Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Forty-Two

    "I tried waiting up for you."

    A pang of guilt stabbed Mia's heart. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your messages."

    "Why didn't you? Did you fall asleep?" Drake sounded so incredibly tired, even after clearing his throat a few times.

    "No, I didn't fall asleep."

    "Then what?"

    It was crazy how she could put words together in a way that made them art, but when it came to trying to communicate her feelings or something as important as the events that had transpired tonight, her ability to string words together was completely non-existent. "There's something I have to tell you and I didn't know how to tell you, so..."

    There was silence on his end for a minute. "So...you ignored my messages?" he asked after she didn't show any signs of continuing.

    She blinked her eyes rapidly to keep them from tearing up. "Yes."

    He groaned and she could hear the sounds of rustling fabric. Most likely, he was sitting up straighter in bed. "Then whatever you have to tell me isn't going to be good."

    "No." Her throat was beginning to tighten up. "At the club tonight, I danced with someone. Zach LaVine."

    "The basketball player?" Drake questioned, the grogginess still audible in his voice.

    "Yes."

    "There's nothing wrong with dancing with anyone, as long as...I mean as long as you didn't go overboard with it."

    "We didn't."

    "You didn't know how to tell me that you danced with someone?"

    She took a deep breath, turned, and went back inside of her hotel room. As she slid the balcony door closed, she said, "I told him that I had a boyfriend and he said we could still just talk, get to know each other or whatever."

    "O...kay." A hard edge had entered Drake's voice.

    "We just talked for a bit, nothing crazy. Nicki came up and broke things up, because she suspected that..."

    "That he was trying to get at you or run game on you?" Drake supplied for her.

    She anxiously started to pace the room again. "Yes."

    "Go Nicki," he muttered. "What else happened?"

    "Nicki and I just chilled together for awhile, with her guy, and then I had to go to the bathroom."

    "O...kay." There that hard edge was again. "Can you give me the short version of this?"

    "When I came out of the bathroom, Zach grabbed me and kissed me. I slapped him, but a photographer took pictures."

    Silence. Silence so thick, it was tangible. If this was a pregnant pause, this period of silence was in its final trimester.

    She slowed her steps, then stopped pacing altogether, standing in front of the living room couch. "Aubrey? Please say something."

    He didn't. His silence went on for so long, that she feared he'd disconnected the call. When he finally spoke, he asked her, "Where was Tank through all of this? He didn't go to the club with you?"

    "He was monitoring the VIP area. He offered to come with me, but I told him he didn't have to."

    "Tank's job isn't to listen to you or take orders from you," Drake said sharply. "His job is to watch you. Wherever it is you go, he is supposed to watch you. Keep an eye on you. Make sure you are safe. This time it was Zach, but what if it had been Trevor? You could be dead right now."