Page 3 of Sacred Vow

He said he’d heard I was back in town. I’ve been careful. I haven’t asked questions or reached out to any of Craig’s old friends. How did he know I was back?

And how long do I have before he tries to kick me out?

The little hairs on the back of my neck stand up as soon as I enter the club.

I look up, sweeping my gaze over my surroundings to find the reason for my sudden anxiety.

“What are you looking for?” Marlena nudges me from my search of the upper balcony at Kraze. She presses herself closer to me.

“I don’t know,” I say, shuffling through the crowd another few feet toward the bar. Kraze opened a year ago, but it’s been impossible to get into without knowing someone. Marlena worked some magic to get us in, but I’m not sure we’re as lucky as I thought when she told me about it.

I’m still on edge after bumping into Andrei three days ago. The club scene was never really his thing, there’s no reason to believe he’s here. But something is putting me on alert.

“This place is insane.” Marlena shoves away someone from behind her and wiggles herself next to me when we finally get up to the bar.

“Hey. You okay?” She eyes the three men huddled beside me doing a round of shots and links her arm through mine.

“Yeah. I just got a funny feeling is all. How about you?” I look down to where our arms are linked.

“Don’t want to lose you in the crowd.” She smiles.

“Yeah, it’s way more crowded than I thought it would be.” I turn to the bartender who’s waiting impatiently. “Two bottles of Prosecco.” Why spend the night fighting off the crowd at the bar when we can pour our own drinks?

He checks our wrists and shakes his head.

“You need bottle service for that,” he informs us.

“Okay, fine. We’ll have that,” I say.

He laughs. “You need a table in the back section. Do you have a table back there?”

I’m tempted to lie, but I’m sure a club like this has a system in place.

“No.”

“Want something else then?” he prods.

“Fine. Two glasses of Prosecco.” I pull out my card and hand it to him. Marlena untangles her arm with mine and pulls out her phone.

“I’ll get the next round,” Marlena says while swiping through messages on her phone. I see one fly by with a familiar name.

“Something going on?” I ask, tapping her phone with my fingertip.

“No. No.” She swipes away another message that comes in, this one all in caps, then shoves the phone in her back pocket.

We grab our drinks and slither our way along the bar to a less crowded spot with an empty high-top.

“You sure everything’s okay? Your phone’s going off like crazy tonight.” I sip the drink. Not the most sophisticated drink, but it tingles my nose and dulls my nerves.

“It’s nothing. Just work.” She waves away my concern and takes a gulp of her drink. “You are gonna kill in that dress.” She gestures to the dress she squeezed me into before we left her apartment.

I traded in my uniform for the slinkiest, shortest, sexiest black mini dress I’ve ever seen. There’s a slit on the side that goes clear up to my hip; panties were not an option with this thing. Or a bra since the back is all crisscrossing straps that dip down to nearly the crack of my ass. I was a little surprised I fit into it.

“It’s too tight and too short,” I complain again, pulling on the hem of the dress.

She laughs. “It is not. It’s perfect.” She checks her phone again. “Sorry.” She shoves it into her purse. “No more. Promise.”

“You’re the one that wanted to come here,” I remind her as I sip my drink.

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