Page 31 of Protecting the Boundary
ur a jerk
Dots immediately pop up.
Romel
What?
Me
You r Jen
My phone starts ringing and Romel’s name flashes on the screen. Panicked, I say to Chad, “Gotta take this. It’s my boss.” Or at least that’s what I try to say. It comes out a little more like “Gutta tuh this. S’ma boss.”
I walk away from the loud tables and down a short hallway where it’s somewhat quieter. “Hello?” Fuck, is my voice slurring?
There’s a pause, and then his smooth, deep voice comes through the phone and makes warm tingles burst to life between my legs. “Are you drunk?”
“No,” I say too quickly and with a slur so it comes out more like “nuhhh.”
Jesus, I’m drunk. I didn’t think I hadthatmuch to drink.
His voice gets hard. “Where are you?”
“Like you care.” There. That came out mostly clear, so I can’t be that far gone.
“Meredith. Do not play with me. Where the hell are you?”
His voice is so deep, so demanding. I want to wrap myself up in it like it’s a blanket and fall asleep.
I mumble the name of the club as my eyes grow heavy. “So sleepy,” I murmur. How did I go from taking sips to sleepy drunk in just a couple of hours? Damn Chad and his stupid wandering eyes.
“Don’t fall asleep, and don’t hang up. I’ll be there in…” His voice gets distant like he pulled the phone away from his face. “Fifteen minutes, twenty tops. Where are you in the club?”
There’s a rustle in the background of wherever he is and I thinkI tell him where I am, but my eyelids are getting so heavy. I should go back to the table. Definitely back to Addy and see if she wants to blow this popsicle stand. Maybe get some Del Taco like old times.
Oh man, tacos sound so good right now.
“I gotta go,” I mumble and hang up. I stumble back to the table thinking about tacos, but when I get back to the group, Chad is waiting with that hooded look in his eyes as he once again stares at my boobs, and I’m quickly reminded that I have, in fact, had way more to drink than normal because of that stupid game I created.
Addy giggles as she stands up and hugs me, mushing her mouth to my cheek. Then very loudly she says, “You should totally go home with him. He’s hot.”
“Yeah, I am,” Chad says with all the confidence in the world, and I wonder if he thinks his smile is supposed to look seductive when all it looks is smarmy.
Why am I here? Why did I even stay? I don’t really like any of these people—not that I know them all that well to begin with—and right now my pajamas and my bed are looking way better than staying in this noisy and crowded club with a bunch of people I don’t know and a guy who looked at my boobs so much, I lost count of my drinks.
I pull my arm out of Addy’s grasp. “I gotta go.”
“Noo!” she whines.
“Yeah.” I give her a hug and then pull away.
“Fine. Text me when you get home.”
I nod and then quickly walk away before Chad gets any ideas about following me. That’s not happening, ever.
I stumble a few times as I make my way toward the exit, pulling out my phone to request an Uber from the app. It’s late and I don’t love the idea of being driven home by a stranger when I’m this wasted, but I need to get home.
I open the app when Romel’s name lights up the screen.Shit. I already forgot I texted him. What the hell is wrong with me tonight?
