Page 11 of Room One Hundred and Five

I sense a presence beside me but I don’t take my eyes off the devil’s puppet coming at me.

But it doesn’t come. A large hand fills my vision, grabs William’s and suddenly everything moves in a blur. Wood cracks then there’s a bleeding William laying on top of broken tables.

I back away, wanting only to find the nearest exit and fade into nothing from embarrassment. Tonight was about rediscovering my sexuality and setting my inner woman free. The second I get home I never want to leave.

“Step back ma’am.” A large figure walks past me to loom over a stunned and whimpering William.

The bartender, my stunned mind realizes. He holds a hand up, a finger pointing directly at me. “Don’t leave. We need to talk.”

“You. Your name. Proof of membership.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

If my feet didn’t refuse to move, I would already be out of here. The bartender keeps rattling something off to William, but my mind is focused on how to get as far away from here and him as possible.

How the hell am I going to explain this to Luna? She’ll put me under a twenty-four-hour guard after this. Good luck with finding any privacy now. She won’t let me out of her sight after this.

More men dressed identically to the bartender surround me. The eyes of members are on us. I finally know what my heroine feels like when I write them into a corner and they want nothing more than to die where they are standing or let the floor swallow them whole out of mortification.

I swallow thickly.

“Ma’am.”

My brain clicks back online. “Excuse me?”Shit get it together, Stella.

“Do you want to press charges? If you do, we will need you to stay. We’ll take you to the offices and have the authorities here within a few minutes to get the process started.”

William’s eyes narrow on me. He back on his feet and fixing his cufflinks like this is just a misunderstanding all the while glaring at me.

Old feelings come back. Fight or flight instincts take over. I didn’t beat him the last time I went toe to toe with him. And tonight simply proves it is easier to just walk away.

My hand falls back to my scar. I can call Detective Lafleur in the morning. She can do a follow up. She can handle all this.

“No,” I answer, proud of my even tone. No matter how much I want William to turn into a pile of ashes, I want out of here and away from every prying eye more. Mortification and bewilderment that this escalated to where everyone on the first floor of Club Sin has stopped to look at us has me glowing red. William will get his comeuppance another way. The second Luna hears about this she will figure a way to orchestrate his death in the most gruesome way possible. She said as much if he ever laid another hand on me.

I suck in a deep breath. “I was just leaving. No charges,” I confirm.

The security guard on my right lays his hand on my shoulder. I know he means well, but I don’t care to be touched right now. I shake it off, grab my clutch and turn. My fingers shake to the point I drop the small hand-held bag, spilling the contents.

“Shit!”

The guard holds a hand up. “It’s okay.” He stuffs everything back inside and hands the thing back.

The bartender pulls a phone out similar to the one Lavender gave me. Someone on the other line says something and then he juts his chin toward the two guards at my sides. “Get her out of here. Use passage B.”

“Ma’am this way.” I expect them to take me to a back office so they can detain me while they call the authorities. Instead, Lavender comes out of a hidden door made to look like part of the mirrored wall. She holds a hand out and I take it, letting her usher me into an empty corridor.

Passage B. I hurriedly step through leaving behind the neon lights and nosy onlookers. After tonight, I’ll never be able to step another foot in this place. So much for living it up and getting experiences to write about.

“Follow me.” Lavender walks, the soft click of her heels urging me to keep up. I fall in behind her, my hands gripping my evening bag like it’s a lifeline keeping my nerves from falling apart all over the black marble flooring.

I look around. Two-way mirrors line either side of the hallway that extends through multiple rooms. This is how all the hostesses and security guards move from room to room so quickly.

Soft white light clicks on as we move deeper into Club Sin. Unsuspecting members continue their night of lust unaware anything is going on around them. A curated experience I wish I could have tasted before reality took over.

“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to cause a scene.” Lavender pauses, takes out a set of keys and shows me through another door. This one opens up into a lobby of some sort where on one side is a black door withexclusive members onlyetched into a gold plate. On the other side is an elevator door and my way out of here.

“You’re not the only one who has to come to Club Sin and run into an ex. It happens often enough we have a protocol for it.”

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