Page 68 of Jump on Three

I scurried down the hall toward the beats I could not yet identify.

What now?

I had to get out of this hallway. The man would be coming back inside at any moment, and I did not want to be caught.

With no other option, I continued toward the music. At the end of the hall, I carefully opened a door and peeked through.

Another hallway, this one more dim, with music pumping through the walls. I took a step then swiftly turned around to study the door I’d come from. It was nondescript, almost seamless with the wall.

From nowhere, a group of women strutted toward me. I pressed my back to the door, trying to be as invisible as I had been in the hallway.

The women were nowhere near invisible. Their legs were long and sparkly. Their dresses barely covered their vulvas. In fact, I thought I spotted a—

They were passing me, and one touched my arm. “I love your dress, girl,” she chirped. “Have fun tonight.”

She was out of sight before I could loosen my tongue to thank her, so I whispered it to myself and let out a big sigh.

If women that pretty liked my dress, maybe I’d blend in better than I’d thought. I could just follow them. They probably knew where they were going.

Resolved, I started to push off the door. Suddenly, it was no longer there, replaced by cool air. My stomach dropped as I fell backward, arms pinwheeling in a futile attempt to keep me upright.

My descent was abruptly stopped by a strong grip on my elbow and a firm chest against my back.

“Well, well, look what we have here.” Smooth, rich velvet, those few words were impossibly woven with violence.

There was no hiding my yelp when I was spun around to face the man behind me. I recognized him immediately from the alley. His wicked grin was unfamiliar. It sent goose bumps crawling all over my skin.

“A little girl who thought she could sneak into my club. Tsk, tsk. What am I going to do with you?”

“Nothing to say, hmmm?” Marco leaned down, putting his face in mine. “One way or another, we’re gonna have a chat, baby girl. Let’s go.”

Chapter Twenty-two

Ivan

My mood was shit. It had been for a while now. Usually, I could get lost in Lyot, but I wasn’t feeling it tonight.

It was a shame since I had the whole night ahead of me.

Tomorrow’s swim practice was going to come early, but there was nothing that could be done for it. My responsibilities at the club did not supersede anything I did at school, but I still had to balance both.

The line for entry was thick tonight, winding around the building. Drew, Jay, and Ike had their hands full at the door. I nodded as I strode toward them. Seeing me, Jay stepped away from the other guys, getting in my path.

I did not like when he did that.

“Hey, man,” he started.

“Hey. What’s up?”

He rubbed his cue ball.

Oh god, I internally kicked myself for calling his bald head a cue ball. I couldn’t even come to work without Evelyn popping up in my mind and lexicon.

“Yeah, so you told me to let you know if I saw the girl again.”

I went still. “Did you?”

“Nah, not me. But Marco put out a call through the comms that a girl snuck in through the back tonight, and I was thinking it might be her. Marco’s pissed as hell. We’re having a security mee—”