Page 7 of Glitter

Chapter 7

Having only ever visited Glitter on a Friday or Saturday night, I wasn’t really sure what to expect walking through its doors on a weeknight. But other than being slightly less crowded—guys standing only two or three deep around the bar, instead of four or five, and a bit more space in between the groups of people so you could maneuver around them without feeling like you were constantly bumping into someone—it didn’t seem all that different.

The music was just as loud. The lights illuminating the dance floor were just as bright and just as strobing as they had been on the weekend. And while the density of men in the rest of the club was sparser, the number of grinding and writhing bodies on the dance floor was just as closely packed as any other time I’d seen it.

It was even entirely possible that the four bartenders manning the bar and filling drink requests were the same four bartenders that had been back there last night and the night before. Maybe not probable, but it was possible.

The one glaring difference in being in Glitter on Monday night versus Friday or Saturday night? The devastating lack of any sight of my angel.

The last hour or two of work—Right, who was I kidding? The whole eight-plus hours of my workday, all I could think about was getting to Glitter. All those long, interminable, dragging on forever hours, my mind danced with visions of me walking through the club doors and immediately spotting him. I mentally teased myself by speculating what sort of captivating and sexy outfit he’d be wearing tonight and what color glitter he might choose to go with it.

But now all that guessing and fantasizing had fallen flat.

Because he wasn’t here.

I scanned over the throng of men on the dance floor. Once. Twice. Three, four, five times over. Thoroughly. Obsessively. From each different side of the dance floor, I stood along the perimeter and peered over, and under, and around each and every single man on that dance floor.

None of them were him.

I did the same with the lines of men all along the length of the bar. All the men—the patient ones, the impatient ones. The ones standing by themselves and the ones waiting for their turn in a group. From one end of the bar to the other, I paced and scanned, scanned and paced, casting my searching gaze over each and every man.

I even let my eyes linger on a few of the women, just on the chance that my angel had opted to dress completely femme for the night.

But no one, not a single person I saw… None of them were him.

Perhaps it was still just too early in the night?

It wasn’t any earlier in the evening than when I’d come to Glitter the last two nights, despite everything in me wanting to obey the urge to come to the club immediately after clocking out for the day. But instead of doing that—because who in their right mind would show up to a nightclub at six o’clock at night—I’d forced myself to go home, changed out of my business casual khakis and collared shirt and into some jeans and a t-shirt, and scarfed down a microwave dinner. Once I’d done all that, I’d made myself sit on my couch and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait some more. Until…it was finally the somewhat acceptable time of nine o’clock. Then, and only then, had I allowed myself to drive into the busier part of town, where Glitter was located.

I don’t know why I assumed that just because my angel had already been here, out on the dance floor, the last two nights when I’d shown up at Glitter shortly after 9PM, he would also already be here, waiting for me, tonight.

Taking a deep breath, I rolled my shoulders and shook out my arms to try to dispel the anxiety and disappointment coursing through me. I then had to hastily blurt out an apology in response to the dirty look sent my way by the man I’d nearly walloped as he’d walked by me.

Okay, I could do this. It was still pretty early in the night, as far as clubbing practices went. So, all I had to do was set myself up in a location where I could keep an eye on the door. Then I would be sure to see my angel the moment he stepped his beautiful self into the club.

All I had to do was wait. I could do that. My angel was worth any amount of impatient waiting I had to do.