Page 23 of Shame Me
The crowd died down for a bit but, by the time Zack was approaching Braden and me, they were talking again like nothing had happened. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
“No. He was being a little too forward. Maybe he had too much to drink. But I kicked him in the balls and came out here.”
Chuckling, Braden squeezed my shoulder.
“You sure you’re okay?” Zack asked, leaving me to wonder why he didn’t care about me like this all the time.
“I’m fine. Maybe you were a little hard on him.”
Zack shook his head. “Nope. He had his chance.”
Finally, Braden dropped his hand from my shoulder. It had been sweet but a bit much, so I was glad. “What the hell was he saying?”
“Nothing.”
“No, hewas,” I insisted. “He said something about me deserving to know something.”
“He’s drunk, Dani. He’d say anything hoping I’d change my mind.” Zack turned, telling me without any words that the conversation was over. Then he raised his voice to be heard over the crowd. When they didn’t register his voice, he whistled loudly.
Thatwould go over well with the neighbors.
Finally, the people in our apartment turned to see what the commotion was all about. Zack said, “Guys, I hate to cut the party short, but we’ve had an incident.” There were gasps and questions, but Zack wasn’t having any of it. It was when I saw him take control over a crowd like this that I knew he was a born leader—not just of our band.
Ms. Boobs asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about it—but I need you guys to move the party elsewhere. Seriously. Take all the booze with you, and if you brought any party favors, take those too.”
I hadn’t seen anyone doing any drugs, but I hadn’t exactly been rubbing elbows with everyone. There was some murmuring as they all shuffled out, but being given the option to take all the liquor with them had eased the blow.
Grabbing the bag of trash, Zack followed them all out. Before the door even shut, Cy yelled, “What the fuck, man?”
Braden said, “You didn’t expect him to let Dani get sexually assaulted, did you?”
“No, I get that—but that wasn’t a reason to shut the whole goddamned party down.”
Although I didn’t disagree, I wasn’t sad that they were gone. I’d been wondering how Zack planned to get the noise level down before we pissed off the neighbors anyway.
“Well, if he’s going to party with them, I am too.” Cy darted out the door without another word.
Braden said, “We could maybe still play poker, you and me.”
I looked around the two small rooms that constituted the majority of our apartment. There were a couple of beer cans on the TV tray that substituted as an end table, several glasses—some still containing a little liquor—and some miscellaneous trash on the floor. “Thanks, Bray—but I think I’m gonna clean up a bit and then go to bed.” Although I didn’t work until around ten the next morning, I was feeling tired and still shaken up.
“I’ll help you.”
We’d just picked up the living room and were filling up the sink with soapy water when both Cy and Zack re-entered the apartment. I wanted to ask if they’d been kicked out of the new party but kept the biting remark to myself. After all, Zackhaddefended me. I could play nice.
Braden asked, “What’s going on?”
Zack said, “I wouldn’t put it past Wes to call the cops on us.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. He’s an asshole when he wants to be.”
I ran the dishcloth around the rim of a glass stained with burgundy lipstick. “But you’re not gonna go party somewhere else?”
Zack all but rolled his eyes. “No. The last thing we need is to go to jail. It might be great for our reputation but we need to stay focused. That’s why I had them take the booze and I took outthe trash to get rid of the evidence.” Except for the trash I’d just picked up, but I wasn’t going to mention it. “And you guys are finishing the job. Does it smell like alcohol in here?”
