Chapter 28

[vibe track: nero - satisfy]

The reflection staring back at Cameron looked sharp. Not just good, but... honed. Her fauxhawk was topped with a deep indigo, and she’d used more makeup than usual, especially more eyeshadow to bring out the tiny bit of blue that colored her steely eyes.

The tight, black, V-neck crop top she had on, along with her equally tight, dark blue jeans, were probably the nicest clothes she had. Not one hole, rip, or tear. She’d even washed them.

Henry had come along last night when she did her set at Moonlight. She hadn’t asked him to, but he’d wanted to, even though he clearly wasn’t into the club scene whatsoever. Judging by the Spotify playlist he listened to in his car, Cameron was pretty sure he’d been more of a hipster when he was her age.

I think he had fun anyway, though. I think.

She hadn’t had the time or attention to spare to really focus on him much, but when they did have the chance to dance behind the platform, she’d tried not to laugh at him — too much, anyway. He was too self-conscious to really let his body go.

Look who’s talking.

She didn’t really care if he was any good at it, though — whatever that even meant. She just liked hanging out with Henry in a place where she felt comfortable, a place where she could let herself go without worrying about how she might come off or that she might say the wrong thing.

Tonight, they were going just to dance. And Cameron had a plan to help him relax.

Originally, Cameron had hoped maybe Kendra could come along and the three of them could bond a little. She liked the idea of Kendra and Henry becoming friends. But Kendra was gone again this weekend.

When was the last time we just hung out? A month ago, probably? Maybe more?

The reflection in the mirror started to smirk at her as she thought about what a Henry and Kendra combo would be like on the dancefloor.

I need to see that someday.

While she hadn’t hung out with Kendra much lately, she and Henry ... well, they hadn’t hung out every night this week since he’d stayed with her on her mattress ... but they had most nights, usually at his place. That was the plan tonight, too. It’d become such a routine in such a short time that she didn’t even need to bring a change of clothes; there were already plenty she’d left on his floor.

I wonder if that’s gonna start to piss him off soon.

They definitely had different philosophies about what constituted “clean clothes.” And ... well, really anything with “clean” in front of it. That was something she thought might start to get on his nerves.

Cameron was ... happy. So happy that she could even admit to herself that she was happy — which ... maybe was a first. But she knew, even through her limited relationship experience, that the start of things had a way of masking what might become annoyances or outright problems later on. Of course, she was usually gone by the time that stage rolled around.

But she wanted to try and head those things off as best she could. Which was why even though she’d tried to make sure she looked as good as possible tonight, the only part of her that was out of place was on her upper arm — a nicotine patch that interrupted the top of one of her tattoos. It wasn’t really supposed to go on a tattoo, but there weren’t a whole lot of places on her body that weren’t tattooed.

Henry hadn’t ever come out and actually said he didn’t like to kiss her after she’d been smoking, but she could tell from his hesitations. And when she’d asked him about it, he’d ... been wishy-washy until finally admitting it. She liked kissing Henry. So he didn’t have to ask her — even if she did miss the ritual of it. The tradeoff was more than worth it.

It does not look great though.

Her phone buzzed, and she gave the mirror one more quick smile and a short, approving nod.

“Yo Bobo, you finally got your stool, huh?” Cameron smirked at the mountain of man sitting on a new, high-backed metal stool outside Moonlight’s backdoor. He slid off of it with a smirk to match Cameron’s.

“Yeah, they got tired of me complainin’ I guess,” he said with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

Cameron rubbed her hands together. She hadn’t brought any other clothes, figuring the stifling heat of the club would keep her warm well afterward, too.

“Cold as fuck out here,” Cameron said. “Gonna let us in?” She’d been DJing here since she was a teenager, and hadn’t paid to get in a single time.

Bobo didn’t show if he thought it was cold even in his impossibly tight shirt, seeming content to take his time while he examined Henry curiously.

“Who ya got here?” Bobo said playfully. Or as playful as Bobo could get.

Henry was holding a half-empty water bottle in one hand and the other was in the pocket of his black jeans. He always looked kinda... dad-ish, but tonight, with a dark green Henley on top, he was passing for a regular guy in his 30s, she thought. He gave a bashful smile and let Cameron answer.

“Henry,” she said. “My ... umm, boyfriend.” She shot a quick glance back to Henry, a little nervous he might be surprised by her description. But he wasn’t. He returned one of those subtle little smiles that was just for her. It made her want to smile back, but...

Not in front of Bobo. He’d never let me hear the end of it.

“Boyfriend” was enough on its own to make the bouncer’s eyebrows jump up. “No kidding! Huh.” He looked Henry up and down and Cameron snorted.

“What?” she said, challenging the bouncer to say whatever he was thinking out loud.

Then a look of realization washed over Bobo’s face and he snapped his meaty fingers, grinning widely at the two of them.

“I know where I’ve seen you!” His grin got broader as he turned back to Cameron. Despite the cold, she didn’t appreciate the heat in her cheeks all the same. “Lupi pickin’ up strays! Who woulda thought!”

He gave Henry a friendly smack on the shoulder — which almost sent him careening into Cameron — and then opened the door, still grinning at them both. “Ah I’m just playin’ my man — you two kids have a good time.”

As they entered the dingy back hallway, Cameron nudged her older boyfriend. “See? You’re a kid. Told you you could pass for young,” she said with a wink.

“Okay, Lupi.” He nudged her back.

“They know me by my work, what can I say.”

Heat and the smell of alcohol mixed with sweat hit them like a wall as soon as they walked in, the bass pounding in their ears already. Colored lights flashed to the beat out beyond the far end of the dim hallway. They could hear each other, but only if they got close and spoke loudly — just below a yell.

Cameron took Henry’s arm and stopped him before they went any further, alone in the corridor, and gestured for him to give her the water bottle.

After shaking it gently, even though the molly was already pretty well mixed in, she took a swig — carefully leaving just less than half of what had been there before. Usually she’d down the whole thing herself, but she figured she wanted to err on the side of too little rather than too much for Henry’s first time on MDMA.

He eyed the bottle warily as she held it out for him. They’d discussed it earlier and he’d been hesitant then, but wanted to try it. Cameron didn’t want to make him feel like she was pushing him into anything, so she wasn’t going to press him if he looked like he wanted to back out now.

“It’ll help you relax,” she reminded him, leaning into his ear so he could hear. She put her other hand on his cheek. “Trust me.”

The corner of his mouth crinkled, but he couldn’t hide his skepticism. Cameron was sure this would be good for him, though — to show him what she felt, what the music did for her. And they’d be able to experience it together.

He took the bottle and his sly smile spread a bit.

“Bottoms up,” he said with a shrug, and winced at the taste when he swallowed the rest.

Cameron angled in again with a subtle smile of her own, this time to kiss him. She wasn’t going to let anything go wrong tonight.

The dancefloor was thrumming, the lights and the people rising and falling and moving and pulsing with the beat — almost as one.

Even Henry, for the most part. He was looser, although Cameron could tell he wasn’t quite in the groove yet. They hadn’t been on the floor that long — she wasn’t really sure if he was even feeling the molly yet — but he seemed more natural. The DJ was good, and the vibe was perfect for how she wanted this night to go — uninhibited, unrestrained.

She stayed close to him, keeping constantly in contact with his body as they danced. He didn’t quite seem to know what to do with her, but that was okay. He’d stop thinking and figure it out as the night went on.

As she pressed her back into him, slithering along his frame, her hand drifted from his neck to his cheek. She looked up to his face, backlit by the laser lights that strobed over and onto the crowd. But he wasn’t looking back at her. He was looking across the crowded floor, barely moving.

Cameron followed his gaze to an unmissable woman in the middle of things, surrounded by a pulsating crowd who took their cues from her. The tall brunette was effortlessly classy in a gold, crocheted, cutoff top and a flowing, knee-length skirt with a slit that rose to her thigh. She seemed to have brought her own spotlight. Cameron snorted to herself.

Is Henry eye-fucking some bitch while I’m grinding into him? Wow. We’ll blame that one on the drugs, I guess.

She was more amused than threatened, even as her own eyes lingered on the woman, watching as her chocolate-brown hair twirled around her, revealing her face.

Then everything seemed to grind to a halt, the music and the dancers all stuck in a muffled slow motion. She recognized the high-voltage smirk behind the hair.

Holy fucking shit.

It’s Mal.

The relaxed sense of freedom Cameron had been reveling in went rigid all at once. Without looking up to his face again, she took Henry’s hand and pulled him back toward the bar, finding an open space to lean against. They could hear each other if they yelled here.

“How’d she even know I was here?” Henry said into her ear. Cameron was wondering that herself. Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter.

“I’ll take care of it,” she said. There was a tenuously restrained wildness in her boyfriend’s eyes that made her want to at least try to sound like she had it all under control. She hoped she did.

Looking for a bouncer she knew, she stepped away from him and craned her neck around the room from the pit where the bar was. When she spotted one, she turned back to Henry — only to freeze. Mal had noticed Henry, too, apparently, and was right next to them.

Mal paid Cameron no attention whatsoever, even though she was rubbing elbows with Henry.

“How’d you know I was here?” she heard Henry shout. But she couldn’t see his eyes well enough from the side to know what she really needed to.

“I didn’t.” Mal pointed out to the dancefloor and said something about a friend. Cameron followed her finger, as if that would tell her whether one of the people in the vibrating crowd was really a friend of hers.

The music had nothing to do with how hard Cameron’s heart was pounding in her chest. When she looked back, she wanted to take care of the problem in the speediest, most direct way possible: to throw it to the ground and drag it the fuck out — just like she had that bitch on her bed. Mal being here at Moonlight felt like a violation of her personal space in exactly the same way — invading one of the only places where Cameron could be herself without being self-conscious about who that was.

But ... she couldn’t stop staring at Henry’s ex-wife.

No ... his wife, she corrected, with not a little bit of spite.

Mal’s cheeks were trending rosy, her hair somehow still immaculate even though it had been flowing around her head just a minute ago. Her outfit looked like it had come off a mannequin — or maybe like something a mannequin would wear in a desperately inadequate attempt to imitate her instead. The electric grin she gave Henry seemed to light up the whole bar.

Cameron stole an unwilling, self-conscious glance at her own ensemble. The best clothes she owned. The ones her mirror had told her made her look good. Now ... now they made her feel... childish. Like some little girl playing dress-up.

“It’s so good to see you Andrew! I’m glad you’re out and about!” Mal said, brushing Henry’s arm with her hand. That sent a surge through Cameron, shoving the immobilizing thoughts from her head and forcing her body into motion. “Are you hitting the club solo or is Paul around here somewhere?”

Mal and Henry were standing with an inch or two between them just to be able to speak, and Henry was backing against the bar like he was trying to widen that gap however he could.

Careful not to let herself go too far, Cameron placed a firm hand on Mal’s shoulder and slid a foot between Henry and his wife.

For the first time, the taller woman noticed Cameron was even there, backing away at the contact, and then taking another step back when Cameron inserted herself into the tiny space between them. The expression on Mal’s face went from confused to ... surprised? And embarrassed?

“Oh my god!” she shouted so Cameron could hear. “I’m so sorry!” Then her eyes got wide as she looked down at Cameron, up to Henry, and back down to Cameron again. “Oh my God is this her??? Uhh...” she looked like she was trying to place Cameron’s name, “Cameron??”

Whatever Cameron was going to say, it was short-circuited. She pressed her lips tightly together and tried to keep from whipping around to Henry to ask, how the fuck does she know my name?? That wasn’t the point right now. She had to stay focused.

“Hey I’m sorry,” Mal continued, contritely, taking another step back to put in a little more distance while Cameron regrouped. She still had to lean in to be heard, though. “I didn’t mean to crash things! You guys have a great night!”

Cameron watched the older woman glide away, her hair flowing behind her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the long, sinewy legs protruding from under that sheer, chic skirt. Cameron didn’t particularly want to turn around and risk seeing if the look Henry was giving his wife was the same as when his eyes roamed her legs ... but she had to check on him before she went after Mal.

Annoyance clouded her face as she turned to him — and then quickly gave way. Henry’s face was roiling in contesting emotions, all of them desperate: fear, frustration... fury. Yes, she of all people could recognize that one when she saw it, even if she’d never seen it on him before.

Have I ever seen him angry at all before?

That was all the permission Cameron needed. This was the night when nothing was supposed to go wrong.

She took his hand so he would at least remember she was even there. “I’ll be right back,” she said into Henry’s ear.

Not waiting for a response, she strode into the throng. Mal was back where she’d been dancing before, meeting up with the friend she must’ve pointed out. A group of guys was already closing in around them.

As she approached, Cameron slid between them and wrapped Mal’s wrist in a solid grip from behind. The blinking laser lights illuminated the surprise on her face as the bass pounded to the rhythm of Cameron’s racing pulse.

“YOU GOTTA GO,” Cameron shouted, though she knew no one could have heard her. Giving Mal a slightly-more-than-polite tug, Cameron led her toward the hallway where they’d come in, feeling Mal stumble along behind her. If she hadn’t, Cameron wasn’t sure if she would have dragged Henry’s wife or not. But she was glad neither of them had to find out.