Page 78 of Captured Solace

She held up a yellow garment and I stared at her, mouth falling open. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. It seemed to be made of a lot of straps and little sections of ruched fabric. There was no way I was ever wearing that out of the house.

“Magnolia, I can’t go out in that,” I gasped.

“Oh, yes, you can,” she said. “Go get cleaned up and put it on so I can see.”

“How does it even work?” I protested as she pushed me toward the bathroom.

“It has a picture on the tag,” she assured me.

I let her shut me in the bathroom and I put on the dress with maximum effort. Then I let down my dark hair and looked at my reflection, my mouth going dry. Was that me? Was I brave enough to take this version of myself out to a club?

The dress barely covered my ass and I could see my bra strap in the back. I wasn’t ready to go out without any undergarments, but I needed something that complimented the dress. My eyes fell to the corner where I’d left the lingerie Viktor had bought for me and my stomach fluttered. Was I really contemplating wearing the lingerie my husband had given to me out to a club? Where I would no doubt attract the attention of other men?

A little spark of resentment burned in me at the memory of Viktor walking out the door. He’d put up a wall, ignored my pleading, and left me without looking back.

I put on the lingerie and took off my wedding ring. If he wanted me to act like I was married, maybe he shouldn’t have given me the freedom to fuck who I wanted before he walked out the door.

We left the house later that evening. I covered my dress with an overcoat and convinced one of Viktor’s guards to drive us into the city under the guise of getting dinner. Then we slipped out the back door of the restaurant to lose him and headed up the street to the club.

There was only a short line at the door because it was so late and it took less than five minutes to get inside. Magnolia lit up the moment she stepped in the door and shed her coat, walking down the hallway in her black dress like she owned the place. I checked my overcoat and went after her, feeling incredibly exposed.

The main room was a lavish, modern space lit by a pillar of moving water in the center of the room. The music pounded in a steady beat, so loud it drowned out my thoughts as I descended the stairs to the dance floor. On the other side of the room was a bar and I spotted Magnolia already getting drinks from the handsome bartender. He eyed her breasts unabashedly as they chatted and she leaned forward to give him a better view.

“Hey,” I said, coming up behind her.

She turned. “This is Andrew, he’s a friend of the friend I told you about who owns a bar.”

“For you, sweetheart,” Andrew said, sliding a drink to Magnolia. “What can I get you, Magnolia’s friend?”

“Oh, I’m Sienna. And I’ll have whatever gets me drunk fast,” I said.

“Alright, but I’m cutting you off if you get too wasted, okay?” Andrew pointed at me as he backed up and took a glass from the shelf.

“Okay, whatever,” I said, shrugging.

At some point when I’d stepped through the door, I’d stopped caring about what Viktor would think if he saw me now. Yes, I had hurt him, but he had hurt me too and he’d walked out like a coward. I wanted to get drunk and feel the eyes of other men on me, to feel them want my body the way Viktor had.

I bolted whatever Andrew handed me and tapped my glass for more. He obliged, but not without shooting Magnolia a look.

“You’re gonna want to watch this one,” he said.

The alcohol hit me like a euphoric revelation. The room slowed as I stepped into the sea of bodies, all moving to the beat throbbing in our veins. The pillar of water swirled in my vision and high above me was the dark ceiling dotted with glitter, like stars in the night sky. My body awoke slowly, rising out of the depression that had wracked it for the last few weeks.

I danced, completely oblivious to the bodies bumping up against mine. At some point, I realized Magnolia was gone and I went in search of her and found her behind the bar with Andrew. He had her pushed up against the shelf and his hand was under her dress, the muscles in his forearm working. She caught my eye over his shoulder and shrugged, biting her lip. I gave her a drunken thumbs up and reached over the bar, taking a bottle of lemon vodka and drinking from it. The alcohol was working its way out of my system and I wanted to stay drunk.

“You gonna drink all that?”

I turned and bumped into a solid chest. Hands came up to steady me and I looked into the face of a gorgeous blond man with blue eyes.

“Are you Australian?”

“What?” He leaned closer.

“Are. You. Australian?” I yelled. “Because you sound like it.”

“Jesus, fuck, you don’t have to yell in my ear,” he said. “And yes, if you couldn’t tell by the accent. Now, are you gonna share that, baby?”

Damn it, he called me baby just the way Viktor did. I looked up at him as he pried the bottle from me and took a drink and put it back behind the bar. Then he slid his fingers through mine and pulled me toward the dance floor.

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