Perfectly Flawed (12 page)

Chapter 16

Everything was an electric violet, even Nell’s ivory satin dress. The booming rock of Volbeat’s “Fallen” vibrated the very walls of the club; even the dance floor was unsteady under the pounding. The
Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
album, one of Sean’s favorites, transcended life. It was larger than life—it was beyond, just as the title said.

Sweating, his heart pounding, Sean felt no pain. Surrounded by crowds of dancers he was barely aware of, letting his body bend with the deep bass of the song, Sean danced.
And danced. Nell rubbed against him, but he barely felt it. The song ended and the lights became a mesmerizing lavender.

It occurred to Sean that he needed another drink. The plan had been to stow the whiskey in the car; he hadn’t wanted to get Nell in trouble by sipping her cocktail at the table. Darn, it was inconvenient being under twenty-one.

“I need a drink, Nellie,” he shouted. Taking her hand, he pulled her toward the door.

Outside, he crossed the street. In the corner of an adjacent lot sat his Dodge. He could see Nic and Tomas inside.

“They beat us out here.” Sean stumbled in a rough patch of the gravel.

“Hope you guys don’t run out of whiskey. You’ll send me for more and I don’t want to leave.” Nell clung to his hand, barely keeping up with him.

“Naah. They left some for me.” Sean watched his friends get out of the vehicle.

“Just came out for a quick drink,” Nic said. “Better get back.
Left some beauties inside waiting for us.”

Sean dropped into the front passenger seat and fell back. “Okay, hope you left some for me.”

Nell stood by the car. Sean craned his head up and could see her long legs. Then he heard a whistle; it sounded like it was coming from a few cars over.

“Hey, baby,
wanna dance?” The gruff male voice posed a challenge to Sean. Some asshole was talking to his date.

Sean sat up in the car to see what was going on. Under the yellow parking lot lights, he saw four guys walking toward Nell. Behind them and to the left, both Nic and Tomas had stopped to watch.

“Sorry, buddy. I have a date.” Nell put her hand on her hip and tossed her thick hair over her shoulder. That should have been enough.

“That guy?
You can do better than that. Let us show you a good time, sweetie.”

That was it. Sean stood up from the car, weaving only slightly. “Back off. She’s with me.”

Sean was vaguely aware of Nic and Tomas moving in, behind the aggressors.

“She
was
with you.”

Sean stepped forward so that Nell was behind him. “I’ll handle this.”

One of the four stepped closer. It was dark outside, but the face looked familiar.
Tom Keene
. He was always a thug, and harassing women had been a sport with him. Sean hadn’t seen him in a long time. He thought he’d beaten some sense into him in high school, but maybe not.

“Sean,” the bully said. “Still think the women take to you, huh? Why don’t you let your girlfriend pick. Maybe she wants to go party with us. She’s a looker.”

Sean stepped forward. He was inches taller than Tom, but the guy was bulky. “This is the last time I’m going to say it. Back off. I thought you had better manners, Tom.”

When you do things enough, they become second nature. Sean knew that in a fight there was a tendency to become stiff and rigid, thus the punches connected with more force. Stay loose so
you can move with the effort and take less of a blow. Relaxed, confident, Sean took a step toward Tom and the three behind him.

Nic and Tomas fanned out behind the group of attackers. It wouldn’t be four against one, as Tom thought.
Though Sean was in a mood to take them all on. He was ready for a fight. Relished it, actually.

In street fights anything goes, and Sean had been in plenty. No rules. The best tactic was to get out of the fight as quickly as possible, and that meant taking shortcuts. Knowing Tom, kicking in the groin or plowing a toe into the opponent’s kneecap wouldn’t be above him.

But Sean had been enough clashes, and had even tangled with Tom before. Losing never occurred to him. He watched Tom move near, fists up. Then everything broke loose.

Two of the guys behind Tom hit the ground when Nic and Tomas jumped them from the rear, pinning them to the asphalt. Simultaneously, Nell sprang out from behind Sean and flew into the third guy. Her knee hit his groin just right and he doubled over.

Tom threw a punch at Sean, which he dodged. With the arm Tom had punched with close, Sean quickly stuck his leg behind Tom’s knee, thrusting a palm into his chin while pulling the back of Tom’s stringy hair, propelling him towards the ground with the momentum. When Tom’s head smacked into the gravel, he groaned.

“Like I
said, asshole. She’s with me.” Sean took Nell’s hand and began walking toward the club, noticing that the other three were quick to retreat, and not anxious to fight once the odds weren’t in their favor.

“Creeps,” Nell said, strutting across the rough surface in her high heels. Nic and Tomas walked a few steps ahead, not even breathing heavily.

Then from behind, Tom said, “I thought the fight was just starting.”

Sean turned and a meaty fist smacked into his right eye. In a split second, angling his right hand so it was perpendicular to his forearm, and driving it forward using his hip, shoulder, and elbow to generate force like a fulcrum, Sean drove the meaty part of his palm into Tom’s nose in one powerful motion.

Blood poured out, running over Tom’s face.

“I warned you.” Sean stood in front of his opponent, ready for his next move.

“I think you broke it.” Tom had his hand over his nose.

“Probably.
You’re lucky I went easy on you. It could have been worse.” Sean put his arm around Nell and headed off again.

“Idiot,” Tomas said. “I thought we left him back in high school.”

Nic just rolled his shoulders, working out the kinks after the encounter.

The evening went downhill from there. The unexpected interference had distracted Sean from the drink he went out to get. Probably just as well. He persuaded Nell to leave with him and go to a place two blocks over for some food. She moaned about leaving; she wanted to dance more.

Wolfing down the special of steak and eggs, Sean realized how hungry he was. He watched Nell pick at her fries and sip Pepsi. What was it with women and eating? The parking lot fight was probably fortunate. Had Tom and his sissy pals not shown up, Sean would have kept drinking. He’d been known to do it on more than one occasion.

As Sean ate, the alcohol wore off. Then he remembered why he was drinking in the first place.
Adrianna. Briefly, he’d numbed himself with his favorite poison: good whiskey. But it didn’t last. He wasn’t even fully sober yet and he was already thinking about her. He wondered if she was okay.

Somehow he knew she wasn’t.

“You owe me another dancing date.” Nell pouted.

Sean looked up. Her dark hair was tousled, but otherwise there was no evidence she’d been in a fight. Working at a nightclub had inspired Nell to learn self-defense. Her recent attacker hadn’t expected her to be able to defend herself. The thought made Sean smile.

“You pack a punch, Nell.”

“What, the kick? It’s pretty effective. Fortunately, I don’t have to use it often. But good to know for when I do.”

“Yep.” Sean grinned again.

“Well, that’s the first smile I’ve seen out of you all evening.”

“Just moody, I guess.”

“Well, we better get some ice for that eye. It’s going to swell more. You’ll be black and blue for a while. Tom does know how to punch.”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have given him the chance. Wasn’t paying attention.” Sean touched his eye and jerked his hand away. It did hurt.

*****

Nell was right: the next morning, Sean’s eye was black and blue. But she wasn’t there to see it. Mad and hurt, he’d tried to put Adrianna out of his mind. She’d ended it. What choice did he have?

So be it. The night before, Nell had been there and willing. Still semi-drunk, Sean had kissed her in his kitchen, leaning up against the counter. But it had felt all wrong. The only thing he could think of was the afternoon Adrianna had sat on that counter. He could still feel her knees pressing against his hips, and remembered her beautiful smile when he’d made the joke about drinking two sips of whiskey.

Wrapping his arms around Nell, he’d held her against his chest, at a loss.

“There’s another woman, isn’t there?”

“I guess. But she won’t have me.”

Nell had leaned back and looked up at Sean. “I can’t imagine.”

Sean had smiled at her.

“Well, if you give up on her, let me know.” Nell had slipped her heels back on, and Sean had taken her home.

Now, the morning didn’t look any more promising than the night before had. Sean was alone with his computer, determined to work if nothing else. What good would it do to call Adrianna? He had no idea what to say.

He tried to focus, but it was useless. And he didn’t even have the prospect of seeing Adrianna at the law firm. She’d said they could do the work from their respective offices. For the most part, that was true. The point was that there was no meeting set, thus nothing to look forward to.

The project for the law office had been coming along, but Sean was dragging his feet. He didn’t want it to end. It was the only attachment he had to Adrianna. If it finished, he might never see her, unless he decided to stalk her at that club she liked so well. Which was a definite possibility.

That day went by, and the next. Sean attempted to lose himself in the world of social media, putting in a lot of time on the contracts he had. In the back of his mind loomed the irrational idea that if he made good, Adrianna would come back to him. All along he’d thought she’d rebuffed him because he didn’t measure up.

It was crazy that living on a different street—going to a different church, residing in a different style of home—could create such a chasm. But it did. However, Sean intended to cross it. If he had his way, he’d be able to buy any home in Beacon Hill. Any home, anywhere. Adrianna would accept him, and he’d ace out her preppy dates.

On the third day, Sean was working on the setup work for the law firm, and called Emmett with a question. He could have emailed, but wanted to bounce around some ideas.

“Sean, good to hear from you. I’ve been seeing your daily emails. You’ve made a lot of progress.”

“Yes, I should be able to wrap this up soon.”

“That’s good to know. Although we will want to keep you on in a consulting capacity.”

“I can probably work that out.” Sean proceeded to go over a couple of things with Emmett, rapidly losing interest, unable to stop from wondering about Adrianna.

After he’d finished discussing what he’d called for, Sean said, “Have you heard from Adrianna?”

“Sure, every day.
You get her emails too, correct?”

“Yes. I just wondered, well, if she was going to bring any samples by.” Sean knew as he said it that it made no sense. Nearly everything could be sent electronically.

“No.”

Sean’s heart sank.

“But she is coming by around three just to drop off a couple of additional forms—employment stuff. I’m sure I’ll chat with her then, just to see if there’s anything new.”

“Sure. Sure. That sounds good.”

Sean’s heart raced. It was only two. He had time to make it. Quickly he changed out of his sweats, dressing for business—the business of winning Adrianna back. Sweeping his jacket up from the chair where he’d left it, Sean jogged to the garage elevator. He had no plan, nothing.

But if he could just see her.
Maybe. He’d think of something.

Traffic wasn’t too bad. His place wasn’t that far from the law office, but navigating the business district could be tricky. As it was, he made it there early. Glancing at the wall clock as he entered the lobby, he noticed it was two forty-five. Perfect.

Taking some deep breaths as the elevator glided upward, Sean felt momentarily silly. Racing in and saying he’d driven there as soon as he heard she was stopping by wasn’t too cool. Before he could think of a brilliant approach, the elevator opened. Inside the firm, a well-dressed brunette receptionist was on the phone.

Sean looked around but didn’t see Adrianna. It was unlikely she’d be standing in the lobby anyway. He drummed his fingers on the counter until the receptionist ended the call and looked up.

“Yes?”

“I’m here to meet Adrianna Brooks. She was supposed to see Emmett.”

“And you are?”

“Sean Reid. I’m working on the social media project.”

“Oh yes, Mr. Reid.”

“Has she arrived?”

“You just missed her. She was here, said she was early. But Emmett met with her and she left probably, uh, ten minutes ago.” The receptionist looked at Sean, but offered nothing more.

“Do you know where she went?” Sean asked, trying to sound calm and businesslike.