Page 5 of Shadow

“What the fuck ever.” I know the little prick is stalling for whatever reason, but if nothing else, I’m a man of my word. I gave him until tonight, so I’ll give him a chance.

“Listen, we can meet at this new spot. I’ll have the rest of the money then.”

“You won’t have a choice. This will be the last debt you owe the Sinners. You feel me?”

“Ye— yeah, man. I got it.” Everett’s eyes shift from side to side as he nervously looks around.

The motherfucker better be nervous because if he’s lying, his body will never be found.

Three

EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER

TEAGAN

“Trey has been acting weird for the last two weeks. He’s been moody and snappy with an almost cruel sneer every time I ask him anything. We’ve barely spent any time together, so when he called to say he still wanted me to be his date tonight, I was excited. Although I could tell by his tone of voice that he wasn’t his normal self because he still sounded exhausted.

I thought he might have taken some time off since I had hardly seen him in the office, but he assured me everything was fine and he’d just been out dealing with customers.

I tried to put Trey’s unusual behavior and snippy attitude behind me so I could enjoy myself tonight. I know something is wrong, but I do my best not to worry about him. My granny always says, “don’t borrow trouble,” so I try to focus on being happy about landing my first gig as a professional dancer.

With Trey being MIA and his stress, I didn’t get a chance to tell him about the audition, and it’s already been two weeks.I’ll tell him when we get to the club.

I take my time getting ready. I pull on the tightest dress I own. The girls here take no prisoners when clubbing; if I’m meeting some of Trey’s friends, I want to dress to impress.

I swipe my lips with red lipstick to finish off my make-up. Then I turn in the full-length mirror to inspect myself. The metallic gold dress hugs my frame to perfection. I have an athletic build, and although my boobs are on the itty-bitty side, my ass and hips make up for that.

I know Trey is here when I hear keys jiggling in the door. I smile at myself once more before I slide my hands down my dress and straighten it.

I grab my matching clutch and stick my red gloss inside for touch-ups. My gold strappy heels click against the floor as I hurry to the living room, where I know Trey is waiting. He hates to be kept waiting, and I don’t want to get on his bad side by being late.

“What took you so long? I told you to be ready at ten. You haven’t done anything all day. The least you could do is be on time,” Trey sneers at me.

I take a deep breath because he’s under a lot of stress, and I’ve learned in the past few weeks that when he’s stressed, he lashes out. I should’ve been already waiting. My mother never keeps my father waiting, and even though we’re on the outs with my parents right now, I can’t help but revert back to how I was raised in situations like this.

My parents have been married for over thirty years, so my mother must know something. So I don’t argue with Trey when he’s like this. Instead, I do my best to diffuse the situation by being agreeable.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Let’s go so we can have a good time.” I smile even though I’m as irritated as Trey seems to be.

Trey smiles at me now that he’s gotten his way. He kisses my cheek sweetly, and I push his behavior to the back of my mind so we can have a good time tonight.

Trey isn’t acting like he wants to parade me around or introduce me to anyone like he claimed. As a matter of fact, he’s been in a sour mood all night. Again, I haven’t figured out what’s going on with my boyfriend, but I push it down and try to relax.

As soon as we got to the club, Trey led me to the VIP section and left me sitting alone. I’ve been sipping on a glass of champagne while he ignores me to socialize with men I have never seen before.I wonder if those are the friends I’m supposed to meet?

Times like this, I wish I wasn’t such a loner. I don’t have any real female friends, and the girls at work who are my age give me dirty looks since I started dating Trey. And the female dancers at my practice studio are mostly too busy competing to be friendly. The only two friendly people at the studio are Cameron and his boyfriend, Leon. I wish I knew them better. I would invite them to come hang out because I’m sure they would love to come to a fancy club like this.

I try to put on my happy girlfriend face, but when I see Trey chatting up a woman wearing the tiniest dress that I have ever seen, I can’t help but frown. The dress isn’t just small. When the lights hit it, it’s also see-through. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the way their heads are bent close together makes it look like an intimate conversation.

I gulp the last of the sparkling liquid, and I make a decision.I don’t need this!I’m sitting here watching my boyfriend openly flirt with another woman for what? I can do bad by my damn self.

I get out of my seat to leave, but Trey turns around and makes eye contact with me. The look on his face says he forgot all about me being here, and it hurts my feelings that much more.

Trey hurries over to me, leaving the woman with a confused look on her overly made-up face.

“Baby, are you okay? Do you need another drink?” Trey questions sweetly as he grabs the glass out of my hand and sits it on a nearby table.

“Who is that?” I nod at the woman who is openly staring at us with a frown on her face.