“I’m very open-minded, but as mentioned before, I’m not watching anyone do anything sexual. It’s about talking and coming up with plans of action for resolving relationship issues. Things are kept strictly professional with my clients.”
Unless it’s with Cain.My subconscious berates me, and I internally roll my eyes. Thankfully, Rebel doesn’t seem to notice since our server’s returned to take our meal orders. When he leaves, Rebel’s eyes catch on someone he knows from across the restaurant.
“Can’t wait to hear more about that,” he says, half standing from his seat. “I’m going to go say hi to Devina over there. I’ll be right back.”
And without waiting for any sort of acknowledgement from me, he stands and leaves the table, making a beeline straight for a beautiful woman with long, raven black hair that lands at her hips.
I sit there waiting awkwardly, fidgeting nervously while I take a few more sips of my drink and then pull out my phone to checkthe time and any missed messages. Of course, my eyes widen when I see the first one is from Cain.
Cain: How are things going with Rebel?
I start typing.
Rhiannon: They’re
But I can’t finish the message and hit send too soon. My vision blurs and my fingers feel like I’m wearing fuzzy mittens.
What’s happening?
I look down at my drink, noticing that I’ve only drank half of it. It’s just a glass of red wine; there’s no way I could be drunk off it already.
I fumble my phone, watching it slip right through my fingers and clatter to the ground. When I bend to grab it, the room tilts, a slow, uneasy spin that has me blinking hard as I sit back up. The dizziness hits deeper this time, settling low in my stomach.
Just then, Rebel comes back to the table. His sunglasses are back on, that wide, easy smile plastered across his face like he didn’t just leave me sitting here unraveling.
“Hey, you want to get out of here? Devina says there’s a party nearby at her friend’s apartment. They have food and drinks there so we can skip out on this bill.”
I’m starving, having not eaten all morning in anticipation of our date, but I can tell Rebel isn’t interested in waiting until after our food gets delivered to join his friend.
Plus, I’m not longer sure I even want this modeling gig anymore. Something about this whole situation feels off and not in a good way.
Maybe that’s why I’m dizzy. I’m just hungry.
“Uh… sure…” I can’t tell whether I’m slurring my words or maybe they just sound slower in my head. “Give me a second, please. I need to run to the restroom first.”
I push to my feet, stumbling a little as I make my way toward the back of the restaurant. By the time I reach one of the stall doors in the women’s room, my stomach is churning. I slip inside, drop to my knees, and bend over the toilet, dry heaving, trying to breathe through the wave of nausea rolling through me.
The door to the bathroom opens and shuts, footsteps echoing softly across the tile. A voice follows, right as I’m trying to pull myself together.
“Excuse me.”
“Hello?” I manage to croak out.
“I saw you out there with that guy. I recognize him, it’s the rocker, Rebel XOXO, isn’t it?” the soft voice asks me.
“I can’t… I can’t open the door,” I slur, my vision tunneling now. There are black spots at the edge of my eyes and my head’s pounding.
A few seconds later, the door rattles then pops open and I see a blonde woman who looks like she’s my age but with very worried, wide eyes.
“I don’t mean to pry, but are you okay? I saw the guy you’re with drop something in your drink when you weren’t looking. It was really quick, so I couldn’t be sure, but you didn’t look so hot walking in here and if you were one of my friends, I know that I’d follow you to be sure you were fine.”
That fucker…
The whole bathroom spins as I try to get off my knees to stand but my legs won’t work, and I can hardly form words to respond.
“I…I…”
My eyes close and I feel like I’m going to fall asleep as everything fades in and out.
