The Best Friend Scandal - Lucia Jordan Page 0,27

definition of his muscular torso underneath, even though he was very svelte. He reached down to hold my hand as we walked, and suddenly, I felt strange.

I liked hanging out with him, and I had a lot of fun at the club. I also thought that he was really good looking. But I didn’t want to be with him in that way. I actually didn’t want to be with any of the guys at the club in that way. The only person I even thought about like that was Arlo, and how screwed up was that since he was my friend? I wasn’t quite sure what to do about my hand being in Cai’s hand. I didn’t want to seem rude and pull it away; after all, it was just hand-holding. I knew that I had to work on my boundaries with men. Arlo always said that to me, too, but I always thought he was just overly protective, kind of like a big brother, except he really didn’t feel like a big brother to me anymore; he felt like something else.

“Tonight, I’m taking you to a different club,” Cai said while we walked. He was rubbing his thumb on the inside of my palm, and it was kind of starting to weird me out.

“How come?” I asked. I had really liked the other one.

“Because this one is even more fun than the one that I took you to last night.”

“Really?” I said. Okay, I was excited now.

When we got there, this night club was even more packed than the other one had been. It was shoulder-to-shoulder bodies and getting through the entrance was like squeezing through a tiny crack in the wall. It made sense now that Cai would want to hold my hand. Otherwise, we would have gotten pulled apart for sure. When we got in and got closer to the seating areas and the bar and dance floor, it thinned out a little but not much. Cai lifted his hand in the air to wave at a group of people sitting around one of the low tables, and we walked over to them. I recognized several of them from the model fitting and was less than pleased when I saw Kerynne there. Seeing her made me want to turn around and leave. I think Cai picked up on my hesitation because he squeezed my hand and leaned closer to whisper in my ear.

“I promise, she won’t bite,” he laughed. “And if she does, I’ll bite her back for you.”

I knew that he was kidding about the whole “biting” thing, but I still didn’t much like the sound of it all.

“Oh, look,” Kerynne said. “You brought a new toy to play with.”

“Simmer down, Kerynne, and put another drink in your mouth,” Cai said. “Or at least put something in your mouth. I’d be happy to oblige if you can’t find anything.”

“Ewe,” she said as she made a fake gagging sound. “I’d rather die than put any part of you inside my mouth.”

“Suit yourself,” Cai said. “There are plenty of takers.”

At that exact moment, he put his hand on my thigh, and I got a rush of nervousness. I was really hoping that sitting around at a bar with this group of people was the right choice for me to have made.

“Let’s dance,” I said. I couldn’t believe those words actually came out of my mouth. But I did have fun dancing at the other club, and at least it would get me away from Kerynne and get Cai’s hand off my leg.

“Sure thing,” he said. “But first, let’s take these.” He pulled a tiny bag out of his jeans pocket, and inside the clear bag, it looked like there were a bunch of tiny silver balls that were no larger than a pencil tip.

“What is that?” I asked.

Everyone at the table started to laugh.

“She doesn’t get any because she’s stupid,” Kerynne said. “I’ll take her share.”

“Oh no, you won’t,” Cai said as he swatted her reaching hand away. “She gets just as much as the rest of you because she is my guest.”

Cai smiled at me with his brilliantly handsome smile and then opened the bag.

“No thanks,” I said, shaking my head.

“Try it,” Cai said. “You’ll love them.”

“What is it?” I asked again.

“It’s a pretty little pill that will make you feel amazing.”

“Does it have any bad side effects?”

“Nope,” Cai said as he popped two into his mouth. “Only good ones.”

“Is it addictive?”

“Nope again. It’s just fun. Come