Page 68 of Captivated

I slide up to the bar. “What can I get for you?” the bartender asks.

“Whiskey. Neat.”

My eyes continuously scan the bar, and only the eyes of the four guys at the table make their way over to me. I sit and nurse my drink for a few minutes, and then knock back the rest when I get a message from Rocco.

Rocco:She came back alone.

I leave a twenty on the bar and head out.

I close my eyes and lift my face to the sky.

She got out of here alive. She’s safe.

I don’t know if her brother had a different fate, though, if she returned alone. She sure as hell isn’t going to tell me anything after the shit I said to her last night.

I’m such a fucking asshole.

I typed that shit without thinking and pressed send before I knew what I was doing. I let my anger get the better of me, and I wish I could take it all back.

I hate that she lied to me, and I hate that she’s still dancing, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to degrade her like that.

Whether she wants to admit it or not, she needs me. She needs someone to be on her side when everything she thinks she knows about her life turns out to be a lie.

Me:Let me know if she leaves again. You’re going to follow her everywhere.

Rocco:Understood.

I go back to my apartment and pack a bag. A larger one than before. I’m going to stay in Atlantic City as long as it takes. I’m going to be there for her no matter what like I told her I would be. I wasn’t ready to be done with her after our weekend together, and I sure as hell am not done with her now.

~ Chapter 25 ~

Cassie

I can’t believe what my life has come to. I don’t understand how everything got so messed up, so quickly. It’s one thing after another that’s being thrown at me, and I’m trying to navigate it all, but I’m struggling to find any semblance of control.

I want my life to be how it was.

Before Nico broke my heart. Before he showed up at my job. Before Sean came back from New York. Before I spent the weekend with Nico. Before I asked him to dance. Before I was ruined.

Just…before it all.

But the world doesn’t work like that, and I have to keep moving forward if I want to gain control of my life again. The spinning has to stop eventually, and I want to know that I did everything I could to stop it as quickly as possible.

I step into the shower and let the hot water work its magic on my tight muscles. A few tears escape and wash down the drain so I never have to see them for myself. I don’t need that. I already saw plenty last night.

Stepping out, I go through the motions of getting ready for another night at Pandemonium. Nico’s words aren’t going to stop me now. I can’t let them, especially when I don’t have any other option but to save myself now.

I know I should have been honest with him, but I also never explicitly lied to him. What did he think was going to happen when he got me fired? I’d just give up and think,ohwell? I tried for one night and that was that?

Now, I’m passed the sad and hurt stages, and have gone straight to angry.

Nico telling me I was only going to dance for him now when he had me on his lap and pressed against his hard cock isn’t the same as being in a relationship with someone and them asking me to stop dancing and giving me a good reason to.

I spent one weekend with him, and that’s the first thing he has to say to me after a month of nothing?

Is he serious?

If Nico would have talked to me instead of making choices for me, then maybe I would have felt comfortable enough to tell him what’s going on and why I’m so desperate for money.

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