Subterranean | H.S.

S17

Jade's pov

I hop off the bar top and get on the floor, breathing heavily. The crowd cheers me up and it makes me smile even more. I clap at the other girls, also getting off and coming back to serve the customers. They obviously are entertained, but they also want to get wasted to have even more fun. I totally get it.

''Thank you!'' I yell into the thick air and get behind the bar again. ''What can I get for you?'' I say, regulating my breathing, to a young woman, who's standing in front of me. She has short, red hair, and a bunch of piercings on her face, which make her look pretty fucking sick if you ask me. I love brave women.

''Two beers!'' She screams to my ear and I nod my head.

''Coming right away!'' I turn around and take two tall glasses to fill them up with beer. After I do so, I'm turning back to her and give them to her. Some of the substance pours out and wets my fingers and drips down my hand to wet my clothes.

''Thank you.'' She hands me money and I look down, to give her the change, but she touches my hand, stopping me. ''Keep the change.'' She smiles at me and I smile back at her.

''Whatever you say. Have fun.'' She winks at me and leaves me in a good mood. 

I put the money away in the cashbox, save the tip for myself and turn to serve another customer. 

As I'm about to talk to another person I feel someone wrapping their arms around my neck, suffocating me a little. By the hair color and smell of the perfume, I know that it's Persephone. I wrap my arms around her as well. I still remember every detail of what happened yesterday. 

Riley told me a little about Persephone's boyfriend. I've been seeing him around the city randomly, but it was never with her. I'm not quite sure how long ago was it, but I'm pretty sure he was at another club with another girl very recently. Maybe it's just my imagination, I hope so. There're plenty of guys like him here, I can be wrong. 

I knew there was something off about him, based on what Riley told me, but never have I ever imagined being a witness of an abusive pussy.

He yanked her off that fucking counter like she was some kind of a teddy bear, that wouldn't get hurt by that. And when I thought that was the worst he could do, he started choking her. So many people were staring at them but he didn't seem to care. As I was about to go and beat the shit out of him and rip his fucking balls off another dude came and he stopped Jack, giving Seph a chance to run away from this monster. I have no idea, who that was, but Riley told me that she knows him. Apparently, he spends some time with Persephone. 

I have no words to tell her how sorry I am for her. She's such a nice soul. She deserves so much better. 

''Hey, you okay?'' I ask and she tightens the grip around me. ''I saw what happened. I'm sorry he did that to you. You know that you can always count on me?'' I ask quietly, not wanting to scare her away.

''Jade.'' She says straight to my ear. ''Tell Jeff that I won't work here anymore.'' I raise my eyebrows at her words.

''W-what?'' I'm trying to push her back to take a look at her face, but she doesn't stop holding me tight.

''Please, tell him. Will you tell him that?'' She whispers, begging me. 

There's a scream hidden between calm words. There's some kind of secret that she wants to tell, but she won't do it, because she can't. 

I do the only thing that I'm able to do. ''Yes.'' I agree and she sighs.

''Thank you.'' I feel her wet mouth on my cheek and in the next second, she's gone. She runs for her life, running away from me. I can't stop her. There're too many people and I have to work, I can't just leave. Jeff will find out and I'm going to have a problem. 

We don't have strict rules here, but the only one Jeff wants us to follow is to not leave the building while working.

What the fuck was that?

I pat my ass, checking if I have my phone on me, but I don't. I left it in my locker, like usual, preventing it from getting stolen.

''Fuck.'' I look around, stopping my sight at a new guy here that's behind the bar with Vanessa. ''Hey!'' I scream at him and step closer to him. He looks frightened at me. ''I'll be right back!'' I walk past him, slapping his back, thanking him that way.

I take the keys from my bra and go to the room where our lockers are. I open the door and close them with a key. Muffled music can be heard from the other side. 

I open my locker and get my phone out of my bag. I stare at the screen, wondering who I'm supposed to call. My eyes jump between Persephone and Riley. As I'm about the click on Riley's number the back door opens and Riley comes through them.

''Thank fucking God.'' I run into her arms and hug her. ''Where were you?'' I pull away and kiss her lips. I feel much better, knowing that she's here.

''Babe, I have lipstick on!'' She puts her hands on my cheeks and looks at me. ''That cost almost half of my shift tips!''

''I don't fucking care about your lipstick. Where were you?'' 

''I went to the hospital to talk to Persephone and then I had to go home and take my stuff with me.'' She takes her hands off my face and points to the bag on her shoulder. 

''Did you tell her?'' I narrow my brows at her, feeling nervous.

She looks at me sadly and I'm already thinking about the worst-case scenario. ''No.'' She shakes her head. ''No, I didn't. We had a fight and I didn't tell her.'' She explains. ''She didn't explain Harry to me either.''

''Oh, baby.'' I hug her, holding her face. ''I'm sorry.'' I kiss her head, wishing that it would make her feel slightly better. ''For a moment I thought she was angry at us or something.''

''Why would she be? As far as I know, she supports everyone.'' She plays with my hair while I still hold her in my arms.

I take a deep breath. ''Because you're her best friend, I'm her good friend from work and we're lying to her about being in a relationship. This seems like a good reason to be angry.'' 

''We're not lying to her. We aren't just telling people yet. And she's not completely honest with me either.''

''I think that means we're lying to her, by not telling her the full truth, and just because she's not telling you every single thing doesn't mean you should do the same.'' I giggle at her answer. ''By the way, was she fine when you saw her?'' Riley pulls away from me and looks at me.

''What do you mean?'' She frowns, letting me know that she has no idea what just happened.

''She was just here, acting like a complete mess. She told me to tell Jeff that she doesn't want to work here anymore. She bolted from here like her ass was on fire.'' I shrug my shoulders.

Riley opens her mouth and stares in disbelief at me. ''You're fucking kidding me.'' She tangles her fingers in her hair and spins around.

''What? What is it?'' I grab her wrist and look at her face, trying to understand what she's talking about.

''It's Jack. It has to be him.'' We stare at each other. ''He had to force her into doing it. Any other way she would never do it. He made her do it.'' 

''What do we do?'' I say, scanning the curves and edges of her face.

Her facial expression drops and she looks sadly at me. ''Jade.'' She grabs my hands. ''We had a fight because of him. I told her what I think, that I'm going to report him and she was defending him. I'm not doing anything with it. She wasn't listening to me. She has to understand what's going on first.'' She walks past me.

''But, Riley. You have to do something. She's your best friend.'' I turn around after her. ''We can't just leave her like that. God knows what he's capable of.''

''Sorry, baby. This isn't our business and I'm not going to intervene when she doesn't want me to.'' 

I open my mouth to say something, but she's right. If Persephone doesn't want help, we won't be able to help her.

''Okay.'' 

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