He finished this with wink.
Chapter 29
Pistols at Dawn.
All the way to the club I had been on edge and it wasn’t only down to my passenger. I hadn’t seen Ragnar outside and kept expecting him to pop up in my rear view mirror. I know I didn’t have to worry about Justin seeing him because he was still invisible to everyone else but I knew I wouldn’t be able to help my reaction and I was pretty sure Justin would class me as a mental case if I just screamed for no reason. Although this idea did have its advantages, it might have stopped him flirting every time he opened his mouth.
Then I saw them…headlights, with a strange red glow that Justin didn’t seem to notice. They flashed once and I knew I was being followed and Justin didn’t have a clue. The black car behind looked as huge and intimidating as its driver did and it had me gulping at the sight. And it didn’t help that the closer we got to Afterlife, the more I kept thinking I was playing with fire and tonight I would see a Demon throw sparks.
“What you thinking about?” Justin was staring at me with confusion plastered across fine cheek bones. What should I say…Umm well actually I’m kind of hoping my boyfriend doesn’t rip your head off and give it to his pet bird to play with! In the end I said,
“Just college stuff,” which I could tell he didn’t buy.
“So will I get to meet my rival tonight or will he let me have you all to myself?” He laughed lightly at the end but I just growled and looked in my mirror tensely, praying that they could only see us and not hear us.
“You shouldn’t joke…I’m taken and that means there’s a no flirting rule.” I said sternly but when I looked from the road to his face, I gathered I was just playing right into his hands by responding.
“Who said I was joking? Besides, I don’t know how not to flirt…not with you anyway.” I was expecting him be wearing a cocky smile when he said this but the serious tone and glance out of the window, I wasn’t expecting. Thankfully the conversation turned to light hearted tales of his expeditions around the world and I found myself hanging on his every word. I couldn’t help myself. It was a mixture of the subject of travelling that was close to my heart and the fact that he was so damn charismatic.
He had just finished his story on helping baby turtles get to sea after just being hatched, when we pulled up outside the vast ivy covered building that was both work and home to me. It made me wonder what my life would have been like without this place. If I had never come to Afterlife that night, never found a job here, what would have become of me? I would have probably been dating Jack and playing it safe by now and instead of worrying about a supernatural King’s reaction, I would just have the usual, mundane human reactions…shouting, pushing and maybe a fist fight to be broken up by security.
No instead I had the image of Draven in his Demon form demanding power from Heaven and Hell, two large blades protruding from his hands all aglow and ready for action, a mighty roar into the night before striking his victim to the sound of my screaming! Yeah, something like that.
I took a deep breath and got out of my truck, slamming the door a little too hard for big blue. I couldn’t help but say “Sorry” out loud which made Justin chuckle.
“That’s adorable.”
“Shut up!” I said playfully before hitting him on the arm, which he then placed around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.
“Don’t look so worried doll, just a bit of harmless fun…drinking, dancing…”
“Demons” I whispered under my breath.
“Sorry?”
“Oh nothing,” I said looking nervously around in case Ragnar was seeing him with his arm around me. The car behind had turned down the side of the building and out of sight but it didn’t mean that no one was out there in the dark watching. My heart started to sound like Dave Grohl playing the drums as the thought entered my head. I shrugged out of his hold and nodded to Jo and Cameron, the doormen.
Of course knowing Frank they knew Justin, so instead of being stood out in the cold for another ten minutes chatting, I left him there and said I’d meet him at the bar. Once inside I felt that usual euphoria wash over me whenever I stepped through the doors. Like a magnetic pull or a drug that I didn’t know I had swallowed as I entered. I had felt the same feeling the first night and it had remained that way ever since…the feeling, like I belonged and the building knew it. I don’t know why but every day it seemed to get stronger, especially since the Temple incident. Maybe it had acted like an amplifier.
The club was in full force, with bodies everywhere there wasn’t an inch of space. Some looked clung together by the tight black clothes and matching pale faces, supporting heavy made up eyes. When I first started I thought it was all very intimidating but now I knew what was upstairs, these lot looked like pet kittens playing under a tiger cage.
I pushed my way passed a couple that looked recently risen from the grave and with the evil stares I received, they could have been zombies after my flesh. Who knows, in this place it could be possible for looks to kill, after all, there was only one rule in Afterlife, no humans in the VIP…So what did that make me?
The bar wasn’t as packed as everywhere else due to the band that was playing. It was a heavy gothic band with a girl as its lead singer. The soft sound from her lips then shocked me as she started to scream out the last few lines of what I assumed to be a chorus. Actually the beat wasn’t that bad and the crowd was enjoying themselves, which freed up the bar. Mike was working and unfortunately Cassie the ‘Goth Barbie’ was collecting glasses. Jerry was also serving but Mike saw me first.
“Hey cutie, who gave you the night off…? Ah, don’t tell me, I think I can guess.” He was smirking the whole time which told me he was pulling my leg.
“You know I don’t work Saturdays but what a shame your biggest fan does.” I nodded to Cassie who was collecting only two glasses at a time.
“Thanks for reminding me, you’ve now destroyed an illusion I had been working on all night.”
“So who was she this time…Jessica Biel or Jessica Alba?” He laughed at how well I knew him and just as he put my usual Corona with lime in front of me, he answered,
“Neither smarty pants.” I raised my eyebrows and put up a hand.
“Wait, don’t tell me…I got this one…Umm… Sarah Michelle Gellar!” I could tell with his face I’d guessed right. See Cassie was a grade A pain in the arse that loved Mike and practically humped his leg whenever she got the chance, so I came up with the idea of blocking her out by pretending she was someone else. I doubted he actually did it but it was still something we joked about every time we saw each other.
“Hold on, here comes Buffy now!”
“Actually I preferred her in Cruel Intentions.” He winked at me and just as she came up to the bar I whispered,
“Yeah, but that’s only because she kisses a girl!”
“Argh, gross! Who kissed a girl?” Cassie asked but not without the disgusted look my way. She probably thought I was a lesbian now and it would soon be around the club that I was cheating on Draven with some out of town Cyber chick.
The Dravens’ prolonged stay was still generating an array of unusual tourists that travelled miles just for one night at Club Afterlife and maybe a glimpse at its famous Gothic millionaire. Unfortunately the drama and gossip of the town was still about me dating Draven. I think there was even one rumour the other day that I was pregnant and just saying it was his because I wanted his money. I had laughed until tears developed when RJ had told me. But I wasn’t hurt by all these rumours. It came with the territory when dating the town’s most influential man and besides, I knew the truth and that’s all that mattered.
Of course it caused a little friction at work to begin with but soon they just seemed to accept it was now a part of me and when I disappeared upstairs, it was as if I was forgotten about. On the shifts when I worked in the VIP, I would walk past without a word spoken to me, but on the shifts when I worked down here, then it was as th
ough nothing had changed. I was now two different people to everyone else but I was still the same person inside. It had bothered me in the beginning, that I couldn’t have it both ways but I soon realised there was no other way it would work…it was them that had changed, not me.
“Oh my, oh my!” Cassie was muttering to me which was odd in itself. Her killer instincts had kicked into overdrive and she was now fixated on Justin who was walking this way.
“Move out of my way, my future husband just walked in and he’s looking this way, oh and try not to speak, I don’t want him running off.” She budged me out of the way to stand in front of me. I wanted to laugh out loud but refrained. I didn’t want to crush her dreams as soon as they had been created. Besides this was going to be far too entertaining to watch!
Justin sure did attract attention even if he did look like a fish out of water. He was trying to look around for me and I had to wave behind Cassie’s back. This was like giving a diabetic, keys to the sweet shop because Cassie thought he was coming for her. He was now stood in front of us both trying to get to me.
“Hi, looking for someone ‘cause my name’s Cassie and I’m someone?” She flashed her white teeth under murderous red lips that were closer to hooker than hottie. She then added a girly hair flick, which ending up hitting me in the face with bleached blonde hair that even smelt like peroxide.
“Hey Cassie, I’m Justin and I’ve found who I’m looking for thanks.” He was trying to be polite but she didn’t even flinch.
“Yeah, well why don’t you tell her you’ve found me and let me and you go party, I’m off in twenty minutes.” At this he lost his gentlemanly patience and held her by the shoulders and moved her to the side to reveal an amused me behind, which brought his smile back.
“Sorry kid, I play in the big leagues and I’ve found what I was looking for.” He finished it with a wink at me, which sent Cassie over the edge. She went scarlet to the dark roots and huffed off shouting “Dog” over her shoulder but Justin just replied with a “Woof, Woof”, even though I think it was mainly aimed at me.
“Well she was pleasant… Not!” he said before ordering a rum and coke.
“You just met the slut of Afterlife and survived, congrats,” I said causing a warm smile to replace the cocky one.
We were only there a few minutes when a familiar pink head could be seen amongst the crowd. Boy for such a little thing she couldn’t half push her way through a room full of dancing bodies. She came bounding up to me so I met her half way, where she gave me a huge hug, momentarily forgetting Justin. She was wearing a ripped black tank top with net sleeves. This was matched with a pink tartan tutu skirt and tartan boots on top of fish net tights that had seen better days. Her hair had grown out a bit but the roots were now dyed red, so each pink spike now looked like it was bleeding into her skull.
“Nice hair!” I commented and her eyes lit up with the complement.
“You like? And who said red and pink clash! You look cute as usual but wait…what is this, doth my eyes deceive me?” She said this in a posh, old fashioned English accent (or at least tried to) before carrying on,
“Are you, Keira our English rose, wearing the tightest black jeans I have ever seen?”
“No! And don’t make me regret them…ok?” I said in a low voice and she just nodded, understanding my code.
“Mum’s the word, old chap!” She did it again and at this rate if she persisted to keep up the accent then I would have to teach her a few things, like for one, not all English people sounded like Sherlock Homes!
“So what do we have here then, what did you bring me?” She motioned towards Justin with her netted hand and I turned to see him waiting for us. She giggled at the sight and as we walked over there I heard her behind me saying “Yum, Yum”.
“Justin, this is my very good friend RJ, RJ this is who I was telling you about.” I thought I had introduced them properly but I think Justin got the wrong idea.
“Keira, have you been telling people about me, you little minx?” He held a hand out to RJ like something from a period drama on the BBC. I don’t know why but Mr Wickham sprang to mind. He was being the perfect gentleman as we all chatted at the bar about what Justin had been up to the past few years.
“But if you’re only a few years older than Keira, didn’t you finish college?” SHIT! I hadn’t thought about that, they all still thought I was twenty one not twenty three. Of course Justin knew what had happened to me, it would have been hard for Frank not to explain why he had to come over to England to console his wife. His family had been great in not disclosing this bit of information to anyone else and although Justin didn’t know all the gruelling details, he still knew.
“Ah well... my parents didn’t mind me taking some time out on account of being a free spirit and all. I’ll go back but only when I’m finished with travelling.” He carried on but I was just thanking my lucky stars that Justin had been so cool with lying. If that had been me, I would have been busted Disney style and my big conk would have probably poked her eye out. But Justin was obviously a pro in this line of work.
By the end of his third story about helping out the locals, I think RJ was in love and ready to run away with him to become a world healing surfer, living in huts and mothering abandoned monkeys while making vegan meals for hungry locals.
“So do you like the band?” RJ was asking Justin as I saw one of the friendliest faces on the planet come towards us. Jack’s messy hair flopped about in the crowd and a couple of girls dressed like vampire dolls drooled as he went past. His smile lit up my face as he approached and I couldn’t help but laugh at his T-shirt that was black and the white lettering said “Guns don’t kill people, Zombies do” and the word Zombies was painted in fake dripping blood.
“Nice T-shirt,” I said as he gave me a big bear hug.
“I wore it for you, knew you’d like it considering you work in a Gothic nightclub. Cute top, by the way.” He gave me a great big grin that I expected most of the room could see. Meanwhile Justin had stopped listening to RJ and was staring at us. You could feel the heat from his glare and it made us both turn round at the same time.
“Oh sorry dude, you must be Justin” Jack extended his hand and Justin slapped his own into it with an edge of aggression.
“And you? Sorry Keira hasn’t spoken about you.” I blushed and felt like pulling out one of Justin’s ribs and hitting him with it for being so rude.
“Oh this is just my brother Jack.”
“Geez thanks sis, that’s real heartfelt.” Jack hit a fist to his chest and joked about being the more mature one of the two. I quickly asked RJ about the band name, trying to disperse some of the tense atmosphere that was far too thick for me.
“So what’s the band’s name?”
“The Happy Yellow Stains, they’re ok but the next band is called ‘TCTF’ and they rock.” She then got Jack’s attention and drank from an imaginary cup, her way of asking for a drink. He rolled his eyes at me and shouted for Mike who was trying to get away from Cassie at the time, so he seemed more than pleased about his reason for escape.
“What does ‘TCTF’ mean?” I asked when I really wanted to ask if it meant ‘Tactless conversations to friends’, but I swallowed that one and waited for my answer which was in no way what I was expecting.
“This Clown Tastes Funny.”
“Sorry?” I thought she had just randomly told me something from a dream but no, that had been the answer. I hadn’t heard anymore because a vibrating in my bag told me that I had a message. I fumbled in the side pocket and half answered Jack at the same time,
“Yes thanks,” I said to the offer of a drink but I noticed Justin had made it a point of ordering me one first and he slid the bottle my way. Jack just shrugged his shoulders and told Mike his order minus one Corona. I now had my phone in my palm and flipped it open to a message from an unknown number.
“Did you think it a wise choice to dress so sexy when surrounded by drooling boys, while y
our boyfriend looks on?”
OMG! Not only was he watching me but he was now texting me!
“Anyone I know…Or someone I wanna know?” RJ said trying to look at my phone which I was now clasping to my chest and turning rosy red.
“It’s no one, just Libby.” She wasn’t convinced and laughed saying “Yeah right”, then she carried on talking to Justin. Next thing I knew my phone was vibrating in my sweaty hand making me nearly drop it.
“Nobody is it? Well, why don’t you meet this nobody upstairs and we can discuss what colour your cheeks have blushed to?”
I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face like a deflowered maiden.
“Lover boy calling?” Justin said in a flat tone that had taken my smile to heart. Jack frowned but said nothing. And RJ nudged me and said “Bootie call.”
I ignored them all and text back with a shaky hand.
“Is this who I think it is using modern technology to arrange a date?” K xx
I sent it and tried to listen to the conversation but it was hard when I kept looking over my shoulder to where his shadow might be or the phone to light up, letting me know I had a message back. I had been smart enough to put it on silent and vibrate. Sure enough, seconds later it was glowing in my hand.
“Come to me and I’ll show you what I can do without this phone in my hand.” D xxx
I gulped and bit down on my lip. I wanted to say goodbye and run for the stairs as quick as my legs could carry me but I knew my guilt would be overwhelming, so I sent the text that I knew he wouldn’t like…the one telling him no.
“I can’t, not yet anyway but I promise I will see you later”
Love K xxxx
I really wanted to say “See you in two shakes of a lamb’s tail” but I knew I would be doing the wrong thing, so I flipped the phone shut and instead of sulking, I plastered on a smile and joined in with the conversation.