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"It’s areflex" Julia rather indelicately wiped her forear, "I did a lot of beer bongs in college Let’s go" She nudged Chloe "Bottoms up"

Chloe bent to the table and took the shot hands-free, as Julia had, and then it was my turn Both of uy," I said without thinking "Really hot And, like, seventeen feet tall"

Julia gaped atfake blw jbs with us?"

I laughed, shaking my head I had no idea how to answer that I could have left with hione to BJ territory in soht out You’re only here for two days I’et solad you ht was hot It’s been forever since you had this sort of happy boy-related smile" Her own smile vanished as she reconsidered "Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you with a happy boy-related smile"

And with that truth placed so plainly on the table, I picked upJulia’s protest about my bad form, and downed it It eet, delicious, and just what I needed to clear er at the bar I dragged my friends out to the dance floor

Within seconds I felt boneless, mindless, deliciously untethered Chloe and Julia bounced around s, lost themselves in the er a little bit Away froo I could see I hadn’t enjoyed it properly Only here, with the DJ , did I see how I could have spentin a scrap of a dress, irlfriends be wild and silly and young

I didn’t have to move in with my boyfriend when I enty-two

I could have lived a life outside the straight-and-narroorld of society functions and glad-handing

I could have been this girl instead--dressed to the nines, dancing her heart out

Lucky for me, it wasn’t too late I lad you’re here!" she yelled over thedrunken oath of friendship, but just behind Chloe, set into the shadows off the dance floor, stood er Our eyeshis three fingers of scotch with a friend, but I could tell by how unsurprised he see every move I made

The effect of this realization was more potent than the alcohol It heated every inch of h my chest and lower: down past lass, took a sip, and s closed

I wanted to dance for him

Never in my life had I felt so sexy, so cohjob, and even redecorated roo like crazy with a beautiful stranger standing in the shadoatching me

This--this moment was exactly hoanted to start fresh

What would it mean to be devoured? Did he mean that as explicitly as it sounded--his head betweenmy mouth and my neck and my breasts?

A smile spread acrossI could feel the hehs and didn’t care I wondered if he noticed I hoped he noticed

If I thought he’d walked away, it would have deflated the ain I was unaccustomed to bar flirtation protocol; maybe his attention lasted all of five seconds, ht It didn’t matter I could pretend he was there in the darkness for as long as I was here in the strobing lights on the floor I’d grown to never expect er, I wanted his eyes burning through ainst my ribs

I lost myself to the music, and memories of his hand on my elbow, his dark eyes and the word devour

Devour

One song bled into another, and then another, and before I could come up for air, Chloe’s ar intoup and doith me

"You’ve attracted an audience!" she yelled so loud above theback

She nodded to the side, and only then did I notice ere surrounded by a group of estively at the air near theht and so familiar, this take-no-prisoners woman who had worked her way to the top of as now one of the world’s largest ht meant to me Suddenly cool air spread over my skin from the fans overhead and I blinked back into consciousness, still giddy that I was actually in New York City, actually starting over Actually enjoying myself

But behind Chloe, the shadoere dark and e me

My stomach dropped a little "I need to hit the ladies’," I told her

I worh the circle of ns to the second floor, which was essentially a balcony overlooking the entire club I walked down a narrow hallway and into the bathrooht that a pulse of pain spiked from my eyes to the back of my head The room was eerily e up froh-fivedon a rumple-free dress, and touched up ht into a wall of man

We’d been close at the bar, but not this close Notme He didn’t sne He just smelled clean, and like a man who did his laundry, and who also had a touch of scotch on his lips

"Hello, Petal"

"Hi, stranger"

"I atching you dance, you tiny, wild thing"

"I saw you" I could barely catch s felt wobbly, like they weren’t sure if they should collapse or go back to rhyth across the floor I cheweda smile "You’re such a creepster Why didn’t you come out and dance withwatched instead"