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I needed out. I needed fresh air.
I slammed my way out of the house and ran to my car through the darkness.
“Zeph?”
Father Byron’s voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned slowly to face the shorter man.
He was dressed in a full robe, and it baffled me as to why he’d be here and dressed as he was. “What are you doing?” I blurted out, slightly out of breath either from running or from my thoughts, I wasn’t sure which.
He folded his arms over his chest. “I held midnight mass here tonight. Which you were supposed to attend.”
Guilt slammed into me. I’d completely forgotten. “I’m sorry,” I stuttered. “I don’t know what happened. I just…forgot.”
Father’s eyes narrowed. “You forgot? That’s not like you, Zeph. You’re normally very reliable. You miss mass and now you’re running across the church compound in the middle of the night? Where are you going?”
I was responsible. It was something I was proud of. But my head had been elsewhere for days, and this was all the more reason why I needed to deal with it now. To go to her and tell her this had to end. So I could stop thinking and go back to just existing.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered, feeling as small as a child.
“Go back to bed.”
“I can’t do that. There’s something I need to take care of.”
Father threw up his hands in frustration. “In the middle of the night? You heard the police; they want us to stay close to home. It could be dangerous.”
I couldn’t tell him I was the danger everyone feared.
Everyone but Lyric.
Though she would when I told her.
“I have to do this. I’ll be back soon.”
I turned and ran for my car again, Father Byron’s shouts following behind me. He stared at me, completely bewildered when my car tires screeched across the parking lot and I left the church behind me.
I’d never allowed myself inside Saint View Strip Club. I’d sat outside many a time, watching from the outside, but I’d known I could never go in.
But now I needed to because if I waited a minute longer, I was going to implode. I handed the guy at the door a ten-spot, and he opened the heavy black door without a second glance.
Music blasted out of the club, surprisingly loudly for a Wednesday night. Or Thursday morning, I guessed now. The room was dark except for neon lights that cast a pinkish glow and the white spotlights on the stage.
I stopped in the middle of the room, mesmerized by Lyric twirling gracefully around a pole. Her skin shimmered with some sort of product, and her eyes were made up with heavy liner and dark powders on her eyelids. She was topless, those perfect tits on display for every asshole in the club to see. A tiny pair of panties covered her pussy, while her bare legs looked longer than usual thanks to a sky-high pair of heels.
Lust jolted through me, hot and fast. I’d had those legs wrapped around me just a couple of nights ago. I’d had her beneath me, writhing against me, begging me for something I couldn’t give for fear I’d take it too far. She’d shown me every inch of herself through the safety of a window, and yet now, every man in this room got to see her too.
I hated it. I hated their eyes on her. Their leering stares. When one reached out to tuck a dollar bill into her panties, dragging the material farther down than necessary so he could get a glimpse of her snatch, I saw red.
I stormed across the club, grabbing the man’s wrist tight and yanking it away from her.
“Hey!” he yelped, hunching awkwardly to try to relieve the pressure on his wrist that I really fucking wanted to snap. “What did I do?”
His shout drew the attention of the bouncer, and I knew it would only be a moment before I was thrown out, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
Mine,a voice in my head demanded.My girl.
“Zeph!” Lyric snapped.
Her eyes blazed with irritation as she jumped off the stage, not even wobbling in her heels. She got between me and the guy and glared at me. “Let him go.”
