a tall drink of fuckin’ gorgeous. Great makeup. All of you look fantastic!”
I laughed at that. “Thanks, man. It’s nice to meet you.”
He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Pleasure is all mine.”
Phil tugged at me again, and Mike turned his attention to X and Jason. At the bar, Phil ordered ten Jäger shots and ten bottles of beer.
“Don’t drink anythin’ that ain’t out of a bottle, or you don’t see poured in front of you, okay?”
“No shit,” I scoffed.
He grinned. “I know, but it just makes me feel better to tell you anyway.”
“Sure, sure.”
“If we somehow get separated—”
“We’ll meet up back here?”
He nodded. “Sounds good. You got your phone on you, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool.”
Everyone else joined us, and we all threw back our liquor, grimacing at the taste, and quickly sucked down our chasers.
“Right,” grunted Phil. “Let’s fuckin’ mingle.”
For about an hour, Phil had me glued to him, introducing me to people, reintroducing me to some people I had met the night before. We smoked a few joints, hung out, had a few more beers. Then, Tara and Robin grabbed Lili and me, dragging us off for some dancing in one of the other rooms.
Phil smiled. “Go have some fun.”
“Can I dance with some dudes?”
“Sure. But break their fingers if they get too handsy.”
“Will do.”
Tara was dressed as a cute glittering fairy—much cuter than that groupie fairy. Robin, bless her, was dressed as a nun. Only, the cross around her neck was upside down.
“What you got under your habit, Nun?” I asked her as we started grooving on the dance floor.
“Who said I had anything under it?” she replied, wriggling her eyebrows.
Lili was asked to dance by a zombie, and she told him to keep his hands where she could see them. Robin was snatched up as well, so Tara and I danced with each other until we too were parted by the opposite sex.
The guy who decided a giant sugar skull was worthy of a dance had a Phantom of the Opera mask covering half of his face. His black hair was tied back, and I couldn’t make out his eye color in the dark. There was something familiar about him in my fuzzy buzzed brain. He had a great body, built like Phil, only scaled down, and a cute dimple in his chin.
“GianFranco?” I gasped.
He held his finger to his lips and smiled. “I swear, Doc, I was invited here.”
I went to move away from him, but he caught me around my waist and twirled me away from my friends. I was starting to feel scared but not for my own safety. The last thing I needed tonight was to be caught dancing with Phil’s most hated ex-friend.
“Let me go!” I hissed.
“I saw you up on stage tonight, Baby Girl—”
“You don’t get to call me that!” I went with the movement of his body, so as not to alarm anyone else. There were many people dancing, and—I hoped—I would be able to get out of this without alerting my friends.
“You really were quite breathtaking. Your makeup is a little fucked up—”
“He told you to stay away!” I snarled.
“I like you.”
“I’m taken.”
“While I will admit I find you extremely attractive, I’m not in the habit of taking what isn’t mine. Phil…” He drew in a deep breath. “Phil has loved you for a very long time.”
“Why are you doing this? It wouldn’t be just you he’d be mad at if he catches us dancing together.”
“I need to talk to him.”
“Good luck with that. He thinks you’re a monster.”
Devon stopped dancing. “He said that?”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer to me, and I could feel a menacing power emanating from him. “He called me a monster. Did he tell you anything about himself, Doc? Let me ask you something. Has he punished you for breaking his heart at all?”
“Excuse me?”
Devon nodded. “A lot of women took a sweet little beating at his hands—in your name. Didn’t he tell you?”
“Wh-what?” That was indeed shocking to me.
Phil was always extremely careful not to hurt me, was scared of doing so accidentally. The thought of him actually beating a woman…was unimaginable.
“Oh, yes.” He stepped even closer. “Whatever it is he told you about me, you should know…he was right there, by my side, enjoying every fucking minute of it. I know he couldn’t bear to shove it in all the way, and I know that each time he blew his load, it was your name he whispered…right after he roughed them up.”