Girl Seduced (The Girl Interrupted Trilogy Book #1) (4 page)

“Here we go – “Jonathan handed me the coke. 

I could smell alcohol in his drink, but I didn’t comment.  He was acting like a perfect gentleman and we
continued to talk.  Before I realized it, an hour had passed, the party was getting louder, but I couldn’t hear anything but Jonathan.  A couple of times, we laughed and he would pat my arm or I would accidentally bump into him, and for the first time that I could ever remember, I was truly having a wonderful time, just talking. 

Ironically,
because he was pre-law, when he found out that my father was a criminal lawyer, he immediately became infatuated.  He wanted to know all about torts and liberties, civil law versus criminal law, and a million other things that I had no knowledge of. I explained that dad paid my bills growing up, but that we didn’t chat about his practice at dinner in the evening.  In fact, he rarely talked about his work. 

But I was drawn to
Jonathan because, in a way, he reminded me of my father (not in a weird way), but the things I admired most about him – he was smart, he was a gentleman and he also wanted to be a lawyer for all of the right reasons – my parents would love him.  Did I really just think that? 

As we were talking, Sabrina
actually showed up.

“Where in the hell have you been?”  Before I thought about Jonathan sitting there, it just popped out. 

“So she’s actually a real human…” he laughed. 

“I’m serious – Sabrina – where have you been…have you been…” she had a twirl in her eye and she was stumbling. “YOU’VE been DRINKING..You told me you wouldn’t
, just for tonight..”

Sabrina laughed.  “
Ya, we’ve been upstairs…drinking…” and she started laughing as two guys took her by each arm and they all laughed and headed up the stairs. Obviously, she was already right in the middle of something else that I could not be a part of. 

“SABRINA!  GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN HERE!!”  But she was gone.  Not only out of sight, but she was gone – like totally high or drunk or God only knows what she was doing.

I looked at Jonathan, mortified.  “I’m so embarrassed.  And so sorry.”  I kicked the floor for a minute and looked up at him square.  

“
That happens to be my best childhood friend.  I’ve known her since third grade.  We used to sleep over almost every weekend and she even helped me pick out my first training bra.  We used to practice kissing on oranges and we had posters on our walls of our favorite bands that we would kiss goodnight.  When we went to high school, we were put into different classes because she was always smart enough, but she wasn’t real smart; but she was always kind and she worked as hard as she could.  We were still friends, but she started dating and didn’t stop.  She got really wild and started getting a pretty bad reputation, but I didn’t care because I still thought of her like my sister.  She would talk about the stuff she did on dates and I believed about half of it and didn’t pay attention to the rest. 

But there was never any doubt that we would grow up together.  Go to college, get married, have kids, go to each other’s birthday parties, and turn into old ladies together.
  Now, we are just on about step two of a hundred steps - in college.  I thought that going off and really becoming adults would somehow help her to grow up, but I swear, she’s lost her mind.”

I looked up the stairs where I knew she was and continued. “
We don’t have the same friends, she like makes out with girls and guys, she goes out with people and will actually kiss guys before she even knows their names because she says that takes away the seriousness of it and that college is supposed to be fun.  I don’t know what has happened to her, but…”  I was rambling.  Out loud.  To someone who I had just met.  Whose last name I did not know. 

“No need
to be sorry.  It’s called college.  It happens to lots of people.  All of my friends went to colleges in Texas, so I’m not as lucky as you to have a friend here with me.”  The silence got awkward.

“Do
you want me to take you home?”  I knew that he meant no harm and that he was truly being a gentleman.  I don’t know how I knew, but I did. 

His offer was sudden and unexpected, but I couldn’t leave Sabrina.
I felt like I needed to stay, especially after seeing her in that shape.  If something happened to her, I would forever feel responsible.

“Jonathan, if you don’t mind, I’m going to stay.  I know it’s late.  You go ahead – I guarantee that I’ll be fine.  I just can’t leave without her.  I’m going to sit right here, read my Kindle and wait until she shows up or I’ll go find her, OK?”

He hesitated.  “I have to go because I have an appointment early in the morning, or I would stay.  But, I’ll leave you here on one condition.”  He reached into his pocket and got a piece of paper and pulled a pen out of thin air.

“
I’ll leave my number.”  He started scribbling on the paper.  “If you get into ANY trouble, feel uncomfortable or need anything at all, you call – any time, OK?” 

I gratefully took the number.
Somehow, it was comforting, even if he was a stranger.

“Thank you, Jonathan.  By the way, what
is
your last name?”  We both laughed.  He held out his hand.  “Hello, my name is Jonathan Sanders.”  I paused. 

“As in Sanders Cotton?”  He grinned.
Sanders Cotton happened to be the largest cotton conglomerate in the entire Southwest.  He had to be worth millions.  “Just don’t tell anyone.  I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a rich spoiled kid.  And you are?”

“Sorry.  I’m Jasmine Stanton.  My father is the attorney at law, Richard Stanton, Esq.  I’m sure he’d be glad to talk with you any time if you have questions
, even if you are a rich, spoiled kid.” 

“It would be AWESOME and look
really great on my resume if I could actually meet him or maybe even do an internship with him at some point – maybe you could put in a good word for me?”  We both grinned. 

“I’ll see what I can do.”  I felt like I had known him forever. 

“I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how things turn out, OK?”  This was code for “I’ll talk to you tomorrow and maybe we can make some more plans…” At least I hoped so.  I watched him wave and leave, and I sat down.  I sighed, turned on my Kindle and began reading Sophie Kinsella. 

Chapter Six

I read for about an hour and a half and started to get really tired.  The screens were still blaring, but the party was getting quiet. It was hard for me to keep my eyes open and read and I was afraid to lay my head back because I knew I would fall asleep, which terrified me. 

There wasn’t any screaming, any high-pitched attention-grabbing loud noises or guys trying to act tougher than they were
any more.  It was about two in the morning and most of the people at the party were either passed out or making out or worse.  I was alone in the main living room with one person on the floor, sleeping, two sleeping together under a blanket on a chair and a girl on a cell phone in the corner, crying and talking under her breath.  I was ready to go home and wanted to know where the hell Sabrina was at. 

I looked around the room and decided to just look around a little bit.  There were dim lights on in each room and, at this point, what I hadn’t already seen I was seeing without even any shock reaction at this point.  It seemed like a bad dream, except
for meeting Jonathan.  Jonathan Sanders.  Wow.  A total reason for coming to this party.  He didn’t even try to kiss me or anything, not because he wasn’t interested, but because he was totally showing respect.  Unbelievable that, even in this place which I had already tagged an unacceptably immoral place where I would have to suffer through to achieve the education that I so desperately wanted and needed, there would be someone so decent.  I totally lucked out. 

             
I was so tired I was getting delirious and needed to focus.  I wandered into the kitchen where a bunch of guys and girls were making some type of coffee.  I waved and just walked into the room. 

They smiled.  “
Is that coffee you’re making?  I’m exhausted and I’m looking for someone – about yay tall, blonde hair, wearing jeans and a loose blue shirt, incredibly gorgeous – anyone seen her?”

A girl wearing extremely short shorts and a T-shirt with no shoes said, “Sure, you can have some.”  She looked at the guys and kept talking.  “We’re making espresso, trying to make a night out of it.  Do you like espresso?”

              One of the guys laughed.  “I’ve seen about twenty girls that look just like your friend, so I’m afraid I can’t be much help.” 

He took a cookie off of a plate and then offered one to me.
  “Sorry – I didn’t mean to be a smartass – long night.  Let’s get some coffee and then,   maybe we could help you to find her?” 

             
“That would be great.  I’m SO tired.” 

             
“Here.”  He handed me a small cup of what smelled like very strong coffee.  “Try some of this – it’s actually ambrosia latte.  It’ll help wake you up in a split second.”  He handed me another cookie and I started drinking the latte.

             
“These cookies are really great.  What kind of cookies are they?” I was too tired to worry about being polite and, at two in the morning, after all I had seen, politeness seemed like the last thing on anyone’s mind.

             
The latte was very strong, but delicious. The ambrosia tasted sweet, but strong – it was definitely eye-opening.   And the cookie helped to ease the empty stomach that had already begun to start to nauseate from the time of the night, my nerves, and no supper.  I started laughing and asked for a second cup of the latte. I wasn’t sure why I was laughing – probably exhaustion, but I couldn’t stop.

             
“This really is great.”  I started slurping the coffee.

 
“What is it called again?”  Two of the other guys laughed with me.

             
“Ambrosia latte.  It’s a special mixture of ambrosia and a special kind of latte that we get from a coffee shop downtown.”  They tried not to catch each other’s eyes or mine, but at that point, I began to feel exhilarated. A warm, rush of a feeling swept over my body, starting in my arms and then I felt it all over.  I assumed that I was feeling energetic from the blast of caffeine in the coffee.  My head started to spin a little and I continued to feel small rushes of euphoria and warmth, but not uncomfortable in any way.  I grinned, and, before I knew it, I was laughing hysterically. 

             
“What’s so funny?”  One of the guys asked. 

             
“I’m sorry – what’s your name?  Mine is Jasmine.  My friends call me Jazz.”  I started laughing again and my whole body was feeling so euphoric I couldn’t stop talking.  I didn’t feel high – I knew where I was, but I felt like colors were brighter, voices were more interesting, and everything tasted better.

             
“Is there any more of that latte?”  I kept talking.  I don’t even remember what I was talking about.  At one point, I remember talking about school, another I was talking about how smart I was, and the rest I couldn’t remember at all.  They were all listening intently and when I would start to laugh, uncontrollably, they would laugh with me, so I must have been saying something funny.  It really was late.

             
One of the guys looked at one of the others.  “No, this latte machine is empty but I saw one earlier upstairs in the game room.  Maybe they have some upstairs.  We’ve got to go look for your friend anyway, so let’s go see what we can find, OK?” 

             
I realized that I had forgotten about Sabrina and became deeply concerned about where she was.  “Oh, God, you’re right.  I haven’t seen her in a while.  I’ve got to find her – she was with two guys who I don’t know and I’m really worried because she didn’t seem like herself and…” my voice continued to ramble, but off and on and no one was really listening.

             
“I swear, if I find someone hurting her, I’ll kill the motherfuckers.” Did I just say motherfucker?  To people I didn’t know?

             
“Don’t worry – we’re right here with you.”  One of the guys put his hand on my back and the other grabbed my hand.  At first, I didn’t notice.  All I could feel was tingling all over.  It felt good.  And then it felt amazing.

             
“Thanks for your help.  You know, I would do anything for her.”

             
“Ya, I’m sure.  Let’s go and find her.” There were two other guys right behind us, walking as well.  I was aware that they were there, but it didn’t occur to me that they were with us.  I just didn’t think about it.  My mind was completely focused on Sabrina.  Not on the four strange guys, two of which were touching me and two more less than a foot behind me, walking upstairs into a dark, unfamiliar house.

             
They walked down the hall to the third door on the right.  The door was open slightly and a dim light was on, and there were two other figures in the room.  We walked in and a girl came in behind the two guys.