Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella Read Free Page B

quirked up in surprise as
he repeated the lyrics to the song in her ear. In that moment all
she wanted were those lips of his on hers.
    No , she jerked back, shivering at
the thought. She didn’t really want this creep anywhere near her
right?
    He tugged her back,
almost as if he knew what she was thinking, his hands tightening
around her angrily. “This is right,” he growled in her
ear.
    It was,
wasn’t it? She thought, her heart picking
up pace again. She was frightened again. Because now this weird
stranger seemed so familiar.
    An upbeat dance track
merged into the last chords of the song and a gust of cold air blew
across Avery’s skin. She blinked, opening her eyes, gobsmacked to
find she was dancing alone, the dark scarred guy nowhere to be
seen.
     
    ***
     
    “ Seriously,
girl, I thought Josh was going to bust a blood vessel.” Jemima
chuckled drunkenly as the cab driver headed towards Avery’s
apartment. “Did you dance with that ugly guy just to piss him
off?”
    Avery shrugged, smiling
weakly, feeling a little sick. “I don’t know.”
    Sarah nudged
her with her shoulder, her blue eyes concerned. “I dunno if you
should have danced with him, Ave. He’s really… ugh … and I think he may have paid
the DJ to play that song just so he could dance with
you.”
    She flinched
at her friend’s unkind words. But hadn’t she been thinking the
same? God, they were all so shallow. So
what , she argued with herself, frowning.
Scarred guy had drawn a huge amount of attention to her by dancing
with her and she was furious. Every time she thought about it she
shuddered in horror. He deserved the cruel words.
    “ Did you guys
see where he went?” She asked softly, her rational mind telling her
that no person alive could move that fast.
    “ Nah,” Sarah
replied, “I’m just glad he left. You didn’t give him your number,
did you?”
    Avery shook her head,
refusing to acknowledge what felt like a twang of disappointment in
her chest.
    “ Oh my God,
Ave!” Jemima squealed gesticulating wildly in her JD infused haze.
“You should have got his digits! He may be creepy ass but there’s
something kinda sexy about the idea of doing it with him! I’d bet
he’d be super grateful, if you know what I mean!”
    Avery grimaced at all the
squealing in the cramped cab. “Can you make it stop?” She pleaded
with Sarah, gesturing to Jemima.
    “ Yeah, can
you?” The cabbie groaned.
    Sarah giggled and patted
Jemima’s arm. “Jammy, babe, you wanna lower the tone a little huh?
You’re deafening children in Africa.”
    “ Pfft!” She
waved them off before promptly thumping her head back against the
seat, her eyes slamming shut.
    “ Wow,” Avery
whispered, “You’re like a witch or something.”
    Sarah giggled again and
then began telling her to ignore Jemima. There was nothing sexy
about some built stalker guy who has a knife slash across half his
face.
    Avery was so
thankful when the cabbie pulled up outside her apartment. She
needed to get away from all the lecturing and questions. She needed
to get away from thinking about that weird guy and the way he made
her feel. Like she wasn’t who she thought she was. Like she was
meant for something else. God, was there anything more traumatising
than an identity crisis? Yeah, no , she definitely didn’t need that
right now.
    As per usual she offered
Sarah some money for their expensive cab trip but Sarah shook her
head adamantly. Too tired to argue, Avery said goodbye and hurried
up to her apartment.
    “ Avery, that
you?” Her aunt’s soft voice called to her as she moved around the
sitting room, kicking off her heels and stretching her feet out
flat against the cold wooden floors.
    “ Ahh, that
feels good,” she murmured before hurrying into her aunt’s room. Her
Aunt Caroline was still awake, her book opened on her lap. “You
can’t sleep?”
    “ I wanted to
see if you had a good night.” She smiled softly at her.
    Avery clucked her