Page 74 of Leave

Matt, Andrew, Tristan, and Chase were all in, but I declined.

Matt turned to me. “What? You don’t do tequila?”

I shook my head. “Not unless you all want to see me act out that one scene from The Exorcist.”

He grimaced. “Okay. Yeah. No tequila for you.”

“But order his shot anyway.” Riley grinned. “I’ll do both of them.”

That prompted another“Oooh”from everyone at the table. I laughed and rolled my eyes; he wasn’t going to be able to walk at the end of the night, was he? Ah well. I’d seen him drunk a handful of times, and he was an exuberant, fun drunk. I could live with that.

Riley ordered, and a few minutes later, I suppressed a shudder as I watched the server distributing tequila shots. Tequila didn’t actually make me sick. It put me to sleep. Or, well, the one time I’d ever touched it, it had put me to sleep, and I didn’t want to find out if it would happen twice. Once was enough, and that had been a million times worse than the projectile vomiting I warned everyone about. I was also pretty sure my drink hadn’tonlybeen tequila that time, but why take the chance?

Ironically, thinking about that did make my stomach roil, so I just sipped my water and willed myself to calm down. I was here with my brothers and with Riley. Nothing bad was going to happen.

Riley and the guys did their shots. Riley did both of his in rapid succession, and he looked ready for more while Andrew and Tristan might’ve bitten off more than they could chew. Matt just loudly complained about how he hated lime, and Chase high-fived Riley.

I laughed as I watched them. Something told me those wouldn’t be the last tequila shots at our table tonight.

Not long after that, the show kicked off on the main stage. Riley and I watched, laughing, as my brothers and their friends whooped and hollered over the strippers. Chase even dragged Matt up to the stage, threw some money down in front of him, and got him a lap dance. Matt was bright red by the time he cameback to the booth, weaving from his various drinks and blushing from the dance.

After the main show, some of the strippers came around to the VIP booths to dance on the tabletops and give more lap dances. Between a steady stream of alcohol and the dances we kept buying him, I was surprised Matt was still conscious.

The latest dancer—a petite brunette wearing nothing but a G-string, hoisted herself out of Matt’s lap and back onto the table.

“Wait, wait!” Matt called out, shoving his hand in his pocket. “Don’t go yet!”

“What the hell?” Andrew laughed. “Do we need to tell Sophia you’re—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Matt slapped down a twenty beside his drink. “This one’s not for me.” He snatched up his beer bottle and tipped it in my direction. “It’s for him!”

The bottom fell out of my stomach. My throat constricted around my breath.

The dancer picked up the twenty, and panic surged through me. The thought of her on top of me… thighs clamped against mine… my hands glued to the sides of my chair… not allowed to touch her, not even to push her off…

My internal freakout must’ve made it into my expression, because the dancer’s smile fell. “Do youwanta dance, honey?”

“I, uh…” All eyes were on me. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to—

Out of nowhere, Riley was sitting across my lap, one arm slung around my shoulders. Gesturing drunkenly with his glass, he told the dancer, “Sorry, sweetheart.Nobodygets on this lap except forme.”

As much as I hated anyone on my lap, I couldn’t deny the relief. I put an arm across his thighs and squeezed gently.

The dancer looked about as relieved as I felt. She held up the twenty as she said to Matt, “You still got a dance paid for, hon.”

Matt frowned, but then he motioned toward Andrew.

As the stripper started lowering herself into my older brother’s lap, my pulse ticked down. Oh, thank fuck.

Riley leaned back to kiss my cheek, then whispered just loud enough for me to hear over the music and my pounding heart, “You okay?”

I squeezed his leg. “I am now.”

He studied me, clearly concerned.

“I’m good.” I forced a smile. “Just… not a fan of lap dances.”

He didn’t buy it. Or at least, he knew me too well to believe it was the whole story.

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