Not Broken: The Happily Ever After(104)

More people piled into the place, and we had to damn near yell to talk to each other over the volume of the music. A song I liked came on. Easing off my chair, I moved to stand in front of Mal to dance. His hands were on my waist, pulling me back between his legs. They moved over my hips, down to the hem of my dress, and then slowly made their way beneath it. Turning, I mouthed at him to stop before swatting his hand away. He’d been dying to know which panties I wore tonight.

“I have to pee,” Macy announced. She grabbed my arm, pulling me along with her. She groaned at the sight of the long line. “Why can’t we use the men’s? If you’ve seen one dick, you’ve seen them all, so what’s the big deal?”

I said nothing as I tugged her away from the men’s and took our place at the end of the line. We started dancing to the next song that came on. As we inched forward, a small wave of women walked out of the bathroom. Two of them were the ones who had made the comment about me being with Mal. The one I’d made eye contact with when we’d arrived stopped and looked me up and down with her lips stuck out in a twisted pout. I had no idea what her problem was, but I gave her the same stare down. She wasn’t bad looking—thick and curvy, wearing a pair of jeans that could have been painted on. If the bright red color of her shirt didn’t catch your eye, the deep V certainly would.

“What the hell you lookin’ at?” Macy asked.

Some of the other women in line turned to look. The woman’s friend pulled her away before she could respond.

“What the hell was that? You know her?”

I looked back and shook my head. “Maybe she likes my dress.”

Whatever her problem was, it wasn’t mine, and I wouldn’t dwell on it.

Macy linked her arm with mine as we headed back to the table. “So, I thought it’d be weird, but it’s not as bad as I thought.”

“What?”

“You and Mal. Seeing the two of you together, it’s good. You’re good. You’re happy. I can tell.”

I smiled and squeezed her arm. “I’m trying to…” My words died off when we made it through the crowd, and I saw that same woman standing near our table.

She wasn’t just standing there, she and Mal appeared to be having a conversation. The look on his face made it clear it wasn’t friendly. Mal looked at Mitch, who shook his head as he drank his beer. The woman’s friend had her attention on the stage, since the first karaoke performer had started.

“What the ever-lovin’ fuck? Is that the same skank from the bathroom?” Macy started to charge off, but I held her back. She looked at me as if I had grown a second head.

“Can you not go over there guns blazin’?”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I’m a big girl.”

She smiled. “All right then, Sally Badass.”

I wished I felt as confident as I sounded. My heart rate increased, and my stomach filled with anxious flutters. Not just over the idea of dealing with that woman, but also the questions in regards to Malcolm. He was talking to her. Did he know her? Had they hooked up at some point? Why hadn’t he sent her away?

The woman’s friend hit her arm when she spotted us. Macy walked over to Mitch. He wrapped his arm around her waist when she stood between his legs. The woman turned and had a smirk on her face. I walked around the table, avoiding going past her. The house music started up again while they waited on the next karaoke participant.

Mal slid over as I approached so that I would take the seat between him and the woman. He gave me a look that was either relief or a plea for help.

I turned to look her directly in the eye when I spoke, and hoped that the nerves wouldn’t be revealed in my voice. “Not sure what your issue is, and I don’t really care. I’m out trying to have a good time with my man and my friends. I suggest you take your thirsty ass elsewhere, because you won’t be getting a drink here.”

Macy choked on her laugh. “You said ‘thirsty.’ I am rubbing off on you.”

Mitch tried but failed to contain his own laughter. “He told you to go on ‘bout your business.”

I felt better hearing that Malcolm had told the woman to leave. Why was she so persistent in trying to pursue a man that was clearly taken?

“Sasha, girl, let it go,” her friend said, trying to pull her away. “It’s his loss, anyway.”

The woman, Sasha, gave me the same glare she’d given me at the bathroom. “You right. He ain’t nothing but a punk, anyway.”

Mitch tightened his hold on Macy. He knew as well as I did, she was ready to rip Sasha a new one. Malcolm shook his head laughing, but didn’t say anything about her comment.

“Ready to dance?”

He nodded. Then he took my hand and led me away from the table, leaving the woman and her friend behind like an afterthought.

The song was some fast club remix, but Mal wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close as if we were having a slow dance. My hands rested against his chest. As a barrier or as preparation to escape? I didn’t want to think the worst, but old habits were hard to break, and the what-ifs on why that woman had been so pushy ran rampant through my head.

“How much trouble am I in?” Mal asked.

“Do you have a reason to think you’re in trouble?”

His arms tightened around me. “I told her I was with someone.”