Chapter 318

• The nightclub is dark and booming, and we get in quickly. Even though we’re far from home, they know who he is, a common Carrero perk. I spot some well-known faces and gush when I realize there are some celebrities here, even more so when a couple of them wave his way. He’s holding my hand and pulling me through the crowds; Jake is never wary of unfamiliar places and new groups. He feels at ease wherever we go.
• I’m trying to go easy on the alcohol, but Jake’s a seasoned drinker who frequents the bar for top-ups faster than I can. He has me half-drunk already, and I don’t know how many times he’s pulled me onto the dance floor, everything bumping and thumping around me. He’s a good dancer, and even though we have danced close at times, I get the impression he’s trying to keep a gentlemanly distance. He’s still flirty and having the usual banter with me, but he has a definite coolness now that we’re here. He is also relatively sober compared to how I have seen him fall into hotel rooms after a night out.
• We’re dancing to a high-tempo song, and people he knows are around us. He seems to find acquaintances everywhere we go. The upside to having a famous face and traveler’s blood, I guess. We sit with some of the people he knows and share a few drinks before we get up to dance with a girl named Lolly, who can’t keep her eyes off Jake; it’s irritating. It only makes me snarky, and I find I have no warmth for the girl. I cut in a few times to dance in front of her with an invasive shimmy to save him from her wandering hands anytime she gets too close to him. Jake seems amused and pulls me close to let me dance against him, oblivious.