Page 13 of The Red Room
“What is it?”
I lift the fabric cautiously,and the bottom hem flows downward to my knees.
Courtney gasps. “Holy shit …”
Holy shit is right. I think it too along with many other curses in my head, but I can’t manage to utter a single one. It’s a dress. A beautiful, red, extremely fucking expensive dress. I look at it in awe. Two straps lead from each side of the midriff and connect at the top of the black wooden hanger. There’s a slit going down the middle of the bodice, clasped together by eight intricate fastens, but the gap is just wide enough to not only seecleavage but the stomach of the person wearing it. Small sleeves appear fashioned to fall around the arms, while the shoulders are left bare. The bottom of it, a fine hem of glossy red fabric, might reach my lower thigh if I continuously straighten it down.
“I … I can’t wear this.” This dress is somehow more revealing than the ones Courtney has picked out for me. Anxiety builds in my stomach, twisting my organs into some painful balloon animal ready to pop at any second.
She puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes, her jaw still hanging low. “Nat, you’re not just going to put on this dress. You are going toownthis dress.” Courtney’s mouth slithers in a devious smirk. “And once Nik sees you, the only thing he’ll want to do is tear it off you.”
*
I step out of the Uber at the front of Völk. The driver was nice enough, but the way he peered at me in the rearview was anything but. Sure, my tits were practically hanging out of this dress the entire way, but that wasn’t an invitation for Andrew (I think his name was) to ogle me the entire ten-minute trip.Two-stars Andrew. Do better next time.
Music shudders the sidewalk lining the club, and when I peer from the front to the people outside, there’s the usual line forming down the block and a swift left around the corner. I’m not sure how Nik made this place what it is, but whatever he did, it’s working. People clamor on the wrong side of the long felt rope keeping them outside the entrance. Me? Well, for once I don’t feel the need to go to the end of the line.Not tonight.
I tug the dress down my thighs as far as it will go. Not much. While it felt great to wear in the sanctity of my apartment, now, this dress has me questioning what the hell I’m doing here. Sure, it’s a few paydays’ worth of fabric, but that’s not the problem.I’m wearing it.I’m the one constantly worrying aboutthe slits showing my stomach I’d never show willingly. If my chest complements it or if the dress looks like a tear in a potato sack, just waiting for the rest of me to spill out. Courtney spent an hour doing my makeup and hair, and while I have no doubt in her ability, the rest of me, the parts practically spilling out of this dress, feel uneasy. Naked amongst the best in show. Here I am, Natalie Calder, a mediocre girl in an expensive dress I can’t afford.
“Miss Natalia,” a voice says from behind the felt rope as he unclips it.
I try and ignore the impatient snarls coming from the front of the line. I can’t. They’re probably thinking the same thing I am. Why isshegetting in? To be honest, I’m still wondering why, too.
“Hi. Uhm. You’re Dimitri, right?” I recall last night, how he not only called a car for Courtney, but stopped Nik before he could kiss me.Viktor says he needs to see you.I eye him curiously and step forward. I’m no longer the one waiting my turn, and I’ll be damned if I’m meant to feel that way.
The bouncer nods.
“Call me Nat,” I say and stare up at him.
Dimitri glances down the line of people, his eyes never coming close to mine. There’s a certain amount of unease in his stern expression tonight. And for a man as big as him,whyseems to be the only word I can manage to think.
“Nat,” he finally says and reclips the rope behind me. “We’ve been expecting you.”
My brows furrow, and I lean in closer. “We?”What the hell does he mean, we?Sure, there’s a couple of other bouncers keeping the waters of Völk’s ecosystem clean. Ten to one ratio for women and men if I had to guess. But that’s just business. It’s the way he said it.We’ve been expecting you.Are they going toroll out the red carpet? Maybe give me a special shout-out over the P.A. system?Give me a break.
For the first time since I met Dimitri, part of his mouth crooks upward.Is he smiling? No. It can’t be a smile.
Dimitri’s smirk loses slack in an instant like his face hit the factory reset mode. He gestures up the stairs.
Standing in front of the double door entrance is Nik. Nikolai Vostik, wearing a black button-up shirt while his sleeves strangle each forearm, stares down at me, seemingly taking in the dress he sent to my loft. Suspenders drape tightly on his strong shoulders. His eyes, two golden shimmers fighting against the LA skyline, pierce through the night.We’ve been expecting you, the words replay in my head. Nik has been expecting me.
“Don’t keep him waiting,” Dimitri says and nudges me with his elbow.
I step forward apprehensively, fearful of what he might say when he takes me in completely.
“You,” he says and pauses. Uncertainty radiates up my spine. Surely, I don’t look like the cover model he saw when buying it. It probably doesn’t fit the same as it would on a mannequin. And if I don’t stand up straight to give my stomach a tighter appearance, how can he ever think I am worthy to be in the dress I’m in now?
“Are not what you expected?” I finish and stare at the cement. God, get me out of here. Call me an Uber if cell reception does happen to reach the heavens. Everything I’ve done tonight, everything Courtney did tonight, was all a waste. Now, all Nikolai Vostik will see is a frumpy girl in some dress that doesn’t fit her the way it would Veronica Tate. I might as well play hopscotch with the rope keeping those waiting outside Club Völk. That’s where I belong. Just another face in the crowd. I scuff my heels on the pavement, awaiting his disgust.
“You are stunning.”
My eyes widen, and I listen to his voice play on repeat until it registers fully. “I—what?”
Nik grins and travels down the steps toward me, lifting his palm in my direction. “Stunning,” he reaffirms, and bends forward to kiss the back of my hand. “And you shouldn’t need some dress to know that.”
We stare at each other, his bright eyes never leaving mine.
God, I have a new request. Please don’t let this man ruin me.