Page 41 of Embriagado

My mouth felt dry and my throat sore, and so I rubbed it while slowly getting up. Realizing it was all a dream, I searched for my phone to find it tucked between the couch pillows. Grabbing it, I slid it open, the bright light hurting my eyes.

“Shit.” I squinted, then, with one eye half-closed, turned down the brightness so I’d be able to look at the screen. It was past 11:00 p.m., and seeing that I had a few new messages, I checked them out. The first was from Imani, a picture of her holding a bottle of tequila while asking if I was coming. Texting her a lame no with a snoring emoji, I then read the texts Nacio had sent me. That kid loved bombing me with crap and shit he found funny, like weird cat videos, so that was pretty much what I’d expected. What I didn’t expect was a blurry picture of Ariyan standing in a nightclub, some jerk pressed to his back.

Nacio

Isn’t that your boss?

My eyes widened, and I went back to the photo, zooming in on Ariyan’s face—yeah, that was one hundred percent him. The photo also confirmed something else, and that was that, at the very least, he liked men, too. Only it didn’t bring me any relief, and if anything, seeing some asshole grinding against what I’d decided was mine filled me with jealousy. Feeling like I’d been right-hooked, I checked when my brother had sent me that photo. Fuck. It had been over an hour ago.

Getting up, I pressed Call, already running to my room. The phone rang, my patience growing thinner with each second passing.

“Look who’s calling⁠—”

“Where are you?” I cut him off.

“Nice talking to you, too, asshole.” He tsked. “I take it that you saw my text?”

“Yeah.” Grabbing a pair of jeans from my bed, I put them on. “Where are you?”

“Why?” Laughter followed his words. “I thought you didn’t want to hang out with us.”

Clenching the phone tighter, I gritted my teeth. “Nacio⁠—”

“We’ve already left the club, but I’ll text you the address, okay? So don’t say I’m not a good brother.”

I closed my eyes, letting out a short breath.

“Thanks.”

A moment after we ended the call, he sent me the club’s name. It was one of those fancy places on the other side of town, but determined to take my chance, I wasn’t about to waste one more minute. Done getting dressed, I turned off the lights and ran out of my room and then the house to catch the fucking bus. It was at moments like this that I wished I had a damn car. Although currently, none of it mattered, as my mind was focused solely on finding Ariyan before some random dude got to him first.

This need to find him… It was more than that. After the dream I’d just had, it was a borderline obsession. What was going on with me? I had no clue. My body was basically throbbing to have something that wasn’t even mine, enough to get me out of the house in the middle of the night and go to a club across town, not knowing if Ariyan was still there.

He better be.

He better be, because I swore to God, I’d lose my fucking mind if he wasn’t.

11

SANTIAGO

Being Saturday night, the club was packed, and I barely got inside with the number of people lining up outside. Luckily, a guy I knew worked in the bar, and he helped me out through the back door.

Hip-hop music blared through the speakers, so loud that the floor vibrated to the beat. Fuck me, did I feel old. At twenty-one, I used to live in places like this, partying till dawn; now, I couldn’t wait to get out.

But I came here with a purpose, and looking around, I eagerly searched for Ariyan in the crowd. How hard was it to track a man with white hair who looked like a supermodel among so many ugly people? Turned out, extremely, and fifteen minutes into my search, the fear that he was already gone struck me.

Pissed, I gritted my teeth and looked around almost desperately. But then, like seeing the light at the end of a fucking tunnel, I saw him. Leaning against the bar, a drink in his hand, he was speaking to some ugly fucker. My eyes immediately latched onto the man’s hand that was placed on Ariyan’s waist, and I saw red. Per usual, my body acted before my mind came up with a plan, and I strode over there, ready to start a war.

“What the hell?” the man wheezed after I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back and away from Ariyan, who, to his credit, cared more about his cocktail than any of this.

“He’s not interested,” I hissed, voice low.

The man’s face twisted, a vein popping on the side of his temple. “The hell are you talking about⁠—”

“He’s not interested,” I repeated myself, and this time, it was enough to make this goon go and fuck himself.

Asshole.