Chapter 2

Katie

The night before

The telephone rings, disturbing the silence I am enjoying while curled up on the sofa with a book. I know immediately who it is, Hayley. She had called earlier in the day, trying to convince me to go out with her to celebrate her promotion. Although I am happy for her, I just don't feel like going out and celebrating. As a matter of fact, I want to sit at home and feel sorry for myself. Not because I am that pathetic person, but because this is yet another example of how much better Hayley is. In high school, she was the girl that everyone wanted to be. She has the perfect blonde hair and the perfect figure. She is athletic, outgoing, and always has a boyfriend. She had her first kiss and lost her virginity a long time ago, while guys thought I was awkward and weird. She finished college before me, not struggling through her classes like I did. Everything comes easy to her. She landed a job right out of high school, while I struggled to find work. She was accepted into nursing school on her first attempt and graduated with honors, landing the internship that everyone in her class had fought and worked so hard for. Now, she has received her first promotion, and wants to celebrate. Not that I am doing bad for myself, I do own and operate one of the best veterinary hospitals in Tucson, thanks to an unexpected endowment, but it just didn't come easy for me. Don't get me wrong, I love Hayley, she is my best friend, but I can't help but feel jealous sometimes.

"Yes, Hayley", I whine into the receiver, trying to sound annoyed, laying my head back on the sofa.

"Girl, what are you doing?! Are you ready to go out and party with me?"

"Hayley, you know I don't party. If I go out with you, you know I would just be a stick in the mud."

"Katie, you are my best friend in the whole world, I want to celebrate with you. We have shared every important event in our lives; I want to share this with you too." Great, she played the best friend card, knowing I wouldn't be able to turn her down. We really have been through everything together, and I know I need to get over my jealousy and pettiness and go celebrate with her.

"Okay, okay, but you owe me. Come on over, we can get ready here", I say with more bitterness in my tone than I intended, praying that she doesn't pick up on it.

"Woo Hoo!" Hayley exclaims as she hangs up the phone. I love her enthusiasm; she has always been so full of life. I wish I had half of her energy.

I am standing in my closet for what seems like forever, trying to find something to wear. Most of my outfits are scrubs for work, I have a few dresses and some casual wear, but nothing compared to what I am sure Hayley is going to show up wearing; she has always been such a fashionista. Suddenly, there is banging on my front door, announcing her arrival.

"Come on, let me in, we got a fun night ahead of us!" Hayley is shouting from outside the door. I roll my eyes, as I open the front door, allowing her to come bouncing in, so excited about the prospect of dragging me out with her.

"Is that what you're wearing?" She asks with her nose scrunched up on her face. She couldn't have been more obvious about her dislike of my outfit. "I had a feeling you wouldn't have anything to wear, so I brought some things with me. Here try this one on." I slip into the sleek black dress that Hayley handed to me. I must give the girl credit; she has excellent taste in clothes. It is a halter top style dress that pushes my breasts together, making it appear I have more cleavage than I do. It fits loosely where it needs to but clings to my best assets; I look hot in this dress. "Damn," Hayley states with her jaw gaping while staring at me. "I don't know if I can let you wear that dress, I can't let you look better than me!" she says with a chuckle. Of course, this coming from the girl who looks drop dead gorgeous in the dark sapphire dress she is wearing. It has spaghetti straps that accents the fact that she is tall and slender. It is cut short, well above the knees, showing off her long legs. She is stunning, and she knows it. We fix our hair and makeup and head out to the surprise location Hayley has in mind for us.

Her car comes to a screeching halt in front of the newest night club in town, Cabaret. Of course, she would want to come to the newest, loudest, most crowded spot in town to celebrate. We get out of the car, and Hayley flirts with the bouncer to get us in. Not that we aren't old enough to get in, we are both twenty-five, but the place is so crowded that there is a considerable line at the door. As we enter, I must admit the place is amazing, but I have never really been a people person, and I desperately despise crowds. That is why I chose to become a vet; I am much better at communicating with animals than I am people. Hayley immediately works her way to the bar. "What's your poison?" she yells to me over the crowd. I stare at her in disbelief, she knows I don't drink.

"Vanilla Coke" I answer sarcastically.

Hayley rolls her eyes, and looks over at the bartender, putting on her most flirtatious smile, "I need two orders of whatever drink you decide to surprise us with." The bartender winks at her and mixes up a fruity little concoction. He describes it as his signature drink that I bet he saves for his "of interest" customers. As he hands her the drinks, he inquires her name. I see Hayley looking him over, it is clear he is interested in her, but just as clear that she is not interested in him. He is short, maybe 5'6" at best. He is cute, light brown hair, green eyes, average build, completely not her type. I hear her answer him, using a tone that clearly reflects her disinterest. I hear him give his name as Kevin, followed by flirty small talk, and an expression of hope that he will see her later. She gives him her brightest fake smile and carries the drinks over to me. "Here you go, drink up!"

I place my hands on my hips and sternly state "You know I don't drink, Hayley, I can't believe you completely disregarded that fact and got me a drink anyway!"

She whines, "Oh, come on, loosen up, we are celebrating my big promotion, remember? Just one drink, I want to make a toast." She winks at me trying to lighten the mood.

"One drink, one toast, that's it, okay?" I raise an eyebrow, making sure she understands.

"Yeah, yeah. A toast, to us and my newfound success. Here, here!" and with that, she tosses back her drink, gulping it down until it is completely gone. I look at her in amazement, as I am slowly sipping my drink. "Katie, would you please go up to the bar and get me another one of those? The creepy bartender was trying to pick up on me earlier." She bats her eyelashes at me and intertwines her fingers in mock prayer, making an emotion plea.

"Fine", I state flatly, and turn and head toward the bar. I must work my way through the crowd to get to the bar, which totally pisses me off, because I hate this type of bump into your neighbor crowd. I make it, only spilling half my drink, while being knocked around by the crowd. "Hey", I yell over at the bartender, "I need another one of whatever this is."

"Oh, you must be here with Hayley. She didn't tell me she had such a hot friend." I roll my eyes as Kevin, the bartender, looks me up and down. His eyes rest on my cleavage as he asks, "Would you like another as well?"

"Thank you, but no, I'm still choking down the one I have." I turn around, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under his obvious gaze, making sure I know where Hayley is. The last thing I want is to lose her and be stuck alone in this place. Kevin takes advantage of my momentary distraction to mix another drink for Hayley.

"Here you go", Kevin is holding the drink out toward me, and offers me a wink. He begins to explain to me that he is the owner of the new night club. That he had recently inherited money from his grandfather passing and had always been a people person, inspiring him to open the club. I turn to look for Hayley again, and she is standing in the middle of the dance floor, completely still, which is not like her at all. I follow the direction of her gaze, and there I find the reason for her sudden detachment from "party mode". Standing there, looking smug, is Rick, her on again, off again boyfriend. It currently appears they are off again because he is here with someone else. Rick the prick, that was my nickname for him. He has never treated her with any type of respect, yet she seems to flock to him like he is chocolate. I quickly make my way over to her before she can do something stupid, like walk over there and embarrass herself.

"Here you go," I hand her drink to her, "Now it is my turn to make a toast. Here is to new beginnings. Hayley, you know you deserve better than that." She nods at me as she tosses back her second drink, again, gulping it down until it's gone. I look down at my drink, deciding that we did come here to celebrate, tossing it back and finishing it off.

The remainder of the night is spent at the bar, with Hayley continuously downing drinks, trying to drown out the fact that Rick is here with someone else. I guess maybe this is one area of her life where things don't come so easy for her. In this moment, I feel bad for her. She has always put the needs of others ahead of her own. She deserves to be happy in all areas of her life.

"So, what do you do for a living?" Kevin asks, leaning over the bar, giving me his undivided attention.

"I'm a vet." I state as I am watching Hayley with concern over the amount of alcohol she is consuming.

"Really? I would have guessed something like that. You seem like the type of person who would care for something. You certainly don't seem like the type of person who likes to hang out in places like this." Kevin has his head tilted downward, looking up at me, giving him a boyish appearance.

"Is it that obvious?" I giggle, turning my attention away from Hayley for the moment, and looking at Kevin. He really isn't that bad looking. He is certainly cute, with his light brown hair hanging in his face, his green eyes sparkling in the light, and I really love the dimples that form at the corners of his mouth when he smiles.

"Well, I didn't want to point it out." He grins, displaying those adorable dimples again. As he looks deep into my eyes; I am trying not to get completely lost in his. I can feel my skin flushing under his deep, penetrating gaze. I haven't had this type of reaction before to a man's gaze. I have certainly captured the attention of men before, but none have invoked this type of reaction. It makes me nervous.

I hear the crowd shouting and am desperately trying to figure out what is going on. I turn in the direction of the commotion and there is Hayley, up on the bar on the other side of the club, dancing, teasing everyone by lowering the strap of her dress off her shoulder. She is dancing seductively, leaning down toward the crowd, clearly drunk off her ass.

"Take it off!" The crowd is screaming, fueling her fire.

"Oh, shit!" I bolt toward the bar, clumsily climbing up to where Hayley is. "What are you doing?"

"Take it off!" The crowd continues to scream, causing me to be anxious over exactly how far Hayley will take this.

"Come on Katie, we are here to have fun, this is fun. Look over there at that asshole, he is interested in me now, isn't he?" she slurs, pointing over at Rick, who is standing with his arms crossed, appearing to be angry over the situation. He begins stomping his way over to us, shoving every poor soul that he comes into contact with out of the way.

"What the hell, Katie!" Rick yells at me over the roaring crowd. "What are you doing? I thought she is your friend, why are you allowing her to belittle herself like this?"

"Me! Incredible! You really are a prick!" I am becoming ever more aware of the fact that the situation is quickly getting out of control. "This is your fault. You lead Hayley on, while seeing other people behind her back." I can't believe the audacity of this jerk insinuating that this riot is my fault.

Rick's dark eyes suddenly seem solemn, as if my words actually hit a nerve. "Help me get her down."

At that moment, Kevin appears, "Let me help." He climbs up on the bar, swoops Hayley up in his arms, and hops down, handing her over to Rick. Then he turns toward me, arm extended, offering to help me down. I smile at him, taking his hand, and allowing him to lower me down from the bar. The crowd expresses their discontent by booing. I look over at Hayley, only to find her in a lip lock with the prick, as the crowd begins cheering again. Typical, but I can't help but smile to myself.

Looking over at Kevin again, "Sorry about my friend. She isn't usually like that." I glance sympathetically over at Hayley, thinking of all the things that Rick has put her through. It really upsets me, she loves him so much and would do anything for him, and he constantly takes advantage of that.

"Well, in Hayley's defense, it does look like she accomplished what she set out to do, you've got to give the girl some credit." Kevin motions over to Hayley, as he gives me that adorable smile of his, followed by a wink. "She's going to be okay." I knew she would, she is strong, stronger that I am.

"Katie, we're getting out of here" Rick states as Hayley is kissing the side of his face, holding his hand, causing me to wonder what happened to the girl he came to the club with. "Do you think you could drive Hayley's car home for her?" He hands the keys to me, I acknowledge by nodding my head, and watch as Rick and Hayley leave the club, hand in hand, looking so much in love. Why couldn't they always be like this?

"Well, it looks like it is just you and me now." Kevin points out while nudging me with his arm. I can't help but smile at him. "Would you like to go up to my office and hang out?"

"Sure." I look away from him quickly, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. He curves his arm out toward me, and as I lace my arm through his, he leads me up to his office. Once inside, I feel this overwhelming relief to be away from the crown downstairs and the loud music. His office is nice, it is a contemporary style, which suits him. He walks over to the sofa, and sits down, patting the cushion next to him, indicating he wants me to join him on the couch. I slowly walk over, feeling my face flush a bit, wondering why suddenly I feel shy. We spend the next several hours getting to know one another, I am surprised at how easy it is to talk to him, sharing things about myself that I haven't shared with anyone but Hayley. We laugh together at each other's embarrassing moments and are sympathetic with one another over the tragedies in our lives. It is getting late, and as much as I didn't want to go, I knew Kevin needed to get busy closing up the club.

"I really enjoyed hanging out with you tonight, but I am sure you need to be closing up, and I really need to be getting home." I rise to my feet, Kevin standing with me, giving me his irresistible smile. He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close to him. He looks into my eyes, taking his other hand, and placing it on the side of my face, rubbing his thumb along my bottom lip. Then he gently places his lips on mine. I close my eyes, my lips part, accepting his tongue into my mouth, as my heart pounds in my chest. His kisses start gently and passionately, but quickly grow aggressive as he keeps pulling me tightly against him. He groans while devouring my mouth. I feel his hand slip lower down my back, until he is cupping my ass, pressing me closer to him so that I can feel his arousal. He brushes his mouth down my cheek, kissing my neck, making me shudder with desire. His kisses begin to slowly move down my neck towards my breasts, I can feel him unhooking the halter top of my dress. "What am I doing?" I think to myself, I barely know this guy, so I pull myself away, breathless. "I've got to go", I nervously turn to head toward the door. He grabs my arm and spins me back around, searching my eyes for any clue as to what I am feeling. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he is being driven by a hunger that scares me. Although all my friends lost their virginity in high school, I hadn't. I have never been with a man like this, and frankly, it is scaring me to death. He slowly lowers his face to mine again, capturing my mouth, kissing me lightly while looking deep into my eyes. Is he trembling? Or is that me?

He brushes his lips across my cheek, towards my ear, and whispers, "I have never wanted someone so badly." In one bold move, he backs me up against the wall, and begins kissing me again, grinding against me, as he lifts my legs up around his waist. I can feel his erection through his jeans, and I am terrified, I have never been in this position before, and I feel like I am quickly losing control of this situation. I push his head away from me, looking into his eyes, hoping he can see how scared I am right now.

"Please, put me down." He slowly lowers my legs back down to the floor, the desire that was reflected in his eyes quickly turns to anger. He abruptly steps away from me and immediately walks over to the door, jerking it open.

"You couldn't wait to get out of here, go!" he snaps at me, causing me to quickly stumble toward the door, running down the stairs, to the nearest side exit. My heart is pounding in my chest, my legs are weak, and I am short of breath. Why is he so angry at me? It wasn't like I had teased him and walked away. I didn't ask for any of that to happen, it just did. I notice once the door closes behind me that I am in an alley, on the opposite side of the building from the parking lot where Hayley had parked her car. I am going to have to walk around the building to get to it. As I begin to walk down the alley, I am suddenly grabbed from behind, my mouth is covered by a hand, and I am forcefully pushed up against the wall on the outside of the building. I struggle to break free, but my hands are bound behind my back and I am forced down on the ground, my mouth still covered. I struggle to see, but the alley is dark, my tears begin to obstruct any chances of making out what is happening. I try to block it all out, as my clothes are torn from my body. I try to scream, but the harder I try, the harder the hand presses over my mouth, making it harder for me to breathe. I feel the pain of him entering me, as my eyes flutter and I drift from consciousness.