Damaged Beyond Repair by Kashmira Kamat (KittyKash) (ebook reader below 3000 .txt) 📖

   "It's really inappropriate to touch a woman without their permission. And my butt isn't your property." I had to shout over the loud music.

   "But, your body tells me you were enjoying yourself." He said leaning into my ear, passing me a heart-melting smile. 

   I rolled my eyes. My heart was beating so fast. What the hell was going on.

"Do I know you?" I asked in a weak voice.

  "I don't think you know me, but I know you. You're Alana Hayes, right? You go to Carmel University and work part time at Cherry Blossom day care center."

    Okay...I'm outta here. This was getting creepier by the minute. He might as well be Ted Bundy reincarnated.

    I excused myself and backed away from him. "I need to go."

****

"Who was that guy you were dancing with? Why the hell is he still looking here? Chez do you know him? He looks fucking hot and kind of reminds me of someone, don't you guys? " Nina fired a string of questions.

Chez and Nina were finally back after buying an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robins, and they had another glittery bag somewhere stashed near to where Gabriel stood. I was guessing it was my birthday present and they thought they were being sneaky about the whole present thing. I didn't want to burst their bubble.

"I can't see any guy. Who are you talking about?" Chez asked scanning his surroundings.

"You clearly need to get an eye checkup, Simmons" Nina said as she lit a huge candle shaped in the number twenty. "He is sitting right there in that love seat with his buddy and staring at us, like totally eyeballing the shizz outta Alana."

"Guys the cake is gonna melt." Gabriel reminded the two.

  "I should probably invite him to our celebration. What do you say, Alana? The more the merrier right?"

   "Have you looked harder? Maybe he is undressing Nina with his eyes, not me." I said and that shut Chez up and any suggestions that he was conjuring up about inviting him were blown off the window.

I knew what Chez was trying to do. He wanted me to forget our good ol' professor and fucking move on. And I was seriously getting tired of Chez suggesting me and pushing guys at me like an old granny who just wanted their grandchild to get settled and married once and for all.

  "No way." Nina laughed nervously, blushing with the idea that a hot guy was undressing her.

"I need some tequila." I said and Gabriel poured three glasses of red tequila, a dish of lemon and salt ready on the side. "What about you?"

"I'm on duty, darling. I can't."

"C'mon. It's my birthday. Just one for the road." I winked at him.

  Gabe looked across the room. "My manager is not here, is he?"

"Nope."

"I guess one shot won't hurt." Gabe passed that killer smile again, swiped the glass off the table and with a swift move he downed the drink and poured it back up. "You guys saw nothing, alright?"

"We saw nothing." The three of us admitted.

  "THE CAKE GUYS!" Chez yelled like a kid who had his pants on fire. "It's turning into a volcano. Whose crazy idea was it to light candles on a freakin' ice-cream cake?"

  "Yours." Nina told Chez.

  "Okay. I'm blowing the candles." I declared.

    I made a wish and blew the candles. They sang the birthday song softly while the DJ was playing a track by Bruno Mars. I felt like I was back in kindergarten again. I received one present from Nina and Chez and a small box from Gabe. I thanked them and we decided to have a tequila competition.

   A few drinks later, I was tipsy and talking too much at one time. Although Gabriel still seemed to be pretty sober even after sneaking all those drinks. I guess people matured with age. I took a swig directly from the bottle and felt Gabe snatching the bottle away from me.

    There were tears in the corner of my eyes as I realized that Rowan hadn't called. I expected a call from him at least on this day, but he hadn't even texted me. We hadn't been in touch for so long, and after my breakup I'd blocked him off every social media. I knew for a fact that Rowan rarely used it. But, I missed him.

   I climbed to my feet because my bladder was going to burst.

   "Where are you going?" Someone asked, probably Gabe.

  "Bathroom."  I stumbled my way through the crowd.

   I came out of the stall and splashed some water over my face. A group of girls were bitching about how the ex-girlfriends of their boyfriends were while applying layers of makeup. They didn't even look sixteen, how the hell did they even get in the club in the first place?

Then I staggered my way back outside the restroom, and when I turned a corner, I crashed into a hard body. A pair of strong arms held me steady. I glanced up to find the one person I'd wished to see on my special day.

"Rowan?"

***