First Visions (12 page)

The guy stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m
Sebastian.”

She shook his hand awkwardly. “Nice to meet
you, I’m Kate.”

“Well, me and Gage are going to round up some
refreshments while you two get acquainted,” Julie said and elbowed
Gage hard in the ribs. Without waiting for a response, she pulled
Gage towards the bar counter. Gage gave Sebastian a wink and a nod
as he walked by and she suddenly felt like a sacrificial offering
to Gage’s horny friend.

Kate gave a nervous laugh. “That’s Julie for
you, subtle as a heart attack.”

He gave a polite laugh. “Why have I never
seen you before? I go out almost every weekend with Julie and
Gage.”

“I’m sort of a loner, so I don’t go out much.
Julie’s been trying to coerce me out for a while and I figured I’d
finally take her up on her offer,” she explained with a shrug.

After a minute of discomfited silence, she
ventured, “Sebastian is an interesting name.”

“Yeah, my parents gave me it because
apparently I was conceived after a Skid Row concert.” He took a
long sip of his beer.

She gave him a look of revulsion. “Ugh vomit.
I still image myself being a product of Immaculate Conception.”

“Are you in college?” he asked as his eyes
moved down to her chest.

She fought the urge to scream, “Eyes up here
buddy.” His gaze lingered there a minute too long before returning
to her face. She must have passed his boob test because he gave her
a pleasurable smile.

“I do courses online, sort of the college
version of a homeschooler.”

Giving a fake little laugh, she was relieved
when Gage and Julie returned. Maybe this had been a bad idea; Kate
thought and cursed Jared again. Inadvertently, he ruined every
other guy for her. Who would be able to live up to him? She doubted
Sebastian fed the ducks and had some sort of tragic backstory to
melt her heart. Julie handed her a shot and a questionable looking
mixed drink concoction. Kate didn’t think twice about downing the
shot and taking a huge gulp of the drink. Her only hope was that
the alcohol would quell her anxieties.

“Slow down there, champ! Don’t want you
passing out before the band even comes on.” Gage laughed heartily
at her and slapped her on the back.

Spilling a portion of her drink onto the
floor, Kate shot him an irritated look. Gage seemed unfazed and
addressed his friend. “Hey Banks, did you know Kate here is
somewhat of a local celebrity?” Gage seemed to participate in the
grating habit of calling his friends by their last names.

“Gage, really, I’m sure Sebastian wouldn’t
want to be bored with that story…” Kate attempted to stop him.

“She helped the cops find a kidnapped boy a
couple of years ago. She’s psychic, so you better watch what you
think in her presence. Keep everything PG if you know what I mean.”
Gage chuckled as if he was the wittiest Neanderthal in the
room.

“Ignore him, Kate,” Julie advised.

“What, do you read palms or something?”
Sebastian gave her an interested look.

“No, I don’t read palms,” she said tersely
and gave Gage a dirty look, hopefully conveying what a complete
douche she thought he was.

She turned back to Sebastian. “It was just a
fluke that happened when I was really sick. I saw a flash of the
boy and that was that.”

The band took the stage and thankfully the
conversation ended. Julie shot her an apologetic look, but Kate
gave her a wide smile. She wasn’t going to let Gage ruin her night
out.

The band turned out to be marginally talented
and played plenty of crowd-pleasing cover songs. While hitting the
dance floor with Julie, she was able to break out some of the booty
shaking moves she’d been practicing the other day. After the two
friends had both consumed seemingly exorbitant amounts of alcohol,
Julie ended up in a dark corner making out with Gage. Sebastian
wasn’t a dancer, something Kate was actually grateful for. Most of
the guys at the bar considered dancing just dry humping a girl from
behind. More than once, she had to walk off the dance floor to ward
off guys trying to feel her up.

“Julie’s pretty wasted,” Sebastian remarked a
couple of hours later when she walked over to him.

Kate glanced over and noticed the clothed sex
had stopped between Julie and Gage and she was slumped over with
her head in her hands. She walked over and asked Julie with
concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Besides my desperate need to puke-up the
contents of my stomach—nothing,” she mumbled.

She turned to Gage who, surprisingly, looked
sober. “Can you drive Gage? We should probably head out if Julie’s
sick.”

Julie shook her head empathetically. “No, you
should stay. You look sexy as hell and you’re having a good time.
Gage can take my car. Sebastian, do you mind driving Kate home?”
She noticed Sebastian had crept up behind her.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to impose,” Kate
protested.

She was torn and the alcohol was making her
thinking fuzzy. A part of her knew she didn’t want anything to
happen with Sebastian. However, another part of her argued that
maybe a few chaste kisses with him wouldn’t be so bad. Although
chaste kisses didn’t seem to be on Sebastian’s mind. She knew he
was probably thinking something that involved him taking off his
pants.

“I’m cool with that. It’s barely midnight, I
wouldn’t mind hanging,” Sebastian remarked.

“Good, it’s settled. Lates, bro,” Gage
replied and stuck his hand out for a fist pump with Sebastian.

Apparently it didn’t seem to matter if Kate
approved of this arrangement. Gage gave Kate a wave and cracked
while raising his eyebrows, “Bye Kate, wouldn’t mind seeing
more
of you again.”

Kate hugged Julie goodbye and fought the urge
to chase after them for a ride home. The only thing that prevented
her was the thought of being in Gage’s presence for a minute
longer.

“Here’s to new friends,” Sebastian said
holding up his beer bottle. She clinked her glass to his and gave a
slight smile. He mirrored her expression and peered at her glass.
“You’re looking low, what are you drinking? I’ll buy you another
one.”

“Vodka and cranberry,” she replied. She
probably should start switching to water, especially in the case
Sebastian became too intoxicated to drive her home. There was no
way she’d call her mother for a ride. She would never hear the end
of it and her mother would likely be furious with Julie for leaving
her alone at the bar.

An hour later, it was clear to Kate that
Sebastian was ready to take things to the next level. He began to
lean in much closer; his hands lingered on her longer. He’d been
plying her with drinks and been keeping pace with her. Even if she
was drunk, she was not intoxicated enough to take him up on his
suggestion to go back to his place. She wasn’t about to become
another drunk driving statistic or make the walk of shame tomorrow
morning back to her mother’s.

“You seem really nice, but as cliché as this
sounds I’m not that kind of girl. Maybe we could exchange numbers
and see where things go from there.”

He countered her refusal of sex at his place
with a kiss. She attempted to kiss him back, but found it hard to
rally. He wasn’t a bad kisser per-se, but he wasn’t exactly
knocking her socks off. He made another go at it and tried to
deepen the kiss. She was afraid any minute he was going to devour
her face. His greedy search with his hands on her skin made her
muse that if it was socially acceptable, he’d start ripping her
clothes off then and there.

When he whispered, “You’re turning me on so
bad right now,” she knew she had to untangle herself from the
situation.

“Yeah, I’m totally feeling it too,” she said
dryly. He began to kiss her neck and she realized he was too drunk
to notice she wasn’t into him. Abruptly, she stated, “I actually
need to go to the bathroom, be back in a few.”

“I’ll be waiting, baby,” he said in what she
guessed was his sexy bedroom voice. To her it sounded more like he
was suffering from a bad case of strep throat.

Darting towards the women’s restroom, she was
grateful there was no line. She closed the stall door and sat on
the toilet seat. Taking her phone out of her purse, she began to
turn it in circles in her hands. She knew leaving the pub with
Sebastian was not a safe or smart option. Julie looked like she was
on death’s door when she left and Gage would likely flat out refuse
and tell her to simply go with Sebastian if she called them to pick
her up. Her mother would only be an absolute last resort. She
imagined her pulling up to the bar in her robe and yelling at her
about her irresponsibility the entire ride home.

Her stomach lurched as she hit the call
button on her phone. Her heart stopped when he picked up and
garbled a sleepy hello on the sixth ring. “Remember how you said
you wanted us to be friends?”

Kate felt like she was on a covert mission as
she left the bathroom. Her goal was to sneak out of the bar before
Sebastian was able to spot her. She fully understood the mature
thing to do would be to say goodbye and tell him she wasn’t
interested. However, she never claimed to be high up on the
maturity ladder. As she made a sharp left, she slithered around the
perimeter of the bar. She could spot Sebastian from her vantage
point and he didn’t appear overly concerned about how long it was
taking Kate to return from the bathroom. In fact, he seemed to be
checking out a pretty blond dancing a few feet from him. This
assuaged Kate’s guilt somewhat and she was certain Sebastian would
move on quickly from her hasty exit.

Taking in a greedy gulp of fresh air, she
pushed through the bar doors. It was a relief to breathe in
something besides body odor, cheap perfume and desperation. A
headache had started to form and she knew she’d have a wicked
hangover tomorrow. Feeling eyes boring into her back, she turned
around and saw a couple of guys smoking cigarettes and eyeing her
up as they leaned against the outside of the building. She prayed
she wouldn’t end up murdered out here.

“Hey sweetheart, need a ride?” the larger of
the two men asked. He was huge and every piece of visible skin was
covered in tattoos. Kate easily imagined the guy making someone his
bitch in prison.

She realized it was probably not the smartest
move to wait out here alone in a dress that screamed wannabe
hooker. The crowd had died down and it was eerily quiet outside.
She didn’t even have any mace in her pocketbook.

When she didn’t answer, the guy gave her a
devilish smile and nudged his friend. Kate promised if she lived
through the night, she would take this skanky outfit and burn it.
When the two guys began to approach her, she felt frozen in place.
Their position put them directly between her and the door back into
the bar. It didn’t take a psychic to know they were thinking very
bad thoughts about her. She thought about running, but realized she
wouldn’t get two steps without tripping in her heels. Although
looking at the heels, she probably could use them as a weapon if
the need arose, gauge out an eye or two.

“What’s the matter, honey? I’ll give you a
good ride
, I promise,” he said lewdly and the guy next to
him started to cackle hysterically. They continued to slither in
her direction until they had managed to crowd into her personal
space. Kate held her breath as the instigator breathed into her
face. “Ain’t you a hot piece?”

Kate was about to give a retort, but found
herself frozen like a deer in headlights. Her obvious fright seemed
to amuse the two men and they snickered as they watched her
squirm.

“Do we have a problem here?”

Kate could have died from gratitude right
then and there when she heard Jared’s threatening voice behind her.
A mixture of panic and drunkenness made her fail to notice when he
had pulled his car up next to her. Daring a peek behind her, she
saw him giving the two men a deadly stare. His furious expression
made him appear just as scary as the drunken burly guy.

All of a sudden, she felt the man’s meaty
palm wrap around her waist. The urge to hurl all over him grew
strong as he replied to Jared, “No problem, but I suggest you don’t
show up here and try to cock block me. Me and the girl were having
a private conversation.”

Untangling herself from his grasp, she
skittered behind Jared. Jared grated out, “Touch her again and I
will
hurt
you. I have no problem laying your fat ass out on
the pavement right now.”

The men looked ready to gear up for a fight,
but seemed to think twice of it when the bar doors opened and a
smattering of drunks were being escorted out by a couple of
oversized bouncers. They turned their backs and retreated over to
where they were standing before.

Her harasser called out to Jared. “Next time
your girl goes out for the night, tell her not to dress like such a
whore if she doesn’t want anyone to hit on her.”

Jared lurched to go after him, but Kate
decided she better intervene. Grabbing him firmly by the arm, she
pulled him back. “Forget that jackass, let’s just go.”

Letting out an angry breath, he led her to
his black BMW. Kate guessed this was his personal car and the Crown
Vic he only used while working. Jared didn’t handle her gently.
Instead, he dragged her to the passenger’s side and practically
tossed her into the vehicle. Grateful all limbs were inside as he
slammed the car door shut, she noted his sour expression as he
peeled away from the curb. “Wow, you don’t look happy to see me at
all
.”

His jaw clenched. “We’re not talking right
now. We are going to get some coffee in you to help sober you up
and then I’m taking you home.”

He used a flat monotone Kate had never heard
from him before. She was seriously beginning to regret her decision
to call him. He looked rumpled and tired with a t-shirt and track
pants.