“Yeah, sorry,” I said meekly still shaken up from my encounter with Daimon.
The night went relatively smooth even after the small incident I chose to ignore. Tonight was busy and there was no way I was going to leave early. I was kind of happy about it. I hadn’t had the opportunity to close lately and tonight I did. The bar was eerily quiet as the last customers left. My body ached and my ears throbbed from the music, which had played loudly all night.
“I'm fucking beat,” said Elissa as she stretched her body.
I half-sat on the bar stool and leaned into the bar. “Me too,” I breathed.
The rest of the girls had already started to leave and so did some of the bartenders. I, however, dragged my feet. I was contemplating whether I should go to work right after. It would take me about an hour to get home, I didn’t have my car and so there really was no point since I had to open up in about an hour and a half.
“Come on, girl. I’ll wait for you outside. We’ll go out for a drink,” Elissa smiled. “I'm too wired, plus it’s not like you’re going to go home. Knowing you, you’d go to work or something.” She shook her head at me.
“Okay. I’ll just get changed first.”
I walked into the locker room and changed. I rushed out to an empty bar. I guess Elissa was waiting for me outside.
“So I see you run when it’s your friends, but don’t when it’s me.” I heard from behind me. “I wonder about you, Addie. You love money, yet you do nothing I have asked you to do. Yes, everyone now knows you are mine, but you have yet to prove it to me.” I turned to face an angry Daimon.
“I do everything you’ve asked,” I hissed.
“When?” he challenged as he inched closer. “I thought you had at least some integrity, but seeing you fawning over the guy at the bar. You liked it. You liked the way he looked at you. Had I known you were that easy I could have easily played you and got more out of you,” he jeered.
I wanted to smack him, to hurt him, but I didn’t. I stood in the middle of the empty bar and took all the words he gave me. He grew angrier with my silence. He grasped at my arm and pulled me to the bar, nearly throwing me on it.
“So you like it when a man pays attention to you?” he seethed. I said nothing as past feelings began rising up again. Fear began to take hold of me.
“Fine then let me,” he snarled as he grabbed me and tried to kiss me. I fought back hard as we struggled. I felt a panic attack coming on and I began to shake uncontrollably.
“Addie? Addie?” he said trying to calm me down. “It’s okay. I…fuck, I'm sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this far. I expected you to fight back, but you…Addie what the fuck happened to you?” Daimon asked his face full of concern as he slowly reached out to me. I pulled back trying to breathe. “It’s okay,” he said slowly. “Fuck, I'm so fucking sorry,” Daimon said ruefully. “God, you drive me crazy. Why the fuck do I do the stupidest shit when you’re around?” he said grimly, dragging his fingers through his hair. “Addie, I would never hurt you,” he said softly. I began to calm down, but my heart was beating like it had that night all those years ago.
“Hey, Addie, I’ve been waiting like forever for you?” Elissa came in and saw both of us. “Oh sorry, didn’t know I was interrupting something. Listen, Addie, let’s take a rain check then,” she said as she tried to leave.
“No, it’s fine. I think I need to give my Addie some space. Make sure she gets home safe,” Daimon said to her as he passed by and left.
“Doesn’t your boyfriend know you’re going to work after?” she asked, confused.
“I try not to worry him,” I said under my breath.
THE GALA
“Sofia!” I cried out as soon as I heard her leave the washroom.
“Yeah?” she shouted back.
“Come down, I have to talk to you.” I waited at the table. She came down, went straight for the fridge and took out a bottle of water.
“What’s up, sis?” she smiled.
“I got the job,” I said quietly. “Daddy doesn’t know yet. So you can’t tell him.” It was easy lying to her especially when I knew I was doing this for her future.
“Okay, so what does that mean?” she said softly.
“It means you need to get ready for Yale in the fall,” I smiled.
“Addie…” she began to sob. “I just…I just feel like I’m abandoning you and Dad. It doesn’t feel right,” Sofia admitted.
“Sofia, I know it’s hard, but you need to do this. You only have one life to live and I'm not going to watch you flush it down the toilet,” I said earnestly.