She ignores me, grabbing my arm and tugging me to the bar area where men are crowded around waiting for their drinks. She grabs a few shot glasses and turns them right side up.

“It’s been so busy here,” she explains, getting a bottle of tequila from the shelf behind the bar. “I’m so glad you showed up.” She starts filling the glasses with the golden liquid. “I really needed help tonight.”

Shaking my head, I start to back away, ignoring a few perverted remarks from some of the men sitting in the barstools—nice ass, let me see those tits—I’ve heard it all. “I said I didn’t come here to work. I just need to check in the back room for something.”

I notice her hands are shaking as she pours the drinks and she ends up spilling as much tequila on the counter as she gets into the glasses. “Good, then you can take one of the many guys, who’ve been requesting to go back there, with you,” she says, taking some money from a tall man with a beard for the shots. “I can’t keep up with all the madness.”

I pause, arching my brow. “And why is that my problem?” I ask as she strides to the back wall to put the tequila back on the shelf with the rest of the hard alcohol.

She shakes her head, looking frazzled as she wipes her hands on the sides of her skin tight jeans and releases an unsteady breath. “Maddie, I’m so sorry for being such a bitch the other day… Please just help me out with this and I’ll owe you a huge, epic favor.”

I can’t even remember her name, so why the hell would I want to help her out. Besides, I only came here for Bella.

She points her finger at a guy sitting at the end of the bar. He’s younger than a lot of people who come here, with blond hair that has a slight wave to it. He looks pretty innocent in his polo shirt but when he sees me looking at him, his smile is nothing but innocent. “He’s been requesting you all night.”

I rack my brain for an idea of where I’ve seen him, but I’m drawing a blank. “I have to go,” I say to her and her expression instantly sinks.

“Bitch,” she says.

“Yep,” I reply, turning around and grabbing one of the drinks off the countertop. I throw it back, the alcohol burning my throat as I set the glass back down. As I’m wiping my lips with my hand, my gaze travels up to the window above where I notice someone standing in front of it, staring down in my direction. I snag the waitress’s arm as she’s breezing by me. “I thought River wasn’t here.” I discretely nod my head in the direction of the window.

She looks up and her brows furrow. “No, he is. Why would you think he wasn’t?” She looks at me momentarily, slipping her arm from my death grip.

Why would Bella tell me he wasn’t here? I walk away and breeze by the guy who wanted a private dance, hurrying out from behind the bar and to the dance floor.

“Hey baby,” he says as I rush by him.

Disregarding him, I make my way through the crowd, each step getting heavier and heavier. The lights are flashing and my head’s swimming by the time I reach the door to the private area. No one else is in there and I fumble around to turn the lights on, my fingers really struggling to work, which is very unlike me. Finally I get it and step inside and frown when I realize Bella’s not there. I’m about to back out when I feel someone come up behind me and put their hands on my hips.

“Don’t touch me,” I warn, slipping out of their touch and turning around to see Mr. Polo Shirt standing behind me. I ungracefully stumble over my feet and almost fall to the floor, but catch myself on one of the chairs. “What the hell do you want?” I say as I stand upright, trying to compose myself. Bella, where the hell are you?

I’m getting a little woozy. The world is dancing, neon colors, lots of light. I see flashes of images. A woman tied to the bed at Bella’s apartment. A blond haired girl hovering over her with a knife, ready to cut. The girl screams and the walls are painted red with her blood.

The guy has got a shit eating grin on his face as he moves for me again, reaching to grab me. “I want you.”

I try to walk around him, taking crooked steps and my struggle seems to be making him happy as he blocks my path. He puts his fucking hands back on my hips again and I try to shove him off, but my movements are lethargic, slow motion. Everything is slow motion. He gets rough, his nails digging into my skin as he sits down in the chair and forces me to straddle his lap. “Quit fighting it and be the fucking whore that you are.”

You’re a whore!

You’re a whore!

You’re a whore!

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” I see red. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can feel myself falling into the darkness, not sure I want to come back out.

Lily

She releases control easily this time, but that might be because she’s been drugged. I’m not sure who did it to her, but I recognize the over-drunk state I’ve been thrown into with just one shot. I’d think it might have been the waitress since she poured the shot, but I can’t be certain since the glass sat on the counter for a few moments. Really, anyone could have done it. Besides, I’m starting to think the random call from Bella wasn’t random, but a set up. And I don’t think this is the first time it’s happened.

I’m a hell of a lot tougher than Maddie, though, and this fucker is about to pay for his assault on me. I slowly lift my slumped head up and meet his dark eyes that I’m sure match mine. He’s got his hand up my shirt, cupping one of my breasts, his other hand down my pants and inside me as he watches in lust as he violates a woman he clearly knows is out of it.

Maddie would flip if she found herself in this condition and maybe that’s why she turned everything over to me without a battle. She did it a lot back when she first started creating me, at least from what I read in the files she seemed to embrace me more back then, probably a defense mechanism from all the shit she’d been through. The pain. The things she said. The guilt she felt for the things she’d done. The choices she made. The pain she caused. But it wasn’t just her fault. There’s so much more to it than she can even begin to understand.

I get ready to clean up this mess the only way I know how and even though Maddie will never admit it, she’ll be grateful for it. “Do you fucking like that?” I say to the pervert, having to work real hard to make my voice even, the anger subdued.

“God yes,” he moans, shoving his fingers inside me.

“Good, I’m glad you like it,” I say numbly, leaning forward and putting my lips up to his ear. “It’s going to make this a hell of a lot easier.”

He chuckles against my neck. “Oh yeah, what are you going to do to me?”

I lean back and let a slow grin expand across my face. It throws him off a little, but then he smiles back. “Suck my dick,” he commands.

I shake my head. “Oh I’m going to do a hell of a lot more to your dick than suck it,” I tell him, then shift my knee, slamming it into his balls and bulging cock without any warning. His face twists in pain and now I’m the one getting sick pleasure off vulnerability. I knee him again and again until he finally gets enough energy to slap me across the face. It stings and my ears ring, but I’m an expert at being hit. I jump off his lap, almost losing my balance but manage to keep my feet under me as I pick up an empty beer glass on the floor near one of the chairs. By the time I stand up straight, he’s running at me, growling.

“This wasn’t part of the deal, God dammit,” he shouts, his head down, veins bulging. “Fuck them for lying to me!”

I freeze. “What deal?”

“Fuck you,” he says, ignoring my question. “You’re going to pay for this.”

When he gets close enough, I take swing at him and bash the glass against his head. A fire explodes inside me. I want to hurt him like he hurt me. Make him pay. The glass doesn’t break, but it makes a weird noise against his head. He collapses to the floor and I hit him over and over again, not sure when I’ll stop, the fire burning brighter and brighter with every swing.