Chapter 30 - 30

"What is so funny?" I asked slowly.

I felt my temper slowly rise wondering if he was laughing at the idea that Reed would be with a woman like me. Sensing my anger, his hand reached out and stroked my own that was holding my beer. I subtlety moved my hand out of the way by pretending to take a drink of my beer. I didn't want to encourage him by allowing him to touch me, but I absolutely did not want to risk insulting him in case he truly was just being nice.

"I'm sorry, little one. But it seems like you and about a hundred other girls are going to be waiting in line. Now that he is apparently back with Nina," he responded and pointed across the room.

I followed his finger to a table that sat in a well-lit section. My heart did a flip when I saw Reed sitting there in the dim light like a dark angel.

Then my stupid organ stopped dead in its tracks when I saw him talking to a blonde-haired woman that looked like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. She stood out easily being the only other woman here that was not dressed in fetish wear. I would have been shocked if anything, but expensive fabric touched her skin. Everything about this woman screamed 'rich', from the top of her perfectly dyed and styled hair to the tips of her perfectly manicured nails.

Reed and this woman were apparently having a very intimate conversation. She gave Reed a look of pure lust mixed with intense love. I was fairly confident if they had not been sitting at the table she would have crawled into his lap and rubbed against him much like a cat in heat.

My hand flew to my chest to relieve the sudden tight ache that blossomed there. My eyes continued to pick apart the scene in front of me unable to comprehend what was going on. I watched as they talked for a little while longer and I tried ardently to read their lips even though that was a skill that I had never possessed.

When Reed reached across the table to take her hand, any air that was left in my lungs rushed out like I had been punched in the gut.

I knew I could not take the pain any longer.

Unfortunately, Reed chose that moment to look up. The moment our eyes locked, I saw the panic on his face as if he had just been caught almost literately with his pants down. I knew the color had drained out of my face when he jumped up out of his chair and began moving quickly towards me. Once again, the crowd seemed to be working for me because it swelled again and made Reed slow to an almost standstill.

The woman sitting with him shot up as well and grabbed his arm to pull him back towards the table. Her eyes scanned the crowd to find out what had Reeds' attention before finally landing on me. A smug look crossed her face as she sidled up beside Reed and rubbed her body against his arm. To his credit, Reed paid it no attention as he continued to search for a break in the crowd. But the room was on my side and instead of thinning out, it grew busier and busier until there was nothing but a mass of bodies between us.

I tore my eyes away from them to look back at the man sitting in front of me and I saw the pity on his face.

"I think I need to leave right now," I said to him.

"Are you sure, little pet? Let me go get Jordan," he said getting off the stool.

I grabbed his arm hastily to stop him. I did not need Jordan right now or to ruin Lizzie's night.

I just wanted to go home.

"No. Thank you, Sir. Please, I'll be fine, I know where the door is. I just want to leave quickly and quietly. There's no need to ruin Master Jordan's night as well," I said standing up.

Before he could say otherwise, I threw some money on the bar and ran out as fast as I could. I refused to look back no matter how loudly the ringing in my ears told me to.

With an agility I never knew I possessed, I bobbed and weaved through the crowd. My eyes were set firmly on the door that grew closer and closer until finally, I was free of the place.

I was proud of myself that I had made it all the way home before I burst into tears. It was shocking considering I felt as if there was a hole in my chest and it was threatening to swallow me up.

I flopped my bed only to find my pillow still smelled like Reed. In a burst of anger, I picked it up and threw it across the room where it landed against the closet door. I felt mild satisfaction in the thud it landed with, half wishing it was Reed's head. But that satisfaction was short-lived when I realized my sheets smelled like him too.

Angrily, I stumbled out of bed cursing every blanket that dared wrap itself around my feet and stormed back out into the living room where I flopped on the couch that smelled like my air freshener.

Despondently, I began staring up at the ceiling listening to my jumbled thoughts as they raced through everything that had happened. Questions and answers circled around and around, the most common one being: What did I do wrong? And the answer to that was: If Reed was going to turn into one of those men, then he was not worth it. After all, it wasn't like I was in love with him.

That thought quickly became the straw that broke the camel's back.. I broke into gut-wrenching sobs and rolled over to bury my head in the throw pillows and that's where I stayed.