“Link’s here now.”
“Good.” Link was a good guy and a close friend. He also took his job seriously.
“All right, let me introduce you quickly before I head out.”
“Sure.” I followed him into the room. The men’s heads turned in our direction, and they were smiling.
“Guys, I want you to meet Angel. She’s gonna be your girl for the night. You need anything, you ask her and she will make sure you’re taken care of,” Sid tells them, gesturing to me.
“Nice to meet you,” one of the men said, smiling while the others nodded.
“Nice to meet you too.” I smiled back.
“Angel will be right back. Give me a minute, guys.”
“Sounds good,” the one who’d spoken before said.
As Sid and I stepped away, I heard from behind me, “Do you think the curtains match the drapes?” and they all laughed. I hated that saying, and I’d sworn that, once I was free of this lifestyle, I would kick the next man who said it in the nuts.
“Okay, I gotta head out. I won’t be back for two weeks,” Sid said once we were standing in the hall.
“Have a safe trip.”
His eyes searched my face. His mouth opened and closed like he was going to say something, but instead, he shook his head, kissed my cheek, and walked off down the hall, muttering something under his breath.
Tessa came around the corner a couple of seconds later with a smug smile on her face. I hated to admit it, but she was beautiful. Her skin had a natural glow that made her look healthy and youthful. Her hair was black and thick, reaching the top of her ass. Her eyes curved out at the corners, showing off her Asian-American heritage.
“You ready?” she asked, looking at me from head to toe.
I avoided rolling my eyes at her before stepping into the room behind her.
After we took the first orders, we stood back while the men talked. I learned a long time ago to zone myself out. We were there as eye candy and nothing else. There was a knock on the door, and I knew the drinks had arrived. Tessa answered it, opening the door wide, and the man who brought the tray in was someone I had never seen before. He looked to be mid-thirties, and he had long, shaggy, black hair and brown eyes.
When he set the tray down on the table in the corner, he turned and did something odd that had me watching him more closely. His hand went to his back as he looked over at the men, who were still busy talking. When his eyes came to me, he smiled before walking out of the room. I looked at Tessa to see if she had noticed anything strange, but she was busy handing out the drinks and flirting with the men at the table.
We stood to the side again once the men had their drinks. Every once in a while, they would ask me a question about the club, and I told them what I knew. About thirty minutes after they had their first drinks, I called and had more ordered. This time, when the guy came in, he did the same thing—hand at his back, looking at the table. I had no idea who he was, but I planned to find out as soon as the men left.
One of the men received a phone call and stepped out of the room, and when he returned, he had another man with him. They all sat down. This time when they called me over, they wanted a bottle of Chivas Regal Royal Salute Scotch. One glass of the stuff cost close to six hundred dollars, making it over ten thousand dollars for a bottle. I placed the order and waited for it to be delivered.
When the knock sounded on the door, I opened it up, and the same man from earlier came in and set the tray down. I watched to see if he would do the same thing he had done the previous times. Sure enough, his head turned towards the table and his hand lifted behind his back, but this time, he lifted his jacket, pulling out something black.
It took a second for me to realize what it was, and by that time, it was too late. He let off four rounds in rapid succession then turned and fired another round, hitting Tessa. I screamed as he turned the gun on me, and before I could think, I ducked down and ran as fast as I could out of the room. I felt a bullet whiz past me as I turned the corner and another as I entered the main part of the club.
I spotted Mick. Right away, his eyes got wide, and I yelled at the top of my lungs, “HE HAS A GUN!”
Everyone started screaming and running in every direction. I ran into a solid wall, and when I looked up to see that it was Link, he wrapped an arm around my waist, turned, and pushed me behind the bar. I stumbled in my heels, falling to my knees and hitting the ground hard. I crawled under the counter and curled myself into a ball, shaking out of fear for my life. I listened as people screamed but didn’t hear any more gunshots. I don’t know how long I stayed like that, but it felt like forever until I heard police sirens.
“Autumn,” Link called, using my real name, snapping me out of my terrified huddle.
I peeked out from behind my hands as he crouched down in front of me. “Did you get him?”
He shook his head, putting out his hand for me to take. I shook my head no. I was safe; I didn’t want to move from that spot.
“Come on, Angel. He’s gone.”
I shook my head again.
“Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise you’re safe.”
I swallowed against the lump in my throat, squeezing my eyes closed. “Tessa?” I asked him. His eyes closed and his head dropped forward. “No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No.”
“Sorry, Angel,” he said quietly.
“Why?”
“Not sure, but the cops are here. I need you to come out of there so you can talk to them,” he told me gently, holding out his hand again.