Page 97 of Conquest

Jesse tried to jerk his arm free. Ryan held on and smiled at him, the gesture making him more uncomfortable rather than putting him at ease. He felt Ryan press a small plastic bag into the palm of his hand.

Ryan put his lips to Jesse’s ear again. “I have more, if you want. We could have a hell of a party when you’re ready to get out of here.” He released Jesse’s arm and gave him another grin as he maneuvered back toward the bar.

Jesse looked down at the tiny bag in his hand. He had never tried ecstasy, but he had seen it enough in clubs to know that’s what the two small white tablets in the bag were. He closed his hand in a fist around the drugs and staggered off the dance floor. He reached the stairs to the second level, managed to only trip on the last one, and went to the table. He crashed down in the booth, almost sitting on top of Brandon.

“Hey! Why aren’t ya dancin’, super dancer boy?” Jesse asked, his words slurring.

“It’s time to go,” Brandon said. “You have a tour bus to catch in the morning, remember?”

“Ya think it’s gonna leave without me?” Jesse laughed. “And I can’t leave now. I haven’t found anyone to have sex with yet.”

Kenny let out a derisive snort. “Dude, you’re so wasted, I doubt you could even get it up.”

Jesse snatched Kenny’s hand with reflexes that seemed far too quick for his drunkenness. “I’m hard right now. Feel.”

Kenny twisted his hand out of Jesse’s. “Idiot!”

Jesse burst out laughing and crawled over Brandon’s lap on his hands and knees to get to the part of the booth closest to the steel railing.

Brandon pressed back away from him. “Will you sit your ass down!”

Jesse ignored him and knelt on the seat with his back to the table. He hung his torso over the railing, waving down at the dance floor with both hands, and yelled, “Hey! Does anyone wanna have sex with me?”

Brandon grabbed Jesse around his waist and pulled him from the railing. Jesse fell on top of him, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

“Brandon, look, look,” Jesse said between laughs. He brandished the tiny bag of ecstasy before Brandon’s face. “That bartender guy gave ‘em to me.”

Brandon ripped the bag out of his hand. “That son of a bitch! Did you take any?” He grabbed Jesse’s face in both hands, looking intently into his eyes. “Did you?”

Jesse shook his head as much as he could in Brandon’s hold.

Brandon gazed at him for another moment, then released him. He flung the pills over the rail to the fall on the dance floor and looked to the others. “We need to get him out of here.”

“Brandon, Brandon,” Jesse said, tugging on Brandon’s arm. “I gotta pee. Come with me to the bathroom. I don’t want that guy to follow me in there.”

Brandon rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair in exasperation. “Alright. But then we’re leaving.”

Brandon slid out of the booth, waited for Jesse to clamber out, then followed him down to the first level. He walked close behind him to not lose him in the crowd as they worked their way to the restrooms. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the bartender weaving his way between bodies behind them.

Brandon faced forward, hoping his body remembered enough karate to react if the guy tried something and wishing he hadn’t quit practicing it. The guy looked to be around six feet tall and built with solid muscle. If it came to a physical confrontation, he knew he wasn’t going to get out of it unscathed.

As they neared the restroom, Brandon glanced back to see the bartender was just a few feet away. He decided he didn’t want to start a fight in the restroom. The last thing he needed was to get his head cracked open on a porcelain sink or his face smashed into a mirror. He turned fully around, prepared for a fight.

An elbow shot out of the crowd and nailed the bartender in the nose. The guy’s head snapped back, he fell to the floor howling in pain. He covered his nose with both hands, but it didn’t staunch the blood from pouring between his fingers. Brandon didn’t need to get a closer look to know the guy’s nose was broken. He turned his eyes to the crowd to see who had hit him and caught the flash of a white New York Yankees logo on a navy baseball cap before the wearer vanished among the people. Brandon exhaled all his breath in a shocked gasp.

He felt Jesse’s hand on his arm and looked at him. Jesse stared in the direction the Yankees cap had disappeared.

“Jess?” Brandon said hesitantly. “Did you see someone?”

“I thought…it felt like…” He shook his head and looked at the bartender.

Kenny and Julian shoved their way through the crowd.

“Jess!” Kenny yelled. “Are you okay?”

Jesse nodded slowly.

Brandon grabbed Kenny’s and Julian’s wrists. “You guys watch him. I’m going to pay our tab so we can go.”