Page 29 of Your Biggest Downfall
Luna pulled out her phone and dialed someone as we thanked the driver and got out on the sidewalk.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Just give me a sec,” she replied, shaking me off as she focused on her phone.
I watched as our rideshare car pulled away, leaving us standing on the curb across the street from the bar. The night was just beginning.
“Hey, baby. I’m here, but the line is too long for us,” Luna said into the phone. She’d put on her sexy kitten voice for whoever it was, which clued me in that it was some dude. “Yeah. You can get me and Nove?”
She paused as I scrunched my eyebrows in her direction.
“Cool. See you soon, baby.” There was another moment of silence. “I miss you too.”
She hung up.
“What the fuck?” I practically screeched at her and grabbed her arm.
“It pays to have four guys fuck you at once. They were all so shocked that now they’re all texting me... all the fucking time.”
“You called someone on the team?” I asked.
“Yeah. Austin’s friend, Jeremy.”
Wait. I’d never asked her who she was with that night, and I’d been far too drunk to tell. “You fucked Jeremy?”
“Well.” She shrugged as she linked her arm with mine and we crossed the street. “He fucked my mouth.”
“Luna Pierson,” I screamed, and she let out a huge laugh as we approached the door.
I stopped her. She hesitated.
“You could have called your man,” Luna suggested, but I shook my head.
“No, it’s not that.” I closed my eyes briefly. “I don’t want to drink a lot tonight. I want an escape, but not like that. I want to remember everything and celebrate a great run with the team.”
“With Austin,” Luna added.
I couldn’t even lie to her. “Yeah, I guess.”
The corners of her lips curled into a smile. “Okay. I’ll make sure you don’t have more than two drinks tonight. I promise.”
“Thank you,” I said as we continued walking to the door.
The bouncer stood at the door, his imposing figure scanning ID’s with a practiced efficiency. Jeremy leaned in and whisperedsomething in his ear. When the bouncer waved us forward, a collective groan rose.
Jeremy turned and waved, his voice cutting through the noise. “Don’t worry, everyone. You’ll all get a chance to see the losing hockey team inside,” he said jokingly.
Luna giggled, her amusement lightening the tension, and the bouncer smirked before stepping aside to let us in. As soon as we crossed the threshold, a sensory explosion engulfed us. The bar was packed to the brim. Bodies pressed close together, moving and swaying in time with the beat of the music that reverberated through the walls.
Colorful lights danced from every corner, casting vivid hues of red, blue, and green across the crowd. The strobe lights flickered in sync with the music, creating a disorienting yet exhilarating atmosphere. The air was thick with the mingled scents of sweat, perfume, and alcohol.
We navigated through the dense throng of people, each step a challenge as we squeezed past groups animatedly talking and laughing. It was a cacophony of sounds—the deep bass of the music intermingling with the roar of conversations, occasional bursts of laughter, and the clinking of glasses.
We managed to get over to where the hockey players had posted up, and Luna said something to Jeremy, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was scanning the crowd to find Austin, but I didn’t see him. I pushed away from Luna a bit to look through the group of gathered men and women, but still nothing.
“Do you want to get a drink?”
“Get me a seltzer, and I’ll stay here,” I told her.
