I stand there for a few moments in the dim corridor by an old, inoperable pay phone, sweating and hyperventilating, wondering what the hell is happening to me. I feel as if I’ve had ten shots of tequila.
Closing my eyes again, I swallow down the hot bile rising in the back of my throat.
“There you are. You all right, Shay? Here, let me help you.”
The voice is Dylan’s. Smooth and low, it comes to me as if from very far away. A strong hand curls around my upper arm and squeezes.
“I’m okay, really. I just need…I need…” I don’t know what I need. I can’t think. My brain isn’t working right.
“You should probably go home and get to bed. You look really sick.”
When I open my eyes, my vision is blurry. I try to push off the wall, but don’t have the strength.
My lack of strength soon doesn’t matter because Dylan peels me off the wall and starts to lead me in the opposite direction down the corridor from where I came, toward an exit door at the end.
“Wait. Hold on. Dylan, get Chelsea. I need Chelsea.”
He winds his arm around my shoulders and propels me forward, shushing me when I make a small cry of distress. I stumble again, losing my balance, but he catches me, grabbing me roughly and pulling me against his chest.
“Only a few more steps,” he coos into my ear. “We’ll get you home safe and sound, Shay. My car is right outside. I’ll take you there.”
Why can’t I feel my legs?
It’s the last thought I have before my vision goes black, and I fall forward into nothingness.
Cole
Staring at the video feed of Chelsea sitting alone at the table in the dining room, I check my watch again.
“What’s taking so long?”
Emiliano shrugs. “Women take forever to piss.”
“Only when they go to the bathroom together. Why don’t you have a fucking security camera in the back hallway?”
“I do. It’s out.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“What, you think I’m made of dough, ese? That shit don’t grow on trees.”
“You sound like my father. I’m buying you a new security system next week.”
He chuckles. “Could use a new truck while you’re at it.”
I mutter, “Why don’t you throw in a boat?”
“You can get me that for my birthday. I’ll send you the link to the one I want. It’s got purple lights underneath that make it glow in the water. Esta bien chido.”
Aggravated that Shay hasn’t reappeared on camera, I check my watch again. “What other angles do you have? Can we see from the other direction?”
He clicks around a few times, bringing up different views of the main dining room, the bar, and the entrance.
“Wait, go back to the bar. Yes, there. Stop.”
I scan the crowd at the bar, but Dylan isn’t among them. He got up a minute or so after Shay left the table, and I assumed he went back to the bar for more drinks. But he’s not there, and he’s not at the table either.
A familiar feeling raises the hair on the back of my neck.
It’s a heightening of all my senses at once. A sharpening. My surroundings come into brighter focus, my breath quickens, and all my muscles tense.
Shay might be talking with Dylan in the back. She could be flirting with him, or simply chatting about work. I have no way of knowing if they arranged to meet here for drinks, which is the most likely scenario given that they work right next to each other and have probably bonded over a mutual dislike of me.
But an animal that always slumbers beneath my skin has blinked open its eyes, sniffed the air, and started to growl.
When I speak, my voice is low and tense. “Show me the entry to the hallway again.”
He clicks to the view of a dark rectangle flanked by potted palms. The lighting is bad down the corridor that leads to the restrooms, but it’s enough to show that Shay isn’t on her way out.
“Show me the parking lot.”
“You think she ditched her friend?”
“No.”
He shoots me a glance, examines my expression, then changes the image on the screen to show the restaurant’s parking lot.
Stumbling over her own feet, Shay clings to Dylan as he drags her across the asphalt toward a blue sedan parked near the back.
I’m out the door before Emiliano can even blink.
I charge through the kitchen, burst out the door I came in through, bolt around the side of the building to the parking lot, then sprint at top speed toward the blue sedan.
Dylan has the back passenger door open. He’s trying to force Shay inside with one hand on the top of her head as he pushes her to a sitting position.