Page 123 of Ruining Vanessa

Too bad for Paul that he chose to run toward the front entrance. Ben has no problem at all catching him and dragging him back. Paul is shouting, something about how he’s sorry, please let him go, blah blah blah.

“What’s going on, boss?” Ben asks, wincing when Paul’s protests get louder.

“Don’t worry about it. Just take him to the VIP room. Slayer’s got to have cuffs on him. And if Paul doesn’t shut up, you can gag him with your cock.”

I don’t think Ben is into men at all, but Paul immediately stops screaming, even while Ben drags him back to the VIP room.

Jenna’s gone completely pale.

“Okay, so there’s no champagne,” I say to her. “What if we mixed white wine with seltzer water and pretend it’s sparkling wine? Even watered down, it’s got to be stronger than whatever else we’re serving.”

She keeps staring at me, until I snap my fingers in front of her. She startles and nods quickly. “Yes, uh. Wine and seltzer. But I don’t have wine either.”

“Fuck, why is this place such a dump? Fine, just get me a fruity cocktail of some sort.” I sit down on one of the bar stools and wait for Jenna to mix up the drink for me.

While I’m waiting, Ben walks back to his post, and soon after, Dr. Savage arrives.

“Yo.” I wave to him. “Your patient is in the VIP room.”

Savage gives me an annoyed look. “You realize it’s my day off? Twice in one day…”

“Blame… eh, one of the girls. I’ll be sure to make your annoyance known to her. How’s Stef, by the way? Still crying all the time?”

“No,” he says, and that’s that. Savage doesn’t like to air his kinks in public, which is a shame because I bet it’d be hot. He goes to the VIP room—and I see Damien dragging Traci there as well.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

Jenna gets me my cocktail, and I sip on it, staring in the direction of the VIP room, trying to force back the blinding rage enough to plan out just how I’m going to destroy Traci and Paul.

29

VANESSA

“You should just tell us what really happened,” Slayer says calmly, pulling me to him again. “You really think you can lie to the three of us? A detective, a consigliere, a mafia boss?”

I know he’s right, but in the end… Traci didn’t actually do anything wrong. I was the one who stepped wrong on the stairs, and it was my fault I’d fallen. Maybe if I just told them, I could get them to be…

To be what?

Merciful?

That’s laughable.

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” I say, shaking my head as he places a kiss to the top of my head. “I really did step wrong on the stairs.”

He sighs. “How does your head feel?” he asks, in lieu of answering me directly.

It hurts, but I shrug. “I’ll be okay.”

Paul won’t.

Traci won’t.

I can deal with a little bit of a headache, a bit of residual soreness. They’re going to deal with much worse, and it’s all my fault.

Slayer’s quiet, and I try to convince myself that this isn’t going to get a hell of a lot worse very quickly.

That is, of course, ruined by the door opening and Ben shoving a squirming Paul into the VIP room.

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