Royal Peacock
1725 Words
Laura's Pov
Cassandra Gilmore was the only friend who stuck by me even after I pushed everyone away after I became orphaned.
She once threatened for when I did try to push her away, and that's how we ended up being thick as thieves. A sister from another mother.
“Cass, what's up?” I greeted cheerfully despite my ruined mood.
“Lulu, can you come pick me up? Please..” I heard her voice quivering on the other side of the phone.
She held her breath and exhaled after a few seconds. “I need a ride to RP.”
I knew Cassie danced at the Royal Peacock Club from time to time.
I wanted to ask why her boyfriend didn't take her, but I decided to keep it for later.
“Are you alright?”
As I waited for her reply, I merged onto the major highway that led into the city.
“I just need to get to the club first.”
I could sense an urgency in her voice and that she was hiding something from me. But I didn't ask on the phone. We were meeting anyway.
“Alright. I'm on my way.”
I shelved my phone above the slot where my radio was.
I didn't mind giving Cassie a ride to RP. It wasn't the first time and I was not really thrilled by it. But, anything that could help me escape the thought of Corey at the moment, was good for me.
In the next thirty minutes, I arrived at Sunview Apartments, Atlanta Curve where Cassie lives with her boyfriend.
She took a little longer to get out. Cassie appeared disheveled when she emerged. Dressed in regular clothes while suspiciously glancing around like she knew she was being watched.
It triggered me to do the same subconsciously.
When Cassie finally got in, she gave me a fake smile. “Hey.” She sounded dry.
She looked like she had been crying.
“What the—”
She raised a hand to gently touch my lips, urging me to remain silent. “Can you please not ask questions? At least not now… I just want to get to the club as soon as I can. I promise I will tell you everything tomorrow.”
I narrowed my eyes for a second. Then pretended that her words didn't sting like hell. “Fine.”
The drive to RP was a short, silent one.
The street was buzzing with hundreds of young people going back and forth along the major road when we arrived.
It was clear we weren't the only high-schoolers who wanted to celebrate their newly found freedom.
We rolled into the RP car park at the same time as a Black-Matte Maserati Quattroporte
I couldn’t fully see the tall, majestic man that came out of the car because bodyguards flagged his sides but I noticed he had long silver hair that fell down his sharp facial features.
His energy was dangerous and magnetic. He was giving the ultimate, ghost, mafia mob.
Among a lot of rich, influential people I could see here, he attracted me the most.
“Lulu, we have to go now.” Cassie snapped my attention back to the present.
I coughed anxiously and unlocked the door.
I had social anxiety and hated crowds but I would do anything for Cassie.
After my father was murdered in cold blood at my fifteenth birthday party, I couldn't bring myself to host or attend any social gatherings. I dread a large crowd like a plague. Anyone who be a psychopathic killers perfectly blended into the crowd.
As we approached the massive, modern building, my eyes darted around, managing some paces behind Cassie before slipping through the back door.
Dancers of Royal Peacock shared a large suite amongst the club’s hotel suites, and that was where Cassie and I walked into with the help of Cassie’s purple entry card.
The room was empty but there was scenting evidence, a blend of makeup and floral perfumes hanging in the air. A long open closet of rich lingeries caught my eyes before Cassie’s voice ripped my attention away.
“Lulu, please just have to wait here until I’m back. Don’t open the door for anyone—”
“All the dancers have their cards, so they don’t need me to open the door,” I finished her usual caution whenever I visited her here at work.
“I know the drill. I’ll stay here and read. Don’t worry about me, just go and do your thing.”
Her eyes lingered, the same look she had in the car, like she was holding something back from me. Cassie shrugged and began undressing.
Within a few minutes, she transformed herself into a dolled up classic pole vixen, looking older than she did some minutes ago. Mimosas arrived at the door for us, courtesy of Cassie.
“Drink it and relax,” she winked at me with more relaxed shoulders.
Cass let herself out of the dressing room, while I got to reading a novel I had sitting in my car for a while.
Few minutes into the pages, my mind casually wandered back to the man in the parking lot.
What did he do as a job to afford such a luxurious ride?
I wasn't stupid. I was old enough to know money like that never came with clean hands, yet I did not mind the dirty imaginations he triggered in my head.
He is hot—
Cassie burst back into the room, slamming the door behind her. I jolted on my feet with a racing heart that almost hurt.
“Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack??”
“Sorry…” She looked visibly shaken with saucer eyes darting around us like someone had chased her in here.
“Did someone follow you?” I demanded.
Cassie shook her head.
“No. But Derrick is on the lookout for me and I can't let him find me. Not yet.”
I was going to ask why she was playing a game of hide and seek with her boyfriend when Cassie pulled out stacks of money almost the length of my forearm.
“I just cashed this in.”
My jaw dropped. Took some seconds to recover my speech.
“You have to do better than that, Cassie. How the hell did you get this much money?” I exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder
Cassie peeled my hands off and held them in her hand.
“I'm sorry, Lulu. But you are going to have to do me a favor of a lifetime. I was auctioned for a private dance today. Derrick got his hand on the auction video somehow and now he's going ballistic searching for me.”
Her weary eyes searched mine, pleading, but I was barely catching up to her request or what was actually going on.
She continued.
“I have to do the dance for this top client or I'm toast and my mother wouldn't get her treatment!”
Her eyes are beet red. A vein throbbing at the side of her head. I have never seen her look this disheveled.
The pieces slowly drifted into place in my head.
“You want me to take your place?...”
The idea delivered a vile taste at the back of my tongue.
“You are the only one who can do this for me, Lulu,” Cassie pointed behind her. “The other girls, they don't give a f**k. They would rip me of everything I am worth. I fought for this spot. I need this for my mother's hospital bill. Please…”
Cass hugged my hands together, pleading with bleeding eyes cloaked with pain and fear.
"I have seen you dance, Lulu...I know you can. Just this once, please..."
“Fine.” The word slipped with a hint of regret already soiling my tongue.
Hope torched the void in her eyes.
“Thank you…” She cried, clasping my hands in hers and touching forehead. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
“It's fine. Just stop. Stop the tears." I pulled away.
“What do we do about Derrick?”
She wiped her face, inhaling shakily with her might. “I can handle Derrick.” She nodded with so much self belief.
“I just need you to do this one bit for me.”
Cassie handed over to me her name tag and the room number on a unique keycard fashioned like wood, but it was really plastic.
She picked out a black lingerie outfit, along with a black furry robe. I dabbled a little perfume underneath my arm and let her guide me through a secret door from the dancers’ suite to an elevator sealed in the wall.
We went upward. It revealed a floor I had no idea was connected to the club beneath. A deep maroon carpeted floor and deep purple walls. Thankfully, the overhead amber lights were soft on my tired eyes.
“This is as far as I can go with you. Lulu. Your key card is your way in. Don't ask questions. Talk when spoken to, and never look in their eyes. These are not your regular men in power. They are something else..."
Her tone sent chills down my spine. Why did she decide to tell me this now I was already in the creepy hallway?
Cassie handed my phone back to me. I had no idea she had taken it in the first place.
“I set my contact as an emergency. Call me if you feel something is off. I will come get you.”
She left me in the eerie purple hall with deep maroon rugs.
I stopped at the room door matching the number I had in hand and tested the key card, only to have the door click open instantly. I almost shut it back as it triggered my fight or flight response.
A deep voice stopped me, beckoning from within.
“Come in.”
I forced my frozen feet to move. I closed the door behind me with shaky hands.
Nothing prepared me to meet the gorgeous silver haired man from the car park. He reminded me of more handsome, older version of Corey.
“You are late.”
- Writer
