This chapter is dedicated to nicoolsena. Thank you for supporting this story. 😊
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Right after we enter the club, I scan the crowd to find my folks. Finally, I find Sara waving frantically at me from the booth on the upper level of the club.
"There," I point at the upper floor. Nathan follows my line of sight and nods as he starts to lead the way where I have pointed.
"Guys! No sign of Giant Nanny," Sara happily yells, when she sees me.
"You didn't tell, you are bringing a Hot Nanny with you," Sara smirks and wiggles her eyebrows at Nathan.
"He is not a nanny, he is Nathan," Natalie shrugs and replies in a bored tone. As we settle on the semi-circle shaped leather couch.
"And she is my hater," Nathan mumbles in the same tone mocking Natalie.
When I introduced Nathan to everybody, it feels like our whole table went in shock except Natalie who is tapping her fingers frustratingly on the table while looking at everyone.
"Get over with it guys," Natalie huffs with an eye roll," He just the invisible husband, who is now trying to become visible."
"Woah! The man behind the ring," Shawn says as he points at my ring, he is the first one to come out of shock, "It is great to meet you, man," he laughs and gives Nathan clap on the back, as he sits beside Sara.
"At one point I used to think, Abigail has made up all this like she is married and all, to keep jerks at bay," Rachel takes a swig from her beer bottle.
"It is so much fun when she turns down guys by showing her ring," Sara pipes in.
"You used your ring to fend off jerks?" Nathan tilts his head and ask.
"Yes, but it doesn't work every time," I smirk and whisper, "See, you are still here with me."
Travis comes back holding drinks for everyone. I am sitting on the outside, so I stand up to help him but I accidentally bump into a girl. Immediately, I turn and apologize to her but she quite rudely flips me off.
I turn my body to face that Gothic looking girl, as cross my arms over my chest," Do you want me to tell you that, where to shove it?" I nod at her finger and raise my eyebrow in a challenging way," High up, huh?"
Looking embarrassed she scurries away. I shrug nonchalantly as I sit back. Nathan is gazing me with wide eyes.
"What?" I question him.
"Nothing," He smirks as he slowly shakes his head.
"Let's play truth and dare," Shawn says when he finishes his beer and places empty bottle horizontally on the knee level glass table in front of us.
Almost everyone groans, as he always wants to play this stupid game. Although mostly he ends up in being trouble, still he doesn't learn his lesson.
"Let Nathan decide," Shawn suggests, "He is here with us for the first time."
After a pause, he adds," For your information, Abigail never turns down any dare," he winks at Nathan with a sly smile.
"Any reasonable dare," I quickly add glaring at Shawn, not liking where this thing may lead.
"Then we will play truth and dare," Nathan gives me his irritating smirk.
We all girls look at each other, silent message passes between us. We all nod in unison. It is decided we will go for truth only. Not trusting guys, only God knows what kind of dares they may have in their minds.
Shawn spins the bottle and it ends up on him only.
"Truth or dare?"
"Truth," he says, then adds," And don't you girls think I have missed that silent communication between you," he proudly states.
"Is it true, you have flirted your way up to B grade from D?" I ask wearing an innocent look.
"Yes," he grunts.
"Aw... baby, don't be upset," Sara teases him, "Not everybody can charm older women."
"Men," Travis coughs, looking down at the table.
"Damn it, Travis," Shawn says clearly looking annoyed.
"Abigail, I asked you not to tell anyone?" He glares at me.
"I swear I didn't tell, I just showed them," I wave my cell phone at his face.
"You made a video?" he asks in disbelief.
"C'mon you were looking so hot flirting with that professor how could I not recorded it," I grin.
He curses under his breath, which causes all of us to laugh.
Unintentionally, I lean into Nathan while laughing. I hide my face into his side, as Shawn is now openly throwing insults at us making me laugh even harder.
When I feel him running his fingers lightly through my hair, I snap my head up only to meet his eyes. He has a soft expression in his eyes which I have never seen before. My heart slightly speeds up because of our close proximity. I want to move away...I should move away but I can't, it is like I am frozen on the spot.
The sound of the camera shutter causes me to break our eye contact and I quickly lean away from him.
"Sorry to ruin your private moment," Sara cheekily smiles holding up her phone," But you guys look too cute, lost in each other's eyes, that I couldn't stop myself from capturing it."
My face heats up and I put my head down causing my hair to fall on my face. In an attempt to hide the blush forming on my face. I focus on my breathing to calm my racing heartbeats. Nathan let out a low chuckle noticing my flustered state.
Games go on for some time, but luckily never once bottle ends up on me, for some reason it annoyed the hell out of Nathan and Shawn. Eventually, everyone gets bored and now we are just casually chatting.
"Why do you sent her orchids on your wedding anniversaries?" Lucy asks Nathan, out of nowhere.
"I..." Nathan frowns looking confused as he looks at me.
"He doesn't know I am allergic to Orchids," I glance at Nathan and nod my head reassuringly, telling him that he should not worry I will save his ass," I never told him."
"You are allergic to orchids?" Nathan narrows his eyes and whispers," Why you have never told me?"
"If you don't remember I'd like to remind you, we were exactly not on the talking terms," I raise my eyebrows.
"And there's no need worry, I know you never sent them yourself and if even you did, it hardly matters," I shrug.
"Why are we wasting our time here girls?" Natalie stands and sways her body with a sly smile," Let's get on the dance floor because it time to show the world we are the legends of dancing floor."
Natalie holds my and Lucy hand, and pulls us to our feet, as Sara and Rachel are already making their way to the dance floor.
Soon we all are dancing and belting out songs lyrics in high voices. I don't remember how long we danced, but now my feet are killing me. When I look at my friends they are also exhausted as me, but none of us want to get back to our table as we are enjoying so much. Eventually, Lucy being the little mature one declares, we have enjoyed enough so now it's time to leave the dance floor.
"I will just use the ladies room, then come," I tell them over my shoulder as I walk in the opposite direction.
Ladies room is far down the hallway, I look down and shake my head when I find some people shamelessly making out. I move a little further when suddenly, someone grabs me from behind and cover my mouth with a hand.
I try to free myself from his hold, but he is too strong. My screams are also muffled because of his tight grip on my mouth. When I notice he is dragging me to the dim lit area of the hallway, nearly away from everyone, my eyes widen in horror and I start to thrash feverously attempting to loosen his vice-like grip.
Tears start to form in my eyes causing to blur my vision.
No...No... this can't happen with me...not again.
Abruptly, I am pushed into the room in the far end of the hallway, causing me to fall on the floor, as he instantly locks the door. The sound of footsteps getting far from the door hints that, whoever the person is, he left after locking me up here.
There is pitch dark in the room, I am unable to see anything. Outstretching my hands in front of me I try to assess my surroundings. The musty and stale smell gives away I am in some sort of storeroom.
The feeling of being trapped and helpless triggers all the unwanted memories. The memories from which I want to run away...the memories which I want to bury somewhere so deep that they don't haunt me. My mind starts to fill with their voices and I start to remember the feeling of their touch, making me shiver in disgust. It is like I am suddenly pulled back into time, reliving every moment all over again.
My chest starts to tighten and I feel like the oxygen has been sucked out of my lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. My heart thrashes violently against my rib cage, it is beating so fast that I am afraid it will jump out of my body. Trying to stop all the voices which are consuming me, I draw my knees towards my chest while pushing my fingers into my hair and tugging them harshly.
All of a sudden, I register the sound of the door hitting the wall as it flies open. Next moment, I am being pulled on to my feet into somebody's embrace. Out of fear, I try to get away from the hold, but the grip on me tightens keeping me from moving away.
"Shhh...calm down, just take deep breaths...I've got you..."
"Nathan..." I breathe out.
"I am here...I am here..." he repeats soothingly into my ear as he holds me tight against him.
He places his one hand on the back of my neck pushing my head onto his chest while wrapping his other arm securely around my waist. His heart is racing rapidly and his breathing is harsh. He just holds me, not saying anything. I feel him place a kiss on my hair, then he keeps his chin on my head. After a few moments, his breathing and heart rate gets back to normal. I focus on his heartbeats trying to match my own with his, gradually my panic attack also subsides. Gently, he starts to stroke my hair in a calming manner.
"Take her home, I will inform everyone you guys have left," I hear Natalie's hoarse voice, implying that she has also been crying.
Nathan nods over my head.
"Someone grabbed me... and locked me here..." I choke out as tears escape from my eyes. He leans back a little to see my face and gently wipes my tears with his thumb.
"Let's go home, we'll talk about it later," he says. I nod and attempt to take a step back from him, but he just slightly shifts his holds on me. He wraps his arm protectively around my shoulder and pulls me closer into his side, as we walk out of the club.
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