Free Abandoned but Not Alone by Theresa L. Henry

thing, right there on the
balcony. ”
    Aviva had
heard enough of Hope ’ s lecture;
she had also heard enough about Jason King for one night. Every time she was
around the man she lost control, Hope was right on one score, she had been
nearly ready to give it up, not once, but twice. She didn ’ t intend for anything else to happen
between them for the foreseeable future, well certainly for the rest of the
night at least. With her makeup repaired, her resolve firmly back in place,
Aviva was ready to party till she dropped; and she knew just the man to keep
her company. Without comment on Hope ’ s warning,
Aviva unlocked the door and passed through in search of Carlos.
    The
remnants of dinner had already been cleared from the tables and waiters were
again passing around glasses of champagne. Aviva also saw that the bar was open
for those guests who wanted something stronger. Accepting a glass of wine,
Aviva looked around the room for Carlos. Catching his eyes she inclined her head
towards the dance floor. The DJ had taken over and was pumping some old grooves
from yesteryear. Placing her purse and her empty glass on the table, she joined
Carlos for some old school dancing. She blanked thoughts of Jason from her
mind, well aware that he watched her every progress towards the dance floor.
Reaching Carlos, she flung her arms in the air and began dancing with him in
time to the music. Not a big drinker, she felt the last glass of champagne go
straight to her head. She had also had a glass of wine on arrival at the
reception and three glasses at dinner in an attempt to quell her nervousness at
the impending performance. The last glass, which she knew she had drunk much
too quickly, began to take its toll. She felt good, loose, and Carlos looked
very fine, yes he did, and he knew how to shake his groove thang.
    “ You okay, you seem a little unsteady over
there? ”
    “ Well what you gonna do about it – you gonna help a girl out or what? ”
    “ Anything for you sweet, you know that. ”   Carlos moved closer to Aviva ’ s swaying body and pulled her into his
arms. Moving her hands up his chest, she locked her fingers around his neck as
she looked up into his light brown eyes. Carlos smiled down at Aviva, doing his
best no to laugh at the state she was in. Suddenly her eyes crossed, before
just as suddenly correcting themselves. Carlos wanted to laugh; he couldn ’ t wait to tell her about this when she
was sober. He intended to tease her for all he was worth.
    “ You have beautiful eyes Carlos, did
anyone ever tell you that? ”
    “ One or two people. ”
    “ Well they were right you have very
beautiful eyes Carlos, there I just made it three people. ” Aviva laughed uproariously at her own
joke.
    “ Do you want to get some air, Aviva? ”
    “ No, I don ’ t like that balcony. I get into trouble when I go out onto
balconies in the moonlight. ”
    Carlos had
witnessed Jason following her outside, and had thought about going out to see
what was taking them so long to return, but had thought better of it, sure that
Aviva ’ s question of whether
he could take Jason would have been put to the test, sooner rather than later
if he had joined them. He had also seen Aviva ’ s re-emergence with a very unhappy looking Hope.
    “ Do you want to sit down then? ”
    “ No I don ’ t want to sit down, if you don ’ t want to dance with me, just say so and I ’ ll find someone who does. ”
    “ It ’ s always a pleasure to dance with you my dear, Aviva. ”
    “ Thank you, um …”
    “ Carlos. ”
    “ I knew that, silly – just couldn ’ t remember there for a minute.  Anyway, I don ’ t want to talk, I want to dance. ”
    “ Yes ma ’ am, whatever you say. ”   Carlos
responded as he pulled Aviva closer to his body, hoping she wasn ’ t a spewer.
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Steve found
Jason propping up the bar; a brooding look plastered across his face as he
watched Aviva and Carlos dance to one song after another.
    “