The Mechanic

THIRTY EIGHT

I wiped my cold and sweating palms on my jeans, my heart beating loudly in my throat. I stared at the door before me and inhaled deeply before pressing the doorbell.

The tall and dark door opened in a matter of seconds. A big guy in a black suit appeared in front of me, his blank eyes studying me and asking who the hell I am.

I forced myself to speak. "I'm here to talk to Hunter."

He cocked his head a little. "And who are you?"

"J-jade. I'm Jade," I replied, squeezing my fingers behind my back.

"I see. He's waiting for you. Follow me."

I stepped inside, greeted right away with a dim-lighted hallway. The place looked ancient but elegant, slightly eerie too. The interior wasn't really weird, but I guessed I felt eerie because I knew who was living here.

"Boss is upstairs with some friends. Please follow me," he told me before taking the marble stairs.

I walked behind him in silence, my eyes observing the huge paintings that were hanging on the walls. There were paintings of medieval knights in a battle, a woman with a bloody and old-fashioned dress, and even a priest from the early century who was holding a dead person's head.

This place could be used for American Horror Story, no kidding.

The man I was following stopped in front of a door. When he opened it, I had to blink twice or thrice before I could process what I saw.

The room was bursting with so much noise and bright, colorful lights. A crowd of people was in the middle, dancing and jumping like crazy. It was like a nightclub, probably louder.

I frowned when I realized that I didn't hear any sound outside. Jesus. The house had sound-proof walls?

"Boss loves throwing parties," the guy said, walking inside. I followed him. I glanced and observed the people around me in silence. A small group was huddled on a couch, laughing loudly as they snort coke from the table. A man and two women were making out in the corner, not caring if they have an audience.

They all looked high. Scratch the word 'looked' out. They were all high. Like they don't care about the world.

Were drugs really that powerful? Powerful enough to make you forget about the reality? To make you lose yourself?

I suddenly got curious. How does it feel to not feel anything? Was it really good? Was the feeling addicting?

"He's inside this room," my tour guide told me, breaking my thoughts. He was standing in front of another door.

I waited for him to open it so I could follow him inside, but he just stood there and stared at me.

"Uh, aren't you going in first?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No, Maam. I'm not allowed inside."

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Is this his personal room or something? Because I don't want to go inside if this is his private space," I pointed out. If there were wild and high people around me, what more was inside Hunter's room? I didn't want to see him banging girls or whatever.

"No, Maam. It's a library. You won't interrupt anything, he's just talking with some friends inside. He told me to send you here."

"Fine," I breathed out, forcing to calm myself down. I knocked on the door, my chest heaving and yearning for more air but I ignored it. I had to do this.

The door creaked open. A familiar set of blue eyes greeted me.

"Jade?" Niall exclaimed in surprise, his other hand holding a bottle of wine. "What are you doing here?"