Page 28

Story: Deep as the Dead

She managed to make her way to the back corner of the structure, groaning when she saw the line to the ladies’ room. Now that she’d stood up, she needed to pee as well as mop herself off. Propping herself against the wall behind a girl who really shouldn’t have been wearing the middriff top and Daisy Dukes she was sporting, Jeanette sipped at the drink and looked around. She remembered the bartender from earlier and craned her neck trying to get a look at him. But he wouldn’t be off for hours, and there was no way she was going to last muchlonger.
There was a guy leaning on the bar. A little older than she liked them, but she appreciated the day’s scruff of beard, as dark as his hair. In the next moment, a woman next to him craned her neck to see what he was looking at, and, noting Jeanette’s interest, flipped her thebird.
She was tempted to take the guy home, just to prove that she could. She was Jeanette Fucking Lawler! Sure, she might have come from nothing, but she’d clawed her way to a good place now. Bitch at the bar would never rise as far as shehad.
The queue moved infinitesimally. As soon as she got close enough, she was going to invade the men’s room and the fuck with everyone else. A new couple entered the bar. Their faces appeared and disappeared in the swell of people, but the man pushed his way through the crowd with determinedintent.
She felt a spark of interest, and tipped her glass to her mouth again, studying him over the rim. He wouldn’t be able to see her in the crowded hallway so she could spy on him to her heart’s content. Wide shoulders. Trim hips. A face that looked hard. Experienced. A trickle of regret traced down her spine. Not her type, unfortunately. She liked to be in control, and he looked like he had a hard time giving itup.
Her gaze flicked to the woman at his side. Buttoned up. Smoothly professional. An odd type of look to wear to a place like this. Her focus returned to the man. There was an air of familiarity about him…something recent… Then the two were lost to sight as patrons crowded past them to the frontentrance.
“Ouch! Dammit!” She slapped a hand to her neck where the sting had occurred and whirled on the woman behind her. “What the hell did you do tome?”
The woman gave her a push, which, given the way they were packed inside the hallway, reverberated all the way up the line. “I didn’t do anything,bitch.”
Guys were starting to line up near them, which meant the men’s room would be as impossible to get into as thewomen’s.
“You poked me with something.” Her vision blurred and she swayed, slapping a hand on the wall again for balance. Jeanette didn’t feel good. Not at all. There was something wrong with her equilibrium, and her eyes wouldn’tfocus.
“You’re drunk, bitch.” Another shove, and this time she stumbled, dropping her drink on the floor. The glass shattered. One of the flying shards jabbed at her ankle. It felt just like what had stabbed her neck. She reached up to finger the site that still stung. “Go home before you barf on your skyscraperheels.”
“Don’t mind her. She’s not feeling well, are you love? Here, now.” Her arm was lifted, draped over narrow shoulders. She was propelled forward, through the mob in the hallway that had swelled dramatically since she’d first walked backhere.
One of the guys from the table. Her thoughts were scattered. Probably thought they’d get… She searched for the word as she teetered on her high heels. Plucky. Fucky. Lucky. She wanted to smile in triumph at finding the word, but the man at her side was making her move too fast. Slow down she wanted to tell him, and managed to turn her gaze towardhim.
Oh, shit. Not one of the boy toy prospects at all. Not even close. This guy was a stranger. And he was old, with gray bushy hair and a matching mustache that looked like something from a Halloween costume. With her heels, he barely came up to her shoulder. Nausea rose, and she thought she was going to be sick. Hell, no, she wasn’t going anywhere with thisguy.
“Get…away. Get…off…me.” The floor tilted beneath her and she nearly face-planted. And then there was a door with a big red warning sign on it. You couldn’t get out this way. She stopped and ducked her head, managing to dislodge his arm, but it was back a moment later, and the door was opening in front ofthem.
“Not much longer,” the cheery voice sounded. “A little tap on the head and we’ll get you all curled in, nice andcozy.”
No alarm sounded when they stumbled through the door. She wished for an alarm. She wished everyone would look. Because something was very wrong and she couldn’t even manage toscream.