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Chapter 11
When we arrived at the club everyone was waiting outside for us. Leighanne was sitting on Brian's lap on a bench that was right by the door leading inside. AJ was talking with a really pretty brunette off in a corner, and Kevin and Howie were talking amongst themselves looking at their watches and pagers every few seconds. We parked the car and walked over to where they were all standing.
"Sorry we're late," Nick said holding my hand and looking around.
"It's cool," Brian said smiling. "Where did you end up going anyways?"
"To the spot where D showed us earlier," Nick answered.
I smiled, and Leighanne noticed how happy I was.
"What's that smile for? Come on, girl, tell me!" she said anxiously.
"It's just that Nick was a real sweetheart tonight."
Nick blushed and I went onto explain all the food that he bought, and how he had set it up.
"Awww, Nicky!" everyone said in unison.
Nick rolled his eyes, blushing a little bit from embarrassment.
I looked at the pretty brunette that was standing next to AJ and then looked at AJ with a look as to say 'Are you gonna introduce me?'
"Uh, Yeah! Sorry!" AJ said in a rush. "This is Amanda Laytona, my girlfriend." He looked at my face for a reaction, but was surprised that I didn't show any hatred towards her. I was annoyed at first that he had a girlfriend, and kissed me anyways, but now that I think about it it's no big deal. I had Nick, and AJ had Amanda. If we were happy, that's all that mattered.
"Hey Amanda," I said holding my hand out to her, "I'm Rebecca Wyman."
"Hello, Rebecca. Are you a friend of the guys?"
"A friend, and a girlfriend," I said smiling up at Nick. He smiled at me and nodded his head in agreement.
"Hey Amanda!" Nick said hugging her. "Haven't seen you for awhile."
"Yeah, no kidding. AJ and I were having some problems, but we've worked out our differences, and now we're cool. So, you'll be seeing a lot more of me." She then turned to me and added "I'll probably be seeing a lot more of you from now on, too, right?"
"Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that," I corrected, "I mean, yeah you will, but I don't know if you'll be seeing me much on their tour."
"How come?"
I looked at Nick and then turned back to Amanda and said "Long story."
She smiled at me. "I understand."
"Now, how about we go inside now, and get this party started!" Nick said waving his arms in the air frantically, and doing Will Smith's trademark 'Jiggy' dance.
"You guys go on ahead," Howie said, "We'll be there in a minute."
Kevin looked at his watch annoyed and just heaved a small sigh in exasperation.
I was confused as to why they were staying behind but knew that I would soon find out, so I didn't worry about it very much. Leighanne got off of Brian, and she helped him up. AJ put his arm around Amanda and led her inside, with the rest of us following closely behind.
Right as Nick and I were about to step into the club he asked with a serious tone "Does it bother you that AJ is with Amanda?"
"Not at all. I have the man I want to be with, and that's all that I need." I gave him a reassuring kiss, and he seemed completely satisfied, because he opened the door for me, and once again I was greeted by loud music, a huge dance floor, smoke in the air, and way too many drunk, and passed out people. As I walked farther into the huge room I had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was going to happen that night. Back then I didn't know what exactly, but I just knew that it wasn't going to be anything that we would look back on and laugh about.
When we finally got situated at a table near the back, AJ, Brian and Nick left and went to the bar to get some drinks leaving Leighanne, Amanda, and myself sitting at the table.
"So, you have fun tonight?" Leighanne yelled into my ear.
I loved going clubbing but the only thing that I really couldn't stand was having to yell just so you can hear the person sitting right next to you. That, and the stench of cigarettes that covered all of your clothing when you left the club were things I hated the most.
"Yes!!" I said with a grin on my face.
Leighanne opened her eyes up wide and said with a stern look on her face "Did you two have sex??"
"NO!!!"
"Good!"
"We were close to it, but didn't because I wasn't ready."
"What!?" she said cupping her ear so that she could hear better.
"I SAID.. We were close to having sex but didn't because I wasn't ready."
"Come again!"
I rolled my eyes and repeated myself once more, this time ten times louder. I knew she heard me that time, because she jumped back, whacking Amanda on the head with her arms.
"OK, that was just a tad too loud!" She turned to Amanda and mouthed "Sorry."
I laughed, and just rolled my eyes. I leaned over Leighanne, resting my elbows on her knees, so that Amanda could hear me, and shouted loudly "Want to go dance!?"
They both nodded their heads and we strode over to the dance floor hoping the guys could find us in the big crowd of people.
Leighanne, Amanda, and I were dancing in a small circle to the beat of Jay-Z 'Can I Get A...' This was one of my favorite songs, and it seemed like it was Amanda's also, because she knew all the words and was singing along with Jay-Z, as was I. I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me, and we continued to dance and sing at the top of our lungs. As we danced we got pushed farther and farther into the huge crowd of people that were on the dance floor. I really was clueless as to why so many people were there on a Sunday night. It really baffled me, but I didn't give it much more thought because I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I assumed it was Nick, so I turned around and with me eyes shut gave the person I took for Nick a huge kiss on the lips. When I looked up at the person I found that it wasn't Nick, but the guy that had hit on me the previous night. The tall, blonde guy that had told me: "I'll see you on the dance floor, for a little bit of fun.." The guy that had scared the shit out of me. And here he was, again, making me feel very uneasy.
I just looked at him, and then turned my back and began to dance again. I felt a tap on my shoulder again, and I spun around.
"What!?" I yelled annoyed.
"Want me to get you a drink?"
"I already have one!"
"Want another one?"
"No!" I turned around again, and once again, began to dance.
I felt a tap again, and spun around once more. "What do you want now!?"
"I want to buy you a drink."
"If I let you buy me a drink, will you leave me alone?"
"What do you want?"
He had ignored my question. I don't know why, but he had. Which made chills go through my spine.
"Glass of wine."
"Come with me."
"No, I'd rather stay here with my friends."
"What friends?" he asked surveying the area.
I turned around and Amanda and Leighanne were not there. Where had they gone? They had just left me with this asshole? Without even seeing what he wanted? No, there was no way. They must have just been pushed by the crowd. Since I couldn't find them anywhere, reluctantly, I agreed to go with him to the bar. He grabbed my hand and I jerked back, keeping my hands by my side. I didn't want this crazy guy touching me. The only reason I was even letting him buy me a drink was for the mere chance that he would leave me alone.
We walked to the bar, and sat down at the stools. He ordered my drink, and one for himself, paid, and turned his attention to me. He stared at me intently, looking me up and down, and up and down, and up and down.
"Would you please stop looking at me! You're making me feel uneasy." I yelled into his ear.
"Why? Your a very pretty lady. Is it wrong that I have the hots for you?"
"Well, yeah. I have a boyfriend."
"I know. But he doesn't have to know..."
"He's in this club right now, and if he knew that you and I were talking, and you were saying these things to me, he would freak. He wouldn't like it."
"That's why I wanna get out of here, before he catches me." He then gave me a wink.
I grabbed my drink from the bar, and quickly got up from the stool to leave. I felt his muscular hand grab at my wrist and he pulled me back to him, spilling my drink all over the place in the process.
"Get your hands off of me!!" I pulled back trying to free myself, but his grip just became tighter, practically stopping my circulation.
"Oh, come on.. You know you like it." He licked his lips and raised one of his eyebrows. "Let's go."
"NO!!" I pulled back once again, but could not free myself. His grip was growing tighter by the second as he pulled me all the way to the front of the door. "Let me go!!!! NOW!!! I swear, if Nick saw you right now, he'd kick your ass!"
"Well, he's not going to see me, because we'll be long gone by the time he figures out that your not here. Besides, he's probably with another girl right now, so don't feel bad."
We had almost reached the door.
"That's not true! Nick isn't like you! He actually cares about my feelings, and what I want!"
"Well, unfortunately for you, I'm not that type of guy."
He grabbed my waist, and pulled me close to him, all the while tightening his grasp. He smiled at the bouncer as we passed and I tried to signal for his help, but he didn't do anything, other than smile at me, and give me the thumbs up sign. By this time I was so petrified. I didn't know what I was going to do. What he was going to do to me. Where he was going to take me. All these things were flashing through my head as we walked out to his car.
Then, all of a sudden, like an angel sent from the heaven's above I heard two very familiar voices call my name. I thanked the Lord and looked at who was calling me. I looked at my angels, and realized that it was Howie and Kevin. They were still outside. I remembered Howie saying "You guys go ahead we'll be there in a minute." I still had no clue why they were out there, but at this point in time, I didn't care.
"Help!" I called out to them while struggling to get out of his grasp that was around my waist tightly. "Let go of me!!!" I bit his upper arm and he let go of his grasp but only for a second. He gave me an angry look, and pulled me back into his arms.
The tall, blonde, who's name I didn't even know at the time hardly had time to realize what was happening. Everything happened so quickly, that I hardly realized what had happened. The next thing I remembered was me being on the ground, finally free, with the guy lying down next to me clutching his sides. Apparently one of my 'angels' had hit him hard... Right smack dab in the ribs.
Howie ran inside and called the bouncer out. The bouncer who's name tag read 'Steve' grabbed the guy by the arm, pulled him up, and sat him down on the bench. He grabbed his walkie talkie and said something, very rushed, which I barely was able to hear. A couple of seconds later two police officers came running out of the club, and hand-cuffed the guy, dragging him over to their car which happened to be parked right out on the curb of the club. They threw him in, and walked over to where we were standing. Kevin had helped me to my feet, and I was brushing myself off.
"Thank God you two were here! God only knows where I would be right now if you weren't," I said shuddering at the thought.
I felt Howie's arm go around my shoulders, and he hugged me warmly. "Thank our dates who stood us up. If they hadn't, then we would have been inside with the rest of you."
One of the police officers spoke up. "That man, that we just arrested, was a man that we have been looking for for over 5 months now. He's been heading from state to state attracting women by his good looks and charm, and luring them back to his hotel room where he then rapes and kills them."
I opened my eyes wide. "You mean.. That---I--could have been his next victim?"
The cop sadly nodded his head. "Thanks to your friends here, you weren't."
"Yeah, thanks so much, guys!" I gave them each a hug, and clung onto them because Nick wasn't there to cling onto.
"We're going to need you to come to the station for questioning, alright?
So will you please follow us in your car?"
Kevin answered. "Yeah, we'll be right behind you, sir. We just have to find our friends first, and then we'll come."
"Alright, that's fine. Don't be too long. We need any information you can give us."
With that, they turned and went to their car and drove off with the crazy guy.
I still was so shaken up, I could hardly move. Kevin instructed me to sit down with Howie on the bench while he went to look for the others, to let them know what had just happened, and that we needed to leave right away. I didn't object and sat down next to Howie resting my head on his chest, while he stroked my hair and told me that everything would be OK.
"Oh my god!!! Rebecca!!!" I heard Nick's frantic voice yell. He ran over to me with my handbag in his hands, grabbed my hands to pull me up, and then picked me up off the bench and hugged me like there was no tomorrow.
I hadn't cried, which was very surprising considering the kind of sensitive person that I was. But being in Nick's arms made me realize that if Kevin and Howie hadn't been outside, I might have never seen him again. That's when reality kicked into place and all the tears began to flow. I cried for what seemed like forever in Nick's arms, resting my head on his shoulder, and using his suit as my own personal Kleenex.
He finally put me down on the ground and shouted "God what an asshole!! I can't wait till' I can get my hands on him! I'll fucking kick his tiny, pathetic, puny, little ass!! I just hope he knows who he is dealing with.."
I had never seen Nick get so angry. Usually he was calm, sweet, and rational, but not now. He was so upset at what had just happened to me. It was the sweetest thing. This really proved his feelings for me.
"Nick, calm down," AJ soothed.
"No, I'm not going to calm down, Bone! If Kevin and Howie weren't here, she could have been raped, or even worse--" Nick paused, looked around and whispered, "k-i-l-l-e-d."
Kevin had taken them all into the girls bathroom to discuss the whole thing, because no one could hear a word he was saying while at the table where everyone was seated. So, Nick knew exactly what had happened.
I shuddered at the thought of me being killed, and shut my eyes, rocking myself back and forth, shivering at the thought. Nick pulled me into his arms once again, and hugged me to keep me warm, and sane.
As I was in his arms I looked at everyone's faces around me. Brian was holding Leighanne's hand tightly, with a pale expression on his face, Leighanne had broken down into tears, AJ was in shock, and Amanda just had her eyes open in fear.
"Come on, guys," Howie ordered, "we have to go."
Nick was still holding my hand bag with his left hand, and with his right he was clutching onto me like it was the end of the world. I think he was fearful of letting me go, because of the fact that something like that could so easily happen again. It scared him, and it scared me also.
Leighanne and Brian piled into Howie's car, and AJ and Amanda went in Kevin's. Nick and I of course were in his Durango. The whole way over to the station we were silent. I was thanking God silently in my prayers for watching over me, and later on I found out that Nick was doing the same exact thing.
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