Chapter 15 Chapter 15
Violet
She opened the door and waved a card at the attendant who was more than happy to let us walk out in the dresses we were already wearing after removing the tags.
“That is not a bad idea. But I think my brother would kill me if I did that.”
I caught myself staring at the mirror, wondering what her brother’s reaction would be if he saw me in this dress.
She grinned at my expression, paid the attendant with a flick of her black card, and announced, “We’ll wear these out.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to face public spaces like this,” I muttered, eyeing my reflection.
Cassie tilted her head. “Relax. You look hot.”
That word wasn’t one I was used to hearing about myself. Pretty, beautiful, yes.
Hot, nope.
But when I turned sideways, I had to admit that the dress wasn’t awful.
It was different.
I didn’t look like the old Violet who waited around for someone to love her back.
“Thanks,” I murmured.
Cassie was a whirlwind and keeping up with her speed was truly exhausting. She was completely opposite to the slow, calculated man her brother was.
“You look fantastic too. But wouldn’t your brother mind if you blew up his money like that?” I asked.
She shrugged my concern off.
“He would give me the moon if I asked for it.”
I settled in the seat wondering how it would feel to have buttloads of money and spending it without a care. I belonged to a decent pack and I didn’t grow up in poverty but I could never imagine burning up so much money in a few hours.
“Not so sure about my involvement in this seeing that my pack needs his help already.”
Cassie was looking outside the window as well as typing something on her phone when she suddenly looked at me.
“Why are you obsessed with what Elijah would think so much?”
“Obsessed is not the word I would use” I clarified.
“Granted he makes all the girls go weak in the knees, just not me because I am his sister, you know.”
“My pack’s safety depends on this alliance.” I found myself fumbling for words when I shouldn’t.
“Do you not have anybody else to talk about because I can swear I have heard his name a thousand times from your mouth like ‘oh my god, what would Elijah think? How would he react?’ in the past few hours already?”
Her words suddenly made me once again realize how much my life revolved around Nate. I had grown distant with my friends, not that I had many to begin with and spent the past few years dreaming about him and then fulfilling his dreams.
Except my parents and maybe a few long lost friends who I wasn’t even sure would want to revive our friendship, I literally had nobody in my life.
I had no answer to her so I sat back quietly which she noticed and shoved her elbow in my stomach.
“Hey, we are friends right? You can think of me as one.”
I gave her a small smile and she pulled me into a hug that almost crushed my ribs.
“I can't breathe, Cassie” I groaned and she finally let go but was smiling mischievously at me.
“I can see why you both get so worked up around each other.”
“What?”
“You two are ridiculous. Whatever weird sexual tension you’ve got going on, please keep me out of it. It’s gross to think about my brother like that.”
She popped another bubble and went back to her phone, leaving me to stew in mortified silence.
I told myself that I would just sit and laugh with her, maybe try to get more information on her brother so that I don't make a fool of myself the next time I talk to him.
“He is like a decade older than me, you know?” I reminded her so that she wouldn’t continue rambling about us anymore but she only smiled,
“And I am younger than both of you but there are a few girls who have done some really crazy things to make him just look at them. Like batshit crazy.”
I had this sudden urge to ask her to elaborate. After all, that had been my plan to fish out information from her that would prove vital for me later.
But I also had a feeling, she would blurt it out in front of him the second she returned home if I immediately reacted.
So I decided to be tactical and ask her later when she was a little drunk. Hence, I quashed that thought down. For now.
We both stepped out of the cab, and I immediately froze.
The building before us towered like a giant creature of glass and light. Neon signs flashed across the roof in dizzying pinks and electric golds, and bass-heavy music thumped through the door guarded by a few bouncers.
I tilted my head up, blinking against the glow. “So… we’re at a pub.”
Cassie grinned, looping her arm through mine. “Technically, yes. Think of it as… an interactive pub.”
“What the hell is an interactive pub?”
Her grin was far too mischievous for comfort.
But I was going to stick to my simple plan: have a drink or two, pretend to be fun, then sneak home and collapse into bed.
Inside, however, the plan died on arrival.
The moment we pushed open the double doors, light exploded. Music crashed around us alongwith the sound of people laughing and shouting.
Bodies swayed together on the dance floor, some already making out.
I stiffened. “Cassie, maybe we should…”
Too late. She had already grabbed my wrist and was pulling me into the sea of bodies.
“Cassie!” I tried to yell over the pounding music. “Where are we even going?”
She turned her head just enough for me to see the devilish smirk on her face before she dragged me through the mass of people, weaving with the agility of someone who clearly knew how to navigate madness.
By the time we reached the far end of the room, I was breathless, my hair askew. We stopped before a sleek, black door guarded by two men who looked like they could single-handedly crush a bear.
Cassie pulled out her card and flashed it at them. Without hesitation, one of the men tapped a panel and the door clicked open.
“You… have a membership?” I gasped.
Cassie winked. “Now we do.”
“We?”
We climbed a narrow flight of stairs and then my ears were filled with a very different kind of sound.
Screams. Female screams to be exact. Not terrified ones. The wild, excited kind.
“What the…”