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Dan:Hey Mark, what are you up to tonight?
Mark:Dan O’Brian! How are you, man? I’m at Bar Rouge, supposed to be waiting on a date but I think I’m being stood up. Want to take her place?
I grin to myself. At least it’s some consolation prize.
Dan:I’ll be right over.
Just walking into Bar Rouge, with its low, red lights and sultry atmosphere makes me feel better. Scantily clad women move around the tables like gaudy little birds, stunning and fleeting. Mark is at a table waiting for me, grinning ear to ear.
“You’re the last person I expected to see tonight,” he admits, stroking his dark beard and looking around the cabaret. “But what good timing. It looks a little sad to be stood up in the Red-Light district, huh?”
“A little, yeah,” I agree with a laugh, motioning a hostess over so I can order a drink.
The petite brunette looks down at me, and recognition registers on her face. “Dan?”
She looks familiar to me, too, and then it clicks into place. It’s Heather, one of Roxanne’s escorts that had worked at my Red-Light party.
“Wow, nice to see you, Heather,” I tell her in surprise. “How come you’re working here? I thought you were still escorting?”
She shrugs one small shoulder. “I wanted to quit, so Roxie got me this job instead. It doesn’t pay as well, but I’ve got enough money saved for retirement.”
“That’s good, I didn’t know Roxie knew the management of this club so well.”
Heather gives me an odd look, tilting her head to the side. “Of course, she does, she’s the freaking owner.”
“The owner?”
“You didn’t know that?” she asks, letting out a quick snort. “I thought you kneweverything.”
“His reputation precedes him,” Mark pipes up, but I wave at him to be quiet.
I frown, wanting to make sure that I’m hearing her correctly. “What do you mean she’s the owner? Like, of the whole cabaret?”
“Yes, Dan, thewhole cabaret.” Heather flips her hair, obviously becoming bored with the conversation. “She bought this place last year. Everyone knows that.”
“Not everyone, apparently. I didn’t know.”
Heather rolls her eyes. “I mean, everyone who works in the district, you know. Did you want something to drink, or not?”
“Uh, sure. Whiskey, neat. Mark? I’ll be right back.”
My friend nods, and I rush outside, the perfect plan to hopefully fix this mess I’ve found myself in already solidifying in my mind. I pull up Elise’s contact and call her.
Since she isn’t picking up, I try once more, but nothing. So decidedly I type her a text:
I know how to get you an invitation to your brother’s engagement. Give me a few days and I’ll manage.
14
Amsterdam, May 16, 2022
Elise
I wash my hands,looking at my reflection in the mirror as I do so, still not sure what exactly is going on or why I’m here. Still, I’m glad that Dan is talking to me without too much awkwardness, considering that Ialmostfelt him up the other night. He’s promised to have the coveted invite to Andries’s engagement party for me, but he won’t reveal how exactly he managed to get it yet.
All I know is that he’s invited me to this cafe, and even after we order coffee and sit down, Dan won’t broach the subject of the engagement invitation, no matter how hard I try. I go to the bathroom, confused and frustrated, and needing a moment alone to try and work out in my head what is going on.
Dan hugged me when we arrived, and while we might have lingered with each other a little bit too long, it wasn’t anything out of line. I hope that our friendship can go back to normal. I can’t handle the idea of pining after Dan while he fucks Jessica all over his condo, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get the memory ofher on his lap, sleek and wet like a seal in the jacuzzi, and the way his lips were moving on her neck, out of my mind. It made me feel ill and heartbroken, all in the same moment.
