A woman like Honey leaves a mark on you. Her love is easy, given without expectation and when you least expect it– she gets in close to you. The very essence of her, that easy and open spirit, gets beneath your skin until removing it is impossible because it means taking yourself apart. I need to hear her voice. I am starved for anything to do with her.
Even if she’s married Zeus I’ll get her back. I have to. I know I am the reason we’ve gone from our easy and quiet moments, the ones where it was just us in a world that had gone silent, to this. Me, standing outside the club with strangers around me and an idiotic gold invitation my only way to see her.
I approach the bouncer and watch him register who I am. He isn’t half bad at keeping a poker face in place, even with me standing in front of him. Just the slight stiffening of his shoulders and the twitch of his fingers to his hip where he is no doubt carrying.
Maybe I am wrong in thinking I’ll get a freebie if he pats me down.
“Mister Sokolov. Good to see you.”
I incline my head and pull out the invitation for him when he extends a hand to me. “Thanks.” He takes the envelope and tucks it away but doesn't make a move to pat me down. Instead, he reaches for the door without hesitation.
“Go on in,” he says, opening the door. “They’re expecting you.”
“I figured.”
I walk through the door and unlike last time, it isn’t quiet. Connie also isn’t there to greet me. The space is nearly full of guests who are being served drinks and appetizers. There are fresh roses everywhere decorating the space. Vases of them on tables and the floor, loose petals cover the floors and are bruised underfoot with each step the guests take. I stare at the dark crimson and pure white petals in front of me. They form a pathway leading down the hallway I’d taken with her. The roses remind me of Honey. She loves roses but has never told me why. My hands curl into fists when I think about the fact that she may have told Zeus. I don’t like the thought of her sharing secrets with him, giving any part of herself to a man that isn’t me.
I’m going to kill him.
I can hear music thumping from somewhere nearby. The muted sound of it reaches me and I head towards the hallway where guests mill in and out. By the look of them, they’ve been enjoying the party to the fullest extent. Glassy eyes and rosy cheeks tell me they’ve been drinking heavily and no doubt partaking in the activities the club is known for. Smeared lipstick and less than impeccable attire from guests emerging from the hallway tells me I am right but I slip past them and head towards the music.
Zeus knows I’m here already. There is no use delaying any of this. Not when he has what I want. Rather than going to the elevators we’d taken to our meeting with Zeus, I follow the crowd and music to the Great Room. I am right about the party. It doesn’t matter if it had officially started thirty minutes before. It is in full swing. Dancers, bottle girls, lights and music, a packed dance floor with the city’s richest. No one has dared make Zeus wait.
I scan the room looking for Honey. I can’t see her, but there is a raised dais at the back of the room. There are two chairs there, one that looks like something a douche like Zeus would think is a throne and claim for himself, but there is also a smaller chair. Something simpler and sleeker that I instinctively know is meant for Honey.
I step down the stairs into the room and move along the perimeter as I raise my eyes to the second level. I can see people there but all of them are just out of view. The shadows make it difficult to get a clear view. Honey has to be there. She’ll want to get a look at the room before she comes down here. A server comes close to me with a smile and a bottle of vodka in her hands but I wave her off and step up to the bar. I don’t want the drink. I want the time to observe.
Just because Zeus knows I am here doesn't mean I need to be sloppy or willingly walk into anything stupider than I already am, being here tonight. Zeus is a powerful man, but I am going to show that man why I’d been the city’s enforcer for as long as I had been. He fucked up when he’d touched what was mine and I am not a forgiving man. Never have been and never will be.
Not when it comes to the woman I love.
I’m not surprised when Connie slides into the space beside me and sighs heavily. “Can’t get a drink, huh?” she asks.
I shake my head, eyes on the bartenders as they work. They’re at the far end of the bar. It will be a few minutes before they get to us. “No, shit service,” I say and look towards the stairs I see at the opposite end of the room. They are grander than the stairs I’d taken to get here and the only other stairs that led up to the second level.
If Zeus enters, he is going to come from there.
“I’ll let management know.”
“You do that.”
“I’m glad you came,” she says.
I turn to face her. “I’m not,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t be here. We both know this is a fucking set up.”
She bites her lip and nods. The last time I’d seen Connie she’d looked tired, slightly in disarray, but that is gone now. She is back to her perfectly put together self. Her hair is a platinum blonde now and cut into a pixie cut that makes her look more delicate than I know she is. She swallows and glances towards the stairwell I’d just clocked as Zeus’ entry point.
“It is, but she’s safe. I promise you.”
Connie wouldn’t lie to me. Not after her plea for me to get Honey out. “So you’ve spoken to her?”
She shakes her head. “No. She mainly sticks to her room and only comes out at meal times. I’ve seen her then, but the others are around and I hate them.”
“What others?” I ask, instantly pissed, thinking about Honey hiding from anyone in this place. If Connie doesn’t care for them then there is a reason. But Connie is stronger than Honey. She is sharp and made of steel meant to cut. Honey is nothing like that and she’s been left alone with the sort of peopleConnieavoids.
“Zeus’ entourage,” she says and points a finger at me. “And don’t give me that look. They’re harmless, mostly. I just hate how stupid they are. They wouldn’t hurt her. I wouldn’t have left her alone if they were dangerous. I promise.”
“Why the fuck I’m trusting you, I don’t know. But you’re as good as it’s going to get in here, so I’ll believe you.”
