Breathe Out (Just Breathe, #2)(108)

I’ve never seen Caleb chat so freely with men before, men he doesn’t already regularly socialize with, and I speculate at his actions. There are usually only movie stars and athletes who come into the club.

“I hope you save a dance for me,” Caleb comments, taking my hand and kissing it.

His gentlemanly mannerisms are perplexing me.

“I’ll consider it,” I tease.

“Have fun and I’ll see you all around,” Caleb announces before walking away.

Maggie drags me out onto the dance floor not long after everyone settles into our seats. Jared, Nathan, Jimmy and Allen join us, but Henry and Joe keep a little distance at first. When a slow song comes on, Henry snatches up Maggie. I turn to see who’s back at the table and lock eyes with Joe. Two seconds later, Chris is standing in front of me.

“Hi,” he greets with a huge smile.

“Hi.”

“Can I have this dance?” he requests sweetly, reaching his hand out for mine.

“Sure,” I agree.

“I’m glad you guys came. I was hoping to see everyone . . . especially you,” Chris states.

“Chris . . .” I start, but he cuts me off.

“I know, I know. Just friends,” he retorts. “I can still be glad to see you, even as a friend, can’t I?”

“Sure,” I accept nervously.

“Hey, Emma,” someone says behind me.

Chris spins us and my eyes fall upon Marcus.

“Hi,” I reply. “It’s so nice to see you.” I break my connection with Chris, which he willingly allows, and move to hug Marcus. “How have you been?”

“Great, thanks,” Marcus answers. “I wanted to make sure I got a chance to see you.”

“Wonderful.”

“I saw some of your friends, but haven’t had the chance to say hi to all of them,” he mentions. “I did see Maggie, Jared and Nathan, though.”

“I can make sure you connect with everyone else later if you don’t before then,” I offer.

“That would be great,” he replies. “I’ll let you two go. Don’t want to keep you from dancing. Can I get one later?”

“Why not,” I accept.

“Awesome. See you later,” Marcus says, walking away.

“See yah.”

A little later in the night, I’m able to introduce Marcus to Jimmy and Allen who stopped to take a break from dancing. Chris joins us, adding some additional liveliness to our conversation. Molly pops into view, offering me another glass of champagne before I’m even finished with the one I have in hand. She’s rather insistent and I tease her about trying to get me drunk and naked. Molly smiles, but confesses that that is not her intent as her eyes bounce down to the napkin she’s holding out for me to take. My brain doesn’t register what she’s doing until I gulp the rest of my glass and glance down at the napkin — there’s writing on it. Molly folds the napkin over just as I take it and then hands me another glass, winking as she walks away.

As my companions talk, I discretely open the napkin a little to see what’s written. The note says:



        12:01

        VIP room sessanta nove

            xoxo



There’s no name.

My head snaps up and I scan the crowd for Molly, but she’s nowhere to be found. I check my phone and the time reads eleven fifty-five. I’ve got six minutes to find the sixty-ninth VIP room. Wait! There aren’t that many VIP rooms to begin within this building. Where is she sending me?

I start walking around the main area in search of Molly. The low lighting of the place doesn’t help to spot people beyond a distance than about fifty feet in front of me. The place is filled with guests, more than there usually are even on a busy night for the club.

I check my phone and notice that the time is now eleven fifty-eight. The sight of the back of a woman who looks like Molly going up the stairs catches my attention and I’m quick to follow.


“Molly!” I shout, trying to make my way through the bodies standing on either side of the staircase. “Molly!”

There are a slew of people down the entire length of the narrow hallway when I reach the top area containing the VIP rooms. My eyes scan each door that I pass while trying to avoid bumping into people. Each room’s regular sign has been replaced with a burlesque style label. After reading the third one, I realize that each of them are labeled with a lewd phrase written in Italian. I can’t help but laugh.

When I come to the end of the hallway, I have not found VIP sessanta nove. There are no more VIP rooms that I’m aware of as I hit the end of the hallway, however, a light coming from the left catches my attention. I peek around the corner to find a shallow hall that I hadn’t ever noticed before. There are two doors; one right in front of me that is marked stage right and the other marked sessanta nove.

My hand hovers above the door handle, unsure if I should enter or not. I quickly check my phone and it’s two minutes after midnight. Damn —- I’m late for the first time in my life.

I take a few deep breaths as I look over my shoulder to see if anyone is watching me — I’m the only person in this little nook. Before my head turns to face the door, my hand presses down and pushes it open.