Chapter 3 #2
Settling into my seat, I sip my cocktail. It’s some heinous concoction of too many liquors mixed together that Leon ordered for me, but I can nurse it and keep my ears open for my impending demise.
A guy walks in, flanked by two women. He’s terrifyingly tall and muscular, his cold, dark gaze menacing. He’s bald, with pale skin blotted with red patches. His gaze settles on me and his lips quirk. Shit.
“Welcome, Sven,” Leon says. “Have a seat, please.”
Sven does so and the two women with him sit beside him, chatting quietly between themselves.
“This is my little Gummy.” Leon grips my shoulder. “Isn’t he sweet?”
“Very pretty too,” Sven says with a thick accent. “Where do you find such beauty?”
“Just lucky.” Leon’s actually beaming. “He’s smart too. Reads all the time.”
“Not smart enough, apparently,” Sven grunts, openly insulting Leon in front of me. “Maybe I will take him from you.”
Leon’s face flushes red as he wraps his hand around my arm. “Then I’d have to shoot you, Sven, and I don’t want to do that.”
Sven chuckles, but there’s no lightness to it at all.
“We’re dancing, Sven,” one of the women announces. “And we’re taking this little cutie with us.”
The women tug on my arm and beg me to come dance with them.
I turn to Leon. “Can I dance with them?”
He studies my face for a moment, then the girls, then the man who brought them. Leon and Sven chat too quietly for me to hear, but then, victory. Leon nods.
“Don’t go far.”
“I won’t.”
I stand and happily follow the women to the dance floor.
“I’m Jasmine,” the one with long black hair says. “This is Trudy.”
I smile at the redhead. “Rue. Nice to meet you both.”
“You looked bored,” Jasmine says. “Figured you could use an escape.”
More than they know. “Much appreciated.”
I let the music take over, moving my body to the beat and pushing away everything else for now.
“Is Leon your boyfriend?” Trudy leans in to ask.
“I guess so.”
Jasmine and Trudy exchange glances.
“You don’t like him?” Jasmine asks.
“Do you like Sven?” I ask instead of answering.
Trudy shrugs. “He’s okay. He pays for stuff and takes us out a lot.”
“Are you his girlfriends?”
Trudy nods. “Yeah. We’ve been with him about two years. We work for him too.”
“Doing what?”
Jasmine scrunches her nose in a cute way as she giggles. “You’re funny.”
Am I?
“Maybe you could work with us too if you don’t like Leon. Sven could negotiate a deal with Leon.”
“Leon won’t let me go. No way. He’s too possessive.”
“Oh?” Jasmine says. “You don’t work for him?”
“What do you mean by work?”
Trudy gives me a pitying look. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“No.”
“We recruit people,” Trudy explains. “To join our team.”
“And what does your team do?”
“Whatever Sven tells us to do,” Jasmine says, raising her arms to the music. “Usually we party with whoever, and then fuck his friends and colleagues. We’re party favors.” She grins. “That’s what he calls us.”
Oh. The meaning finally sinks in. “And you like it?”
“Hell yeah,” Jasmine says. “We get booze and drugs and all the sex we want, plus he buys us nice clothes. We have a real nice bedroom at his apartment too. It’s nicer than what we had before we met him.”
“That’s good.” My stomach sinks. Is this my future? Once he takes what he wants from me, am I going to be offered to anyone he wants?
“You don’t want to be with him, do you?” Trudy asks. “We could talk to Sven for you.”
“No, don’t do that, please. I’m fine. I just want to enjoy dancing.”
“Cool,” Jasmine says. “Let’s have fun.”
The three of us form a little circle, Trudy and Jasmine thankfully blocking Leon’s view of me, and for a few fleeting seconds, I consider just taking off and running for the door, but then what?
After the song changes, Jasmine yells out, “One more song?”
I nod, smiling happily. This is as close to freedom as I’ve felt in months and I like it.
Someone bumps into me from behind, and when I turn around, my jaw drops. It’s him. Carnage.
“Do you have a phone?” he says, getting right to the point.
“He monitors it.”
“Hand it over to me. Carefully. He has people watching you.”
“Back pocket,” I say, not turning in his direction as my pulse races.
“Keep dancing.”
I lean in to Trudy, yelling how much I like this song even though it’s the first time I’ve heard it. If Leon and his thugs are watching, I’ll look innocent.
I feel the phone leave my pocket, and only seconds later, it’s back.
Carnage moves to my side. “I’ll find you.”
Then he’s gone. I’m so tempted to turn and follow him, but for some reason I decide to believe him. I’m putting a lot of faith in a man I don’t know and who could turn out to be far worse than Leon, but what other options do I have? The devil I know is terrifying. Hopefully Carnage isn’t as bad.
After the second song ends, I hear an ear-piercing whistle over the music. Trudy and Jasmine smile, motioning for me to follow them. We return to the table and Leon eyes me up and down like he’s looking for something. I dutifully sit next to him, offering a slight smile.
“Did you have fun?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Leon turns to Sven, who is fawning over Trudy and Jasmine, then roughly takes my mouth in a kiss—an obvious show of possession.
I hate every second of it and tense as his hand moves between my legs, squeezing my thigh painfully.
Sven laughs. “I get it, Leon. He’s yours. Calm down.”
Leon bites my bottom lip before releasing me, and I have to fight the urge to wipe his disgusting kiss off my lips.
Instead, I sip my gross drink to at least replace the lingering taste of him.
I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
Fuck, I hope Carnage is legit and somehow finds me. I need a hero right now.
Even a scary one.