Rebound Pt. 02

The music never stopped but at some point the anonymity of the crowd became less appealing and I searched in vain for Darius in the sea of sweat and mesh. He must have gone out for a smoke- I couldn't see him anywhere in the bar, so I tumbled out onto the balcony and sat down on the nearest table while I scanned for him.

"Nate?" I glanced down at the person sitting next to me and giggled weakly.

"Jude??" He was wearing normal clothes and my eyes bugged out. I'd never seen him not in a suit. Even at the shelter he was all business casual but here he was... in a t-shirt and jeans with a flannel wrapped around his waist. It was too weird. I laughed at him. "What are you wearing?!" He laughed back.

"Could say the same to you." He frowned as he looked at me. "That's obscene." I grinned and leant back on the table.

"Hot though." I winked at him. He gave me this strange little smile and took a drag on his cigarette.

"Yep." He said. "Devastating actually." I glanced at him- unsure if he was being serious or just teasing me. He wasn't looking at me at all.

"Why are you here?" I asked, absentmindedly helping myself to his cigarettes that were on the table. He pulled them off me laughing.

"You said you'd quit!"

"Dammit! I have too." I sighed and let him pry them out of my hands. I shivered as he touched me. "Shit, you're so cold. Need a..." I glanced down at myself and realised I didn't have a jacket to offer. "Hug?" I suggested. Jude gave me that weird look again. He laughed as I grinned and launched myself around him. "You should really put this on if you're gonna spend all night smoking out here." I murmured as I placed myself on his lap and draped his flannel around his shoulders. He laughed and half fought with me, but let me straddle him eventually. I sighed and pressed my head to his neck. "You're the perfect size for me." I rambled on. "Perfect height, perfect arms, perfect chest." Jude laughed.

"You're always a little spacey, Nate, but whatever you're on isn't helping."

"What do you mean whatever I'm on?!" I blushed and Jude laughed.

"Oh yeah, your pupils look like that because of the wine huh?" I blushed and started to reply when I felt myself scooped of Jude's lap and found myself in Darius' arms.

"D!" I grinned. "God I was looking for you, asshole. Come dance with me." He laughed.

"Home time." He said. I fought with him and he leant in close to my ear. "You're grinding on your boss." He whispered in my ear. "Think it might be time to go before you do anything really dumb." I laughed as I glanced at Jude. Oh. Oops. I guess my brain was still a bit....

"That bad?" I double checked with Darius. He grinned and caught my arms.

"Come on." He muttered as he wrestled me gently out the door.

We got to my place and I was feeling sober-ish again. We collapsed on the coach and drank some more, winding each other up with never have I ever and that sort of thing. Darius' words were slurring and he was starting to say mean things, not just dumb things so eventually I grabbed his hand and suggested bed.

When I peeled off my clothes his hands were all over me.

"Had a good night." He panted. "But you need to know something Nate."

"Yeah?" I grinned. How was she so hard when he was so drunk? His body is like, wired for constant sex I swear to god.

"I don't like my boyfriend all over some other guy." He growled at me. I looked at him in confusion and turned red as my brain caught up and I remembered my loved up interaction with Jude from earlier.

"Oh... D.... I wasn't...." He cut me off, shoving me hard against the wall. "D!" I fought back- but he's always been way stronger. He wasn't smiling anymore. He had a bleary, angry expression on his face and as I twisted in his arms my chest went real tight all of a sudden. Oh fuck. It's not like I didn't know he got in fights when he was wasted. Hell- we'd been in fights when he was wasted... but he'd never looked at me like this before. Like he really, truly hated me. "D... come on..." I didn't get much out before he interrupted with an I suppose not entirely unexpected blow to the face. I think I heard something crack.

"Fuck!" I yelled as my head slammed against the wall and I lost my balance. My ears were ringing and I groaned as I let myself slump over. Ugh. Shit. I never expected him to actually... Darius put down a hand to help me up and I wriggled away from him. "Fuck off." I mumbled.

"Nate." He sighed. "Nate, I won't hurt you. Come to bed baby." I glared at him, way too shocked to respond, or feel panic or do anything other than sit there, breathing heavily. "Nate." He knelt down beside me.

"You won't hurt me?" I pushed him away. "Then what the fuck was that, asshole?" He bent in and cradled my cheek where it was still pulsing and hot. I froze, and he reached out and put his arms softly around me.

And if I'd been sober I would have run. But I was so tired. I let him pick me up, and we lay in bed, and sooner rather than later we both drifted to sleep.

---TBC----