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The
crowd below us started to disperse from the pit and he jumped down from the
speaker.  I scooted my butt as far to the front as I could and looked down
preparing to jump.  It was at that moment I remembered I hated heights and
I quickly determined that I was in the middle of an unfortunate
predicament.   

I
looked to my right and left hoping that someone had the foresight to install a
ladder on the sides of the speaker.  When it became clear that I was out of
luck in that department, I looked down into the eyes of my newest
acquaintance.  He had a smug look on his face as he watched me attempt to
get down.  He reached up his hands to offer assistance and chuckled.

“From
where I’m standing, ‘damsel in distress’ might be an adequate category for
you.  This is the second time I’ve had to come to your rescue in the last
hour.”

What
the…!

This
guy was really starting to piss me off.  Who the hell does he think he is
anyway?!  If it wasn’t for him
coming to my rescue
in the first
place, I wouldn’t be in this situation.  I slapped his hand away and
scowled down at him.

“No
thanks on that rescue attempt.  I can get down perfectly fine by
myself.  Just step back so I don’t land on top of you.”

His
eyes darkened and then quickly filled with humor. His voice lowered an octave
when he replied, “Oh, the threat of you on top of me is supposed to make me
move? Because I can promise you,
Damsel
, I’m not feeling real motivated
to budge even an inch.”

I
flashed him my best menacing stare.  “I’ll tell you this one more time,
Do. Not. Call. Me. Damsel.”  I pointed my finger in his face to drive my
message home.  It must have worked because he removed his outstretched
hand.  He stepped back from where he had been standing and held his arms
out to his sides in defeat.

That’s
right mister, fear the ninja.

I
turned my body around, determined to shimmy down the side of the speaker and
then drop the last foot to the ground.  I got my lower body safely over
the edge but my shirt caught on the corner of the speaker and I was stuck there
with my ass in perfect view of Mr. Arrogant standing behind me. 

“This
is a delightful view.  I almost wish I had a camera.  Are you sure I
can’t help?”

My air
huffed out from annoyance before I freed my shirt and started shimmying
over.   I finally dropped to the floor and looked over my shoulder to
find my acquaintance openly staring at my assets.  His eyes wove a slow
path up my body and stopped suddenly on the dragonfly necklace tattoo on my
shoulder.  His eyes widened and he looked up to my face, grabbed my
shoulders and spun me around to face him.

“What
is your name?!”

I was
shocked by his sudden intensity and I couldn’t process what he had just asked
me.  I stared into his eyes but didn’t say a word.  He continued to
hold me by the shoulders and was searching my face and body as if trying to
memorize me.  He looked back up at me and slightly shook me out of
frustration.

“Your
name.  What is it?”

I shook
away my stupor once again and jerked my shoulders out of his grasp.  I
took a step back and looked up at him in challenge.  “Now why the hell
would I want to tell YOU my name?!  Thanks for the earlier assistance but
you can forget that you know me now.” I turned to walk away and he called out
to me again.

“That’s
fine if you don’t want to tell me your name.  I’ll take your refusal as a
clear indication that you wish for me to continue calling you Damsel.”

My jaw
dropped and I turned back around.  “If you really think I’m dumb enough to
fall for that crappy manipulation tactic, then I should be upfront and honest
with you now.  You are clearly confused about the type of woman that I
am.  I am not the type that needs rescuing and I am not the type that
swoons over a beautiful face and a deep rumbly voice...”  He grinned at
that and I quickly realized my error.  Refusing to acknowledge that I just
called him beautiful, I continued, “…and it is pathetic for any person, male or
female, to refuse information about themselves in order to continue some type
of crappy pet name.”

Those
dimples of his popped out and his eyes smiled right along with his mouth. 
“I’ll make a pact with you; you tell me your name, and I’ll leave you alone for
the rest of the night.”

I
considered his offer.  If he was telling the truth I could end this
aggravating encounter now just by giving him my name.  On the other hand,
if he was lying, than at least he might stop calling me Damsel. There really
was no down side to this situation.  I decided to play hard ball anyway.

“I’m
not enough of an imbecile to believe that you mean that.  How do I know
you will stick to that agreement?”

He
looked at me with a matter of fact expression and seemed to be considering my
question.  After a moment of intense introspection he formulated his
response.  “You don’t.”

Well,
there you have it.

Defeatedly,
I muttered, “Paige.  My name is Paige.” 

I
turned around and started climbing the stairs to leave the pit.  When I
reached the top floor and turned to look back over my shoulder, he stood in the
same position I left him with an unreadable expression on his face. He
continued to openly stare at me and I returned my attention to the bar and
proceeded to make my way over to it.

The
club was crowded tonight so it took Logan another five minutes before he could
get over to me.  
So much for my VIP status.
  When he
finally did approach, I asked him to grab me a bottled water.  I pulled
some cash out of my back pocket and threw enough down on the bar to cover the
water and the beer from earlier. Logan made his was back over to me with the
water and leaned over the bar to talk to me without having to yell over the
music.

“How’d
it go down there?”

I
leaned my head in his direction and he turned his ear toward me to hear me better. 
“It was rough.  I should have listened to you.  I ended up getting
‘rescued’ by some chauvinist prick who grabbed me and had to haul me up onto
the speakers.”

Logan
looked concerned and did a quick once over of my body to make sure that I
hadn’t been injured.  Once he verified that I was still in one piece, he
asked, “Who is this guy and why did you refer to him as a chauvinist
prick?”  His eyes widened as if in understanding and he quickly asked “Did
he touch you inappropriately?  Show me which guy and I’ll make sure
security escorts him out!”

I shook
my head.  “No.  It was nothing like that.  He thought because he
had helped me out that it gave him the right to call me a ‘damsel in
distress’.”  I turned to look over the crowd to see if I could locate
him.  I spotted him talking to the female bartender on the opposite side
of the room.  I pointed over to him to indicate who I was talking
about.  Logan looked over, paused, and then looked back to me. 

“Are
you talking about Daemon?”

I
shrugged my shoulders as I had no idea what the guy’s name was.  I never
bothered to ask. “Maybe?  I don’t know.  I never asked him for his
name.  But if you are talking about the good looking asshat that is
standing over there talking to the female bartender, then yes.”

Logan
nodded his head in understanding and leaned even farther over the bar to
whisper loudly into my ear. “Yeah.  That’s Daemon.  He works here as
a bouncer.  He is one hell of a lady’s man so it would be best for you to
avoid him.  I would hate to see you end up as another notch on his
bedpost.  If I were you, Paige, I would just call it a night and head home
to your boyfriend.”

I let
out a small laugh and then shook my head.  “No worries, Logan.  I’m
wearing my big girl panties tonight and I think I can handle myself, but thanks
again.”  Logan’s jaw dropped and he got a funny look in his eye.  I
looked over at him in question and tilted my head as if silently asking what
was on his mind.  Logan smiled and leaned over to pinch my cheek.

“You
keep talking about your panties like that and you might have to start watching
out for me as well.”

I
laughed at his candor and walked away from the bar.

I made
my way over to a table and sat down to enjoy my water.  The cool
refreshing liquid on my tongue was absolute heaven.  I hadn’t realized how
thirsty I was until my mouth was flooded.  My people watching continued as
I slowly drank down the bottle.

I
learned a long time ago that an excellent lesson in human behavior can be
learned by being sober in a bar between the hours of midnight and 2:00
a.m.  After a few drinks, people who would normally be self-conscious and
conduct themselves with at least a small amount of decorum and self-control
would lose themselves in an alcohol fueled annihilation of their inhibitions. 
It was impressive to see how quickly civilized individuals could start
operating on a basic animal instinct.

Couples
were dancing and grinding into each other in such a way that I blushed just
glancing in their direction.  Several sloppy women were so wasted, they
didn’t seem to notice or care that their clothes were slipping out of place or
that they were spilling their drinks down the fronts of their shirts.

Continuing
to swallow down my water, I chuckled to myself while watching the crowd. 
I scanned my eyes back and forth over the mass of people when my eyes met with
Daemon’s over the crowd. My body shuddered from the fervor in his stare. 
He stood to my left with his arms crossed in front of him which only caused his
biceps to bulge out more noticeably from beneath his sleeves.  Just the
sight of him was causing my traitorous body to respond with an increased heart
rate and my skin to break out in goose bumps.

We
continued to stare at each other until my brain decided to focus on the
information bestowed upon me earlier by Logan.  My decision had been made
that Daemon was a man to avoid and just as I was about to break eye contact
with him, three women approached him and blocked my view.  I should have
been thankful for the interruption, but I was actually rather annoyed at the
intrusion.  The women were dressed in the standard tramp gear for the
evening and, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying, the way they
flipped their hair and rubbed themselves into Daemon made it obvious that they
were hitting on him.

Daemon
shifted his attention to his admirers.  He started talking to them and
they let out high pitched giggles and flipped their hair some more.  I
believe now is a good time to mention that I have a significant distaste for
high pitched giggles and hair flipping.  However, witnessing those
responses being elicited by whatever Daemon was saying made me hate it that
much more.  By the time Daemon started his slow perusal of each of their
bodies, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I stood up from my table and made my
way to the opposite side of the club.  It was alarming how watching him
with those women had been pissing me off.  The man was an arrogant,
egotistical chauvinist and I kept reminding myself that I wanted nothing to do
with him.

I approached
the bar and plopped myself down into one of the empty stools.  The female
bartender that Daemon had been talking to earlier sauntered her way over to me
and asked what she could get me.  I ordered another bottled water and when
she brought it to me I handed her some money and then twisted around in my seat
to continue my people watching.  It was about 1:30 a.m. and the drunken
shenanigans were kicking into high gear.

I
looked around the club but was careful not to look over in Daemon’s
direction.  My eyes betrayed me and briefly glanced over to find that his
three admirers were now dancing seductively around him.  He appeared to be
enjoying his private show.  As if he sensed me watching, he looked over in
my direction and flashed me his signature smug grin.

Busted.

I
refused to acknowledge him and returned my attention to the nameless faces in
the crowd.  As much as I hated it, I couldn’t keep my line of sight from
sneaking back over to where he was standing.  The pretty redhead of the
group was practically glued to him while whispering something into his
ear.  She pulled a piece of paper from what appeared to be her ample
cleavage and handed it to him before suggestively running her hand down his
chest and stomach.  Daemon took the paper, excused himself, and started
making his way over to Logan’s bar.  Before reaching the bar, he turned
back in my direction and winked.

Sonofabitch! 
 I was really
starting to hate him.

In
order to stop embarrassing myself further, I turned in my seat and busied
myself with conducting a thorough investigation of my bottle of water. 
That served to distract me for only a few seconds because, let’s face it, there
is nothing remotely interesting about a water bottle.

I
glanced back over my shoulder and found that Daemon was having an animated
conversation with Logan.  They both looked over in my direction and Logan
was emphatically arguing with Daemon about whatever it was they were
discussing.  I turned back in my seat and busied myself with reading the
labels on the alcohol bottles behind the bar.