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I knew they would be changing out their shift soon. Maybe I could slip out while they weren’t paying attention. I wasn’t sure if that was going to work, but hell, I had to try.
I pulled on a dress and a pair of heels and picked out my biggest, slouchiest coat to hide my outfit beneath – hoping that they weren’t going to look too closely when they saw me, and if I did, I would be able to just play it off and slip back to bed without them noticing.
Heart thumping in my chest, I pressed my ear to the door, trying to make out what was happening on the other side. I knew I shouldn’t have been trying to sneak out like this, but right now, I didn’t care. I just needed some space...
And maybe there was a part of me that was defiant, a part of me that wanted to prove they couldn’t just lock me up in here and make me play by their rules. I was my own person, dammit, and no matter how into these guys I was, that didn’t mean I was going to give up on everything I had learned about myself, all the freedom I’d enjoyed in Budapest to do whatever I wanted, whenever I felt like it. Out there, I could get up in the middle of the night and go clubbing until the sun rose, if that’s what I really wanted – of course, with my early classes, it’s not as though I made much of a point of doing that, but it was the principal of the thing, you know?
"Hey, man, you awake?" Solomon’s sleepy voice remarked. I knew he had been watching the door all evening, it was probably his turn to come off shift and get some sleep. Just the sound of his voice made the soles of my feet tingle with the memory of what had happened a few nights ago – I could still remember the warmth of his mouth between my legs, the way he so deftly stimulated me to take me over the edge...
I heard a knocking, and then, the sound of a door opening – probably Solomon checking to see if Alex was up. This was it, this was my chance – if I was going to get out, then I had to do it now. I had to take the chance...
I bolted out of the room before I could stop myself, grabbing my handbag from its place hanging over the back of the living room chair, and rushing to the door. I opened it quietly, wincing and glancing over my shoulder, and then stepped outside, pulling the door to as silently as I could. It clicked in the lock, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I was out. I was actually, genuinely out. Without anyone at my side, anyone hanging over my shoulder. Holy shit – I had done it.
And I had to make the most of it because I knew I wasn’t going to have a chance like this again.
Moving as quietly as I could in my heels, I pulled out my phone as I headed for the door, dialing a taxi to come topick me up, and dropping a message to Frankie to check where she and her other friends were – I wanted to go out and meet them, maybe talk a little about what had been going on, or maybe not. Maybe just dance and drink and forget about everything for a while. Yeah, that sounded good.
I danced on the spot as I waited for the taxi to arrive, all the excess energy boiling in my system. I kept stealing glances over my shoulder, expecting either Alex or Solomon to figure out I was gone and come looking for me. Would they punish me if they caught me...?
Before I could linger too long on that notion, the car pulled up, and I climbed in, giving them the address of the club Frankie had said she was at – I had no idea who else would be out tonight, but it didn’t matter. With a drink in my hand, I knew I could make all the friends I needed.
I stared out of the window, the lights of the city spackled against the rainy glass as we drove; I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, the whole world suddenly alight with possibility. See? Nobody gave a damn about me, nobody cared where I was or what I was doing. When I got back to the apartment, I could tell Alex and Solomon that they didn’t need to worry about me, that I was totally capable of taking care of myself, and that they didn’t have to keep up this charade.
And then, I would find out if they wanted to stick around after that. Without any force compelling them to remain. I wanted to find out just what happened after that. If they would remain, or if they would leave, glad to be able to put me behind them.
I paid the driver, and, as I climbed out of the cab, I noticed him staring at me – what was he looking at? I raised my eyebrows at him, half-prompting him to say something, and he averted his gaze quickly and drove off as soon as I was out of his car.
I flashed the bouncer at the club a warm smile, and he pulled back the rope to let me in at once. See? It wasn’t that hard. Inside, I glanced around, and finally spotted Frankie, waving over at me from a seat in the corner, surrounded by a few guys and girls. I hurried over to her and leaned down to hug her.
"It’s so good to see you!” she exclaimed. "You want a drink?"
"Several," I replied, and she laughed.
"Agreed," she replied, grabbing my hand and leading me towards the bar. The place was crowded, and I noticed a couple of guys shooting looks in our direction, scoping out the possibility of coming over to talk to us – I was surprised to find that I didn’t feel any kind of response in my chest to their attention, even annoyance. No, they didn’t even register with me. Because there were only two men I could think of right now, two men whose attention I wanted, and I didn’t know exactly where I stood with them.
Except to say that they would have been pissed as hell if they had any idea what I was doing right now.
"I can’t believe you’re here!” Frankie told me, bumping her hip into mine. "I feel like you never come out since you got back..."
"It’s only been a few weeks," I protested, but she shrugged and grinned.
"Yeah, I thought you would be looking to find some...you know...guys to have fun with," she teased. I felt my cheeks flush slightly. She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Wait, don’t tell me you already did?" she laughed. I bit my lip, and shrugged, trying to play coy.
"I guess I might have..."
"Oh, you need to tell me all about them," she replied.
"You want to dance?" I asked her, nodding towards the crowded dance floor, changing the subject. I wasn’t sure where to even begin with the truth of what was going on inside my head right now, what was happening between me and those two guys – and I had no idea how she would react, either. Would she think I was a slut? Or crazy? Or leading them both on?
"Sure!" she exclaimed, and, as soon as we had our drinks in hand, we headed out to the floor. The music was loud enough that it filled my ears, pushing every other thought from my mind, making it easy for me to focus on the moment, instead of all the questions I knew I would need to answer soon enough.
But, even as I tried to sip on my drink and relax, I found myself wondering – wondering if they had noticed that I was gone. Wondering if they were looking for me. And, even though I knew they had been hired to keep me locked down in that apartment like a damsel in distress, I felt...bad. Guilty for pulling something like this on them...
Suddenly, I felt my phone buzzing in my bag. I grabbed it and pulled it out – but by the time I got to it, the call had dropped.
