Find You in the Dark (Find You in the Dark #1)(35)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

Clay didn’t say anything as we moved to the music. It was delicious the way his body pressed against mine. I felt completely alive. The music seemed to float over us and it felt like we were the only people in the room. I felt Clay’s fingers in my hair, stroking gently and I sighed in contentment.

This is what it was supposed to be about. Tonight was about he and I. Together. “Maggie.” He murmured into my hair and I pulled back and looked at him. He stared down at me as he slowly caressed my face. He had this way of turning me to mush. Did he have any idea what he did to me? We looked at each other for an endless moment. I was frozen in place.

We had stopped dancing and simply held each other as the song came to an end. And just when I thought our moment had come, when we wouldn’t hold back anymore, it was over. “Clay. I want the next dance. Come on.” Dana was suddenly there, tugging on his arm. Clay didn’t take his eyes from mine, a question there. Did he want me to stop him? What did he expect from me?

But that vicious emotion called jealousy made me mean. “Please, don’t let me keep you.” I said acidly, moving out of Clay’s arms. I could have sworn I saw hurt flash in his eyes. But he dropped his hands from my waist and let Dana lead him away. Away from me and whatever was there between us just a second before.

I couldn’t help myself, I stomped off the dance floor and threw myself into the metal chair at our table. Rachel was sitting there by herself looking as unhappy as I felt. “Where’s Daniel?” I asked her. Rachel jerked her thumb in the direction of the punch table where Daniel was involved in a very heated discussion with Kylie.

Great, we had both been ditched. So much for a fantastic evening. “Where’s Clay?” She asked me in return. I jerked my thumb in the direction of the dance floor where Dana had wrapped herself around him. I couldn’t help but take sadistic pleasure in the fact that he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself.

Rachel sighed heavily. “What is with these stupid boys?” She asked. I leaned on the table, propping my chin in my hands. “They’re boys, Rach. They’re idiots.” We sat there moping for a few more minutes when Rachel jumped to her feet.

“Enough of this crap. We are not going to cry over them. We are here to have fun and damn it, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” She pulled me to my feet and I laughed as we stumbled toward the dance floor.

Rachel tapped a boy’s shoulder. He turned around and looked at her in surprise. He was cute in a dorky kind of way, but he looked pleased with her attention. She pointed at him and his friend beside him. “You two are dancing with us now.” She took the boy’s hand and pulled him toward her. The other boy looked unsure of what to do. I gave him a smile and that was all the encouragement he needed.

Soon he had pulled me into an overly close embrace as we danced rather awkwardly to the techno music. My partner tried too hard to play it cool and kept trying to grind against me. I attempted to give us some space but he kept pulling me back toward him.

Luckily the song ended not long afterward and Rachel and I soon found ourselves dancing with two different guys. Thirty minutes later we had changed partners five times and were really enjoying ourselves again. And I didn’t think about Clay and it was obvious Rachel wasn’t thinking about Daniel.

A slow song came on again and the boy I was dancing with, Luke Tyler, who was on the football team, asked if I wanted to dance that one with him as well. I agreed and we started to move to the music. I didn’t relax into him the way I had with Clay. But he was respectful and didn’t move his hands anywhere he shouldn’t.

We were half way through the song when someone interrupted us. “I’m cutting in.” I looked up and saw Clay standing there looking very, very pissed. Luke frowned. “Dude, we’re dancing here.” Luke swung us away from Clay, who followed. What the hell?

“I said, I’m cutting in.” Clay’s neck and face were turning an alarming shade of red. Luke stood up straight and was clearly getting annoyed with Clay’s aggressive attitude. “And I told you that we’re dancing, so back the f**k off.” Clay yanked Luke’s arm off of my waist and shoved him backwards.

“Clay! Stop it!” I yelled. Luke was angry. “What is your problem, man?” Clay shoved him again, advancing on the other boy with an aggression that scared me. I gripped Clay’s arm to stop him. “What are you doing? You’re going to get thrown out!” I screamed. Clay pulled his arm out of my grasp as he tried to lunge at Luke. He was shaking and he looked like he was going to explode. “Fuck this shit. I’m out of here.” He said through gritted teeth and pushed his way through the crowd that had formed.

I stood there completely floored by his behavior. I turned to Luke who was trying to calm down. “Was that your boyfriend or something?” He asked. I shook my head. I didn’t know who that was. “Sorry.” I muttered, leaving the dance floor.

Rachel intercepted me as I headed over to grab my purse. “What was that about? Clay just stormed out of here like his ass was on fire.” I didn’t know how to answer her, and I needed to find Clay. “Which way did he go?” I asked her. “No way. He seemed really pissed off. Give him time to cool down.” Rachel reasoned. She looked worried.

I got my purse and headed toward the exit. “I’m going after him, Rach. I need to talk to him.” Rachel let me go, shaking her head. “I don’t like this, Maggie. He didn’t seem all there. I really think you need to leave it be.” I didn’t want to hear her advice. My single focus was on finding Clay.

I pushed past Rachel and went through the gym doors and looked down the darkened hallway. No Clay. I left the building and went out into the cool night air. “Clay?” I yelled. I looked toward the parking lot and didn’t see anything. On some half brained instinct, I went around the back of the school toward the football field and bleachers.

I heard a loud slam followed by a bellow of rage. Shit, I think I found him. Turning the corner, I saw Clay beneath the metal bleachers, holding his left hand against his chest, breathing heavily. “Clay?” I called out. He looked up and then turned away from me.

“Go away, Maggie. Seriously. I can’t be around you right now.” He sounded so angry and I just didn’t understand where it was coming from. Well, he couldn’t tell me what to do, so I continued to walk toward him.

Seeing me coming, Clay yelled at the top of his lungs. “I said get the f**k out of here!” I stopped short. Okay, he was freaking me out now. “Why are you mad at me? What did I do?” I asked him over the distance of fifteen feet.