13. Halo
Nightclubs had never been my thing but Sheamus had promised me that it’d be fun. I knew that Mark wasn’t too far behind me. Before I’d even left the premises, I sent him a text with my exact address.
I was hoping to avoid an argument with Ashton, who I was sure was not happy with me.
Why do you care, I wondered as I pulled down the visor.
I half expected another stupid ass piece of paper to flutter to the ground but it didn’t. Ever since I’d been attacked on our six-month anniversary, Mark had been there. Or one of the other guards. None of my stepbrothers had tried to attack or contact me again.
My reflection stared back at me and I realized I looked a little bland. I’d bought a brand new tube of Fenty lipstick on a whim. My lips puckered slightly and I ran The MVP shade over my lips.
“That’s bold as hell,” I whispered.
A knock came on my window, causing me to jump. Staring up I found Sheamus standing there in a button-up and blue jeans so tight he would make a straight man blush.
Rolling the window down, I heard him let out a whistle. “Someone looks like a pretty picture. Ready to go have some fun?”
Hesitation rippled through me and I surveyed the parking lot. “Let’s do it.”
The pulse of music greeted me the second Sheamus and I entered the club. It wasn’t what I was expecting but then again, as long as I’d been in Atlanta, I’d avoided the club scene. On the first floor Kashin, was the restaurant. There were plenty of people eating sushi and sitting at elegant dining tables.
Following behind Sheamus we moved to the second floor and into a section where the beautiful female horse trainer Violet and Penny were sitting. The lights were going wild and flashing while the clubbers danced hard grinding against each other to the music’s dark beat. I took in all the details of my fellow employees coming to the conclusion I’d picked the right outfit. Violet was dressed in a bright pink halter top body con dress, while Penny the strawberry blond had gone for a spaghetti strap tank and jeans.
Excitedly they waved me over and I turned to look for Sheamus who was already dancing with a stranger. He was so into the moment with the other man he’d forgotten about me.
Approaching the other women, I felt timid. “Hi.”
Both immediately started beaming at me and patted the seat in between the two of them for me to sit down.
“We love your top,” Penny offered first.
Violet nodded. “Girl, we’ve been talking about you all week. I would die for your curls.”
Warmth bloomed over my face. “Thank you. I don’t get out of the house much.”
Both women looked at each other. “We’ve seen your house. We’d never leave it either if we were you.”
Nervously I touched my hair. “It’s a lovely home. But it’s not really mine, perse.”
Another look passed between the women before Penny offered to get us Dirty Mojitos. We watched as she went off moving in and around couples, Violet leaned over.
“So did you think Sheamus was gay?”
I grinned and shook my head and then started looking for our boss. “I thought he was as straight as an arrow.”
“Same, girl. Same.” Violet had piercing gray eyes that seemed to glow under the lights in the club, giving her a minx-like appearance. Out of the two women, I could tell she was the most mischievous. “When I first started, I was like head over heels for him and then found out he was having an affair with Juan Carlos.”
“Whose that?” I asked.
“Oh, he left about a year ago. Penny took his place. It was a huge mess.”
Violet was spilling all the tea by the time Penny returned with our drinks. We sat around chatting for another twenty minutes before Sheamus finally stopped dancing and came to sit down with us.
“Oh, my Lord,” he grinned. “The boys are out in the ATL tonight.”
Penny laughed. “I see you, Boss. Who you taking home tonight?”
Sheamus”s eyes began to roam all over the room, a smirk fixed upon his face. He slowly turned back to us. “God, there’s so many to choose from. It’s even some trade in here.”
Confusion clouded my face and I hollered over the music. “What’s trade?”
Violet bumped me with her shoulder, laughing. “How long have you been in Atlanta, babe?”
“Not long enough,” I bit at my lip wondering what else I had missed out on in the city while hiding away.
Sheamus leaned forward and snagged Violet’s drink. “It’s the boys that pretend to be masculine, but they really want what I got.”
On that note, I picked up the Dirty Mojito and began to suck the drink down. We sat and talked for a long while before a woman walked over. Sheamus stood and gave her a polite and friendly hug. She was a tall Asian woman with black lipstick coating her lips, and she appeared pale. Part of me wondered if she were some sort of vampire come to life. She even seemed to smell like death, her floral fragrance reminded me of death.
Momma’s room the night I left…
Her eyes landed on us, me in particular. Under her gaze, my skin began to feel as if it were crawling. The inside of my mouth went dry and I nearly dry heaved.
“Everyone, you know Mrs. Nakamura…her kids do lessons with us!”
Violet and Penny responded but I stayed still, hoping she’d leave. The woman was giving me the fucking creeps.
She slowly tilted her head towards Sheamus in a waiting fashion, her hand giving his chest a slight pat. “I don’t believe me, and Mrs. Tanaka have met yet, I’m afraid.”
Sheamus went through the polite gestures and introduced the two of us. Realization began to hit me that even though we’d never met formally, Jade Nakamura seemed to know a lot more about me.
Finally, she got called away and I was so happy I wanted to dance the tension out of my body. The four of us hit the club floor becoming lost in the music.
Violet and Penny began to dance gracefully to the music and I tried to mimic their movements. Clearly, they got out a lot more than I did. We started to laugh as I stumbled around a little bit, clearly the alcohol had taken an effect on me.
It dawned on me in the middle of my alcohol-induced swaying that I might have made some real friends with Sheamus, Violet, and Penny.
“I need water!” I said over the beat.
“Okay!” They shouted back in unison.
The crowd seemed to have become thicker and heavier with moving bodies. The music had turned to a low rumble that seemed to be building up for some incredible beat. I was nearly at the bar when my heart caught in my throat.
Ashton.
My heart soon dropped into my stomach, and I got the flutters. My husband always gave me the flutters. Especially now that he’d been the first man to ever fuck me.
A sensation shot through my core.
I shook my head because I must’ve been drunk. Surely, he hadn’t come to the club looking for me but then again, he probably had. He never even looked my way, he just continued to climb the stairs on the far side of the club that led to an office with clear glass. Standing in the window surveying the crowd was Jade Nakamura.
A cold smile covered her lips.
She had seen me.
I felt like a pawn on a chessboard that someone was moving around in some wicked game. A shiver crept its way down my spine. Why did she seem to have some sort of animosity towards me?
Violet and Penny must have noticed because they came over to check on me. Their expression told me they were deeply concerned.
“What’s up?” Violet asked.
Penny’s face had a frown on it. “Are you okay?”
I tried to find the right words and offered them a smile. Before I could say another word, Mark was in front of me. His face was tight and angry looking.
“We need to go,” he said through gritted teeth.
That was Ashton, I thought.
“What? No, I’m not going anywhere with you.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah buddy, she’s not going anywhere with you,” Violet punched her finger into her chest.
He ignored her. “Mrs. Tanaka, for once, please just listen. We need to go now. It’s in your very best interest.”
Glancing back up at the office surrounded by nothing but glass, I saw Ashton and Jade Nakamura standing entirely too close. I turned away.
“Fine, Mark.”
Defeat had entered in the chat and my shoulders dropped of their own accord. Violet and Penny looked on in disbelief.
“We’ll have to do this another time,” I murmured.
Penny’s blue eyes became saddened. “What? Don’t leave yet…”
“Hey, I will see you both in the office next week, okay? Promise.”
Both women hugged me before I departed with Mark. Once we were outside of the club, I felt like crying. Approaching my car, I found a rose stuck on the door handle.
Mark removed it, throwing it to the ground before looking around. “That wasn’t there before, I’ve been monitoring the perimeter. You’d better ride with me. I’ll have another guard drive your car home.”
Still defeated I just handed him the keys and walked over to his SUV. I’d finally started to make friends and now it just felt as if this evening had been anticlimactic as hell.
The second I’d walked into the house, I’d gone straight to check on the girls. I found Maggie in bed with Luna, who was scrolling on her phone.
“How was the movie?” I asked.
“Total kid”s movie but it was nice to spend time with Grandmother,” Luna had offered.
My hand was already on the doorknob when I replied. “Goodnight, Luna.”
For a moment I leaned against her door before pushing away to take a hot shower. I followed that up by making a plate of leftover stewed chicken and rice before settling in the living room to wait for Ashton.
He needed to explain what I saw.
I needed him to tell me that he wasn’t having an affair with that woman because I needed to understand why it was bothering me so much that he might be.
Ashton and I needed to have a come to Jesus about what in the fuck this marriage meant because it had certainly evolved beyond the initial contract.
I just didn’t want to get my heart crushed.
Because I had fallen for him and I’d never meant to.
So, I sat and I waited.
He didn’t appear until well after midnight, reeking of another woman’s perfume.
Jade Nakamura’s perfume.
My heart had started to feel as though it were splintering.