"He cheated on me," Lucy choked out as she downed another shot of tequila.
The bass from the speakers vibrated beneath her heels, the rhythm settling somewhere deep in her chest.
Her best friend, Chelsea, shot her a worried look.
"Lu, I think you’ve had too much to drink." She bit her lip, but a laugh from Lucy was all she got in response.
"I don’t think I’ve had too much to drink," she said, her voice surprisingly steady.
But Chelsea didn’t believe her. After all, she was there when Lucy took shots after shots.
"You are going to get drunk after this." Chelsea reminded her and sighed. "It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have brought you to this club."
Lucy threw her a look. "It’s not your fault, Chel. You only wanted to cheer me up after that dickhead cheated on me."
Before Chelsea could respond, she snapped her fingers at the bartender who hurriedly filled her shot glass... again.
"Lu—"
"That’s enough, Chelsea." Lucy raised a hand, preventing her from speaking. "I know what I’m doing. I need courage, hence alcohol."
Chelsea’s brows furrowed, confusion flickering in her eyes. "What do you need courage for?"
Her eyes twinkled. "Tonight... I’m finally going to stop being the girl everyone laughs at."
Chelsea frowned. "Lucy..."
Then Lucy finally admits: "I’m going to sleep with someone."
"What?" She whisper-yelled. "You... you want to sleep with someone?"
Lucy shrugged.
"What about..." she wrinkled her nose before continuing, "...the promise you made to yourself?"
"I didn’t forget," Lucy nodded.
"So... why? Are you doing this out of spite?" Chelsea asked, her voice breaking.
Lucy rubbed her face, unable to meet Chelsea’s gaze.
Chelsea’s shoulders fell, and she breathed deeply. "I’m your best friend. If this is what you want... then I have no other choice than to support you."
A beautiful smile spread across Lucy’s lips as she received permission from her best friend.
"Thank you, Chel. I know you’ve always got my back."
Chelsea laughed. "Would you stop drinking now so you can find a man?" She wriggled her brows at her.
They both exchanged looks before moving to the dancefloor, Lucy ditching her shot glass in the process.
The music was deafening, forcing Chelsea to lean close every time she spoke. Around them, strangers threw their hands into the air as colored lights pulsed overhead.
They danced for twenty minutes before they squeezed through the crowd and reclaimed two empty stools at the bar, grateful to be away from the crush of bodies on the dance floor.
"That was..." Lucy breathed, her chest heaving. Sweat coated her forehead, but she had a bright smile on her lips.
"Fun." Chelsea completed it for her.
They stared into each other’s eyes before they burst out laughing.
"That was incredible." Lucy admitted, signaling for the bartender to give her another shot.
"I’m afraid I might have turned you into an addict." Chelsea murmured.
Lucy chuckled, the sound coming out broken.
Lucy accepted another shot, but before lifting the glass, her gaze drifted across the room.
The dance floor was a blur of flashing lights and moving bodies. Couples laughed, strangers flirted, and the bartender barely had a second to breathe.
Then she saw him.
While everyone else seemed swept up in the night’s frenzy, he sat alone in one of the secluded booths, untouched by the chaos around him.
He wasn’t drinking.
He wasn’t dancing.
He was simply watching.
And for reasons she couldn’t explain, a knot tightened in the pit of her stomach.
She wrapped her fingers around the untouched shot glass and didn’t drink it.
She didn’t need the courage anymore.
Chelsea followed her gaze, and frowned. "Don’t even think about it."
Lucy swallowed. "Too late."
She didn’t wait for Chelsea to convince her to drop her plan before she shot to her feet, her legs carrying her to the man.
There was something she felt when she saw him. A pull. Or perhaps it was something else... something deeper.
And what that was, Lucy was eager to find out.
She squeezed through the crowd before she finally stopped a few feet in front of him.
He raised his head to look at her, and Lucy’s breath stumbled as their eyes met.
His eyes were devoid of emotion. His entire posture screamed danger. Yet, maybe that was what Lucy thought she needed.
Danger.
But despite seeing the danger radiating all over him, Lucy pointedly ignored it.
She took slow steps towards him, backed by something.
But she wasn’t interested in thinking about this. She only had one goal, and she was eager to complete it.
She stopped directly in front of him, his eyes completely fixed on her throughout.
Her pulse thundered in her ears, all the instincts in her begging for her to turn back. To walk away.
But she didn’t give in.
Without giving herself another second to think, Lucy settled onto his lap.
His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly—the only sign that she had managed to surprise him.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
Don’t think. Just do it.
She cupped his face and kissed him.
For one heartbeat, he remained perfectly still.
The noise of the club seemed to dissolve around them. The music, the laughter, the clinking of glasses—all of it faded beneath the frantic pounding of Lucy’s heart.
And the pounding only seemed to increase when she noticed the lack of response from the man she was seated on.
Panic flared within her. What if he didn’t want this? She was kissing a complete stranger.
What the hell was she thinking?
Her panic intensified as she began to pull away.
That was until she felt a hand wrapped around her waist.
His touch was gentle.
One hand settled at her waist, keeping her from pulling away. His other hand cradled the side of her face, his expression softening as his fingers tightened ever so slightly against her waist.
Only then did he kiss her back slowly and deliberately.
The world tipped beneath her.
The unexpected tenderness stole the air from her lungs and she parted her lips on a soft gasp, the sound escaping before she could stop it.
When he felt that she couldn’t breathe properly anymore, the kiss broke.
Lucy rested her forehead against his, both of them breathing harder than before.
For the first time that night, he truly looked at her. His thumb brushed lightly along her jaw.
"Do you know what you’re doing?" he asked quietly.
Lucy searched his eyes. Every instinct told her to walk away. She ignored every one of them.
"I want you."