Vigilant

Ari shook him off and moved to the other side of the kitchen, digging in the upper cabinet for plastic containers. She glanced in the dining room. Oliver and Veronica had disappeared.

“So, you’re mad? Because of what, exactly?”

She turned and said, “Because…” Because what? He offended her secret lover? He called her mystery guy a murderer, which he wasn’t. Not the real Viglante, which had implications she wasn’t even ready to get into. Because she was ready to break up with Nick and a fight seemed better than, “it’s not you, it’s me”?

Nick leaned against the refrigerator, arms crossed. He was handsome, smart, and caring. He was everything she should want. But he wasn’t. And right then, there was too much going on that he didn’t fit into.

“I don’t know what my problem is. I just…”Ari paused. She held the plastic container tight in her hands. “I just think we should take some time apart maybe. I’m not sure we’re a good idea.”

He dropped his arms. And seemed shocked. Ari’s fleeting hope that he might have felt the same were dashed. “Wait, you want us to stop seeing each other?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Is this because of tonight? Because I know I can be argumentative—it’s in my nature.”

“No, it’s not that. Things are crazy for me right now and I just need some space,” Ari said, lamely.

They stood across from one another for a short, tense moment.

“It’s that guy isn’t it?”

Ari swallowed the lump in her throat. “What guy?”

Without responding, Nick turned on his heel and stormed out of the kitchen. Ari didn’t follow but heard him gathering his coat and keys. She picked up a rag and started wiping the counter, continuing when the front door opened. He must have stood there waiting for a solid minute but Ari didn’t budge. She knew she was right, even if she wasn’t being honest with him. With no other recourse, Nick slammed the door and walked out.

EIGHTEEN

Ari entered Glorious, pushing past the group of people standing at the door. The DJ’s music vibrated across her skin and thrummed with her already excited heart. Davis said he’d meet her there at midnight.

A guy stopped in front of her and smiled. “Can I buy you a drink?” He was cute. A spikey fauxhawk crowned his head and four rings gleamed down the side of his ear. He lifted an empty beer bottle. Forward, much?

Before she could reply, a heavy arm slung over her shoulder and the guy’s eyes darted next to her. She offered a weak smile of apology and turned her head to inhale Davis’s scent. He hadn’t absorbed the sweaty, dank club smell yet.

“Hi,” she said.

He kissed her in reply.

She kissed him back, right in the middle of the club. Not in the back hallway, or behind the closed door of his office, or in her dark bedroom. It was public—for everyone to see.

She liked it.

Davis led her to the dance floor, stopping in the middle under the cracked hazy lights. Unlike that last time, the first time, when they kept an electrically charged distance, they danced. This time his hands traveled everywhere. Down her bare arms. Flat across her belly. She pressed close to him. Song after song. Until Ari couldn’t stand it any longer. When she was about to burst out of her skin, she looked over her shoulder and beckoned him with a finger.

He followed.

* * *

“I broke up with my boyfriend tonight.” Davis halted his kisses at her confession. Both their shirts were off and for some reason, Ari felt like it was the right moment to tell him about Nick. “I couldn’t do both. Not this and that. Especially since I didn’t really want that. Him. Not anymore.”

“But this?” he finally asked.

She touched the fine hair under his belly button. Her thumb grazed the ragged scar left by his brother.

“I know I promised. I made the deal. And you can turn me away if you want. I just wanted something…better than what I have with him. Even if it’s less.”

Davis rolled on his back, the back of his hand draped over his eyes. “I know the feeling.”

“What does that mean?”