I’m not sure what to say to her about how I felt or feel. I’ve never been that into anyone. I can’t say for sure that it’ll feel like that again. Maybe it was only because it was our first time and she’s familiar to me. I don’t know what just happened. I just know I’ll remember that feeling for the rest of my life.
Rainy
The last month has passed far too quickly for me. Every single night, Bastien and I have spent together at my place or his making the hottest love I’ve ever made. It seems we can’t get enough of one another.
If he stays over at my place, he and I can have about an hour in the middle of the afternoon between the time of classes ending at college and work beginning at the zoo. On the weekends when I’m off, we’ve stayed at his place so I could go to work with him. It’s been the best time of my life.
And Dad was so wrong about keeping men out of my life while I’m still in school. Since I’ve been with Bastien, my grades have actually gone up. It’s like having him around intensifies every part of me, even my brain.
He was called in a bit early today as it’s Friday and the fourth of July, so they expect a healthy crowd of party-goers tonight. I’m taking a cab to meet him there and feeling a little tense. That harlot Annette DeMarco gives me the stare down every damn time I’m around.
Bastien tells me to ignore her, that she’s harmless and will eventually move on to stalk another man. He told me he made the mistake of getting drunk around her one night a while back and doing a little more with her than he knew was smart. He didn’t sleep with her, thank God, but she got enough of a taste of him that she wants him pretty damn badly.
But she’ll play hell getting me to step away from the man. Bastien isn’t at all what I was told he was. I mean, he was that man, but with me, he’s not. He’s hot, sexy, but sweet and really down to earth with me.
I’m not sure how things have progressed so rapidly, but I find myself wanting to tell him that I love him. I haven’t, though. I’m still afraid he’d get scared and run off. Even though he’s made no attempt to end what we have going, it’s a fear that rests in the back of my mind.
I suppose being told that Sebastien Breden was a love ’em and leave ’em kind of man is why the fear won’t leave. Hopefully, with time, that feeling will fade away.
The cab stops at the entrance to The Fortress, and I pay the man then get out of the backseat. Before I get to the door where tons of people are waiting in line to get in, I hear a woman shout, “Hey, we need to talk!”
I turn to find the bitch Annette waving at me. “No,” I say, then turn back around.
Before I can make my way up the ramp to get inside, I feel a hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I caution her, “Get your hands off me, Annette.”
“Look, I need to tell you something,” she says as she glares at me. “I did something, and it’s gone terribly wrong.”
“So?” I ask. “What’s that got to do with me?”
She takes my hand, pulling me along with her. “It’s about Ladies’ Man. Come on.”
Suddenly my heart stops as I ask, ‘What did you do to him?”
“I told my father some things. And now he went further than I thought he would.” She tugs me to hurry, which I do.
Bastien told me the mafia owns the club and that Annette’s father is a big man in that organization. If he’s in their hands, he’s in a bad situation, to say the least.
“What did you tell your father, Annette?”
“Just that Ladies’ Man has been using me,” she confesses. “I told him that he and I have sex every night in the back of the club, but then he goes home to you. And my father said that was inexcusable.”
“Is what you said true?” I ask her as I follow. She nods, and I cringe. “No!”
“Yeah, you naïve child. He needs real fucking, not that vanilla shit you put out. He has to have some release.”
I stop and lean over, putting my hands on my knees as I feel like I might pass out. “No.”
“Stop being so dramatic, blondie. That man is about getting his rocks off with anyone and everyone he can. I hope you haven’t gone and fallen in love with the animal.” She opens a door at the back of the club and gestures for me to go in ahead of her.
“I can’t do anything to help him,” I say as I hesitate before going inside.
“You don’t know that. Your sweet innocent face might change my father’s mind. Who knows,” she says as she reaches out to grab me.
I take a step back and shake my head. Everything feels wrong. And if Bastien is fucking anyone else then what we have is over anyway. I start to turn away and leave, then think that he hasn’t told me we’re exclusive yet. Maybe I am naïve. Maybe I should see if I can stop whatever they’re going to do to him. And then I’ll end things with him because I can’t take loving him and letting him do this to me.
“Shit! Where is he?” I say as I move toward the door she’s holding.
“In here. We need to hurry,” she says as she jerks her head for me to get inside.
So in I go and find it dark, with the smell of rotting wood coming from somewhere. “Annette,” is all I get out before I feel her hands wrap around my throat.
Shit! What have I done?
Sebastien
Pulling out my cell to check the time, I find it’s nine o’clock, and Rainy should’ve been here nearly an hour ago. “Hey, Jeremy, has Rainy come in yet?” I ask the bouncer who’s taking IDs.
“Nope,” he says as he shakes his head.
“K,” I say and make my way to the break room where it’s quiet, and I can hear her when she answers the call.
As I get into the empty room, I swipe the screen to call her, and it goes straight to voicemail, which tells me she has her cell turned off. And that surprises me. I talked to her right before I was called in early.
Something eerie moves through me as I walk out of the break room and make my way to let one of my co-workers know I’m leaving to go find Rainy. The feeling that something’s wrong is hitting me hard and heavy.
Making my way slowly but surely through the dense crowd, I catch a glimpse of Annette as she moves through the crowd a few feet away from me. She doesn’t seem to notice me, but I sure as hell see the scratches on her face and have to wonder who she got into a fight with.
Moving over a bit, I catch up to her and grab her by the arm. “Hey, what happened to you?” I ask her.
“Nothin’. Leave me alone!” she shouts at me then jerks her arm, trying to get away from me. Which is futile. I want to know who did that to her. It may be that I need to reprimand some other female who dared to fight the little mafia princess.
Before I can drag her off to get some answers out of her, a rush of people head toward the exit. Murmurs of someone being hit by a car in the parking lot are overheard, and I let go of Annette to get outside and see what’s happened.
It takes forever for me to get out the door as almost everyone who was inside has come outside and all I see are ambulances and police cars. Then one of the ambulances takes off with its sirens blaring.
Looking around, I find Jeremy and ask, “What the hell happened?”
“I’m not sure who it was but some drunk girl was passed out behind a car and it backed over her,” he tells me. “There were just too many people for me to leave my post.”
Making my way to the nearest cop, I ask, “What was the girl’s name?”
He shrugs. “She didn’t have anything on her. No purse, no phone, nothing.”
“Oh, so you can’t notify her next of kin or anything like that?” I ask as that sounds terrible to me. Someone’s sitting at home thinking their kid or girlfriend is going to show up later tonight and she’s not.
“Not yet, we can’t. Once she’s evaluated at the hospital then we might be able to put up a picture on the news asking if anyone knows her,” he tells me.
“How bad off was she?” I ask him.
“Not sure. I didn’t get close enough to see. I heard she was u
nconscious. Keep your eyes on the news channels if you really want to know more. I gotta get going.”
With a nod, I turn around to leave. My mind returns to Rainy, and I try to call her again, but the cell does the same thing and goes to her voicemail. I see Jeremy and tell him, “I’m leaving. I need to go look for Rainy. She’s not answering her phone, and I’m a little worried about her.”
“You’ve been hooked, my friend,” he says with a smile.
“Me?” I ask as I laugh. “Not me. Never me.” But as I walk away to go out the back to where my car’s parked, I think he might be right about me. I feel hooked. Rainy’s like a sweet drug I can’t seem to quit. She’s not the bad kind of drug either; she’s more like a vitamin that my body was missing and needed desperately.
As I pull out of the back parking lot, I go out in another direction as there’s still too much commotion going on in the front. A little chill runs through me as I think about the poor girl who was run over.
I head to my place first to see if Rainy’s there and maybe isn’t feeling well and went to sleep or something. When I pull into the parking area of my apartment, I’m glad to see her car’s there. I let out a sigh of relief and park, then head in to find out what’s happened to her.
As I open the door to the dark house, I shout, “Rainy?”
I hear nothing, and all the lights are out. Going to the bedroom, I find her work clothes neatly folded and sitting on a chair and a hanger is on the bed. I suppose she had clothes hung on it and put them on to come to the club.
But where the hell could she be?
Getting an idea, I call the cab company she always uses. “Jay’s Taxi Service,” a woman answers the phone.
“Hello. I need to know if you sent a cab to 555 East Sepulveda, apartment 116?” I ask her.
“Yeah, we sent one out there about an hour ago. Didn’t he show up?” she asks.
“I’m not sure. Could you possibly call him to find that out?” I cross my fingers that she can.
“Sure, hang on.”
Taking a seat to wait, I find I’m biting my nails and stop doing that. I’m sure Rainy’s just fine. Maybe she went to see one of her friends before coming to the club. Maybe her phone ran out of charge. That’s probably it.
“Yes, sir. My driver picked up a young lady at that address and dropped her at a club called The Fortress. Did you miss the ride? I can send another out to you.”
“No, thank you.” I end the call and head back out to my car. Something’s wrong. I know that now. And the image of Annette with those scratches on her face has me thinking she has something to do with it.
Instead of heading to the club, I head to the hospital that’s closest to it to see if that girl who was run over is there. My gut keeps shouting at me to do that, so I’m following it.
Parking in the emergency parking lot, I head inside. All the while I’m saying a silent prayer that the girl isn’t mine. I hope I’m wrong and I’ll find Rainy’s just fine inside the club somewhere and not in this hospital.
As I approach the desk in the emergency room, I ask, “Was there a young woman brought in here who was run over at a nightclub nearby?”
“Did you know her?” she asks me.
My knees buckle as that sounds a hell of a lot like the girl didn’t make it. “Know her? Is she …” I can’t make myself say the actual word.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I usually don’t make stupid mistakes like that. I meant to say, do you know her? She’s been taken to surgery, and we haven’t found out her name.” The nurse offers me a shy smile with her blunder.
“I’m not sure if I know her or not. You see, she was taken away before I could get to the ambulance to see who it was. And my girlfriend is missing.” I take the chair that’s in front of her desk as I can’t seem to stand up anymore. I’m shaking, and my mind’s running away with me. Going to places where my Rainy is the one in surgery.
“Was she at that nightclub called The Fortress?” the nurse asks me as she picks up a clipboard that I assume has the information about the young woman who’s here.
“She was. A cab had dropped her off about an hour ago. But I never saw her, and I had a man at the door. I’m a bouncer there,” I tell her. “And my girlfriend’s cell is off. I can’t find her. But the cab company told me she was dropped off at the club. Is there any way I can see the woman who was brought in?”
“I suppose when she’s out of surgery you can. I don’t see why you couldn’t. I’ll make a call and let the charge nurse know she needs to let me know when the surgery is over. Then I’ll send you to wherever they take her. Okay?” she asks me, as if I have any other choice but to do that.
I nod and go take a seat in the crowded waiting room. Near me there are sick kids, coughing and looking pale. Some older women who mumble to one another about something. And I sit with my head in my hands, praying that it’s not Rainy in this place.
Rainy
My head is pounding as I wake up. I can’t seem to open my eyes, and a steady beep meets my ears. “Hello?” I whisper, and find it hurts my throat to talk.
“Hi, Rainy. My name’s Nurse Glenn. I’m happy to hear your voice. You were in an accident. A car ran over you. You were incredibly lucky. You ended up with a broken arm and a slight concussion that rendered you unconscious for about three hours. I’ll go get your doctor so he can check you out. I’ll be right back.”
I can’t open my eyes; they feel too heavy. But I can recall a few things. Being run over by a car isn’t one of them, though.
“Rainy?” I hear Bastien’s voice call out to me.
“Bastien …” I mumble and will my eyes to open.
His handsome face is blurry as he leans over me and kisses my forehead. “Baby, I was so afraid.” His hand takes mine, and it hurts when he moves it.
“Ouch,” I whimper. “Everything hurts.”
Softly, he caresses my shoulder. “I know, baby. But you’re awake and alive and the pain will go away, and the broken bones will heal. That’s what’s important.”
I hear a man clear his throat. “Hello, Mr. Breden. I need to examine her now. A little privacy would be appreciated. Perhaps you could go pick her up something from the vending machines. Soda will help with her blood sugar and maybe a sandwich. Something on wheat bread would be best.”
“Sure, doc,” Bastien says, then kisses my cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
As I watch him leave, my heart thumps harder, and the beeps speed up. The doctor laughs, lightly. “You seem to like him, Rainy.”
“I love him,” I tell the doctor.
He runs a light back and forth in front of my eyes and asks me if this hurts and that hurts. When he’s done, he asks me, “Rainy, why do you think you passed out behind that car? You had no alcohol in your system at all. You’re not pregnant. And your health record, which we found out about once your boyfriend came in and let us know who you are, showed you have no history of fainting.”
“You think I passed out behind a car?” I ask, as I have no idea how I’d get behind a car.
“You did. That’s where you were found after some woman backed over you. She pulled forward again after running over you, she said. The police report said you were found at the back of the car. But you had no tire marks on you, Rainy. Do you recall what you were doing last?”
“Arguing with a woman,” I say as flashes begin in my head. I look at my arm that has a cast only on the lower half, and I recall it being twisted. “What kind of break is that?”
“It’s what we call a spiral fracture. It can happen in an accident, but most times it happens from being twisted with a lot of force,” he tells me.
“Because it was. I was choked and nearly blacked out because of that. Then I managed to get away, but I was met by another person. A larger person. I was grabbed by the arm and, when I turned to get away, it was twisted, and I recall screaming out in pain. I felt someone trying to grab my other arm and scratched them. I think in their face. That’s all I can rememb
er. I think I was hit with something.”
“That sounds more reasonable with the injuries we found on you. I don’t think the car ran over you at all. I think that was a set up to hide what someone did to you. Do you know who did this to you?” he asks me.
“Um, I’m not sure.”
I am sure, but she’s a little mafia princess, so I don’t know how smart that’d be to say her name.
“Have you been having trouble with anyone lately?” he asks.
“No. I might remember later. After I get some rest. The place it all happened was pitch black. I was in a back room at the club my boyfriend works at. But that’s all I really remember. I can’t tell you why I was even back there. Memory loss from the concussion, I suppose.”
“Most likely,” he says, then I see Bastien standing at the door with a Dr. Pepper in one hand and a plastic bag with a sandwich in it, in the other. “I’ll let you get some rest now. It’s late. I’m taking off. I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow. You should be able to go home then, if you have help there.”
“She does,” Bastien tells him. “I’ll be taking good care of her.”
As he comes toward me, I remember what Annette told me. Anger flashes through me, but I hold my tongue until the doctor is out the door and it’s closed behind him. “Can you be truthful with me?” I ask Bastien as he opens the drink and puts a straw in it.
“I can be,” he says. “What do you want to ask me?”
“Have you been messing with Annette DeMarco the entire time we’ve been seeing each other?” I ask and watch him hard to see if he’s being truthful.
His brows furrow; his mouth forms a u-shape as he says, “I have not been messing with her or anybody, Rainy. I swear that to you.” He takes a seat on the edge of the bed and holds the straw to my lips. “Take a sip.”
I do as he’s said, but wonder if I can believe him. “Annette did this to me. She had some help. I don’t know who that was. I know whoever helped her broke my arm then smashed me in the head with something. I know I had to have been carried to where they found me. My injuries show no sign that I was run over. I was beaten up, though. And Annette DeMarco was behind it all and had the whole thing planned. She baited me, telling me that you and she had been fucking each other every night. And she told me that her father had you.”
The Midnight Club Page 125