Page 32 of Divine Sense

Magnolia…

Yes?

Promise me you’ll be safe tonight.

I promise I’ll be safe. You have nothing to worry about.

No shit I have nothing to worry about,I thought to myself, pulling open the app I had on my phone and checking her location.Because wherever you go, I’ll be there to make sure you’re safe.

21

KOLBI

My friends and I had been bar hopping around the city for a few hours, laughing and enjoying the festive night out. The bars had been decorated to celebrate New Years Eve and almost every place had a big countdown timer to midnight. We’d been to two places already and with it only being 11:00 p.m., we still had some time to kill before we rang in the new year.

We were standing on the street outside of a bar that had gotten too crowded for our liking and were trying to find a new place to go. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened the app that would show me where everyone was and clicked on the flower emoji I used to label her. Tapping on the icon, her name and information expanded on the screen and I could see that she was at a club just down the street.

“Alrightsquad, where do we wanna go next?” Malcolm was a few drinks in and hanging onto Conrad as if his life depended on it. Conrad moved his nose away from our friend at the stench of his breath and made a face. Hank had an arm around Bailey whowas smiling up at him. He looked down at her and kissed her on the forehead before looking back to our group.

“We’re good with whatever,” he said before tucking his mouth into Bailey’s ear to whisper something to her. She giggled in response and wrapped herself around him more.

“We could go down the street to Victoria’s,” I offered casually, glancing down at my phone to make sure I got the name right.

“Oh, Victoria’s is fun! Ophie’s talked about it before,” Bailey interjected. Ophie, or Ophelia, was her best friend and roommate who we’ve all met a few times. Everyone shrugged and agreed, so I led them down the street to the club that I knew I could find the girl with the raven hair who wouldn’t escape my mind.

When we walked in, the music was playing loudly and it was wall to wall bodies. Fighting our way to the bar, Malcolm shouldered some guy out of his seat and offered the stool to Bailey. We circled around her to order our drinks, each of us standing defensively around her. While we knew she could take care of herself, we all also knew what she’d been through in the past and wanted to make sure she felt safe. I kept my head on a swivel, trying to spot the fair skinned, dark haired girl I would willingly do the same thing for. Malcolm started chatting up the bartenders about the different types of liquor they stocked, while Conrad, Hank, and Bailey all shouted at one another to try and have a conversation over the music. After a few minutes, Bailey hopped down from the stool and pulled Hank out onto the dance floor. My three friends and I laughed watching him begrudgingly dance with his girl.

“You wanna go find someone to dance with?” Malcolm wiggled his eyebrows at me and gave me a confident smirk.

“Nah man, I’m good.” I held up my hand and shook my head. There was only one girl I wanted to dance with tonight and if it couldn’t be her, it wouldn’t be anyone.

“Alright, suit yourself. Let’s go Connie,” Malcolm barked, grabbing Conrad by the sleeve of his shirt and dragging him towards the crowded dance floor.

“Fuck you, you know I hate when you call me that. And I don’t want?—”

“Oh shut the hell up and let’s go, it’ll be good for you,” Malcolm interrupted and walked away dragging a very uncomfortable looking Conrad behind him. I sat at the bar alone, spinning the glass holding my Old Fashioned in my hand, and peered around the room. People were everywhere—wearing sparkly dresses and holding drinks in their hands. Some people were wearing headbands with the year on them to celebrate and the countdown clock on the wall told everyone we had twenty-five minutes to go. I looked towards my friends on the dance floor and watched as Hank and Bailey danced together as if no one else existed. They had the kind of love you could see from a mile away. The kind of love that you could feel when they were both in the same room. The kind of love that was once in a lifetime. While I was happy for my friend, I felt a pang of jealousy in my gut as I watched them.

I moved my eyes across the club to another dance floor that was on the other side of the bar. That’s when I noticed the frame of a girl I thought looked familiar. When she turned and I watched her smile and laugh with her friends, I felt the air get caught in my throat. Dressed in the sequin skirt and white leather boots she told me she would wear, she had her hair tied up behind her with a bow and looked as stunning as always. I don’t know how she did it, but she always managed to find just the right balance of classy and sexy.

She was dancing with a group of girls when a random guy approached and slid in behind her. She looked over her shoulder and started to dance with the stranger which made my blood boil.You can’t be mad brother, you called her a ‘friend’ not even eight hours ago. She’s allowed to dance with whoever she wants.I swallowed hard and tried to look in another direction. It should’ve been me she was dancing with, not him. I was about to get up from the bar to go and join Malcolm and Conrad when I noticed the guy starting to put his hands on her in a way that was a little too close. Looking to Magnolia to read her reaction, I could tell she was uneasy. The look on her face was a mix of panic and annoyance. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was storming across the bar towards her. With the way she was standing, I could see her but she couldn’t see me.

“Touch her like that one more time and I’ll break your fingers,” I growled at the guy once I reached them. He was now running his hands down the front of her legs and it took everything in me not to take him by the collar of his shirt and throw him to the ground. His eyes shot to me and his nose crinkled in confusion. Her eyes widened when she saw me standing there.

“Jack?”

“Dude, what?” This idiot looked at me as if I’d spoken another language and then glanced down at Magnolia who was only looking at me. I took a step closer and placed a foot between them.

“Isaid,touch her like that again and I will break your fucking fingers,” I snarled close to his face so I knew he would hear me. I had a good six inches on him and when I pulled my shoulders back and squared up with him, I saw him noticeably shrink. His mouth fell open and I grabbed Magnolia’s wrist, pulling her away from the group. “Let’s go.”

She didn’t fight me as I pulled her away and I heard her say, ‘It’s fine, I know him,’ to her friends as we walked away. I stormed out of the club through the front door, pulling her behind me, and didn’t stop until we were outside. Once on the sidewalk, I released her wrist and turned to look at her.

“What the hell was that?” I barked, walking in small circles with my hands shoved in my pockets.

“What the hell was what?” she snapped. She crossed her arms in front of her and had one hip popped to the side, watching me as I walked off some of my anger.

“You! Dancing with that guy! The way he was touching you made me wanna…” I pushed out a heavy breath, trying to calm myself down.

“Made you wanna what?” She cocked her head to the side and took a step closer to me.

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