Chapter 7
After the band had played for an hour, I was ready for another drink and a pee break. "Do me a favor and order me a beer when Liam or Jake comes by." Maggie nodded in understanding and I headed to the back where the restrooms were. On my way through the crowd, I was accosted by a guy that decided to grab my arm when I tried to squeeze past him.
"Hi pretty, you must be new here, because I'm here all the time and we haven't met." He leered at me.
I shrugged my arm out of his, and tried to walk around him. "Not new here and not interested, but thanks." I tried to get past him, but he grabbed my arm again, tighter, yanking me closer to him.
"Dude, you need to let go of my arm," I suggested icily.
"Or what?" he asked getting close to my face. I stomped on his foot with the heel of my boot, causing him to let me go immediately, and then I kneed him in his nuts.
"Or that, dickhead!" I started to head back to the bar. He tried to grab me again, but stopped when he saw someone coming in through the back door. It was Edward, and he spotted us as soon as he came in.
"Bella, I was wondering where you were. Have you met Alec?" He gestured towards the guy who was trying to put weight on his now injured foot "Alec, this is Bella," he said holding me to his chest. I moved as close to him as I could, putting distance between me and Alec.
Alec huffed, but walked away. Edward held me at arm's length, looking me over. "Sorry about the hugging, but if he thinks you're with me, he'll leave you alone. Are you okay? Alec tends to think he's a ladies' man."
"I'm fine." I wiped an errant tear from my eye and moved away from him, trying to get into the bathroom before I had an emotional breakdown.
"Here, use the one in my office," Edward offered, unlocking a third door I hadn't noticed. "Take as long as you need. I really am sorry about Alec. I'm going to go toss him out."
"You don't have to do that. He seems like a regular." I placed my hand on his arm to stop him. "Just keep him away from us."
He nodded and I walked into Edward's bathroom, locking the door behind me. I took a few deep breaths before looking in the mirror. All I could see was fear etched across my face. I dabbed water under my eyes to remove the smeared mascara, used the facilities, and headed back to Maggie.
I was surprised to find Edward talking to her. Maggie was twirling her hair, and by the way he was leaning into her, it seemed as if he enjoying her flirting. I tried to ignore how much that bothered me as I approached them. Maggie jumped up to hug me as soon as she saw me.
"Edward was filling me in on what happened," she said, practically squeezing the breath out of me.
"I'm sure he was," I said coolly. I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my tone. Maggie dropped her arms and gave me a good once over.
"What is it?" she demanded.
"Nothing, I just want to pay the tab and go. Liam!" I shouted, moving to the other end of the bar. I watched Maggie and Edward talking out of the corner of my eye as I signed the credit card receipt and handed him some cash for a tip. "Thanks."
"See you soon, Bella," Liam said, handing me back my card. I headed towards the front door, not even stopping to tell Mags I was leaving. Edward tried to flag me down, but I ignored him and ran out hailing a cab.
"Bella! Wait up!" Maggie yelled as she came running out the door. "I can drive you. I'm back to sober, just hang on a minute."
"Its fine, Mags. This way you can stay as long as you want," I snarled, getting into the cab and shutting the door. I told the driver to go, giving him my address and settling into the seat. I didn't even turn back to see if Maggie went back into the bar.
She tried to call me three times on my short ride home but I hit 'ignore' each time. I turned my phone off as soon as the cabbie had dropped me at my house, and made sure to put the chain lock on so she wouldn't be able to get in, in case she came over. I wasn't sure why I was acting like this; I was more reacting than anything else.
I shrugged out of my clothes and lay on my bed. I could tell sleep wouldn't come easy.
A/N: Fixed, hopefully :)
Thanks for reading. If you were logged in when you reviewed, I responded
Sorry for the delay in posting, I was laid off last week (While on vacation, I might add) and needed to find a new Word source.
Any mistakes are mine, I fidget after MIssEli fixes things. Thanks to Mirror for my banner
