had the two fifties his father gave him in his back pocket for entrance to the members-only area, but at twenty bucks a fill up, he’d be running out of his spending capital pretty soon.
“Don’t I know you?”
David turned around in response to the soft voice, and there she was. Andrea stood next to him, with a drink in her hand. She was smiling sweetly, but looked at him as if she couldn’t quite place his face or how she knew him.
“Andrea!”
David’s tried to keep his eyes glued to her face, but couldn’t resist glancing up and down her full length. She wore a short, strapless dress. The thin knit fabric clung to her and accentuated her full breasts, tiny waist, and curvy hips. David’s jeans became uncomfortably tight in the crotch.
She giggled and leaned in closer to get a better look at him in the dim light. “Yes. You seem to know me, but who are you?” She appeared tipsy and steadied herself by putting one hand on the bar ledge.
David wondered if she had arrived drunk. “Did you just get here?”
“Oh no,” she said. “I’ve been here with my girlfriends for a few hours. We were sitting over there.” She pointed to another bar area on the other side of the dance floor.
David noticed her speech was slightly slurred, and she seemed a bit off balance when she lifted her hand from the bar to point. “Are you all right, Andrea?”
“Sure—” She put her face close to his. “What’s your name again?”
“David. David Hauser.”
He saw a wave of recognition come over her, and her face lit up. “Oh my God. You’re David from down the street, aren’t you?”
“Yup, that’s me.”
“Look at you! You’re all grown up.”
Andrea swayed as she took another sip of her drink. “Do you remember when you used to babysit for my kids?”
“Yes, but that was a long time ago, when I was in high school, and you had only one then.”
“That’s right. Jason really liked you, too. You brought your video games over and let him play with them.”
David laughed. “I did it more for me than for him. Gave me something to do when he went to sleep.”
Over Andrea’s shoulder, David saw a biker-looking guy approaching. David could tell by the way his eyes were locked on Andrea that he was going to be trouble.
“Hey, Andrea,” David said. “Why don’t we sit down and talk some more?”
Andrea giggled again. “I don’t come here to talk, David.”
“All right, then, do you want to dance?” David put his drink on the counter and took Andrea’s glass from her hand. He started to lead her down to the dance floor, but he was too late.
“Andrea,” a voice boomed, and she whirled around.
A look of fear crossed her face, and she attempted to cover it with a smile.
“Oh, hi, Danny.” Unsteady on her feet, Andrea fell against David.
“This is David, my babysitter.”
Danny grabbed Andrea’s arm and yanked her toward him, barely even glancing at David. “Yeah, hi kid,” he said. “Go take care of the other kids or something.” Danny started to lead Andrea away.
David noticed he gripped her arm tightly and was almost dragging her along.
“Hey, wait a minute,” he called out.
Andrea turned around, but Danny kept going.
David went after them, getting in front of Danny and forcing him to stop. “Hey, man. That’s pretty rude. I was having a conversation with Andrea, and you grabbed her away like she’s some kind of chattel.”
“Get out of my way, boy.”
David didn’t move. He was facing the bar, and he saw that Tom was observing the whole thing. The bartender motioned toward the bouncer, and David nodded back. “Well, I know a lot of games are played around here, but I didn’t think caveman was one of them. I didn’t hear you ask the lady if she wanted to leave with you.”
“Listen, kid. You’re starting to bug me.” Danny tried to push David aside, but the younger man stood his ground.
“Is there a problem here, Mr.