Page 79 of Before the Encore

“Not your usual type, though.” In her peripheral, she caught Olivia’s smile, the flow of her red satin dress. “Although she is a musician, so maybe she is.” The thumping music rattled Bonnie’s ribcage. Olivia pressed a hand to the small of her back. “Is that why you’ve been too busy to text me back, hm?”

Bonnie flinched like she’d burned her and stepped away. Olivia’s hand dropped. “I’ve been busy.”

Olivia glanced towards Madison, raising a perfectly pruned eyebrow. “I bet you have.”

Bonnie’s heart dropped. She did not like that look. Not one bit.

“That was quite a show you put on too,” Olivia murmured, her attention still fixed on Madison. “The kiss, I mean.”

“It wasn’t a show.”

“Oh?” Olivia fixed her smug smile on her. “That’s not what I heard.”

Olivia was digging, and she couldn’t give her anything—not if she didn’t want to be on the page of tomorrow’s news for negative reasons. She didn’t want to talk to her at all, even if Bailey considered her a ‘valuable contact’. Bonnie needed to leave. She swallowed the bile creeping up her throat and tried to mask her unsteady breathing. “Anyway, I was just leaving. I have an early flight in the morning.”

Olivia clicked her tongue. “That’s a shame. I was hoping you could introduce us.”

Bonnie gave her a weak smile. “Next time.”

“Don’t be a stranger, babe.” She leaned in, planting a kiss to Bonnie’s cheek, her voice a whisper. “I’m sure the three of us could have a lot of fun together.”

Bonnie couldn’t think of anything worse. Afraid of the sickness bubbling in her gut, she excused herself. She needed to get out of there. She’d had enough of the attention and celebrities. She was tired of Bailey’s demands and pressures—tired of his cold shoulder when Bonnie stepped out of line. On the dancefloor, she filtered through the swaying bodies towards Madison, trying to blend in. She had more chance swimming through an alligator-infested swamp dressed as a pork chop. People grabbed at her, hugging her, every touch flaring across her skin. Too many hands. Too many voices. Bonnie recoiled as someone spilt alcohol down her back, cold racing up her spine.

Her pulse raced, and she pushed forward, latching onto Madison’s arm like a lifeline.

“There you are.” Madison’s face split into a grin. “I wondered where you’d got to.”

“Dance with us, Bonnie!” Kam bumped her hip against hers, shimmying her wide shoulders.

Her heart pounded in her chest, faster than the DJ’s beat. “Actually, I was just going to leave.”

“No!” Kam and Frank both protested, dancing sloppily to the music.

“We need to have at least one dance.” Kam pouted, taking her hand. “The party’s just getting started.”

The party’s just getting started.

Her breath came in quick and fast. The hammering music shifted in her head, fragmenting her vision. Same music. Another club. Flashing lights danced across the back of her eyelids, voices blurring into noise. Maybe it was the same club? She couldn’t tell anymore.

Did that mean Rory Lukris was here too?

The memory of her old mentor’s smug face stole the breath from her lungs. Thick smoke from Rory’s cigars clogged her throat. His buddies swarmed the VIP lounge like angry wasps in expensive suits, sucking all the air from the room. Laughter blurred into blackness, until everything spun in a dizzying swirl. Bonnie couldn’t breathe. She was eighteen again, stuck on the sticky floor with someone’s hands on her that she didn’t know.

“Get off her,” a deep voice demanded.

The club’s walls quivered, rattled by the intrusion. Bonnie’s lungs tightened.

The voice called her name. Rough hands cupped her face. The touch was familiar, welcome. She blinked, locking onto beautiful blue irises. The walls of the club dropped away piece by piece, leaving Madison in front of her.

She opened her mouth, chest heaving. “I—can’t—b-reathe—”

In a blur, bodies pushed and parted, the continuous thump of the music stamping inside her brain. Her muscles weighed heavy and sluggish, like they were controlled by someone else. She let herself be dragged away. Shoes and heels and sparkles and lights. Then cool air hit her face.

Madison placed Bonnie’s hand to her chest. “Slow your breathing. Nice and steady.”

Bonnie sucked in a lungful, her breathing ragged through her dry throat. They’d come out of a back exit, all grey and concrete.

“You’re okay now. You’re with me.”