We whisper amongst ourselves as they let me know they are all dressed and waiting for Max. The emotions on their faces range from excited to terrified.
When I finish with them, I head backstage. Pulling the curtain back just a little, only enough to see into the club, I look around the room and see that all the girls are in position.God, if you're listening, I know that what I'm about to do is gonna land me in like... hell or whatever, but please, PLEASE, let this work.
I’m A Slave For Youby Britney Spears starts to play, and I laugh thinking of the song title. Well, that's my cue to get this show on the road.
Entering the stage, I see Triver’s gaze snap to my body with a sleazy and possessive expression on his face. I move my body to the beat, putting on the best show of my life. Seductively, I sway my body, dipping and turning, making sure to rub my hands all over myself. Halfway through the song, they're all eating out of the palm of my hand, panting over me like horny dogs.
Triver sits back in his chair, getting comfortable, while also adjusting his hard-on. I keep the sultry look on my face, giving him the illusion that I'm genuinely into this and loving every moment of this display of erotic dancing, but in reality, I’m holding myself back from just going over there and kicking the fucker in the face.
As the song is nearing the end, it's time to make my move. Crawling over the stage towards Triver in a sensuous way, I glance over to the girls, giving them the signal to be ready. Once I get to the edge of the stage, where Triver is sitting, I climb down and into his lap. His hands grip my hips, forcing me to grind into his cock, and I do it. I move my body against his and my hands glide down his legs. When I feel the handle of his gun, I wrap my hand around it, getting a good grip. Just as I'm about to pull it out, I hear gunshots go off.
My gaze snaps up, looking at the girls around me. They all stand there with raised guns in their hands, eyes wide as they stare at the men on the ground. Every single man here who had a girl on their lap is now dead. But this wasn't the plan, I mean it was, but they were seconds too soon.
The club immediately breaks out into screams, and more gunshots ring throughout the club.
“RUN!” I shout at the frozen women as Triver pushes me off his lap. They all snap their eyes over to me, then register what the fuck is going on, before taking off towards the exit.
“You little bitch, what have you done?!” Triver roars. He reaches into his gun holster to draw his gun, only his hand is met with nothing. Confused, he looks down, then back to me, understanding mixes with rage on his face. In my hand is his gun. I managed to get a good grip before he pushed me off.
His eyes go wide for a moment, and before he can say a word, I take off, immediately getting lost in the crowd.
Frantically, I look around to see if all the girls made it out. When I only see men, I'm confident that everyone made it, that is until I look down and see at least five out of the twenty girls lying on the ground, dead, while the men trample over their bodies, desperately trying to find a way out and not caring who they hurt on their way.
Bile rises up and gets caught in my throat. It’s my fault they're dead.
“HARLOW!” I manage to hear my name being called through all the deafening noise that fills the air. Looking around, I expect to see Triver, but he's nowhere in sight. Turning around, I see Evie waving her hands at the back hall exit with Lucas standing right behind her.
There are two doors that lead to the one exit at the elevator. Both require a long walk down a never-ending hallway. One of them, the one everyone seems to be climbing over one another trying to get out of, we have made sure to block and lock. The other is in the direction where Evie and Lucas are.
As I start to make my way through the crowd, Roxy grabs my arm. “Come on, we gotta get out of here. I just lit a few Molotov Cocktails, so we have less than a minute before this whole place goes up in flames,” she yells in my ear.
When we reach Evie, we rush to the only open door, bursting into the hallway. Kicking off our heels, we start sprinting towards the elevator.
“Where are the girls?” I demand as we run, already out of breath from the dance before, but also feeling the high of the adrenaline.
“They made it,” Evie huffs, laughing like she can't believe her words. “They are above ground a few blocks over, waiting for us with Max and Tommy.”
“And why aren't you two with them?” I ask, looking at Lucas, who has the decency to look at least a little guilty for not sticking with the plan.
“There's no way I would leave this place without you, Low. There's no point in being on the other side if you're not there with me. Ride or die, Babe, ride or fucking die.”
We make it to the elevator, and Lucas presses the button frantically to open it. Evie’s words finally register, and I’m tossed back to the image of the girls’ dead bodies on the ground.
The elevator doors open, and we all pile in. Lucas repeats the same motion on the opposite button to get the doors to close.
Looking over at her with sorrowful eyes, I say, “Not everyone.”
Her eyebrows pinch. “What do you mean?”
“I'm guessing with all the craziness of tonight, you haven't had a chance to do a headcount, but at least five of the girls were shot and killed. I couldn't see their faces, there was too much commotion going on.”
Evie’s eyes start to tear up. “No!’ she whispers.
Just as I'm about to say something, I hear the dreaded nickname Triver has for me.
“HUMMINGBIRD!!!” he bellows.
My eyes snap to the elevator doors, and I see him running down the hallway towards us. There is only a small opening between the almost closed doors. I make a quick decision to use the last few seconds I have left and pull up the gun I slipped off him, and fire off multiple shots. A few make contact, sending him sprawling on the ground. The last thing I hear, before the doors close completely, is his agonized scream.