A. Arthur - Part of Me

The atmosphere here was drastically different from the Olive Garden, with its jukebox music and loud conversations. “Maybe I can find us a booth,” Daniel said.

“No. The bar is fine and it’s probably quicker,” was my reply because I didn’t feel like being boxed in. I felt like stretching, like being free.

Shaking my head of those thoughts I reached for Daniel’s hand. “Here, let’s sit over here.”

He followed and we snagged two seats at the very end of the bar. I smiled at him as we settled onto the stools, trying like hell to focus on him and not the strange vibe I was getting from this place.

“I’ll have a beer,” Daniel ordered when the bartender came over.

“Cranberry and vodka,” I added to the order.

Daniel laughed and looked at me when the bartender left us alone. “Wow.”

“What?” I asked, after looking over my shoulder to see who was behind me. I felt someone there, someone watching me, I thought.

Daniel shook his head. “Just never knew a girl that drank vodka before.”

“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged. Brayden had introduced me to vodka. Or rather, I’d forced him to let me drink the same thing he and his brothers were drinking one night when we were in Costa Rica. We’d stayed at a resort until the transportation had arrived to take us deep into the Talamancan forests where more of the tribes lived. After their parents had gone to sleep the brothers had crept out of the suite we all shared. I knew they would and had followed them right down to the resort bar where Aidan, since he was the oldest, had paid some desk clerk who was over twenty-one to buy them two bottles of vodka. I followed them out to the pool and threatened to go upstairs and tell if they didn’t give me a drink. Caleb, with his sullen and generally gruff personality, had still refused. Aidan tried to unravel me with reproach. But it was Brayden, the middle brother, who knew I was dead serious and that I’d definitely tell if they didn’t give me what I wanted. He’d held that bottle to my lips and gave me the shortest sip I’d ever experienced. Then I’d grabbed the bottle from his hands and took a gulp that almost knocked me right on my ass.

I was smiling with the memory before I could stop myself.

“Wherever your mind just wandered off to, I can see it makes you very happy,” Daniel was saying.

“Oh, it was nothing. Just thinking about my first taste of vodka.”

His brow furrowed with that remark and I instantly followed it up with, “I like it so much better with cranberry juice,” I told him, and that wasn’t a total lie. I liked drinking cranberry juice by itself as well.

“That she definitely does,” came the familiar voice from behind me. “Maybe you should have ordered plain cranberry juice instead.”

I spun around on that bar stool so fast I would have fallen right off if Daniel hadn’t reached out, grabbing my arm first. Amidst the conversations and the music and the instantaneous roaring of my heart, there was a growl. Low, deep, and deadly. Did I forget, familiar?

“Hi, Kyra,” was the first thing to come out of my mouth as the female was just about glued to Brayden’s hip.

“You must be the boyfriend,” Brayden continued, extending his hand to Daniel.

“Ah, yeah, I mean, ah, I’m Daniel,” he stuttered over the greeting and I felt like an ass for lying about having a boyfriend and for getting caught in that lie, because there was no doubt Brayden had known I was lying. He always knew.

“We just came from dinner and we’re having a drink,” I volunteered even though Brayden didn’t need any explanation from me. “How about you two? What are you doing here?”

I guess he didn’t owe me an explanation either, but hell, I was asking anyway.

Kyra blinked like she was bored. “We were just leaving, right, babe?” she asked Brayden.

Her hand, with long, red-painted nails, moved up and down his arm as she spoke, like the contact was needed for him to digest her words. I huffed because I was being pretty bitchy about this situation, when I shouldn’t care at all.

“You’re out drinking on a school night?” Brayden asked, his dark gaze pinning me.

I felt like I couldn’t move, like altering from this position would set things into motion that I wouldn’t be able to control. It was weird having Brayden standing so close to me, while my date was even closer. There seemed to be this invisible tug-of-war going on and I didn’t like the feeling of being jerked in both directions. It was the story of my life and I was beyond tired of it.

“I’m having one drink, with my date. And you’re about to leave with your date,” I said tightly, looking directly at Brayden so he’d know I wasn’t really feeling this confrontation he’d started.

“I worry about you,” was Brayden’s next remark. One that totally threw me off guard. Not because of the words, because he’d said that to me before and I worried about him too. But the way he was looking at me and the way Daniel’s hand tightened on my arm, and the quicker-than-light flash I saw in Brayden’s eyes was like a volcano waiting to erupt.

“There’s no need to worry,” I told him just before there was a shift in the atmosphere.

I think Brayden noticed it too because his shoulders visibly tensed, his gaze traveling to the entrance.

“It’s nothing,” I told him, trying like hell to convince myself of that fact as well. But deep down I knew I was wrong. There was something here, had been for a few weeks. If I felt it, I was positive Brayden did too.

His gaze was hot, his brows furrowed as he turned back to face me. “It’s here,” he said, barely moving his lips, his tone so low I know I was the only one to hear him.

I shook my head quickly, adamantly. “No. Not now. Not here.”

“Lidia.” He said my name, reaching for my arm at the same time.

“Baby, let’s get us a table over there,” Kyra interrupted, her hand rubbing along Brayden’s chest.

The chest that looked as if he’d been working out more and buying smaller, tighter T-shirts to show off that fact. She saw me looking at Brayden’s chest and she smiled in triumph. I wanted to slap her but that would seal the whole jealousy thing as tightly as a Ziploc bag. But that would be wrong, I wasn’t jealous of Kyra, not at all. I was suspicious.

“You and your date can join us,” Brayden said, looking around the bar once more—not seeming to really notice Kyra was there and touching him at all.

“No.” I shook my head quickly.

It was past time for us to go, for me to get away from here and all these eerie feelings stalking me. I slipped off the bar stool, reaching for my purse and turning to Daniel. “I changed my mind. I don’t want a drink. Can we go?”

Brayden frowned. Kyra pouted. And Daniel looked confused. My head was spinning even though I hadn’t gotten my drink. I felt like I was on a roller coaster, one where Brayden was in charge of the speed, the ups and downs, and the plummeting in the pit of my stomach. I needed to get away from here and from whatever was causing this unsettled feeling at the base of my spine.

“Yeah, I’d like to sit down, Bray,” I heard Kyra say from behind.

Brayden looked like he wanted to shake her off his arm, but he didn’t. He stood there staring expectantly at me, his eyes widening as if he were trying to tell me something, trying to warn me of something. I had nothing to offer him so I looked to Daniel.

“I mean, I really have a lot of homework to do so it probably isn’t smart to have a drink now and then go home and try to do some work. You understand, right?”

Daniel nodded, but I knew the end half of this date wasn’t working out as well as the beginning. “Yeah, sure.”