Reclaim Me (10 page)

Allie eyed Harper over the rim of her glass. She was wearing a short sequined dress that caught each beat of the lights that pulsed over the crowd, and heels that, despite her petite frame, made her legs look like they went on for miles. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and glassy, and her toes tapped to the pounding bass. She was in total club mode. With one exception. Harper Hayes hadn’t so much as looked at a guy. Not a glance, not a wink. Not even a smile. And she certainly hadn’t passed her phone number to the bartender despite the fact that, as Colin was quick to point out, he looked like Ian Somerhalder. Even Allie had given him a second glance, but Harper seemed completely impervious to his devilishly handsome good looks, and for that there could be only one explanation.

Nick.

Harper hadn’t said anything about her budding relationship with Hudson’s brother, but Allie was confident he was the reason for her best friend’s sudden lack of interest in the male population. At least when it came to finding a potential date for herself. She was having no problem using her well-honed skills to find Allie a man, and she’d been putting them to good use all night.

“There was nothing wrong with that one,” Harper said as the guy in question moved on to another table. “And the first three were perfectly fine, too.”

Allie wrinkled her nose. She didn’t want perfectly fine, she wanted perfect. She wanted Hudson Chase.

“It’s not like you’re picking out china patterns,” she said. “They just wanted to buy you a drink.”

“I can buy my own drinks, thank you very much.” Allie downed the last of her lemon drop martini, her third of the night. Usually she followed Harper’s “martinis are like boobs” motto when it came to her drink of choice. In other words, one was not enough, and three was too many. But tonight she wanted to lose herself in that heady combination of drinking too much alcohol in a club where the music was much too loud. And for that, Asylum was the perfect destination.

The entire club pulsed with a hypnotic energy. Hundreds of bodies filled the circular dance floor in the center of the club, all writhing and swaying under the multihued lighting that kept time to the pounding music. Above them the ceiling soared three stories high, with the balconies on each level wrapping around all three hundred and sixty degrees, and in the distance a DJ held court on a raised platform.

“Well, the next one’s on me.” Colin caught the eye of their waitress and signaled for another round. “As for your many admirers, no offense, Boss Lady, but you really only have yourself to blame.”

“First, we agreed I’m not your boss tonight. Second, how do you figure?”

“Well, if you didn’t want to spend the night fending off guys left and right, then you shouldn’t look so hot.” He hid his smile behind his glass.

Allie gaped at him. She would have been offended if it weren’t for the irresistible combination of amusement and affection that sparkled in his bright green eyes.

“What?” he asked, aiming for innocent and failing miserably. “You said you’re not my boss tonight.”

Allie laughed and shook her head. “Right, but the flattery-won’t-get-you-a-raise policy is still in effect.”

“Ah, but it’s true. Look at you, hair in a perfectly disheveled updo, makeup completely on point with those smoky eyes and glossy nude lips. And that dress.” His eyes raked over the slinky black halter dress that dipped low in the back. “I mean, damn, even I want to hit that.” He smirked. “And you’re lacking the proper anatomy.”

“I think she’s too busy pining away over the Muscled Mogul to give any of these guys a chance,” Harper chimed in.

Aaaand we’re back to the nicknames.

Colin choked on his vodka tonic. “Muscled Mogul? I take it she means . . .” He lifted his brows.

“Yes. Fair warning, Colin, Harper has a thing for nicknames.” Allie shot her friend a look. “And apparently no one is off-limits.”

Harper beamed back at her. “That’s not even my best work. Personally, I thought the Tempting Tycoon was much better.”

“Well,
I
think that all of this is just your way of diverting attention from the real issue.”

Colin leaned forward conspiratorially, resting his elbows on their tall-boy table. “Oh, this sounds good. Do tell.”

“Harper here has made it her night’s mission to find a man for me so we won’t notice the fact that she’s now off the market.”

“Am not,” she protested. “I just haven’t seen anyone I like.”

“Bullshit. Damon Salvatore’s doppelganger was mixing your Cosmo and you didn’t so much as bat an eye.” Allie laughed. “Admit it. You are one hundred percent head over heels for Nick Chase.”

Colin slumped back in his chair. “Can’t blame her there. Actually, I can’t blame either of you. That gene pool definitely has an extra dose of tall, dark, and handsome.”

“Here’s an idea,” Harper interrupted. “Let’s talk about Colin instead.”

He laughed. “Nice try.”

“No, she’s right.” Other than what was on Colin’s résumé and a few mundane details, Allie actually knew very little about the man who had become such an integral part of her daily life. “Tell us the Colin James story.”

The waitress appeared at the table with a fresh round of drinks on her tray. Colin waited while she set the glasses on the table and cleared the empty ones. “Not much to tell, really.” He lifted the lime wedge off the side of his glass and squeezed it into his drink. “Born and raised in the Midwest; three older sisters; loves Beyoncé, long walks on the beach, and Harry Styles’s hair.”

Harper cocked one perfectly arched brow. “Is that your match.com bio?”

“Saw it on there, did ya?” Colin shot back without missing a beat.

She lifted her new Cosmo in salute. “Touché.”

Allie shook her head. “How did I end up with you two?”

“Luck.” They said as one before clinking their glasses together.

“So, anyone special in your life?” Harper asked him.

“There was. But after we graduated, he took a job at a station on the West Coast. An Ingram affiliate, actually.”

“Which one?” Allie asked.

“Seattle.” Colin shoved a hand through the light brown hair that hung in an artful mess over his forehead. “We tried the long distance thing for a few months, but . . .” He gave a slight shrug and reached for his glass.

“Okay,” Harper announced. “New plan. ‘Operation: Find a Man for Colin’ shall now commence.”

“No need,” he said, sliding off his stool and grinning. “I got this.”

They watched as he strolled toward the bar.

“I like him,” Harper said.

“But not as much as you like Nick.” Allie didn’t even bother to phrase it as a question.

“Back to that, are we?”

“Oh, that’s rich. This from Miss Relentless?”

“Using my own tactics against me?”

Allie wasn’t sure if Harper was referring to the persistent questioning or the annoying moniker. Perhaps both. “If that’s what it takes.” She licked a bit of sugar from the rim of her martini glass. The warm buzz of alcohol was making her feel loose and relaxed, but not so much that she was beyond pumping her friend for long overdue details. “You still haven’t given me the full scoop.”

“I like him,” Harper said. “And yes, more than Colin.” Allie expected a pithy quip, or at the very least an eye roll, but instead Harper grew uncharacteristically serious. “More than anyone I’ve ever known, actually.”

The look on Harper’s face told Allie all she needed to know. It was clear her friend had fallen hard for the younger Chase brother. But Nick had been through a lot, and there had to be a reason why his sponsor suggested avoiding new relationships during the first few months of sobriety. As much as Allie loved the idea of two people she cared about finding happiness together, it also made her worry. “How does he feel?”

“The same.” She twirled the stem of her glass between her fingers. “Although he’s not super talkative about his feelings.”

Allie nodded at yet another characteristic the two brothers seemed to share.

A spark lit Harper’s eyes. “But hey, he’s willing to rent a tux for me, so if that doesn’t say true love, I don’t know what does.”

“A tux?”

“Yeah, I was going to bring him as my date to the gala. If that’s all right with you? I know I’m working and all, but he gets that. Our only concern was how you and Hudson would feel about it.”

Nick in a tux? This she had to see. “If you two are happy, then I’m happy. I’m sure Hudson will see it that way, too.” And if he didn’t, Allie would just have to find a way to convince him.

“Have you talked to him at all since you’ve been back?”

“A few times, but only about work.”

“Still not buying this,” Harper said.

Allie decided it was best to change the subject before Harper dug too deep. “Looks like Colin found someone,” she said, nodding toward the end of the bar where he stood talking to two unbelievably hot guys.

“Whoa, he has good taste.”

As if feeling the weight of their stare, Colin glanced at them and smiled. After a few words to his two new friends, he sauntered back to the table. “C’mon, Boss Lady, time to dance. This one might be in a relationship, but you’re not. And as luck would have it, my guy has a straight friend.”

In the distance, one of the two men lifted his beer to her and smiled. She opened her mouth to protest, but the sight of Harper’s suspicious gaze had her rethinking her answer. If she declined, it would only add fuel to the fire. If she wanted her best friend to buy the idea that she was over Hudson, then she had to at least appear to be moving on. And in this case it meant agreeing to a dance. She sighed in resignation. “Fine. One dance.”

A wide grin spread across Colin’s face. “To start,” he said, taking Allie’s hand and tugging her off the stool. The two men Colin had been talking to joined them, and together they weaved toward the dance floor. The crowd swallowed them, and in no time Allie found herself pressed between a mass of bodies, all writhing to the pulsing beat of the music. They danced more as a group than couples, moving as one in a current of hedonistic abandonment. But then one song morphed into another and a pair of arms wrapped around Allie from behind. At first she stiffened, but then a nod of encouragement from Colin forced her to relax. It was only dancing, after all, something she would enjoy if she were truly single.

The music pulsed through her body with every beat, and slowly she began to lose herself to the hypnotic rhythm. Closing her eyes, she surrendered to it, imagining Hudson’s hands splayed across her hips, his body molded to hers. Every fiber of her being ached with a need for him that was so real, so tangible, she could almost feel his warm breath in her ear, his lips pressed to her neck.

“You’re gorgeous,” a deep voice vibrated against her skin.

Allie’s eyes flew open at the unfamiliar sound and disappointment flooded her senses. The music slid into a slow, sultry beat, and the man behind her rolled his hips in a matching grind. “I’m going to sit the next one out,” she told him, looking over her shoulder. He nodded as she wriggled free of his grasp. Within seconds he was absorbed back into the dense crowd.

She pushed her way through the crush of bodies. The moment she reached her table, the waitress approached with a fresh tray of drinks.

“Did you order another round?” she asked Harper.

“From the gentleman at the bar,” the waitress answered. She set a Cosmo in front of Harper and a vodka tonic in front of Colin’s empty chair. But instead of another martini, Allie was served a squat tumbler filled with amber liquid. She lifted the glass to her lips and took a small sip. Scotch. Johnny Walker Blue, if she wasn’t mistaken. Not exactly her drink of choice, but it was . . .

Hudson
.

Allie spun toward the bar. She saw a sea of faces, but not the one she hoped to find. Her heart sank. Of course it wasn’t him. They had agreed to keep their distance. And while her head told her it was the wise decision, her heart still sank.

When she turned back to the table she noticed a single word written in pen on the cocktail napkin that had been beneath her drink.
Upstairs
was all it said, but the handwriting was as familiar to her as her own.

Upstairs?
Not very specific. She slid her beaded clutch across the table and into her lap, discreetly checking the burner phone while pretending to rummage around for lip gloss. Sure enough, a text from Hudson filled the locked screen.

Don’t make me wait.

Her gaze lifted to the spiral of balconies above the dance floor. There had to be dozens of booths and private lounges. She had no idea how she was going to find him, but she was damn sure going to try.

“I’ll be right back,” Allie said. “Gonna hit the ladies’ room.” She didn’t bother waiting for a reply from Harper. Instead she melted into the crowd, her pulse quickening with every step as she made her way toward the stairs. The grates on the metal treads offered a dizzying view she would have found unnerving under any other circumstance, but at the moment they didn’t even faze her. The only thing that mattered was finding Hudson.

The first balcony was essentially a wide catwalk with a row of circular booths. Each faced the center of the club, providing the perfect vantage point for watching the action on the dance floor below. It was doubtful Hudson would have chosen such a high-profile location, but she scanned them briefly before hurrying to the next level. The second balcony was deeper, offering private lounges with clusters of plush seating surrounding tables cluttered with bottles of premium liquor. A velvet rope hung across the staircase to the third balcony along with a sign that read P
RIVATE
E
VENT
. For a moment she considered the possibility that Hudson might have rented the entire floor, but then a ripple of awareness washed over her. Every nerve in her body sprang to life. He was close. She could feel his presence, his overwhelming desire, calling to her on the most base level.

Allie’s eyes darted across the expanse of the club. Most of the VIP lounges had their privacy curtains tied back, but on the far side of the balcony one lounge remained closed. Her skin prickled with anticipation as she followed the narrow path. Max emerged from the shadows as she drew closer, greeting her with a slight nod before drawing the curtain back. Allie stepped inside. The sight that greeted her took her breath away.