I Lost Control

22. Old Friends

SUMMER

As I push through the double doors that lead into the club, my stomach does a somersault when I think of all the memories here. Good and bad. The smoke envelopes me like an old friend and I close my eyes and inhale. This place is safe. There aren't any surprises here. I take a quick look at my surroundings and realize nothings changed in the past three years. The decor is the same, the walls, the floor, all of it.

"You've got to be shitting me." I hear someone call out and I turn my head to see a bright red headed female covered head to toe in tattoos walking towards me.

"Dallas." I breath out as I open my arms for a hug. She sets down her empty tray and squeezes me like her life depends on it.

"Where the hell have you been? Melissa, check out who just walked in!" My eyes flicker past Dallas to the girl behind the bar who I use to consider my closest friend. I'd abandoned these girls and it makes me sad now. Maybe I would have someone to talk to other than men if I hadn't let them run my life. Maybe I'd be able to think straight with a friend other than Brian to confide in.

"Come sit at the bar. There's barely anyone in here this afternoon. Three shots of Jack, Mel!" Dallas drags me over to a barstool and I sit down. Having someone else take the reigns feels nice for a change.

"I can't believe you're both here. How lucky."

"We pretty much live here these days." Melissa tells me as she pours the shots and sets them down in front of us. "What are we drinking to?" She asks as she raises her glass high.

"To old friends." Dallas says with a grin as she clinks her glass against mine and Melissa's and we all shoot back the vile liquid. It burns all the way down and I close my eyes to relish the feel.

"What have you guys been up to all this time?" I ask as I look around the club. There's a blonde on stage who I don't recognize and I can't help but notice from far away she resembles me from behind. There's only a few men sitting around the stage here and there and a couple sitting at one of the booths speaking intimately from across the table.

"Running this place. Melissa and I are pretty much it from the old crew. Robby got married and passed on head of security to his little brother, Marco. Roman spends more time on vacation than he does managing this place, but we both got a raise or two and we're doing pretty good."

"I'm glad to hear that. Wow, it really has been a while. Robby got married? To who?"

"Cute little redhead. Lauren, I think was her name. He met her here, actually."

"That's so crazy."

"What about you?" Melissa asks as she pours another round. "What brings you to this neck of the woods? I thought that sugar daddy of yours was keeping you well kept on the ritzy side of town." I roll my eyes at her and she laughs. Melissa decided to start calling Matt my sugar daddy back when I still worked here after she saw the size of tips he would hand out.

"We aren't doing so hot, but that's not why I came here." I try to push the hazel eyed complication to the back of my mind.

"I'm going to make a lap, I'll catch you guys in a few." Dallas says as she heads off in the direction of the stage.

"What's the matter?" Melissa asks as she studies me. She raises her glass and clinks it to mine as we both down another shot of the liquid. I shiver at the feel. It's been so long since I've drank anything other than wine or beer. This feels good.

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about him. I want to talk about you guys and how much I've missed you all." She doesn't fight me. She starts talking and I relax in my seat to listen about bad boss's, train wreck bartenders, and ex boyfriends who don't deserve to be called by name.

++

I hit the silence button on my phone for what feels like the hundredth time since entering the club. It started out as just Brian calling, but after an hour Matt started calling as well which means Brian told him I didn't come back to his house.

"Sugar daddy looking for ya?" Melissa asks as she serves up a tray of drinks for Dallas to take to some of the customers who had wandered in over the course of the afternoon.

"Unfortunately."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" She arches an eyebrow at me.

"I'm sure. Thanks for hanging out with me. I should probably get home so they will stop worrying. I do have a kid to think of, after all." I grab my purse and phone and head towards the door.

"Don't stay away that long again, B. You may not work here anymore but you're still family." The look on her face tells me she truly means the words.

"I won't." Dallas sees me getting ready to leave and comes over to wrap her arm around me.

"I'll have to come hunt you down and drag you back here kicking and screaming." She tells me. I let out a laugh and wave goodbye to my old friends as I head out to the parking lot.

I stop dead in my tracks when I see Matt's Jeep parked beside my Range Rover. He's sitting in the drivers seat, the top off as well as the doors so I have a clear view of him. His sunglasses are covering his eyes but there's a scowl on his face, I can tell. A cigarette is held roughly in his left hand and he's staring hard at me through the aviators.