The Club

Kaelen stepped out of the brightly lit shopping mall and immediately regretted every decision that led her to this exact moment. The cool evening air brushed against her bare shoulders, sending a deep shiver down her spine. She dragged her palms down the sides of the ridiculously short beige lace dress, fighting a losing battle to stretch the stubborn fabric over her thighs. A group of men loitering near the massive glass exit doors snapped their attention toward her. One of them let out a loud, piercing whistle. Another shouted a crude, flirtatious comment about her exposed legs. Heat rushed straight to Kaelen’s neck. She ducked her head, her face flushing a deep, embarrassed crimson under the harsh streetlights. She wished the concrete pavement would just open up and swallow her.

Beside her, Tessa remained unfazed by the predatory attention. She strutted down the pavement with commanding, unapologetic confidence, her shoulders thrown back, owning the street like it was her personal runway. She carried herself with a fierce energy that Kaelen could never hope to replicate.

Kaelen crossed her slender arms over her chest to hide her cleavage. “Do I have to wear this? If you had told me this condition before, I wouldn’t have come.”

Tessa let out a sharp laugh and winked. Without warning, she stepped close and delivered a loud, stinging smack right onto Kaelen's rear end.

Kaelen gasped loudly, jumping forward and frantically scanning the busy sidewalk to see if anyone had witnessed the public assault.

Tessa grinned, her dark eyes sparkling with wicked mischief. “Oh, come on, can’t you see how they are gaping at you? You are a treat to watch.”

Kaelen muttered under her breath, cursing the day she agreed to let Tessa dictate her Friday night plans. “Where is your car?”

Tessa flicked a perfectly straightened strand of hair over her shoulder. “I gave it for servicing. You know, treating the car to a spa day. Oh wait, you don’t even know how to drive. To whom am I explaining this?”

A yellow cab rolled up to the curb. Kaelen did not hesitate for a single second. She practically dove into the backseat, eager to escape the suffocating weight of the leering stares. The heavy door slammed shut behind her, muting the obnoxious street noise.

Tessa slid into the seat next to her a moment later, grabbing Kaelen’s wrist just as she reached into her purse for a tissue.

Tessa narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing?”

Kaelen tried to yank her hand free from the iron grip. “Nothing. Just lightening the lipstick a bit. It looks way too much for me.”

Tessa batted Kaelen's fingers away and rolled her eyes. “No, you are not. Now stop it already.”

Kaelen scowled, shrinking back into the worn leather seat. “Remind me, how did we ever become friends?”

Tessa offered a smug, knowing smirk. “Long story short, you begged me to be your friend.”

Kaelen scoffed in sheer disbelief. “No, I did not!”

Tessa laughed. “Yes, you did.”

The taxi sped through the bustling city streets, neon lights reflecting off the grimy windows. Kaelen spent the next ten minutes loudly narrating the true story of their college days, detailing exactly how Tessa had relentlessly stalked her across campus until she finally gave in. Tessa just smiled, watching the city blur past. Beneath the playful banter, Tessa harbored a serious underlying motive for the night. She was purposely dragging Kaelen to a high-end club to heavily distract her from the lingering, suffocating panic of her ongoing, unresolved divorce. Kaelen had been drowning in her own misery for too long, and Tessa was determined to pull her out of the deep end, even if it meant forcing her into a scandalous dress.

The cab lurched to a halt in front of a sprawling two-story building. Pulsing neon lights bled into the dark night sky, casting an eerie, chaotic glow over the massive parking lot. Rows of expensive, heavily modified luxury cars lined the asphalt. Teenagers and young adults loitered near the entrance, forging IDs and making out against the hoods of cars.

Tessa pointed toward the looming club entrance. “Always works.”

Kaelen blinked in confusion. “What?”

Tessa pushed the cab door open. “Rile you up with something trivial, and it takes your mind off your panic.”

Kaelen swallowed hard and stepped out into the chaotic atmosphere. The heavy, thumping bass from inside the building already vibrated through the soles of her strappy sandals. They bypassed the winding line and walked through the heavy double doors. The reality of the club hit Kaelen like a physical blow to the chest. The music was ear-shattering, bouncing off the walls in relentless waves. The air was thick with the scent of expensive liquor, sweat, and heavy perfume. Kaelen instantly felt wholly out of place, an alien dropping into a hostile, predatory world. The upper level was lined with VIP booths, shadowed by dim, moody lighting. Inside those booths, suit-clad men sat like wolves surveying a hunting ground, entertaining clients and pulling scantily clad, grinding women into their laps.

Kaelen glanced down at her own beige lace dress. She had felt terribly exposed outside, but compared to the sea of women dancing in little more than string bikinis and sheer mesh tops, she looked practically modest.

Tessa grabbed her wrist, leaning in close to shout over the deafening music. “Let’s go to the bar. It will give the complete view of the club.”

Kaelen pursed her lips, pulling back instinctively. “I don’t drink, you know that.”

Tessa tugged her forward with renewed force. “I know, but I never asked you to drink, did I?”

Kaelen gave up protesting. She let Tessa drag her through the crushing sea of sweaty bodies. They found two empty stools at the sticky, liquor-stained bar near the edge of the sunken dance floor. Kaelen ordered a bright, fruity mocktail. She gripped the condensation-slick glass, staring blankly at the pulsing crowd. Tessa struck up a loud, flirtatious conversation with a nearby group of men, but Kaelen’s fragile mind inevitably, agonizingly drifted back to her trauma.

She tugged at the hem of her dress again, an involuntary nervous tick. Her thoughts spiraled downward, landing directly on her wildly possessive devil of a husband, Voktor.

He was a territorial, aggressive caveman by nature. He lost his temper whenever any man so much as looked at her. If he were to ever see her sitting at a bar in such a sexy, revealing dress, exposing her body to a room full of hungry predators, his reaction would be apocalyptic. The vivid, terrifying image of his furious wrath flashed behind her eyes. It was a dangerous, self-destructive thought that pulled her deeper into the dark pit of her memories.

Tessa noticed the blank, haunted stare. She broke away from her conversation and tapped Kaelen's knuckles. “Kaelen, you have to let him go.”

Kaelen looked down at her sugary drink, offering a sorrowful, defeated smile. “He already left me. Can I do anything now?”

She lifted the glass and downed the rest of the sweet liquid in one long gulp. The icy drink hit her stomach, providing a fleeting jolt of energy. She slammed the glass down on the sticky counter.

Kaelen forced a bright, artificial cheerfulness into her tone, desperate to change the subject. “Woah! Let’s go and burn the dance floor.”

Tessa rolled her eyes at the blatant overcompensation, but she slid off her stool anyway. She grabbed Kaelen's hand and pulled her straight toward the packed, sunken dance floor.

The DJ transitioned into a heavy, hypnotic trance track. The bass pulsed through the wooden floorboards, traveling up Kaelen’s legs and settling deep within her bones. At first, she stood stiffly, her arms pinned to her sides as strangers bumped into her shoulders. But the suffocating heat of the room and the relentless, intoxicating beats slowly began to chip away at her walls.

Kaelen finally let her guard down. She closed her eyes, raising her slender arms into the air.

She began swaying her hips seductively to the rhythm. She let her body roll with the heavy groove, allowing the powerful beats to temporarily wash away the crippling trauma of her reality. Men nearby stopped to watch, edging closer to her swaying form, but Kaelen did not care. She was lost in the sensory overload.

Yet, even in the midst of the dense crowd, her mind betrayed her. The loud music faded into a low buzz, and she was suddenly assaulted by the echoing, cruel memory of her past. The flashing neon lights morphed into the harsh, unforgiving fluorescent bulbs of a sterile medical clinic from two years ago.

Kaelen wept on the cold floor, begging the man looming above her. “Please, listen to me. I can’t live without you.”

Voktor stared down at her, his expression carved from pure ice. He mocked her pain without a shred of hesitation. “Don’t make me laugh now, Kaelen.”

Kaelen clutched at his trousers, sobbing frantically. “Voktor, I will do anything, just please don’t leave me.”

He tilted his head, his dark eyes devoid of any warmth. “Anything?”

She nodded, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. “Yes, anything, please, I love you.”

He delivered the demand coldly, staring down at her with zero remorse. “Then abort this baby.”

Kaelen remembered the sheer shock freezing her lungs. She remembered staring up at him, unable to comprehend the monster wearing her husband's face.

He challenged her paralyzed state. “What, now you don’t love me?”

Then came the devastating ultimatum that shattered her soul. “Either it’s the baby or me, you decide.”

She had made the choice. She remembered the sterile clinic, how she had heartbreakingly aborted their unborn child exactly as he had coldly demanded. She had desperately pleaded on her knees for his love and his presence, giving up a piece of her own flesh and blood just to keep him.

And he left her anyway.

He coldly smirked down at her hollow, weeping form, turned his broad back, and walked out the door.

Kaelen chased after him into the hallway, grabbing his arm. “I aborted the baby just as you asked me. How can you not be true to your words?”

He smirked, jerking his arm out of her grip. “I never said I will not divorce you.”

That was the last time Kaelen ever saw him.

A tear slipped free from her closed lashes. The crushing weight of the memory stole the breath from her lungs right there on the crowded dance floor.

Suddenly, the deafening trance music cut off entirely.

The jarring silence was instantly replaced by the terrifying sound of shattering glass and brutal violence erupting near the sunken bar area. Kaelen’s eyes snapped open. The crowd surged backward in panic, whispering and shoving wildly to get out of the way.

Tessa grabbed her hand. Driven by morbid curiosity and the crushing momentum of the crowd, Kaelen and Tessa pushed aggressively through the gathering throngs of people. They fought their way to the edge of the metal railing overlooking the lower floor.

Down below, absolute carnage was unfolding.

A massive man was crouched over a figure on the floor. He was landing vicious, merciless punches on the guy beneath him. His heavy fists flew in a brutal blur of violence, raining down sickening strikes against the man's bloody face. Bouncers and security guards rushed the scene, desperate to break it up, but the muscular attacker shrugged them off as if they were mere insects.

The muscular attacker roared, his voice shaking the very foundations of the room. “Son of a bitch, you dare? SHE IS MY WIFE!”

The voice tore through the tense silence of the club. The dark, murderous timber of that specific, guttural shout sent an instant, paralyzing shudder down the entire length of Kaelen's spine. Her breath hitched. The air vanished from her lungs.

A heavy wooden table crashed to the floor, splintering into pieces. The massive man shoved away the bleeding security guards desperately trying to hold him back. He slowly straightened his towering frame. His broad chest heaved with exertion.

Then, his furious, pitch-black orbs raised slowly, cutting straight through the chaotic crowd.

His gaze locked directly, unwaveringly onto Kaelen.

*Voktor.*

Her knees buckled instantly under the sheer, unadulterated rage burning in his stare.

Pure, unfiltered survival instinct seized control of Kaelen's brain.

She spun around, ripping her hand away from Tessa, and fled the scene before his promised, violent wrath could consume her. She ran blindly, shoving her way past the tight cluster of bewildered bodies. She ignored the indignant shouts, desperate to put as much distance between herself and the monster at the bar as possible.

She threw her weight against heavy double doors marked for women and collapsed into the restroom.

The doors swung shut, cutting off the noise. Kaelen fell against the line of porcelain sinks. She gripped the cold marble counter with trembling fingers, her chest heaving as she sucked in desperate, ragged breaths. She stared at her reflection in the sprawling mirror.

Hot tears streamed freely down her pale cheeks, ruining her carefully applied makeup. She clamped her trembling, cold hands tightly over her mouth to stifle her own pathetic whimpers.

*After all these months, he still affects me like this,* she thought bitterly.

A girl standing at the adjacent sink gave her a deeply sympathetic, concerned glance. Kaelen quickly averted her gaze, turning on the silver faucet to wash away the evidence of her breakdown.

Her fleeting, desperate moment of sanctuary was shattered a second later.

The girl nearby shrieked in horror at a sudden, imposing male intruder. “Who the fuck are you? This is the women’s restroom, you asshole!”

Before Kaelen could even fully process the woman’s curse, her forearm was harshly, painfully seized by an immovable force.

Kaelen gasped as she was brutally yanked around. Her sandals skidded on the tiled floor. She crashed into a rock-solid chest and was forced face-to-face with Voktor's furious, bloodshot eyes.

He did not look at her face right away. Instead, his furious, judgmental gaze scanned every single inch of her body-hugging beige lace dress. He took in the exposed skin and the short hem. His nostrils flared wildly like an enraged beast.

Voktor yelled at the top of his lungs, the sound bouncing off the tiled walls. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Kaelen flinched, but his rough, bruising grip on her arm held her firmly in place.

He roared again, shaking her arm just enough to rattle her bones. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Kaelen tried to pry his massive fingers off her skin, her throat bone-dry in sheer, paralyzing terror. “Please… Please, you are hurting me.”

Other women in the restroom started shouting, loudly protesting his blatant presence in their space and demanding he leave immediately.

Voktor ignored the loud screams. He maintained his brutal, iron-clad hold. He ignored her desperate pleas, turning on his heel and roughly dragging a terrified, frantically struggling Kaelen straight out of the restroom by her arm against her will.