WAG for Hire

Jordan followed the directions given to him by whoever had gotten her hands on Toby’s phone. He hoped they were accurate because he could tell from the slur in her voice that she was drunk. She also didn’t seem to want to elaborate on what was going on. That didn’t sit well with him.

It, in fact, wreaked havoc on his imagination.

By the time he pulled down the little side street he had been directed to, Jordan had ran a good many scenarios through his head and he didn’t like any of them. He parked right in front of the steps leading up the townhouse, figuring he would want to make a quick exit. If Toby was hurt…

No, he couldn’t do that to himself.
Still, he was up the front steps, pounding on the door in record time. His patience was non-existent; he was shifting from foot to foot contemplating breaking the door down. When it finally did open, a glassy eyed man gave him the once over. Jordan watched as recognition finally dawned on him. “Hey you’re…”

“I know,” Jordan stated sharply as he pushed past him. He surveyed the room quickly – empty bottles, people in various states of consciousness…none of them with red hair. A cheer came up from the kitchen; apparently some of them could still stand and therefore still drink. He wondered how many cases of alcohol poisoning the local ER was in for before morning.

God, he hoped Toby was not one of them.

He couldn’t stand there and make conjectures. He needed solid answers and he wasn’t going to get any in this room. He headed toward the noise. There were about a dozen people in the kitchen, passing around what looked like a bottle of Jack Daniels. He stepped into the doorway just in time for the bottle to land in his hands. He raised an eyebrow. “No thanks,” he said and sent it on its way.

At the sound of his voice, a tiny blonde woman turned on her heels, her eyes widening. “Jordan!”

It took him a moment to realize this was the woman from the phone. She pushed her way through the crowd, standing before him with a wide grin on her face. “I’m so glad that you could come.”

Jordan furrowed his brows together. This wasn’t a social call. “Where’s Toby?”

For a moment she looked genuinely confused. Then her face broke and she shook her head. “Oh, she’s fine.”

That was not the answer to the question he asked. He reminded himself that these people were drunk. They couldn’t help their stupidity. Still, he found himself dealing with the urge to rip the place apart. “Great, still, where is she?”

“I think she went to lie down,” the blonde told him. He turned heading for the stairs, only to find that she had grabbed a hold of his wrist. He stopped to look down at her. “She drank a little too much, got embarrassed at how drunk she was and decided to call it a night. It’s no biggie.”

“Then why did you call me?” Manners drilled into him by his mother were the only thing keeping him from pulling his arm from her grasp. She had more than invaded his personal space and he was starting to realize that she could care less about Toby right now. He bristled with annoyance.

“I thought you might want to come over…have a little fun.”
Manners be damned.

Jordan pulled his arm away and headed toward the stairs. He knew she was on his heels, calling his name. Thankfully he had height on her, and he was stone cold sober. She stumbled while he took them two at a time. “Toby?” He opened the first door he came to. Twin surprised shouts and scramble to maintain decency had him retreating quickly. He turned to find the blonde right behind him. “Uh…”

“Olivia,” she said with a smile that reminded him a bit like the Cheshire cat.

“Olivia…” He repeated and nearly groaned at the way her face lit up. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on here. Toby was the bait and he was the poor sucker who couldn’t help but take it. He wondered if this evil little creature standing before him had gone far enough as to feed Toby the alcohol in hopes of luring him in. “I am going to make myself clear. I am not here for a good time. I am here because of Toby. So you better stay out of my way while I find her.” His voice had taken on a hard edge that he didn’t think was possible when addressing members of the fairer sex. He couldn’t hold back though – not when he was this angry, this worried. “Now, move.”

Her face had fallen but she did as he asked. As soon as he was passed her she was out of sight, out of mind. He opened the next door to find a bathroom. Someone else had already taken up the task of hugging the toilet leading him to try the door across the hall. The room was empty, the bed untouched. He nearly growled in frustration as he moved to shut the door. Then something caught his eye. Peeking out from the side of the bed was a familiar black shoe. A familiar black shoe seemingly attached to a foot.

“Toby!” He launched himself forward, coming around to find her lying flat on her back on the floor. Her eyes were closed and for a moment, his heart fell. He went to his knees reaching out to touch her face. Her chest was rising and falling which helped his nerves immensely. “Hey, Toby,” he began his voice automatically taking on a soothing tone. “Open those pretty little eyes of yours.”

It took a moment (one that seemed to span on forever to him), but she started to come around. She shifted her body, a moan spilling from her lips. When her eyes opened they were glassy. Her face contorted into one of confusion but then she smiled. “Hey you sexy giraffe.”

Jordan made a face as relief shot spread through him. She continued to smile as she came around. “Sexy giraffe?”

“Cuz you’re so tall,” Toby explained, her voice slurred. She pulled herself up on her elbows seemingly unaware of how Jordan hovered just in case she chose to slump back down. “Why am I on the floor?”

“That’s a good question,” Jordan told her. His heart rate was starting to resemble something normal again. “Toby, how do you feel?”

She appeared to consider the question very carefully. She furrowed her brows and continued her rise into a sitting position. She narrowly missed clunking her head against the bedside table, a fact that Jordan was eternally grateful for. “It’s all good. I was drunk – but I think I slept it off,” she announced.

Far from it, Jordan mused inwardly. She might have passed out momentarily but she was still well on the drunken side of alcohol consumption. “Okay, Toby, time to go home.”

“I don’t want to.” As expected she sounded very much like a child.

“You think you don’t want to. Believe me, you want to,” Jordan said as he put his hands underneath her arm pits and pulled her to her feet. She was dead weight and slumped against him. He should have been prepared but instead was thrown off balance. Thankfully he landed on the bed with her on top of him. Her head lay on his chest and for a moment he was sure that she had passed out again. He lifted his head to glance down at her. Her eyes were still open and she was curling a hand into his shirt. This was not the time for him to wax poetically about how much he enjoyed the way her body was pressed against his. “Toby…”

“I hope you two don’t think you’re going to have sex in my bed.” Jordan grimaced. Olivia was back, her hands on the door frame no doubt to hold herself up. Toby pulled herself up, her knee digging into his thigh and narrowly missing an important part of his anatomy. He couldn’t help the groan that left his lips. A noise that was ignored by both females.

Toby had a look of annoyance on her face. “I’ll have sex with my boyfriend wherever I want…”

“The only person that is having sex in that bed is me…if you want to leave him there, however, feel free,” Olivia announced.

Toby lurched forward, but thankfully was clumsy enough to easily coral. “Not worth it, Toby,” Jordan told her as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. She was squirming, eager to get at the blonde and for the briefest second he debated letting take on Olivia. She had the size advantage and he was sure she would have no problem dropping the blonde. But he knew it wasn’t in Toby’s nature. She had been compromised by God knows how much alcohol. No, it was best to get her out of there as soon as possible. “We’re going home.”

“Where we’re going to have so much sex,” Toby said pointedly. She was continuing to twist against him and in the interest in of an easy exit he threw her over his shoulder. He made a point of ignoring Olivia as he left her bedroom. This was not a possibility for Toby. When they passed by her classmate, Toby raised a hand and cracked him hard across the ass. He was willing to bet that it was for the blonde’s benefit. He definitely needed to get her home.

Once they were out of Olivia’s sight she was easier to manage. He was down the stairs and out the front door before she could decide to do anymore damage. He was glad that he parked nearby, only now for different reasons. He went around to the passenger side and set her gingerly on her feet. He noted that she was swaying slightly but could probably manage long enough for him to open the door.

“I’m cold,” she noted.

Jordan glanced back her after making sure the passenger seat was clear. She would be, standing in the winter weather in nothing but that lace top. “Your jacket’s in there, huh?” She nodded, looking a tad bit sullen. “And your keys and phone too…” Another nod. “Okay.” He helped her into the Escalade, reaching across her to buckle her in. He stuck the key into the ignition to get some heat flowing through the vehicle. Pulling back, he met her eyes. “Toby, can you promise me something?” He asked, reaching out to touch the side of her face. She gave him an exaggerated nod. “Don’t move. Don’t touch anything.”

“Okay…” Her head fell back against the rest and he shut the door.

He went back up the front steps, throwing out the polite knock in favor of banging his fist against the door. The same drunken idiot answered. “Hey, you’re…” Jordan pushed past him, his eyes scanning the door for the grey jacket. It was nowhere in sight and he wondered if he had just taken on the impossible task.

“Is there a place for coats?” He asked the idiot who had followed him into the living room.

“It’s called a closet…dumbass.”

Jordan had to remind himself that alcohol brought out the worst in people. That it wasn’t a fair fight if he were to plow his fist into the idiot’s face. Instead he went off in search of the closet. It was near the entry way and stuffed full of outerwear. Not caring, he began to toss the rejects out until his hand curled around the worn grey fabric of Toby’s coat. He pulled it out and stuck his hands in her pockets, finding her keys but not the phone. He groaned. This was obviously not his night.

It didn’t take him long to find Olivia; she had inserted herself back into the melee of drunkenness. A smile curled her lips as she spotted him. She pushed her way through the crowd, stumbling at the last second. He put his hands out automatically to stop her. She seemed content to slump against him and he wondered if he would go to hell if he let her just drop to the floor. “Her phone, Olivia,” he began. “Give it back.”

“What makes you think I have it?” She purred and she seemed to be trying to give him a seductive look. It was having the opposite effect of her intentions.

“Because you used it to call me,” Jordan said flatly as he took a step back. She was trying to press herself against him and he wanted nothing of it. He thought of Toby back in the Escalade - he needed to get back to her. “Look, I know your deal. You’re not the first one of your kind I’ve met.”

“My kind?” Olivia asked as her attempted seductive look fell away.

“You just invited her in hopes that she would bring me, huh?” Jordan let go of her now and watched her totter on her feet. “If I had come would you still have encouraged her to drink as much as she did?”

“She’s a grown up. She can handle herself,” Olivia countered.

While she might have been right in some respects, Jordan knew how badly Toby wanted to make friends, to feel like she belonged. Surely that played in her decision to get rip roaring drunk. “Her phone,” he repeated.

“I haven’t the faintest clue where it is,” Olivia shot back slowly, clearly annoyed at having been pinned down.

It wasn’t worth it – continuing to argue while there were more important things to deal with. He turned away from Olivia, coat in hand, and headed back out into the cold. Thankfully the Escalade was still sitting just where he left it. He opened the driver’s side door, watching as Toby turned her head slowly. No doubt the combination of alcohol and heat was making her sluggish. “You found it.”

“Of course I did,” Jordan told her with a small smile. He placed it on her lap, eager to get away from the townhouse. It wasn’t until he turned on the first light did he notice how she was slumping forward now. “You drank a lot, didn’t you?” He murmured more to himself than to her. She didn’t even seem to react to the words. It was then and there he made the decision. “Okay, Toby, you’re sleeping over.”

“K,” she muttered, her eyes falling close.

Yes, definitely beyond reason. Otherwise she would have argued. Jordan sighed as he drove toward his apartment building. Thankfully it was late enough to avoid anyone seeing him open the passenger door and lift her out. She managed to wrap her arms around his neck but he was still left doing much of the work. Somehow he was able to get her into the lobby without bumping her head against anything. As he waited for the elevator he glanced down at her. “You’re going to hate yourself in the morning,” he warned her. She blinked, glassy eyed. “But I bet you’re feeling pretty good now, huh?”

“Warm and fuzzy,” she quipped with a lopsided smile. “Jordan, you came and got me.”

“I did,” he said as the doors opened. He turned sideways to maneuver them into the elevator. He knelt down a little so he could use his pinky finger to hit the button for his floor.

“You’re amazing,” she breathed.

Jordan just snorted, shifting her in his arms. If he were to wager a guess, he would think she was hovering around the pass out stage again. Getting her down the hall was no problem, but there was no way he could hold her, dig his keys out and open the door to his place. He relinquished his hold on her, placing her carefully in the corner so he could get the door open. When he turned back to her, she was falling forward. “I’ve got you,” he told her as he once again scooped her up. He carried her into the apartment, using his foot to kick the door closed.

Now where to put her?

There was the couch. Or the spare room. No, he needed something with easy access to a bathroom. Which meant one thing. He made his way through the living room and into the hall. He hoped his bedroom was decent enough, but then reminded himself that she was not going to care.

Toby was still conscious when he placed her carefully on his bed. She had twined her hands around his neck again and didn’t seem to want to let go. He ran his hands up her arms to where they clasped around his neck. ‘Hey, Toby, you can go to sleep now.”

She moved her head from side to side. It took him a moment to realize that she was saying no. She tightened her grip. “Let’s have so much sex…” she said echoing her parting words to Olivia.

Jordan closed his eyes as Marc’s earlier taunts came flooding back to him.

Life was not playing fair.