Page 28 of Anastasia

“Uh, yeah,” he muttered, looking over at his friends before rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m here for a bachelor party. I didn’t know you worked here. How are you?”

“I’m sorry, but I have to go, okay?” I muttered softly before attempting to turn away from him again, but he wouldn’t let go of my wrist. “What do you want from me, a dance or something? I said I gotta go!”

Harshly, I snatched my wrist from his hold. I could tell that he was taken aback by my words, but he nodded his head in understanding. I did feel bad, but the last thing I wanted was anyone judging me. Especially someone who knew Alexandria, and who knew she would never support what I was doing.

I quickly walked off, trying to hold back my tears. In a battle of crying my heart out or continue working as if nothing was happening, my tears were on the verge of winning.

Abruptly, I bumped into a very familiar Italian. His scent hugged me, whispering in my ear that everything would be okay. “Who was that, Bambolina?”

“Who?” I asked, playing dumb before speedily walking right past him. I knew he was following me, but I no longer cared. My body wanted him near me at all times, but my logic was fully aware that he had been avoiding me. It hurt knowing that he wasn’t there when I needed him most.

“You know who,” he seethed.

I turned around to face him, glaring with narrowed eyes. “A client. Just like there are clients everywhere in this club. I’m not sure if you’ve forgotten, but Idowork at a strip club.”

He was looking at me with doubt clear in his expression, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about his toxicity. I had just seen him with a woman, followed by another one. He had no right to judge me.

“You know better than to?”

“To what? What are you going to do, Mr. Romano? I am one hundred percent sure that nothing you could ever say or do would make me feel any worse than what I feel right now!” I retorted, choking back a sob.

Storming past him, I walked right into the girls’ restroom, a place where I knew I was free from everyone.

The moment I saw my eyes in the mirror, I almost broke down. I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I were suffocating. It was like my lungs were screaming for air, but no matter how hard I tried to fight—water surrounded me.

A sob ripped out of my throat, followed by another until I found myself just breaking down. I couldn’t stand feeling this unfathomable pain, but it was the only way my heart seemed to know how to survive. My heart hurt, and there was no escaping that. No alcohol, no boy, no person could ever heal me in the way Alex could.

“I should be ashamed of myself,” I whispered pathetically.

Careful not to ruin my makeup, I used the pad of my fingertips to wipe away the mascara running down my cheeks. I had to take many calming breaths to rid myself of the need to cry again.

Suddenly, my phone began to ring out of nowhere, leaving me to jump in fright. I quickly unzipped my boot and pulled my cell phone out. Just before pressing accept, I made sure that I had sobered up all my tears before putting my phone against my ear.

“Nana,” my mum cried into the phone.

Running a hand through my hair, I already knew what was going to happen. She was preparing to tell me that she needed money because of some made-up excuse.

“What?” I huffed out.

A sniffle escaped me before I had a chance to stop it, but of course, she didn’t even notice. Even if she did notice it, she didn’t bother mentioning it because she didn’t want the conversation straying away from her.

“I need help,” she sobbed.

My brows pulled together at the desperation in her voice. She’d never sounded so panicked before and it left me worried.

“What? Where are you?” I asked.

I quickly walked out of the restroom before making my way toward the back, where I grabbed my keys and slid on a pair of sweatpants as she told me where to find her. I then exited the club and hurriedly made my way to my car, making her promise to stay on the phone. It was bad for me to leave in the middle of my shift, but I knew I couldn’t leave my mother all alone.

I didn’t waste any time?just drove off to find her. She informed me that she was outside a small local pet store that she used to take me and Alex to all of the time. The owner once let us play with the pets while our mother went to do whatever it was that she did. I always had the best memories of that place.

My mum was still crying heavily into the phone while I drove, so I pushed on the gas a little harder.

* * *

A long drive later,I pulled up to the shop and quickly got out. Since my mum didn’t give me any specifics about her location other than she was outside our favorite pet shop, it made it hard to find her. It wasn’t until I saw a woman lying down in a dark alley, strung out, that I knew it was her.

“What the hell happened?” I asked in shock as I kneeled beside her quivering body. Mum turned to face me, but she looked so drained.

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