The song ended, and the strippers climbed off of Jared, leaving him covered in glitter and looking deliriously happy. The DJ announced last call. That was my cue. These dudes were all drunk as hell, and I wanted to be out of the strip club before the lights came up.

“Hey, bruh,” I said, tapping the bouncer standing by the door. “Can you let our waitress know that I’m ready to settle up?”

The big man gave me a short nod, opened the door, and signaled for the waitress. I turned back to Jared, who was trying, unsuccessfully, to stand up.

“Hold on, Jay. I gotchu, man,” I said, looping his arm over my shoulders to steady him.

“Wow. I’m a lot more drunk when I stand up.”

“Heh, yeah. That happens,” I said with a chuckle. “I think it’s about time to pack it in for the night.”

“Agreed,” he said with an enthusiastic nod.

Arm in arm, we walked out to the curb just as our car was pulling up. When I climbed in and closed the door, Jared groaned. “You all right over there? You ain’t gonna be sick, are you?”

“Nah… I was just thinking about sleeping in my old bedroom and realized that I’d much rather be sleeping next to Brandi tonight,” my drunk friend admitted. He wasn’t one to get all sappy about a girl, but this weekend was really bringing it out of him — which was appropriate, I guess.

“I mean, we could drop you off at her hotel instead. You could Romeo your way into her room.”

“Pfft, I wish. She’s so superstitious about not seeing each other before the wedding. There’s no way she would let me in.”

“Wow… By this time tomorrow, you’ll be a married man.”

“I know. Am I s’posed to feel nervous? ‘Cause I don’t. I’m just ready to start my life with her, you know?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I love that for you, man.”

Jared chuckled dryly. “Yeah…you’re right. You don’t know,” he said, then let the matter drop, but I heard something else in that dismissal that we should probably discuss at some point.

The house was quiet and dark when we pulled in. Assuming that Darcy had gone to bed, I made sure Jared made it to his third-floor bedroom safely and as quietly as possible. I’d avoided the dark plant-filled hallway on the way up, sticking to the piazza instead. Now I made my way to her bedroom door. It was closed, and there was no light under it, but I knocked anyway, hoping that she was still awake.

“Darcy?” I called softly, rapping my knuckles against the door again.

Nothing.