“Yeah, that’s why—”
“Oh, I bet that’s why,” she retorted finally turning to look up at him but then quickly turned to Joseph because she could hardly stand to look in those hardened, yet infuriatingly sexy eyes for even another second. She was used to most guys towering over her, like Byron did but, in his case, he didn’t just tower, he had a huge presence about him. One she’d been beyond attracted to before, only now she hated it.
“Joseph. Can you help me out here, sweetie?”
“We were just gonna go park my car somewhere legal,” Byron urged.
Vannah scoffed at the irony. That he’d be thinking about legalities when he’d been ready to take advantage of a young, obviously very drunk girl was a joke.
“Listen, I don’t know what you think I was—”
Xochitl spewing out all her liquor suddenly as Byron jumped out of the way just in time interrupted whatever BS he’d begun to say. Even as Vannah held Xochitl’s hair as she continued to throw up by the side of the car, she couldn’t understand why she felt almost hurt.
For a moment, when Xochitl had begun to giggle, Vannah had started to feel hurt with her. If anyone knew how utterly infatuated Vannah was with this guy it was Xochitl. But then she reminded herself the girl was wasted. Watching her friend hurl out her guts made Vannah feel guilty about what she’d begun to think.
Byron handed her a handful of napkins. The kind you get from fast food places. “It’s all I have in my car.”
Ignoring her conflicting feelings, she took the napkins from him and handed one to Xochitl. Her spewing had finally ceased, but she needed to clean up. “Well, at least this happened here and not in an Uber on the way home.”
“You Ubered here?” Byron asked.
Vannah nodded as she smiled at her mortified looking friend. “Better?”
It was obvious Xochitl was still completely out of it, but at least she wasn’t hurling anymore.
“I can give you a lift home.” Byron offered just as the words begun to assault Vannah again.
It was obvious he wanted in her pants bad.
“No, way.”
“What? Wait—”
“I’ll take you home,” Joseph said interrupting Byron, then glanced down at Xochitl. “Can you walk? I’m parked a few blocks away.”
Xochitl started to pull away from Byron’s car, but immediately clutched onto Vannah’s arm and leaned back against the car again. “Oh my God. I’m so dizzy.”
“That’s okay, I can go get my car.” Joseph reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Will you be okay here without me?” He glanced at Byron then back at Vannah. “I shouldn’t be too long.”
“That’s fine,” Vannah said again determined to not look into those probing eyes. “We’ll wait for you.”
“Take my number down just in case.”
Tapping at her phone screen, Vannah added Joseph’s number into her contacts. She hadn’t decided on whether she’d be giving him her number yet, but she had no choice now, when she’d call or text him later, he’d have it. It wasn’t until Joseph was far enough away, that Byron spoke up again.
“You just met this guy?”
Glancing at him, Vannah refrained from breathing in deeply. As much as she’d fantasied about him, she hated how much better looking he was up close, damn it. She nodded but didn’t offer anything else.
“And you’re jumping in a car with him?”
With her jaw dropping open, Vannah shook her head. “As opposed to jumping in one with you? Someone who was about to take my drunk friend to park somewhere?”
“Yeah, so that we could—”
Byron jumped out of the way in time when Xochitl threw up again, but Vannah wasn’t so lucky this time. Xochitl got her right in the arm before she started whimpering. “Oh, Vannah, I’m so sorry.”
Holding her arm away from herself and glancing around for something, anything she could wipe it down with, Vannah shook her head. “It’s okay, hon.”
Byron wore that same soured expression Vannah knew she was making, as he rushed to the back of his car and the trunk popped open. “Here,” he said pulling out clothing and handing to her. Vannah took it and quickly started cleaning her arm. “I have more if you need more. I forgot I had my gym bag back here.”
Realizing she was cleaning up with his gym shorts, Vannah did her best to stay composed. “Maybe one more,” she said reluctantly but Xochitl had gotten her good.
This time he handed her a white tank like the one she’d seen him looking so delectable in at the gym.
“There’s no way that guys getting back here anytime soon,” Byron said. “Look at that backup.”
Glancing up at the parking lot of a street, Vannah had to admit he had a point. She frowned pulling her own phone out of her pocket. “Maybe I should just call an Uber.”
“Because it’s gonna be able to get through this traffic sooner than the other guy?”
“You can’t possibly expect me to be stupid enough to get in a car with you, can you?”
“Fine,” he said slamming his trunk shut and stalking toward the driver side door. “Suit yourself. My cars already here, but if you wanna wait an hour or more until you can get someone out here to pick you up, go right ahead.”
He got in his car as Vannah stood there struggling to pull Xochitl away from it, wondering how long they’d really be out there waiting. Just as fast as he’d gotten in his car, he opened the door and popped out. “No. This is bullshit!” He started around the car again and toward Vannah, looking just as much as a daunting hard ass, as his brother did in all those photos online. “I was trying to help your friend tonight.”
“Oh really? I heard you were all over her before you walked out of that party with her.”
“I was never in that party. I saw two guys trying to take advantage of her as I drove by.”
Vannah felt her bottom lip drop but recovered fast enough and turned to Xochitl. She was leaning against the car again looking like she might pass out. “Is that true?”
Xochitl looked right through Vannah, like she hadn’t the slightest idea what they were discussing.
“Yeah, it’s true.” Byron sounded even more annoyed now. “They were about to take her back inside and upstairs at the request of those idiots up there. You really think I could’ve just left the party, jumped in my car, and gotten back here that fast in this traffic?”
Turning up to where he first motioned, Vannah saw two guys sticking their heads out the window cat calling some of the girls down front. She then turned to the bumper-to-bumper unmoving car lot on the street. Unbelievably, she felt her heart speed up a little with the excitement that he might be telling the truth, and he hadn’t turned out to be a horny douche after all.
“Vannah, I don’t feel good at all.” Vannah turned back to Xochitl who was touching the beads of sweat on her forehead now with a wince. Her speech was getting more slurred with every word too. “My head is throbbing.”
“I wouldn’t put it past those assholes to have spiked her drink.” Byron’s comment made the feelings of panic squash the warm fuzzies Vannah had begun to feel.