Page 3 of One Wild Night

I was going to tell her that I really didn’t have friends, but stopped myself. Maybe things were changing and I could allow myself to get close to someone for once. It would be nice not to feel so alone all the time. “You might just be right,” I said instead. With a smile on my face, I grabbed the pack of smokes from my purse and walked toward the door. “I’ll see you in a few.”

Finding the alley was easy enough, and I was about to light up when a sound caught my attention. I glanced down the narrow space about twenty feet and froze at what I saw. Ryan was there with two other burly men. The three of them were standing over a guy on his knees as he clutched his stomach.

I watched in horror as the men with Ryan pulled the other guy up and held him there while Ryan threw punch after punch at him. The poor man was begging for Ryan to stop, but that didn’t even slow him down. He hit the guy over and over, and when the two men let him sink to the ground again, Ryan began kicking him in the ribs relentlessly.

Having been on the other end of abuse, I wanted to run over and stop him, or scream for help. I wanted to do something...anything...to help the poor stranger now curled up in the fetal position, but I was afraid of drawing attention to myself. Like the scared little girl I was when I left home three years ago, I cradled my purse to my chest and made my way back inside quickly and quietly. No one had seen me witness that attack, and I planned on keeping it that way. As a shiver ran down my spine, I also decided that, for my own safety, I needed to stay as far away from Ryan as I could.

Chapter 2

Siena

“Where the fuck do youthink you’re going, Siena?” my dad screamed as I was walking toward the door. “You have shit to do around here, and you haven’t made my breakfast.”

Visibly shaking, I turned around to face him. “I’m sorry, Dad. I have school, and I can’t miss today because of a final in Calculus.” He was drunk, and I cringed internally at what I knew his reaction would be.

“Oh, look at you. Miss high and mighty, going to school to take your Calculus test. You think you’re better than me, don’t you, Siena? That you’re smarter. Well, I have news for you, you little whore. You’re not.”

Even though I was half expecting it, his fist caught me off guard and I flew back against the door, crying out as the knob dug into my spine. Fighting the tears that filled my eyes, I took a deep breath and righted myself. “No, I don’t think I’m better than you. I’m just trying to finish school so I can get a better job and start helping out more around here.” That was a lie, but there was no way I was going to tell him I was saving up to get the hell out of Murphy and put as much distance between him and me as possible.

As my cheek throbbed, I wanted nothing more than to reach up and rub it, but I resisted. He wasn’t done with his rant, and I knew from experience that any sign of weakness would only make it worse. Standing in front of me silently, he glared at me as he waited for me to say something else.

“You’re a worthless piece of shit!” he shouted after a minute, closing the distance between us. “You’ll never be good for anything but cooking and cleaning like the pathetic little whore you are.” He moved, and though I tried so hard not to, I flinched. “No one wants to hire a murderer. You can do as well as you want in school, but this whole town knows that you killed your mother, and they don’t want anything to do with you.”

Tears streamed uninvited down my cheeks at his words. I never knew my mother, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to...or missing her. I would never get that chance, though, because he was right. I may not have killed her with my own two hands, but she died giving birth to me. My father never forgave me for that, and took it out on me every chance he got.

I pressed myself harder against the door and closed my eyes, waiting for the next blow—the one that would knock me out cold. It always came; it was only a matter of time.

It had been three weeks since my first dance at Cherries, and I’d managed to avoid Ryan for the most part. When I’d walked back inside that first day, I had every intention of telling Carlo the job wasn’t the right fit for me and walking away. I had thrown my clothes on over the outfit I was wearing, grabbed my purse, and then went to put my tips in my wallet.

When I realized I’d made over four hundred dollars, plus the grand that Carlo had promised me for even coming in, I started to rethink things. Being on the run, moving from city to city every few months, was draining both physically and financially. I had been able to do things like waitressing, but the pay was minimal and the tips were shit. An opportunity to save up some money wasn’t something that should be taken lightly, and I had decided that I couldn’t pass it up. I justified it by telling myself that it shouldn’t be too hard to avoid Ryan, even if he was the manager of the club. The last thing I needed or wanted in my life was a man like my sperm donor.

I had just come from the stage and was making my way to the dressing room when Tony approached me. Carlo had introduced him as Antonio, but apparently he was the only one who called him that. Tony had been watching me every chance he got, and had asked me out a few times. The way he looked at me still made my skin crawl, but I did my best to ignore it.

“Hey there, sexy. Are you ready to let me take you out on that date yet?” he asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

I tried to hide my uneasiness with a laugh as I playfully swatted at his chest. “Come on, Tony. I told you before that I can’t date you. You’re the boss’ son, and doing so could potentially cause a lot of problems.”

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