Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
When we approached, a bouncer opened a black door that blended in with the walls, then nodded his head at Dean. We went through the door, and I wasn’t sure where we were. This was not a part of Chandelier I had ever seen before.
“Where are we going?” I asked him. “Please tell me there is a restroom there,” I added with emphasis.
A wide staircase appeared as we turned a corner, and Dean led me up them, not once letting go of my arm. At this point, I was more curious than anything. I had come to this club more times than I could count since I’d turned twenty-one, and not once had I seen this part of it. Posters of concerts they’d held here lined the walls. I knew they hosted smaller shows for lesser-known artists, but I had never paid the price to get into one of those.
We reached the top step, and Dean finally released me. I swayed, slightly taken off guard, and he scowled at me.
“Are you drunk?” he asked.
I returned his scowl. “No.”
He walked past me and opened a tall silver door. “Go pee,” he said.
Relieved, I hurried through the door and paused. It was a fancy single-person restroom. The door closed behind me, and I locked it, then looked in the mirror at myself before taking care of business. My makeup was more than I usually wore. I’d let Clara do it for me tonight.
The short red dress barely covered my ass. The low neckline and spaghetti straps made it impossible to wear a bra. It was one of many Clara had brought over and the only one that remotely covered my boobs. Even the heels I had on were Clara’s. They were as silver as the door I had walked through, and I liked the way they sparkled under the lights in the club. I never dressed up like this, but tonight, I wanted to be someone else. Clara had made me into someone I wasn’t. It was my night to escape.
Then, Dean had shown up.
I frowned at my reflection then. Why was he here? Had he come looking for me? I hadn’t told anyone where I was going.
I finished in the restroom, then made my way back out the door to find Dean without his cap and sunglasses, leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for me. He was dressed like a rock star with his ripped black jeans and leather jacket, no shirt on underneath. He looked hot in something that would look strange on any other man downstairs in the club.
“What are you doing here, and why are we back … here?” I asked him to distract myself from the small silver hoop in his left nipple.
“Where is the construction worker?” he asked me again.
Sighing, I shook my head. “I don’t know where Gavin is. I didn’t ask him what his plans were tonight. Why do you care? Are you interested in him now?”
Dean smirked and pushed off from the wall with his back as his arms dropped to his sides. “God, I missed your smart-ass mouth,” he said.
I shouldn’t care that he’d missed anything about me. I should continue to scowl at him and demand he take me back to Clara. I had a song to sing. I shouldn’t be up here with him.
What I should do and what I already knew I was going to do were two different things. And I would later blame my decision on the alcohol.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him again.
He sauntered toward me, and it was unfair, the way he could make simply walking appear cool. As if it were a sport. One he excelled at.
“I needed to get out. Clear my head,” he said. “But I’m so fucking lucky that while I was trying to clear my head, the object that wouldn’t get out of it appeared at the bar.”
I tried not to dwell on the fact that he was talking about me. That it made my insides tingly and warm. I would blame that on the vodka too.
“What if someone had noticed you?” I asked him.
He placed a hand on my lower back and led me toward another door. “Unlikely,” he replied. “I wasn’t down there until I had to be. Until I saw something I needed to go get.”
Dean pushed open the door, and I walked inside. There was a clear view of the entire club from the floor-to-ceiling window that was at least ten feet long. I frowned, trying to think about how I’d never noticed this before. Had it been because I never looked up, or was it a two-way mirror? If people could be seen up here from below, someone would have noticed by now.
“Want a drink?” Dean asked me.