1
Olivia
March 22nd, 2022
Icocked my head to the side as I studied the poster plastered on the crumbling brick wall in front of me.
The main theme was black and purple, a beautiful woman standing center stage rocking out. It looked like an advertisement for a new band.
She had chopped black hair with a few bright neon colors, that hung just about halfway down her neck. Several piercings were scattered around her face. A lip ring, three in her nose, one in her brow, multiple along each ear. She had rings on every finger, and she was wearing leather and fishnets under ripped black jeans.
The picture had been taken in the middle of a note, her tongue ring prominent. She looked like she would be fun to be around. Exciting and upbeat. The kind of woman who made everything and anything an adventure—
“Hey!”
I flinched and whipped around to find Steven standing in the doorway of The Club, irritation in his light, wheat-coloredeyes. He was holding the metal door open, waiting impatiently for me to quit wasting time staring at something I would never experience.
He rose a brow with this look on his face that portrayed the truth of how he felt about me. That I was absolutely and utterly stupid and didn’t deserve the breath he wasted on me. “Do you want to get me killed or are you just that dumb?”
I frowned, my jaw tightening. No, of course I didn’t want to get him killed, that was ridiculous. I didn’t even want to be here, but he didn’t want to come alone, so I had to play the part of security blanket, one that he loathed and loved at the same time, if you could call it love.
I glanced at the poster one last time before heading towards the door, swallowing every ounce of anger I felt, something I learned to do from a very young age. “Sorry,” I apologized. “I was just—”
“I was just,” he mocked and headed through the door. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself,” he muttered. “It’s so goddamn selfish.”
I felt a blanket of guilt weigh over me but shook it off quickly. He was right, I shouldn’t have stopped. This was important to him. More than important. Life or death at times, which meant I couldn’t be playing around.
I caught the heavy door before it swung shut, and stepped into the small, dark room. It smelled of alcohol and stale cigars, and because the sun had yet to dip below the horizon, there weren’t many people scattered around.
This club was said to be private. So private, in fact, that it didn’t even have a name. Just ‘The Club’. About every other week, we would come here and Steven would disappear behind a tattered red curtain at the far end of the room, leaving me to sit at the bar and make nice with the bartender.
Which was fine because I had actually become decent friendswith him, but how well could a person really become friends with a bartender? They were supposed to be friendly with everyone, it was a job requirement.
I glanced around as I made my way across the sticky puke green floor towards the bar that had to be over a century old. I couldn’t imagine why this place was so exclusive with the kind of people they allowed in here and the way it looked.
The people in attendance today were two men and a woman. The only man at the bar, sitting at the very end, looked like he had long since passed out.
I sent a warm glance over to the woman who looked like she was either clocking off or about to start her job as a lady of the night, the other man sitting across from her, watching her with lust in his eyes.
I gave her a small smile only to quickly look away when I caught sight of what looked like a thin silk scarf between her teeth, tightened around her upper arm, a needle in her other hand.
I turned back to the bar and quickly took my seat somewhere in the middle. The one place the bartender visited most often, which meant I would be constantly watched if any of the guests today decided to grow any confidence. Although, they usually didn’t.
“Hey, Olivia,” the bartender greeted, drying a glass.
I gave him a smile. I always loved how cliché he seemed, at least to me. Hardly anyone here yet he was always drying a glass, flipping a towel over his shoulder, leaning over the bar as if he were preparing to hear my entire life story. “Hey, Jake, just my regular.”
“Sure thing,” he nodded.
Jake was nice. He made sure I always felt safe here while Steven took care of business. With his kind blue-gray eyes and mess of light brown hair, I always felt comfortable. It was clearhe worked out, and he always wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans. Easy to write into a book or two.
I adjusted my light jacket over my sundress as I folded one leg over the other, just in case. It was still cool enough to wear a jacket, but soon I’d have to figure out another way to cover up Steven’s bad days.
“So, what’s new?” he asked, putting a glass of cheap scotch and Dr. Pepper in front of me. They didn’t even have expensive scotch here, which was fine. I preferred wine, but they didn’t carry that at all, which once again had me questioning if this bar was really as exclusive as Steven talked about or if it was something else entirely.
I pulled my cup over, watching the bubbles pop. “Not a lot.” I took a sip and found his eyes. “It’s been pretty uneventful these last few weeks.” I straightened. “Do you know anything about that poster out front?”
He glanced towards the door for a second before shaking his head. “I didn’t see any posters when I came in. What’s it about?”
