Following Isaac Read online

  I honestly didn't know how to answer. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

  Her smile faded. "I came for you. Shane thought that… he called and asked me to… "

  "Shane set this up?"

  "Yes. He thought you might want to see me, and I wanted to see you too, so here I am. I came all the way out to New York, and here I am, standing in front of you." She looked around, waiting for my reaction.

  With no further hesitation I wrapped my arms around her waist and hoisted her onto my chest. She started to protest, but I held her securely, and she quickly stopped squirming. I put my mouth right next to her ear.

  "I seriously can't believe you're in my arms right now, Becca. It feels like I'm trippin'. I pulled back to stare at her face again before coming in close to speak in her ear. "Here's how it's gonna be, so listen carefully. In just a second, I'm gonna set you on your feet. If you intend on leaving me again at any point in the future, then I want you to do it now. If you don't walk away when I set you down, then I'm gonna assume that you regret all that dumb shit you wrote in the letter and you want to be with me. If you don't walk away when I set you down, I'm gonna assume you're mine, do you understand that?"

  She put her mouth next to my ear when she said, "Yes," and the feel of her breath was enough to drive me crazy.

  "Don't walk away," I said before I set her down.

  "I won't," she said.

  Chapter 17

  Becca

  Isaac and I were yelling over the music. There was utter chaos going on around us, including some girls who were still trying to touch him and dance by him even though they could clearly see his attention was focused on me. He'd only a second ago realized who I was. He picked me up, which was still a nightmare even though I knew I was light enough not to worry about it now. When he had me there, he made me promise that I wouldn't leave him again. I found it easy to make the promise even though I should have been terrified of it.

  "Come on, let's go talk to Shane," he said. He reached out for my hand and pulled me through the mass of people. The dance floor was so packed that girls felt like they could get away with groping and rubbing up against him. I honestly couldn't believe the nerve—especially when he was holding my hand and dragging me along.

  At one point, a couple of girls strategically moved between us, physically forcing us to break contact. Before I knew it, a wall of people separated Isaac and me. I sighed and continued heading in the same direction, figuring I'd find him eventually. Then I saw him. He was looking annoyed as he elbowed his way through the wall of women who separated us. He held out his hand. This time, when I gave him mine, he pulled me to his chest, and wrapped his protective arm around me.

  We headed off the dance floor and away from the chaos. I recognized Shane before he even noticed we were coming, but by the time we got close, he caught sight of us and stood up. The girl who was sitting half on Shane's leg was forced to move when he stood, so she stood up beside him. She looked me over with a scowl and I did my best to smile at her.

  Isaac shook Shane's hand and nodded a greeting at the girl. "What's up Mindi," he said.

  She smiled. "I'm trying to talk his lazy butt into dancing with me." She cut a look at Shane and poked his shoulder. "I don't even know why we come here if he wants to sit over there the whole time."

  "I told her we'll go in a minute."

  "Well I'm going to the bar to order a drink," she said. "I need a change of scenery."

  He rolled his eyes at her before looking at Isaac. "I told you I had something for you," he said, with a smug smile and a glance at me.

  Isaac shook his head. "I can't believe you did this," he said. "I swear when you gave me thumbs up out there I didn't even know it was her. I was dancing with her because of the way she smelled."

  "Seriously?"

  "Yeah, we had a whole conversation before I turned around," I said.

  Shane put a fist over his mouth and laughed.

  "I thought I was losing my mind. She reminded me of Becca, but it seriously never even crossed my mind that it could actually be her."

  "I almost had to get in a fist fight just to find a spot close to him." I said.

  "Yeah, somebody tried to tie us up on the way over here."

  "I'm talking about making it over to you in the first place," I said.

  "Can I please get a picture with you, Nicky?" someone said. We turned and could see that three girls were lined up with their phones clutched to their chests expectantly and wearing huge smiles.

  "I'm going to the bar," Mindi announced.

  "I'll head that way with you," I said. "I need to use the restroom."

  Isaac seemed a bit skeptical about the spur of the moment plans, but it made sense for me to go ahead since he was being forced to play meet and greet for a minute.

  "I'll be right back," I said.

  He smiled. I could feel everyone else staring at us, but Isaac only had eyes for me. "Come right back," he said.

  Mindi and I took off, but before we got very far she told me we weren't really going the same direction and pointed me toward the ladies room. I carefully made my way through the thick crowd, and was relieved to find it was fairly empty. I didn't need to use the restroom, but I thought I might have caught a sweat with the effort it took to approach him, and the nerves surrounding the whole thing. I was wearing a sheer, tan-colored top I'd borrowed from one of Naomi's roommates, and I wanted to glance in the mirror and see how it was holding up.

  I was relatively sure my face would require some attention as well, and I was glad that the restroom wasn't packed. There were a few girls already in there and a couple who were coming in behind me, and it was for their sake that I went into a stall even though I didn't need to. I'd never been fussy over my appearance, and it felt odd for me to go to a bathroom for the sole purpose of looking in the mirror. I stood in the stall and dug a compact out of my purse. I was staring into the tiny mirror when I heard a delirious sounding girl's voice.

  "It's all good," I heard her say.

  "You're right it's all good," another one said, sounded just as silly and delirious.

  I smiled a little, thinking I'd been ridiculous to worry about what they thought about me checking myself in the mirror. It sounded like they'd had a lot to drink, and wouldn't even notice me out there.

  I stuck my mirror into my bag and zipped it. I unlocked the door and began to open it. Before I had the chance to duck out of the way, a heavy, quick force came upon the door, and it swung into me violently. I wasn't sure what hit me actually. I assumed it was the door, but it was hard to tell with the way everything spun in those seconds. The impact that hit my face had me stunned, and I began stumbling backwards as I instinctually straight-armed the door to try to keep whoever it was out.

  "Shit, she's holding the door!"

  "Open it!"

  "I can't!"

  "Somebody's coming! Dump it over the top."

  I heard the words, "Let's see how he likes you now, bitch," as a shockingly cold burst of something fell onto my chest, taking my breath away. I gasped and stared up, wondering what the hell had just happened to me. I was stunned, and I stared blankly at the stall door absentmindedly wondering what was causing the ringing in my ears.

  I knew I'd been hit in the face with something, and thinking about it made me touch my cheek where it hurt. I could see out of the corner of my eye how badly my hand was shaking when I touched it to my face, and I made myself take a few deep calming breaths while I tried to compose my emotions and think of what to do next.

  I touched my hair, hoping the bright blue drink that had been hurled over the door was contained to my chest. I'd already glanced at my shirt and knew it was a catastrophe—and to think I came in here worried about touching up my powder.

  Now I was stuck in the bathroom with a blue stain all over my shirt. It was at that point that it crossed my mind to check my reflection in the mirror again. I locked the stall again even though I was sure the girls were gone and h
ad been replaced by others who had nothing to do with it.

  I dug through my purse in search of my mirror, having all sorts of random, paranoid thoughts about girls wanting to cause physical harm to me. I focused my mirror on the area of my face that burned and throbbed, and was mortified to realize that there was a red whelp on my cheekbone where the door hit me. I squinted into the tiny mirror and poked at the bruised area on my face, wishing I could make it go away.

  I repositioned the reflection so I could get a look at my shirt. It was at least as bad as I dreaded. There was an ugly streak of sticky liquid across my right shoulder and down the front of my shirt. My shoes and jeans were also wet from the drink hitting the floor and splashing onto them.

  I stayed there for what must have been a few minutes before deciding that I needed to make myself move. If I would've had a jacket, the whelp on my face wouldn't be that big of a deal but walking around with both would undoubtedly draw attention.

  I couldn't just sit in a bathroom stall the rest of the night, so I decided to go out to the sink where I could look in a real mirror. There were more people in the restroom by that point, and I did my best to keep my head down and go to a mirror that was out of the way. Trying to seem natural, I turned on the sink. I knew it was bad, but one glance told me my cheek was indeed red and my shirt blue. I was tempted to stare into the sink in an effort to forget about it, but somehow I had to walk back out there and face the club—face Isaac. I cringed at the thought. I was mortified at the idea of explaining to him what had just happened. Even though none of it was my fault, it was still really embarrassing that I let it happen.

  "There you are," I heard. It sounded like the person was directing her words to me, and I glanced toward her instinctually. It was Mindi, and she gasped and took a step back when I turned around.

  "Oh shit, what happened? Did you fall down or something?"

  She moved toward me with open arms to give me some support, and I realized she thought I was so drunk that I'd come in here and wrecked myself.

  "Somebody did this," I said, putting out a hand.

  Her expression was one of sincere concern as she looked me over. "Who?"

  "I don't know," I whispered, trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible.

  Her eyes were huge as she continued inspecting me. "Well, I'm gonna report this," she said.

  "No, please don't," I said. "That would just make it worse."

  I'd been glancing down the whole time but she bent down and moved in front of me to get a good look at my face. "Did you get punched in the face?"

  I touched at my cheek. "Somebody pushed open the stall door—that's what hit my cheek. Then they poured a drink over the top. I didn't even see who it was. It probably wasn't even meant for me." I added that last bit just because I was embarrassed. I glanced into the mirror again. My hair had escaped the blue drink, but it wasn't much of a consolation.

  Mindi just stood there not knowing what to say and I finally turned to face her. "If you wouldn't mind getting my jacket from the coat check, that'd be a big help."

  She nodded and took off, and I resolved to sit there and wait for her. There was nothing else I could do since rubbing off the gigantic stain with a wet paper napkin was out of the question. I found an out of the way spot where I could go somewhat unnoticed while I waited for Mindi to return with my jacket.

  I heard the sound of a man's voice yelling before I could make out what he was saying. "I'm coming in," I heard him say as he got closer. "I'm sorry if anyone's not decent, but I'm coming in here."

  I saw Isaac the second he entered. I was on the other side of the bathroom, and his eyes locked on me instantly. His expression was murderous as he stalked toward me.

  "Tell me who did this," he said, almost roaring.

  A couple of girls stepped back with stunned expressions to let him walk by, but he never took his sights off me.

  "Who?" he pressed.

  "No one, I mean, I don't know. They just poured it over the stall." I looked up at him and not knowing what else to say, I said, "You can't be in here."

  He didn't respond because just then Mindi came in with my jacket in her hand. She handed it to Isaac who held it open for me. I shrugged into it, and when I did, I leaned near to him. He used the back of his hand to touch my cheek. "I feel like I want to kill somebody right now, Becca. How did this happen to your cheek?"

  I offered him a little smile. "I think they tried to open the door and my face was in the way."

  He turned angrily to the other girls who happened to be in there. "Did you two have anything to do with this?" he said, through gritted teeth. It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he wasn't messing around and they both stared at him and shook their heads with frightened expressions.

  "It wasn't them," I said. "Whoever did it is long gone, and it doesn't really matter anyway. I'm not hurt, and I'd really like to forget this ever happened."

  "I swear, if I find out who did this—"

  "You wouldn't do anything, Isaac," Mindi said. "Because it was just a couple of stupid girls trying to ruin her night for dancing with you."

  "Well, screw that," he said.

  "That's exactly what I was thinking." I smiled even though I was forcing it slightly.

  Girls continually came into the restroom. All of them looked at us curiously but none protested his presence.

  "Do you wanna get out of here?" Isaac asked stretching out a hand for me to take.

  I smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

  He turned to Mindi. "Tell Shane I'll text him later and I owe him one for making this happen."

  "I will." Mindi said. She smiled sweetly at me, and the side of me who sees the silver lining thought at least I'd gained a friend out of the whole thing.

  Isaac took me under his arm and we made our way out of the club in what I'd look back on as a surreal blur.

  Chapter 18

  Isaac

  I wanted to let Tucker know we were leaving, but I couldn't find him at first glance onto the dance floor, so I decided that texting would have to do. I wasn't about to drag Becca through the club after what had just happened to her.

  I didn't feel right about leaving without finding the girls who did this, but I knew she needed to get out of there more than she needed to track those girls down. I'd seen girls trying to nudge her out of the way on the dance floor, but never dreamed someone would try to cause her this kind of harm. I was sick with anger from it, but had no way to fix it other than getting her out of there.

  I held her under my arm as we walked out of the club and onto the street to hail a cab. I raised my hand just as we approached the street, but she tugged on my arm. I looked down at her.

  "I thought I saw a restaurant a couple of blocks from here when we got dropped off at the club."

  "Who's we?"

  "Shane and Mindi came by my hotel to pick me up. We rode in a cab together."

  "Why do you have a hotel?" I asked.

  She hesitated as if I was missing something obvious. "Because I got here last night, and I needed a place to sleep."

  "Last night?" I asked in disbelief. "You mean you could have been with me all day today?"

  She smiled but then made a pitiful, shivery face. "I'm not used to this weather," she said. "I was hoping we could stop by that diner I saw on the way here so we could talk a little bit."

  I hated that phrase. When someone felt the need to say there needed to be a talk instead of just coming out and saying what they need to say, it usually meant they had bad news. I instantly turned her around by the shoulders and set off with her under my arm for the diner she was talking about. I'd been there lots of times, and was happy to sit down with her even though I was now dreading the talk she mentioned.

  I assumed it was about the past she'd referred to in her letter. I'd thought about her letter quite a bit, and decided I no longer believed she was a convict. My new theory was that she was or is married. Maybe she was going through a divorce. I
contemplated that being the case, and honestly didn't change the way I felt about her. Rebecca Gibson was my counterpart in a way I couldn't describe. The attraction I had toward her was so ingrained in me that I had no option but to pursue it.

  "I got lost in the coolest bookstore today," she said as we walked.

  "I can't believe you just hung out in New York all day. You should have just called me."

  She smiled. "Shane said the plan was to surprise you at the club, and I didn't even think about straying from it."

  "I'm glad you got to go shopping."

  "I need to go one more time. I still have a couple of souvenirs to pick up."

  I gave her a squeeze and she smiled up at me. Her innocent face seemed content even though it was bruised. We walked quickly, and it only took us a minute to get to Mel's. It was busy, but there was a small booth available, so we got to bypass some larger parties and take a seat right away.

  I heard a few whispered comments about me as we walked in. One girl even yelled out that she wanted a picture with me. I would have normally gone out of my way to stop for a photograph, but tonight I got by with acting like I didn't hear them and kept right on walking.

  We sat in our booth and adjusted, making ourselves comfortable. She had on a beautiful brown leather coat that hugged her curves, which she left on of course, to cover her shirt. It was well lit in the diner, and the color of her coat brought out her eyes. I stared into their golden depths wondering if I'd ever be less entranced by them.

  "You were right when you said you thought you recognized me in L.A.," she said.

  "How so?" I asked.

  "That's what I need to talk to you about," she said. "It's what I was trying to tell you in the letter."

  "Yeah, that didn't make any sense," I said.

  She didn't speak right away so I gestured with my hand for her to continue.

  "Welcome to Mel's," the waitress said, coming to stand at our booth at the most inopportune time. She stared down at us from over her reading glasses and we both looked at her with cordial smiles.