Loud music pulsated through the air as Lucas scanned the crowded club for signs of Sami. After several minutes of looking for her through the large crowds of people, he began making his way over to Nicole, who was sitting at the counter of the bar with a blond man. Once he reached Nicole, he tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around to face Lucas, her face revealing her irritation towards him.
"What?" she mouthed, her voice unable to be heard over the music. Her eyes glittered impatiently, giving Lucas a signal that he should talk fast. The blond man frowned at Lucas, placing a protective hand on Nicole's shoulder. Okay, you can ease up on the death grip, caveman, Lucas thought to himself, taking an immediate disliking to the man, You can keep turbo-bitch, I don't want to risk the STD's that probably come in that package. And to think I ever married her.
"Do you know where Sami is?" Lucas yelled over the music. Nicole did a quick once-over of the room with her eyes, then pointed towards a group of people. Lucas turned to see who Nicole was pointing and saw Jan and Sami standing in the middle of a crowd of men. Nodding curtly at Nicole and her friend, Lucas headed over to the crowd. Once he got there, he watched Sami take a sip of a drink that looked very alcoholic while Jan chugged back a similar looking drink. The attention of the men seemed almost equally divided between Jan and Sami. Jan seemed to be basking in all the attention while Sami appeared to be brushing it off, paying more attention to her drink that anything else, Lucas observed. Despite the fact he was relieved that Sami wasn't responding to the plays were making for her, he couldn't brush off the feeling of anger he felt when the men threw Sami appraising looks. Only he was allowed to do that.
He stood on the outside of the small half-circle Sami, Jan and the men had formed for a few moments. But he finally stepped in to intervene when the man standing closest to Sami slung his arm around her shoulder and tried to kiss her. Lucas pushed past several of the men and pushed the man's arm off Sami roughly. Sami turned to look at Lucas with a dazed expression on her face as Lucas' arm snaked around to encircle her waist.
"Screw off, man, she's taken." Lucas announced, glaring at the now indignant man. The four men that had surrounded Jan and Sami all stepped towards Lucas, matching scowls on each of their their faces. Lucas refused to back down under the angry stares of the men, trying to brush aside the fact that he was seriously outnumbered. Jan had been watching all this and stepped in front of the men.
"Aw, don't do anything silly. Look at that face. At that body. You wouldn't want to mess that up, would you?" Jan protested, turning to smile drunkenly at Lucas, "He's my replacement for my Shawn and I can't have him looking all roughed up, can I?"
"I don't know." the man yelled back at Jan, "He doesn't seem like a very nice guy. He doesn't even want to share Lyric with us. Is that fair?"
Lucas clenched his fists, resisting the urge to slam his fist into the man's face. He knew if he did that, all of the men would gang up on him and he didn't want to deal with that tonight.
"She's not a... a toy, you asshole." Lucas sputtered, "I can't share her, she has a choice. She gets to pick who she wants to be with and I certainly don't think she wants to be with you. Right, Sami?" Lucas turned to Sami for confirmation.
Sami lurched a step forward, "Mm, I don't mind if you share me. Group orgy, yummy." she took another drink of whatever was in her hand to punctuate her sentence.
One of the men snickered, "Lyric, if it was you and Jan here, I could go for it. But not with this jerk." he nodded his head in Lucas' direction, then pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket, "Here's my number, sweetheart. In case you change your mind."
"She. Won't. So. Fuck. Off." each word came out of Lucas' mouth with harsh finality. He snatched the paper out of the man's hand and shredded it into tiny pieces. The man looked ready to snap at Lucas but he stopped himself and focussed on something behind Lucas. Lucas felt a sharp yank on his arm and turned to see an agitated Nicole standing behind him.
"Can we leave now?" Nicole asked, throwing a quick look behind her. Lucas noticed the man she had been sitting with still sitting at the bar, staring at the counter.
"Sure, I think that's a great idea." Lucas agreed, giving the men a parting scowl. Jan followed behind Sami, Lucas and Nicole, whining about how they always spoiled her fun.
Once they were outside in the parking lot, Sami giggled, "Oops, they forgot to take my drink away. I've still got it." she took another sip as she tagged along behind Jan to their rental car. Lucas looked at the glass suspiciously.
"Where did you get that?" he asked her.
Sami grinned at him, "The nice men inside got drinks for Jan and I. Wasn't that nice of them?"
"They what?" Lucas exploded, taking the drinks Sami and Jan were carrying away from them. He set the glasses on the ground and looked at the two women in shock, "How could you accept drinks from them? Do you have any idea what was probably in those drinks? They probably just wanted to take you home and-" he rubbed his forehead tiredly, ducking into the driver's seat of the car. Sami got into the passenger's side door while Nicole and Jan piled into the back.
"It's not their fault." Nicole spoke up grumpily, "They were already a little drunk from the drinks we got back at the restaurant. Oh, except Jan usually does stupid things so maybe it is kind of her fault."
"I know it wasn't Sami's fault." Lucas said, slowly calming down. Before starting the car, he gave Sami a small kiss on her cheek, "She's just too damn beautiful for her own good." the admiration in his voice was completely unconcealed.
"Please, someone just strangle me now so I don't have to listen to him anymore." Nicole muttered, "Jan, I wasn't serious, get away from me."
"What happened to you?" Lucas demanded, driving out of the parking lot, "Did Mark ditch you?"
"Damn Mark to hell." Nicole slammed her hand down on the armrest, "We were having such a good time and then he tells me that he's married! He was only spending time with me to get back at his wife for cheating on him. Can you imagine the nerve?"
"That sounds kind of familiar though, doesn't it, Nicole?" Lucas retorted.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, you married too, right?" Lucas looked in the review mirror, meeting Nicole's blank stare.
"Married?" Nicole repeated, sitting dumbstruck for a few seconds, "Oh, I forgot about Victor. He's just so easy to forgot, I don't really consider him my husband anymore."
Lucas couldn't resist chuckling at her remark, "Only you would forget that you have a husband, Nicole, only you."
Ten minutes after returning to their hotel room, Sami crawled underneath the blankets of the bed and buried her head underneath the covers. Lucas had just finished stripping down to his boxers and stared at the lump underneath the blankets in confusion.
"What are you doing?" Lucas asked her. Sami peeked out from underneath the blankets, squinting at him.
"Can you turn the lights off, please?" she responded in a small voice, "The lights are making my eyes go ba-boom, ba-boom."
Lucas nodded and went over to the lights. After flicking them off, he made his way over to the bed. In the dim light of the room, he could see Sami extend her arms out to him.
"Come here, teddy bear." she cooed. Lucas half-winced, half smirked at the nickname she had used on him for the second time. He crawled in next to Sami and her arms immediately wrapped around him. Pressing her face against his stomach, she sighed happily.
"See, you're just like a teddy bear, you're all cuddly and stuff." she turned her head slightly and laughed, "Hey, it's kind of fun to listen to your digestive system. It sounds all rumbly... and stuff..." her voice trailed off and her breathing levelled out. Lucas shook his head at Sami's words, gently brushing his hand up and down the length of her arm, slowly drifting off to sleep.
Outside the door to Sami and Lucas' hotel room, Nicole stomped her foot in outrage. Beside her stood Jan, who was still quite drunk.
"There's no noise." Nicole muttered in disgust, "They're not doing anything. God, I got Sami drunk so she would sleep with Lucas. But noooooo, it looks like Lucas is a freeze too. What is wrong with these people?"
"Maybe they're tired." Jan said sleepily, "Like mmmeeeee."
"Well, if they aren't going to use my subtle hints to go to bed together, I'll just have to stop being subtle." Nicole murmured, "And Jan, you are going to help me get them together. Right?" Nicole noticed Jan lying on the floor, appearing to be asleep. Groaning, Nicole began dragging Jan across the hall to their hotel room, trying to think up a way to get Lucas and Sami together.