He gently slips my stiletto off and replaces it with a fluffy black sock, then slips the sneaker onto my foot. Then he does the same with the other foot. Instantly, I feel more at ease. No longer worried about having to balance in heels that are sky-high on slippery, icy grounds.
Adrian stands and offers me his hand.
“You…did that for me?”
“I thought it would be more comfortable.”
“Aren’t we going straight home? Isn’t it a waste?”
“Not at all, the night is still young.”
He takes my coat from the hostess and slips it onto me, moving like a man in control, a man who always knows what he wants. It’s so fucking sexy to see a man take charge, even of the little things.
Outside, he still insists on taking my hand in case the ground is slippery with ice. But my new sneakers are so much easier to walk in.
He tosses the package containing the heels into the back seat and climbs into the car after me.
“Where are we going? Dessert?” I ask, curious.
“We can get something sweet,” he nods, but he doesn’t actually answer my question.
It doesn’t take long for my confusion to get worse as I notice we are heading deeper and deepening into the less welcoming parts of the city.
I shift in my seat, feeling uneasy. “Where are we going, Adrian. I don’t like this,” I complain.
“I’m sorry, Athena, but you need to see something. And to see it… We have to go where it is.”
“Stop being so cryptic and just tell me what the hell is going on, please,” I demand angrily.
He pulls the car over to the side of the road and switches off the engine. He throws me a tense smile. It doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Come, we won’t be here long.”
Walking around the car, he tugs the door open for me. I’m nervous to get out, to leave the safety of the tinted windows where I can hide away from the seedy characters roaming around outside the dodgy bar we are parked near.
“I will keep you safe,” he assures me, taking my hand and pulling me from the car.
He wraps his arm around me and leads me toward the entrance of the bar.
Across the wall above the door, a broken neon sign flickers. Casino and dancers. But the C, the A, and the O in casino no longer work, so it just says sin in bold red letters.
My skin prickles with an uneasy feeling as he nods at the bouncer, who immediately steps aside for us.
Inside, it stinks of stale cigarette smoke and weak, old body odor. There is a heavy, thick air that makes me reluctant to take a proper deep breath. I shift closer to Adrian, and he holds me tighter.
We go to the bar, and he orders two beers. The barman cracks the caps off in front of us, and I’m grateful Adrian didn’t order a drink that needed pouring, because I would have wondered what was really going into it.
It’s only once he’s led me to the end of the bar, with a number of men literally gawking at us, that I find out the real reason we came here.
I don’t see him.
I hear him.
A loud guffaw of laughter. Familiar right down to my bones.
Turning in shock, my eyes fall right onto my father.
But through the haze of smoke and stale air, I have to squint because he looks wrong.
