"Dad, I think—"
"As you said, Kira still has to text you the address. You still have no idea where this club is. What if it's not even a club and some drug dealer’s garage?"
"Mom—"
People from nearby tables noticed the quiet interrogation my parents were giving me. I wanted to slide under the table and crawl through the restaurant doors.
"Listen," I breathed when there was a gap in their questioning. "I understand you're worried, but I can handle myself. I won't be drinking if that'll make you feel better, I will stick with my friends, I won't talk to strangers, and I'll steer clear of any suspicious behavior. And if I get into real trouble, I’ll send you my location, Dad. Like you taught us."
I felt like I needed to have my hand over my heart as I spoke. Like I was pledging to be a good person, which I genuinely was. I had never stepped out of line, or rebelled as a teen, always had good grades, was always on time, and had no interest in drugs or drinking heavily. Yet here I was, trying to convince my parents tonight wouldn't be the night I suddenly turned to the dark side.
Dad considered. “Okay, good—”
"Oh god, what about sex trafficking?" Mom gasped. She gripped Dad’s arm tightly, silently pleading for him to stop me from going out tonight. But before Dad opened his mouth, Jane dropped her bombshell.
"I got an F on my final English exam last week."
The table was completely silent as our parents gawked at her, motionless for a second before they burst in unison, lecturing her about her already failing grades. Jane simply sat back in her seat, folded her arms, and sent me a nod across the table.
"Thank you!" I mouthed.
Chapter 2
Lily
After dinner, I hopped into another Uber to a club in Downtown Brooklyn. Kira texted me the address while I was slurping my tomato soup. Which only made me slurp faster so I could book a ride and get away before my parents held me captive and tried to match me with the waiter.
The club I arrived at was very different from the others Kira and I visited before, not that we went to many. But the ones we had gone to were usually less mysterious and under 20 minutes from home. The building was all brick and two stories high, though the top floor looked unused, going off the smashed windows and dark rooms inside. The bottom floor, however, was alive with the low hum of music and adorned with large front windows.
Long crimson drapes blocked the inside from view, and the double front doors were decorated with gold trimmings and door handles to match. Above the entrance was a large, red neon sign that basked the street below in a subtle hue of red. The last letter flickered slightly.
"The Den?" I read curiously from across the street, clutching at the strap of my handbag as it hung over my shoulder.
The name sounded familiar.
A short line was outside the doors, while a giant, bald, dark-skinned bouncer stood at the front of it. He was dressed in all black as he lazily checked names off a list. It prompted me to text Kira. I had no chance in hell of getting in if a booking was required. I wasn’t exactly dressed like someone who could waltz their way in on confidence alone. Not that the bouncer was letting people in that way either. Several girls tried already, pushing out their chests, only to be turned away.
I walked across the street and joined the end of the shortening line, checking my phone with every step forward to see if Kira replied. But she didn’t, and soon I reached the front of the line, clutching my phone with an awkward smile on my face.
"Hi.”
"Name." His voice was deep and husky and he hadn't looked up from his clipboard yet.
"Lily Whitmore?" It was worth a shot.
His dark brown eyes scanned the list before he looked down at me. "Not on here."
"I'm waiting for a friend. She's probably right inside…and you’ve probably heard that excuse before." I looked down at my phone again. "If she'd just read her texts."
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
He looked at me skeptically, which prompted me to pull out my ID.
"You could pay," he suggested, handing back the card while motioning for me to step aside as the next person stepped forward and gained entry after speaking their name.
"How much?" I asked.
