Mr. Billionaire **ReVamped**

Chapter Three

An hour of getting ready and a thirty minute car ride later, the four of us find ourselves outside of a club that I know all too well. Martia and Kayleen have forced me into this tight, red number that hugs every single curve of my body in a way that makes me feel extremely self-conscious. Martia is wearing this yellow dress with a drop shoulder and flared sleeves. The way the color pops against her dark skin makes me think the color yellow must have been made specifically for her. Kayleen is dressed in a pink spandex dress and her long, caramel colored hair was hanging over her shoulders in pin-straight perfection. Levi was dressed in a simple white shirt, jeans and some stylish look loafers. The outfit itself seemed boring, but it was the way he wore it. Levi could pull of anything a make it look like he was about to walk the runway. Hell, he was even pulling off the white hair he'd been sporting for the last year. Not many men—aside from those in the K-pop genre—could pull that off.

I stared up in the building in a kind of fascinated horror. Mostly because I knew this club.

The wait line was so long, it stretched all the way into the street with cars having to maneuver their way around the already tipsy people waiting in line. I could hear rap music thumping from the inside, it was so loud in there that, even though we hadn't made it to the back of the line yet, the vibrations from the music rattled from my feet all the way to the crown of my head. The door came into sight and I caught a brief glance at the bouncer; it was just his black shirt and a flash of his deep brown skin, though. The door itself was surrounded by black padded walls and the words Scarlet Kiss were written in bright letters hanging above the bouncer's head.

"This was your plan?" I hissed at Levi, pulling at his elbow to gain his attention. "Scarlet Kiss?"

"Yes," he answered, looking at me as if I were some kind of ticking time bomb ready to explode. He sighed and patted my hand, looking at me seriously. "Be honest with me, Yvonne, how long has it been since you've left the house? To do something other than going to work or going grocery shopping." He added that last part in when I opened my mouth to speak.

I didn't respond because there had been no leaving my house. I had stayed there, in that house that was both comforting and painful, never leaving unless it was to make money or to get food. I knew that it was unhealthy. I knew that staying there, thinking of old times and wondering what I had done to warrant such actions from the people I had been closest to was just adding salt to old wounds, but I couldn't stop it.

"Yeah, I thought so," Levi responded, letting out another sigh; it sounded a little sadder than the first one. "Yvonne, I know that it hurt, really, I do but what's wasting away in that apartment going to do? Is it going to change anything?" He looked my face over carefully and said, "You have to stop waiting for them to come back. They're not."

His tone was so quiet and so gentle, and yet, it felt like he had screamed the words at me. I flinched, dropping my hand from his arm. Something inside of my chest opened up, like a black hole, and it felt like that black hole was swallowing up everything in its path. I wrapped my arms around myself, shaking my head.

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. They were your friends, honey. They were all of our friends. But you've got to face facts. They made their choice and now you've got to make yours. Are you going to let this define you or are you going to get back up and be that bad bitch I know you are?" He held out his elbow for me to take, raising one eyebrow. "Make your choice. Come be a bad bitch or call an Uber, go home, and live your life in this constant cycle of misery."

And for some reason, maybe because Levi was right and I was tired of being miserable, I linked my arm with his and let him lead me toward where Martia and Kayleen were waiting for us. They had apparently been watching us the entire time but hadn't interrupted us. Maybe it's because they knew Levi was good at helping people make good decisions.

"We ready?" Martia asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.

"We're ready." Levi grinned.

"Okay, then, follow me." And Martia cut past all the people in line who griped and complained as she did.

Levi pulled me and Kayleen forward, through the throngs of women who were barely able to stand properly in their scrappy heels and men who were mostly eyeing those women like they were pieces of meat.

Martia was talking to the bouncer animatedly when we walked toward the doors of Scarlet Kiss. He looked at us in curiosity, his eyes lingering on Levi a little warily—probably wondering if he was competition—before he said, "You guys are Martia's friends, right?" He looked at Levi again.

"These are the ones," Martia answered for us, looking at Levi with obvious amusement. "You don't have to worry about him. He's more interested in you than me."

Levi let out a loud laugh. "True."

Surprise flickered in the bouncer's eyes as it did with most people when they found out Levi was gay. Levi didn't fit into the category that everyone had created when it came to the "stereotypical gay guy." He was tall, incredibly good-looking and not overtly feminine, so people naturally assumed he was straight. They assumed wrong, though because Levi—and these were his direct words, not mine—"liked dick too much to ever be straight."

"Oh, I see," the bouncer said, smiling now. "You guys can come right on in." He lifted the velvet rope.

"Shall we, bitches?" Martia asked.

"Yes, bitch, we shall," Levi responded, pulling Kayleen and me forward again.

I've never been much of a clubber. Even in my college years and my early twenties, clubbing was just not the thing for me. Being inside of the club even further solidified my feelings about that. Everywhere I turned, there were thriving bodies; people grinding on people they knew and people they were planning to take home for one night and never see again. I wanted so badly not to judge those people but, after what had happened, I couldn't help but look at them all with cynical eyes. How many people here had a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a fiancé? How many of them were doing to their significant other what Simon had done to me?

I suddenly wasn't feeling as brave as I'd felt when I took Levi's hand a few minutes ago.

Like he sensed my thoughts, Levi looked straight at me and said, "Fun, Yvonne. Fun, hot guys, flirting. It's just what the doctor ordered."

"There are no doctors around here," I grumbled childishly, looking away from his gaze.

"Haven't you heard? I'm the love doctor."

Martia cracked up and Kayleen turned toward the dance floor, her shoulders moving up and down with silent laughter.

"Don't ever say some shit like that again," Martia told him in between laughs. "That was the lamest thing I've ever heard in my fucking life."

Levi flipped her off, his smile never wavering before he turned back to me. "It's good to forget yourself for a little bit. Especially after a breakup. You'll feel a little better after tonight. Right, guys?" He looked at our friends for support.

Martia and Kayleen—forcing down their laughter that had yet to die down—gave a nod. If I was being one hundred percent honest, I didn't understand how being in a club was supposed to help me. I wanted to be back on my couch, in the safe little bubble I'd created for myself, watching men too perfect to be real fall in love with heroines too perfect to be real. I wanted to be eating more of Kayleen's cookies and then have Martia drag me to the gym on the weekends to work it off.

I wasn't sure that this club thing was really going to make any of the sadness go away. But as I truly surveyed the situation, I realized they were all trying to help me in the only way they knew how. They were probably worried sick about me, watching me lay on my couch day in and day out, only leaving my house when it was necessary. Even Mom was worried. She stopped by far more often than she used to when Simon and I were together, my brother close behind her, taking time from his job—which consisted of helping develop many major video games—to check in on me with her. Even Dad, a stoic man who showed little emotion, stopped by far more than was normal.

Everyone was worried about me.

So—even if it was only for one night—I figured I should help ease their worries just a little.

Sighing a little, I nodded my head, trying to mentally prepare myself for the night ahead.