“Bingo,” I murmured.
I pulled out the tight black dress and held it up to myself. I snatched up my makeup bag and dug around for my black heels, knowing I’d make that man regret his moves tonight. I stood at the mirror, wiggling into my clothes and spreading mascara over my eyelashes. And after fluffing my hair out, I hiked my boobs up as far as they would go.
Before slipping into my power heels.
“You got this, girl,” I whispered.
After slipping my room key into one bra cup and the cash as well as my I.D. into the other, I started out of the room. I settled into a comfortable sashay as I walked across the front parking lot and strutted my shit across the road. Bar One was the name of the place. Lit up in neon red with a snake as its emblem, that serpent seemed to be the theme of this little town. And I felt like a serpent tonight. A tempting viper ready to sink my fangs into my next kill.
Bowser.
With the soft wind blowing my hair back and a grin on my face, I reached for the bar door. I threw it open and walked straight in, but it didn’t take me long before I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes danced around the dance floor. The bar. Even the bartenders serving the drinks.
Every single one of them was a woman.
Except for the guys I rode in with.
“What the fuck?” I murmured.
I felt some of my confidence drain from my system as I pressed myself against the wall. There were a few scattered men in this place. But the majority of it was women. Was it women’s night or some shit like that? Was that why the guys wanted to come over here?
Is that why Bowser wanted to come over here?
I panicked. Women walked past me with crooked eyebrows and grimaces on their faces. Some of them were dressed to the nines in makeup and heels like myself, but some of them looked gruff. Tough. With leather jackets, worn jeans with holes in them, and hair they didn’t give two shits about. Off in the corner was a skinny girl with massively fake tits, who donned tattoos from head to toe.
Didn’t shock me one bit that Sly was already chatting her up.
“Come on. Where are you?” I whispered.
My eyes scanned the floor for Bowser, wondering if he was grinding on someone for the night. I watched the bar, wondering if maybe he had already asked a woman to have a drink with him. But the more I scaled the bar with my eyes, the less of him I saw.
Maybe he didn’t come here.
Then, I found him.
Off in the corner, sitting in a rounded booth, was Bowser. And beside him was a woman decked out in makeup with a leather jacket on and massive tits. I mean, tits bigger than I could have ever imagined for my own life. They were hiked up beneath her chin, giving her an expansive cleavage that was even hard for my eyes to look away from. And as the blood drained from my face, my back fell against the wall.
“Hey, you okay?” someone asked.
“Can I get some water over here!?”
I shook my head and tried to say no, but my lips wouldn’t move. Then, the most terrible thing alive happened.
Bowser saw me.
“Hope?” he asked.
His voice startled me from my shocked trance.
“Hope, what the hell?” he asked.
He stood up from the booth as the big-tittied woman locked eyes with me. Damn it, she had gorgeous eyes. Icy blue, with tanned skin and a pouty lower lip that I knew would attract any man her way.
You’re so stupid, Hope. Go home.
“She needs some water!” someone yelled.
“Hope!” Bowser roared.
And when he yelled, my legs took off running.
“Hope! No!”
I didn’t stop moving. I didn’t stop running. I stumbled over people trying to get out of that bar before I tore across the parking lot. My heels clicked bombastically against the road as horns honked at me. I leaned forward, making myself run faster as Bowser’s voice faded into the background.
“Hope! Stop!”
I heaved air into my lungs. I ripped the room key out of my bra. My trembling hand managed to get the key into the door before I slipped inside and locked it behind me. I felt sick to my stomach. I pulled the money and my I.D. out of my bra and tossed it onto the dresser. Then, I made my way over to the sink.
And heaved into it.
“So… stupid,” I said through the tears.
Stop crying. He isn’t worth your energy.
“So… dumb,” I choked out.
You’re stronger than this. Stop being a little bitch.
I rinsed my mouth out. “So… tired.”
Then, the doorknob jiggled before a loud bang resounded against the door.
“Hope! Let me in!”
I furrowed my brow. “What?”