Page 136 of Everything She Wanted

We’re talking mostly about nothing important, but he’s easy to talk to and it’s kind of nice to have a guy’s attention and not have to worry about Eshaan telling me what a whore I am.

A nice distraction from my fucked-up life.

We keep talking, and suddenly the bar around us gets crowded, and I lose track of how many drinks we’ve had. When he leans over and asks if I want to go back to his place, I find myself again saying yes.

I think about how principled I’ve been over the years, and where it’s gotten me. Engaged to a guy who’s been cheating on me for months, and in love with a guy who couldn’t even commit until the last moment, and who knows how long that would have even lasted.

I get up and realize I’m unsteady on my feet. Lumberjack takes my hand in his and leads me out of there, but it’s crowded, and I’m stumbling as we move through the crowd and tables.

We’re almost out the door when I lose his hand and stumble straight into someone else.

“Nisha?” Piercing sea blue eyes are staring back at me, and I wonder if I’ve finally lost my mind. “What are you doing here?”

I don’t know if I say anything, but we stay like that, staring at each other until Lumberjack appears again.

“She’s with me.”

“She’s wasted, man, seriously,” Nick says in a harsh tone.

Lumberjack stands there looking at us and then makes the split decision to leave me with the altruistic stranger. He doesn’t take his eyes from mine, and I forget who I was even talking to before or what I’m doing here.

“How much did you have to drink?”

“Not much,” I say, but the words slur.

I finally realize that I should leave, and I try to move toward the door, but before I know it, Nick is in front of me.

“How are you getting home?”

“I’ll take an Uber.”

“Let me drop you off.”

“No.” I try to shove him away, but I realize I can’t balance without him, and I end up leaning into him instead. He puts his arms around me to steady me and leads me out the door, onto the cold street, and then into his car, which is parked nearby.

I’m so tired.

“Where’s your bag?”

“I don’t know, I think I left it at the office.”

“Is Rachel home?”

I don’t why he’s asking me all these questions.

“She’s out dealing with a client thing until midnight.”

I can barely form coherent sentences, and Nick reaches over to do my seat belt.

I wake up and we’re in a parkade, but it doesn’t look familiar. Nick’s next to me. I realize I must have passed out while he was driving here, wherever this is.

“Where are we?”

“My place. You can sober up here, and I’ll drop you off when Rachel’s home.”

I want to protest, but my head’s spinning. He comes over to the passenger side and helps me out, walking me to the elevator on my swaying legs. I’m tipsy on my heels as we step into the building and he pulls me closer to steady me. I rest my head on his shoulder.

This is nice. I don’t know why this feels so nice.