waved the bar chick over. I could no longer stop my eyes from looking for Donna in the crowd.
She was definitely a complication, but I couldn’t seem to get her off my mind, her smell out of my nose, the feel of her ridiculously soft skin from under my palms. She was everywhere, and I wanted her to be nowhere so I could get through the next few months and get the fuck out of this town, maybe even this country.
I wanted her gone so badly, but when I scanned the crowd and couldn’t see her light hair or ridiculous dress, I frowned. Where was she? I’d only looked away for a few minutes to get Shady off my back.
Did she take another guy out to the dumpsters? My teeth clenched so hard I was close to cracking one. I was half off my barstool before I knew what I was doing, but then Shady’s hand appeared on my chest.
“Seriously?” he said. “What the fuck is up with you tonight, bro? I don’t think you’ve heard half of what I’ve said.”
The urge to pick his lanky ass up and throw him over the bar was overwhelming, but this was why I didn’t drink