Ejected
Dahlia
Do I go back to the table or to the bar to get a new set of drinks first? The table. Definitely the table. The girls are at a table by the opposite corner with a clear view of where I was sitting. They aren’t even pretending not to watch me the entire time I weave through people.
“How do you know Vex?” Diane doesn’t wait for me to even sit down before she starts questioning me.
“Vex?”
Her eyes bug out, and her jaw drops open. “You just sat down at the biggest crime lord’s table in Urbium, and you don’t even know his name.”
Crime lord? “How can you say that? He seems like a perfectly nice man.”
The girls burst into laughter without explaining the joke.
Fine, he might not look like a nice man. But he’s really kind and slightly confused about what trouble means .
“Prue, that man broke a guy’s fingers for grabbing a girl's butt on the dance floor without permission,” Mindy fake whispers.
Okay, so he really doesn’t like a woman being sexually assaulted. “Still not getting the evil crime lord vibe.”
“Broken fingers are nothing. He beat a guy bloody and broke both legs after the creep tried to roofie a girl in here.” Diane’s whisper is actually close to one.
“I mean he should have called the cops…but do you blame him?” All of this fits with the intense but kind man that I just met.
“You’re nuts.” Mindy nudges Diane. “Are you two going out on a date?”
Both of their eyes get even wider if that’s possible.
They are crazy. “What? No. He just helped me out with a creep at the bar. Vex—” That name is just too weird. “—is a really nice guy. It wasn’t anything like that.”
“He kept his arm around you the entire time you two were talking,” Mindy points out a fact better forgotten.
How do I even respond to that? It was just so comfortable to have his arm there… Absolutely not going to say that. Vex made me feel safe… Nope, not something I want to admit to either.
“Ladies.” A man in an all-too-tight bouncer shirt walks up to our table. “Drinks. Compliments of the boss.” He sets a shot down in front of each of the girls, and a glass of champagne in front of me.
Is it real or a glass like I got before?
The bouncer doesn’t leave the table. Are we supposed to tip him or something?
“What gives?” Diane asks.
“After you finish your drinks, I’m to escort you out of the club and safely home.” The bouncer crosses his arms like he doesn’t expect us to go easily.
“Why are you kicking us out? My boyfriend works here—”
Before she can finish that thought and get us in trouble, I cut in, “He’s kicking me out. If I leave, can they stay?”
The bouncer doesn’t noticeably react. “Boss said to escort all of you. ”
Well then. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries. The entertainment was worth it.” Mindy lifts the shot up and nods towards the table I just came from. She doesn’t even hesitate to pour it down her throat. Diane follows suit, and they wait for me to do the same.
But I can’t look at him again. Not tonight. “We’re ready.” I slide my purse up my arm and stand up.
“Your drink isn’t done.” He doesn’t move.
“I don’t want the drink.”
A gasp can be heard around the table.
“You can tell your boss thank you, but I’m no longer thirsty. I’m leaving.” With that, I turn on my heel and stride towards the front doors like a big semi-scary man didn’t just tell me to do something.
Mindy rushes up and loops an arm through mine. “You’re insane, do you know that? I didn’t know just how brave you were until you walked away. Wanna be my ride or die?”
Um, no. That doesn’t sound at all fun. And I’m not brave, just stubborn. “Maybe. If I don’t have other plans.” I’m totally going to have other plans even if I need to book a last-minute flight to some foreign country with no return ticket.
Mindy laughs like that’s some weird joke.
We step outside and my ears continue ringing from the noise. Will they ever be the same again? Probably not. Oh well, who wants to be able to hear anything when they’re in their sixties anyway? This will be an experience I can tell the others in the nursing home.
“Leaving so soon?” Tac asks from the velvet rope before he notices the bouncer behind us.
“Prue got us kicked out,” Diane says that way too cheerfully. “Vex likes her.”
Tac’s eyes go wide.
What is the point in even trying to explain how wrong she is on all levels? None of these people seem to listen to anything I say anyway.
“I knew she was trouble.” Tac glares at me .
That word is really starting to irk me. I did absolutely nothing wrong.
“The limo is for you then.” He nods towards a black stretch limo with the club’s logo on the side that’s sitting at the curb idling.
“Yeah. I’m taking them home.” The bouncer steps forward, opening the back door for us.
“We need to invite Prue more often!” Mindy bounces into the back seat.
“For sure.” Diane plants a kiss on Tac’s lips and then follows her in.
“Could you please hail me a cab?” I ask Tac.
“Not if I want to keep my job. The boss doesn’t like people second-guessing him. It’s a good job, Prue, with great benefits. You don’t need to worry. You’ll get home safe and sound. I promise. Enjoy the limo ride.”
How can I enjoy a ride from someone who literally had me booted out? Except my friends are already inside enjoying themselves. “All right.”
Tac lets out a sigh of relief, like he was really afraid I was going to cause him trouble.
Which is kind of fair since I almost did.
“Isn’t this the best!!!” Mindy scoots around the limo. “There’s a full bar in here.”
Great. Just great. Bars and I don’t seem to do well together.
“Top shelf stuff.” She lifts a bottle out of a little cabinet.
The window between the front and back opens and our bouncer babysitter turns around. “Addresses.”
Mindy and Diane rattle theirs off without hesitation.
“And yours.”
I fold my arms over my chest. Nope. Not going to happen. There’s no way I’m going to tell any of them where I live. Work is hard enough without them knowing everything about me.
“Prue is staying with me.” Mindy fills in the dead space.
Our bouncer babysitter doesn’t look convinced, but he closes the window, and the limo starts to move.
“Are you afraid of him knowing where you live? ”
Vex? No. I’m afraid of you guys finding out, but I don’t wanna say that so I just shrug.
“Vex can find out anything he wants about anyone he wants in less time than it takes him to snap his fingers. They say he has spies everywhere.”
“You’re not helping Diane.” Mindy pours herself a drink.
“What? It’s true. There’s no point in her acting all shy. If Vex wants to see her again, he’s going to see her.”
“He doesn’t!” Well, that came out a bit more forceful than I wanted.
“We believe you.” Mindy shakes her head and hands a drink to Diane. “Fifty bucks says they’re sleeping together in a month.”
WHAT?!?
Diane laughs. “Two weeks. Vex is persistent.”
They have both gone off the deep end. “Neither of you knows anything about me.”
“Don’t need to. We know Vex. Well, we don’t know Vex… We know of Vex. You’re just going to have to accept what fate has in store for you.”
This is insane. “You know what? I’ll take that bet.” And since I know they’ll both lose it isn’t even gambling. “Vex and I won’t be having sex in a week or a month.”
They laugh.
“Easiest fifty I’ve ever made.” Mindy swirls her drink. “You’re getting all our drinks when we visit his club too, when you lose.”
“Deal.” Hopefully, when they lose, some of their sanity will come back in relation to me.
“Talking about guys, do you see it going anywhere permanent with Tac?” Mindy thankfully changes the conversation, allowing me to relax a bit for the first time and arrange for a car to pick me up at her apartment building.
There’s so much about me these girls just don’t understand. Vex and I could never work out even if he was interested in me, which he isn’t. Not that I would date a crime lord. What kind of title is that? Those types of people live in the shadows, trying to evade the police. They don’t own legit businesses. Does he own the club? Maybe he just runs his secret underground crime organization from this club and people are too afraid to say anything about it.
Vex would definitely make an excellent mob boss or gun runner supplying oppressed people in third-world countries with the guns they need to fight for their freedom while acting as a spy for governments around the world.
Endless possible stories run through my head and each of them features Vex as the hero, not the villain.
The car stops briefly, and Diane hops out with a wave. “See you guys at work. Tonight was a blast.”
That’s not a description I would have used. Eye-opening is more like it. Maybe terrifying. Though knowing there are good men in the world who will step up to protect a stranger is comforting. “Bye.” I wave at her retreating form.
“You okay? You seem really deep in thought.” Mindy leans back against the seat as we start to move again.
“It’s been a long day.” I lean my head back against the plush leather seats.
“They always are. We might seem a bit silly, but when you work where we do you need an outlet. Going to the club, drinking, and dancing recharges us. You need to find an outlet. Something that recharges you, or it’ll drive you nuts.”
This is the outlet. This job. These people are solely to recharge my mind and my heart.
“What do you think of Adonis?”
“Other than the fact that he’s gorgeous?”
She laughs. “Yeah, other than that. Every woman, in and out of the office, has a crush on him. But he’s really good at his job.”
I can see that.
“He’s dedicated not just to the mission, but to ensuring that all of us have what we need to help others and ourselves.”
Does Mindy have more than a crush on Adonis?
“That’s why he has a standing Friday night invitation for everyone at work regardless of what shift they work to go out to dinner.”
“Why didn’t you and Diane go then?”
“Mostly because of Tac, but also the conversation can become too serious there sometimes. I need light and happy.”
Or do you need to avoid Adonis?
“We also have picnics at the park sometimes. Anywhere else there’d be backyard barbeques, but we all live in the city. No one has a big enough space for a progressive meal let alone a place to grill meat and sit on the grass. That’s one thing I miss since moving here…grass. What about you? Or have you lived in Urbium all your life?”
“No, I just moved here recently. I grew up in the suburbs outside of the city. My parents still live in the same home I was born in.”
“Wow. A marriage that lasted all this time. That’s…astounding. My mom’s been divorced four times, and after his second wife, my dad gave up on marriage altogether. I figure I’ll try the marriage thing once, and when it doesn’t work, I’ll become a spinster and collect a hundred snakes.”
“Snakes? Why not something cute and cuddly, like cats or dogs?” I could totally see myself becoming a cat lady as I get older.
“I’m allergic to both. Their fur makes my eyes swell up and my nose itch. Plus, snakes need less room and less care, both of which are super important living around here.”
A shudder runs through me. “Remind me not to visit you when you’re old.”
She laughs. “I’ll come visit you and your hundred grandchildren.”
“Not mine.” Why did I say that?
“What? Don’t tell me you don’t want to have kids. That’s like saying there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and that unicorns don’t exist.” She sits up almost sloshing her drink on her lap.
“You know none of those things are real.”
“Why don’t you want to have kids?”
Do I want them, or have I just accepted that I won’t? “Because what my parents have doesn’t exist anymore. People our age don’t get forever with someone. We’re so jaded and self-absorbed that forever is a pipe dream written about in fairytales and romance novels.” I should know .
Her mouth drops open.
The car comes to a stop, giving me a reprieve from this all too serious conversation. I push the door open and climb out. Limos really do need a driver to help you out. Or maybe everyone else is just more coordinated than I am. I grab the handles and pull myself out, stubbing my toe on the curb.
Mindy, who ended up refilling her glass several times, gets out without issue.
The bouncer steps out of the car.
Mindy doesn’t live in a bad neighborhood, but having a big scary guy by our side isn’t a bad thing at all, especially since there’s no doorman at her building. Mindy walks over to unlock the door and I stand back to avoid crowding her.
Our bouncer doesn’t seem to have any issue with crowding people as he walks over to my side. He leans down and whispers in my ear, “Love like that is neither a fairytale nor a pipe dream.”
WHAT?!? How could he—
“Always assume people are listening.”
Oh my! Oh my! The only comfort I can find in this situation is that I’ll never see this man again. I shouldn’t have spoken so freely to Mindy. I shouldn’t have shared at all. Life never works out when I try to get closer to people.