Rae of Sunshine (Light in the Dark 1)

“Thea, stop,” I groaned, when she started getting touchy feely. “This is weird.”

“You’re no fun, Rae,” She pouted. “I need fun!”

I groaned. We’d barely been here thirty minutes and I could already tell I was going to have to drag my drunk roommate home, which was going to be so much fun. We’d taken a cab here, so I’d have to call one to come get us and I was sure they’d be thrilled if she threw up in there.

But

I didn’t need to be thinking about that. Instead I needed to focus on what she was doing now, which was—

“Thea! Did you just grab my ass?!” I gasped.

She giggled and hiccupped, before sashaying her hips. “Maybe! You need to lighten up!”

“Thea,” I groaned, when she put her hands on my hips trying to get me to move to the beat of the song, “stop it.”

“Fine,” she pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“Thea!” I called when she melted into the crowd of dancers and disappeared.

I should’ve just kept my mouth shut, because now I’d lost a drunk girl in the middle of an insanely large crowd. Not good.

“Thea!” I called again, pushing my way around people. I even elbowed some dude in the gut when he tried to grope me. Honestly, couldn’t people keep their hands to themselves?

I looked and looked, moving through the crowd but Thea was gone.

Fabulous.

I made my way back the bar, figuring it would give me the best vantage point to try to find her.

I grabbed an empty stool and sat down, craning my neck.

“Looking for someone?”

I jumped at the male voice.

I turned around to face the man. He wasn’t much older than me, maybe twenty-two. He had light gray eyes—they almost seemed white, like they were leached of color. His brown hair fell in messy waves over his forehead. “Uh, yeah,” I muttered, feeling a bit creeped out. I scooted the stool a smidge away and prayed he didn’t notice. “My boyfriend.” The lie slipped out of my mouth easily. Something about the guy was just…off. I hoped that if he thought a guy was going to appear any second he’d stop looking at me like…like he wanted to lick me.

“A boyfriend? Really?” He raised the glass of whatever he was drinking to his lips. “You came in with another girl and I haven’t seen you with a guy.”

My pulse jumped and a sweat broke out across my skin.

This was not good and my gut told me I needed to get away.

“He’s meeting me here,” I mumbled. “Excuse me.” I slid off the stool, scurrying away from Icky Guy.

I was going to find Thea and we were getting the fuck out of here whether she liked it or not. I was also never ever letting her talk me into this ever again.

When I still couldn’t find her I headed to the back where the bathrooms were, figuring she had gone there.

I hadn’t made it far when my body was slammed roughly into the wall, causing my teeth to clank together and blood to blossom on my tongue.

Before I could scream a hand slammed against my mouth.

My eyes connected with Icky Guy’s. I was so screwed.

Panic began to choke me, but I tried to talk myself down. If I panicked I wouldn’t be able to think straight and since I couldn’t count on someone coming along and helping I had to rely on myself.

His other hand groped my side where there was one of the cutouts. “You have beautiful skin,” he whispered, lowering his head to mine. “It’s soft. Like velvet.”