SWITCHING COLLARS (Book 3 of the Collar series)

CHAPTER 9 - A Night Best Forgotten

Binge drinking never solved anyone's problems, unless you had a backup partner to make sure you got home safely...

Street lights flashed by as Melanie drove into the town centre. She hadn't really thought about her destination until she pulled up outside a rowdy pub.

People spilled out of the pub laughing and shouting. Two men were arguing and started throwing punches. A security guard quickly stepped in and pulled them apart. After a few threatening words they walked off in different directions.

A knock on her window startled her and she accidentally hooted. Some of the crowd looked her way and one of the men who'd been fighting, stopped and faced her. The flashing neon light in the pub window lit up his face. His shirt was torn and blood was smeared across his face, but she knew the drunk man trying to stay upright, was Reece.

For a moment her mind went blank, no thoughts, no feelings, nothing till the knock on the window got louder and someone was shouting at her.

"Hey lady, are you alright?"

She turned to see a bald man covered in tattoos all over his head and neck peering into her window. His face was so close to the window his breath fogged up the glass.

Melanie opened her window a fraction. "I'm fine thanks."

"You sure? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"No... just someone from the past."

"Maybe you need a drink to bury the past. You look as though you need one."

Melanie shook her head, "No, I need to go home."

He shrugged his shoulders and turned to walk away.

When she looked back to where Reece had been standing, he was no where in sight.

She ignored the voice in her head, grabbed her bag and got out of the car. Maybe she did need a drink after all and surely one stiff drink couldn't do any harm. Wasn't that the very reason she ended up here.

She walked passed a group of women her age who looked her up and down, but then she wasn't really dressed for a night out in the pub, wearing jeans, a baggy sweat shirt and shabby trainers.

Ignoring their whispers she pushed the door open just as someone was pulling it from the other side

"I see you changed your mind." The bald man with the tattoos said as he held the door open for her. "Can I buy you that drink now."

She hesitated. "I ... aren't you on your way out?"

"You look like you need a sympathetic ear."

She stepped passed him, "Thanks but I'd rather drink on my own."

"Hun, you really don't look like you belong in a rowdy place like this and looking as vulnerable as you do, you are an easy target for the men in here."

Without waiting for her response he took her arm and guided her through the crowd to the bar and ordered her a drink.

The barman placed a tequila in front of her.

"How can you order when you don't even know what I drink, or for that matter, if I do drink."

"Hun, you looked like you needed one when you were sitting in the car and most definitely something stronger after seeing your ghost." He winked.

Although he looked scarey with all his tattoos he seemed a like a decent person. His deep voice and smiling eyes made her feel a little less uneasy in his company.

He tapped her glass, "C'mon, knock it back, it'll calm your jangled nerves."

Hours later after one too many tequila shots, a game of darts, none of which hit the board and making a fool of herself trying to play pool, the bald man with the tattoos, whose arm she was hanging on to, suggested it was time he took her home.

"I don't need you to take me home. I'm not drunk, can drive myself. Just need ... find my keys an' visit little girls room first." She staggered forward.

He caught hold of her round her waist and steered her to the ladies cloakroom and suuported her while he opened the door.

"Hey! You can't come in. I don't even know your ... name." She giggled and crossed her legs. "I need to go pee now." She staggered inside and barely made it in time.

At the wash basin she splashed water on her face and tried to focus on the blurry image in the mirror. "I hope that's not me." She burst into fits of laughter and sank onto the floor.

Strong arms lifted her up and carried her out of the pub into the fresh night air. She looked up into his smiling eyes and started crying.

"You're going to have one bad hangover tomorrow Hun." He propped her up agsinst her car supporting her with one arm around her waist. "Is there someone I can call to get you home?"

His voice faded into the background of her alchol infused brain.