"There you two are. Are you guys ready to go find a spot?" JD yelled excitedly as I held onto Riley's hands a second longer before reluctantly letting her go.
She walked around my body to stand right in front of me. As much as I enjoyed having her touch me, standing behind her was a better idea because of the skirt. There was a good chance that someone would try to sneak up on her from behind to see what was underneath. I had been to a ton of concerts and had seen it happen way too often.
There was always a strange, blurred line between music, violence, and sex at these events. It was always like the veils between the three lifted for a few hours as everyone let their hidden animalistic urges out.
"Let's go!" Anna made an annoying snort noise that sounded like a dying pig.
Apparently, Anna's inner animal was from a farm. It suited her personality.
"Girls, stay close." JD looked around and furrowed his brow. My eyes followed his around the room. The male-dominated energy permeating the air was impenetrable. There were already too many eyes watching every move the two girls made.
Including the beady ones attached to that asshole who called out to Riley earlier.
What was he doing still watching her? Was he following her?
There was something about that guy that raised the hair on the back of my neck. I shifted over to the side to block his view of her.
JD started migrating to the floor to find a spot for us to watch the concert from. The guys lined up in formation, surrounding the girls like we had rehearsed it beforehand. Anna ended up sandwiched between Mark and JD, which left Aiden crowding Riley at her front. I fell in line behind her and closed the gap quickly so no one could get between us.
Aiden glanced back at me to make sure I was still there. His eyes flickered down to Riley to make sure I was on the same page. I nodded back to let him know I wasn't going to move. Aiden and I might not be on the best terms right now, but we had a common goal.
Keeping Riley safe was more important than our little pissing match.
JD found a decent spot for us to settle, about halfway between the bar and the stage. Riley stepped up a little, which gave Aiden and me the ability to position behind her on both sides. JD pulled Anna in front of him and wrapped his arms around her as Mark boxed her in from the outside.
As the crowd started closing in tighter around us, I started realizing how hard of a task watching Riley was going to be. I could barely move my arms more than a few inches. To top it off, there was also a group of high schoolers in front of us who were high as a kite. They kept spazing out, acting like they had never been stoned before. Riley had to keep inching back towards me so she didn't get hit.
When Camo began walking on stage, the whole audience roared to life, including the little fireball standing in front of me. She bounced on the balls of her feet and looked excited to be here tonight. I smiled down knowing that I was the one able to do this for her.
The bald guy who fronted the band let out a scream directly into the microphone and the whole room flipped the fucking crazy switch. The crowd of guys in front of us began moshing even before the first note was played.
Riley was shoved back into my body and I grabbed the only thing I could get to, which was her elbow. It was enough to keep her on her feet so she didn't get trampled.
Aiden darted from my side and ran over to JD and Mark, who were struggling to keep Anna with them. JD lifted her off her feet to pull her to the opposite side of the bar. Mark and Aiden were pushing at the swirling bodies as they fought to get her out of harm's way.
We were alone now. It was just Riley and me, surrounded by insanity.
I spotted that guy with the buzz cut who had been watching Riley. He was swinging his fists in the air at the other guys in the pit. He began throwing his heavy body around until he caught a glimpse of her again. He looked directly at her and started shoving his way over.
Riley was pushed back again into my rib cage. She looked up at me with a twinge of fear on her face. My eyes flickered back to the guy still working his way closer to us. I had to get her out of here before she got hurt. I couldn't keep my head on a swivel and protect her from every side. There were just too many people here and I was only one person.
I nodded my head towards the place I saw the rest of the group head to. Our strength was in our numbers tonight. Being separated from them was not in our favor.
We both turned and started nudging bodies out of the way to get to the other side of the bar. Riley smushed her body against my back tightly, trying to keep up. I had to figure out a way to try to position her out in front of me so I didn't lose her in the chaos.
I paused for a second to reach back to pull her around me when I heard a scream that was swallowed up instantly by the pounding music.
I couldn't feel her warmth against my back any longer.
When I turned to search for her, the guy from earlier had caught up to us. The psycho was digging his fingers into her forearm and jerking her arm back and forth like he was trying to rip her apart. She was terrified and putting up one hell of a fight.
I lunged backward to grab her other arm and missed by a mile. My long fingers caught the laces on the back of her top and I tangled my fingers in them. I held on as hard as I could as I was hammered into from all sides.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." I screamed as I used every ounce of strength to fight to get her free.
The meaty guy's hands were all over her and there was nothing else that I could do but hold on.
"Don't let her go." My brain roared at me.
A sharp, stabbing pain shot through the back of my head. Someone drilled me from behind. My whole arm went numb and weakened for just a second too long. I felt the laces begin to slip from out of my grasp.
I was smashed into again in the lower back. This time, I was thrown off balance and ended crashing down to the sticky bar floor.
I tried to search for Riley's boots through the sea of legs, but I couldn't find them anywhere.
She was gone. I fucking lost her.
I was kicked in the side and stepped on repeatedly as I tried to push myself up from the floor. A heavy boot landed awkwardly on my head and I started seeing flashes of light in my vision.
I yanked at the pant leg of the foot on top of me and pulled the guy down. Using his body as an anchor, I pushed up from the ground, completely dazed and disoriented.
I shook my head to try to knock the confusion loose.
Riley. I needed to get to Riley.
I jumped a few times to look over the top of the crowd to try to find her. I caught a glimpse of light blue in the middle of the pit and took off towards it, tossing every single body in my path to the ground.
"Riley. Riley." I screamed even though I knew she wouldn't hear me. I felt fucking helpless. I had to get to her.
I saw her puffballs bouncing a few feet ahead of me to the left and I changed direction, catching a flying elbow in my throat in the process. It stung like a bitch, but I couldn't let it slow me down.
I had to Riley back in my arms where she was safe.
A few feet ahead of me, I saw her body raised up off the ground. She was screaming and fighting against the groping hands all over her body. She elbowed the squat guy in the chest and he dropped her. He spun her around in circles and wrapped his arm around her waist. He angrily launched her towards another cluster of men moshing in front of him. She wasn't even touching the ground as they passed her along between them.
The angry guy stalked in behind her, keeping tabs on her the whole time. He had a sickening sneer on his face as he watched her being tossed around.
"Riley," I screamed again as I slammed into the disgusting bodies in front of me. Most of the guys already had their shirts off as they jumped and swung their arms at my head. It was a horror show of too sweaty, blubbery bodies bouncing against each other.
Riley's blue hair brushed the side of my face as she was thrown past me. I turned just in time to see that same fucking guy standing next to me, clawing at her breasts. He began ripping at the top hooks holding the front of her top together to tear it open.
I grabbed him by the fat roll on the back of his neck with one hand and threw him to the ground. I stomped down on his ribs as hard as I could while I looped my arm around Riley's waist.
She started thrashing and attacking me, trying to break free. She dug her nails into my skin, tearing at my flesh. I wrapped my other arm around her and locked my hand over my wrist so she couldn't escape.
I pulled her in flush to my body to lay my claim on her and signal that she was off-limits to the rest of the room.
"Let me go!" Riley cried out.
"Stop fighting me." I barked the order into her ear. "I need to get you out of here. Hold on to me."
She stopped fighting immediately and sunk back into me. She wound her hands tightly into the bottom of my shirt. If she was pulled away from me again, my shirt was going to go with her this time.
I began backing up and removed one of my arms off her to fend off the waves of people letting loose around us. I was relieved when I finally reached a more rational group of guys after a few feet. Three of them locked eyes with me when they saw her buried against me and shaking in my arms. They immediately formed a line and used their bodies to help build a barrier to hold the pit back so I could pull her free. I nodded in appreciation to them as Riley clung to me tighter.
It was nice to know not every guy here was a complete fuckhead.
I was able to guide us to the far left side of the bar, against the wall. We would have been a lot safer in the back, but I didn't have the energy to fight the crowd to get there and I had lost my help the second we were outside the edge of the pit.
I was out of breath and every inch of me was buzzing with rage and fear.
Tonight was a terrible mistake.
I should have never gotten these tickets.