Page 54 of A Sinner's Virtue
Three glasses of champagne later, I’m feeling a lot less stressed. “You know what we should do?” I say to Lucy.
“What?”
“Dance. We should go dancing,” I tell her.
Lucy stares at me. “You don’t go dancing, Zoe.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything. Come on, Lulu, take me dancing.” I try to pull off a pout, but it only makes her laugh.
“Okay, I’ll take you dancing… if you stop doing that weird thing with your lip. Let me call the girls. They’ll meet us there.”
The girls are Lucy’s friends. Shardonnay, Xavier’s fiancée. And Dani, who works at Xavier’s law firm and is dating one of the partner’s there. I’ve met the girls a couple of times in passing, but Lucy is right. I don’t usually go out. I tend to avoid crowded places.
Right now, though, I couldn’t think of anything better than going dancing. I guess all this talk about death birds today makes me want to live it up. “Okay, let’s do it.” I smile at Lucy.
“Come on, we’ll get those big hot Russians of yours to drive us,” Lucy says.
Arm in arm, we walk over to the table where Ivan has been watching the entire bar. “We’re going to Unhinged,” I announce. “Can you drive us?”
“No, you’re not,” he says firmly.
“Ah, yes, I am. Either you drive us, or I’ll get an Uber,” I tell him, already pulling up the rideshare app on my phone.
“Fucking hell, you’re going to get me killed, Zoe,” Ivan grunts before pushing up from his seat. “Let’s go.”
Lucy and I share a smile as we follow him out of the bar and slide into the back of his car.
By the time we reach the club, Lucy gets a text from Shardonnay. Letting her know they’re already in the VIP section. Ivan follows close behind us as we make our way up the stairs and find Lucy’s friends in a booth.
I stop, dead in my tracks, when my eyes land on her. Except she looks different from when I met her the first time. Eloise, Marcel’s sister-in-law. Guilt consumes me. I accused her husband of hurting her. In my defence, that wouldn’t have happened if Marcel had told me what had happened to her before inviting me over for dinner.
Lucy is oblivious to my discomfort as she slides into the booth, next to a blonde girl who looks anything but pleased to be here. I don’t think I’ve met her before.
“Everyone, this is my friend, Zoe. Zoe, you’ve met Dani and Shar before. This is El.” Lucy points to Eloise, who smiles back at me, then to a girl next to her. “This is Claire and that sad-looking one over there is Daisy,” Lucy says while gesturing to the beautiful blonde. “Wait… Why do you look like your cat just died?”
“She’s, ah, been secretly not-so-secretly dating Gabe,” Eloise announces.
“I thought your brothers-in-law were off limits,” Lucy directs to Eloise.
“So did I,” Eloise replies.
“Okay, so this has turned into a bit of a De Bellis women gang quick.” Lucy laughs.
“What do you mean?” Claire asks her.
“Zoe is Marcel’s girlfriend.” Lucy points to me. Then all eyes turn my way.
“You’re Marcel’s Zoe?” Daisy asks.
“Ah…” I look around. I don’t know what to say. I mean, I am dating Marcel. But clearly he doesn’t want me around his family and suddenly I’m sitting with his sister-in-law and his brother’s girlfriend. I don’t feel like I should be here. “I…”
“Damn, all the good De Bellis men are taken. I mean, if Vin was a few years older, he’d be the best one, but teenagers are not my thing.” Dani sighs.
“Dani, you’re engaged to be married. You don’t need a De Bellis. You have your hot boss,” Eloise tells her.
“Yeah, but there’s something about that dark and mysterious thing. Am I right? I mean, obviously I’m not giving up hot boss, but still…” Dani shrugs.
I look around the club, feeling really uncomfortable. The buzz from the champagne has worn off, which means I need to either get it back or leave. “I’m just going to the restroom,” I tell the girls.
