Fear of Falling

high-pitched soprano. The crude comment was a direct contrast to her bell-chime tone.
    After regaining the usage of limbs and brain function, I turned to Angel. “Nothing. He and his cousin were trying to figure out what I was.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I get that… I’m talking about the obvious Take me, take me now stares. I mean, seriously, did it just get hot in here or what? I thought he was about to ask you to grab your ankles!”
    I shook my head and looked down at my peeling nail polish. “No, you’re seeing things. Besides, I’m not going down that road again. I’m done.”
    “Sure, sure, sweetheart. Whatever you say. I love you anyway,” she grinned, blowing me a kiss and eliciting a chuckle from me. “There’s that smile!”
    Just as I was beginning to unwind, Blaine returned with a tray of shots, lime slices, and salt. With one extra. He distributed our four, then picked one up for himself, raising it in a toast. Angel looked to me with a wicked gleam and picked up the saltshaker. She leaned over, then seductively licked my neck and sprinkled a little salt on it. Feeling satisfied with my compliancy, she eased a lime wedge between my lips and picked up her shot glass. My eyes fluttered closed when her small hands cradled my face and sucked the salt from my neck, licking and nuzzling as if we were alone in the room. Then she pulled back, clinked her glass against Blaine’s, and downed her poison. For the second time today, her lips pressed against mine, as they sucked the wedge of lime.
    Blaine didn’t even bother with his own slice; he was too busy staring at the girls practically making out in front of him. From a few yards away, I could hear Craig catcalling and cheering, yet Blaine was silent, a small smile playing on his perfect lips. It made me wonder if he was just being respectful or was gay himself.
    “Ok, your turn, Kami!” Angel exclaimed. With a sigh, I nodded and began to make my way towards her neck when she grasped my shoulders, halting my approach. “Not me, silly! Him . He doesn’t have another shot, and I want to take the next one with you. Don’t worry, I won’t get jealous.”
    My eyes instantly whipped to his furrowed brow, both our expressions full of surprise. “Um, Angel, honey, I think that is highly inappropriate. There’s no way I could do something like that to him. He works here.”
    Blaine licked his lips and cleared his throat. Somehow it sounded more like a groan. “I don’t mind if you don’t, Kami,” he said. My name sounded different on his tongue, almost dirty. The delicious kind of dirty.
    I bit my bottom lip, and glared at Angel, knowing exactly what she was up to. She made everything into a game and was always looking for ways to be entertained. That attitude was embedded in her poor-little-rich-girl persona. She returned my evil eye with a wink and waved her hand towards Blaine.
    Not feeling nearly drunk enough, yet warm from my previous drinks, I rolled my eyes and returned my attention back to the deliciously tattooed bartender before me. “Um, ok. I guess.”
    Blaine smiled sheepishly before pulling up a chair and straddling it backwards. Now he was closer to me, so close that I could smell him. And I’ll be damned if he didn’t smell amazing. It was a mix of mint and spicy cologne that paired with his body’s natural scent in a way that made my mouth water. I silently cursed again, but directed it at Angel this time. I should have never smelled that man. It was wrong. So, so wrong. Yet so, so good.
    I mustered up my courage and inched towards him slowly. Blaine kept his eyes on mine, refusing to even blink in my pursuit. I knew he had to hear my heart nearly pounding through my chest; hell, it was all I could hear. His gaze never wavered. When I was only inches from the smooth, tanned skin of his neck, he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and tilted his head, giving me full access to the known erogenous zone. By this point, my heart was hammering double time, and I thought I might go into cardiac arrest at any second. I had to keep going. I couldn’t let him see just how much he affected me. Angel and I had done this plenty of times with guys way less good-looking. This man should be no exception.
    The taste of his skin caused a tiny moan to escape my throat as the tip of my warm tongue licked a trail toward his earlobe. He tasted exactly how he smelled—of mint and spice. It made me want to keep licking and suck that earlobe right into