A Ghost Encounter: My Time with Simon "Ghost" Riley

Part Thirty-Four: Trigger

Hassan sits down on one of the couches and I close the curtains behind us, secluding us.

He sits there, waiting for me to make a move, but I don't know what move to make.

I take a deep breath internally so as to not give my nervousness away to him.

I'm already standing there topless—damn near naked—so I can't do much more stripping.

But what I can do is put on a show.

I slowly and seductively make my over to where Hassan is sitting, get on his lap, and straddle him.

"Ah, you move fast." Hassan brushes my hair behind my shoulder seductively.

"What can I say? I'm excited to meet you," I say suggestively.

He places his hands around my waist and pulls me in closer.

My heart stops.

Too fast...

Shivers run up my spine, my head spinning, and an overwhelming sense of anxiety is rushing over me.

I try my best not to show this in my face.

Hassan grips the back of my head, pulls me in even closer, and starts kissing my neck.

And that did it. I was triggered before I even had a chance to think. Flashbacks of my stepfather start to rot my brain.

His touch. His smell. His aggression.

I start to dissociate, having an out-of-body experience.

In terms of flight or fight, I'm in freeze mode.

This isn't good. I can't move. Hassan will catch onto this eventually.

That's it. I've ruined this mission.

"EEEEK!"

Screams fill the air and it makes Hassan jolt. He pulls away from me, bringing me back to reality.

Before we know it Ahmad rushes into our private room, yelling that there's been an accident in the club, and Hassan needs to attend to it.

Saved by the bell.

"Sorry, my beauty. Matters need attending to." Hassan sighs and removes me from his lap.

Now that I'm alone—and still in shock—I pull my knees into my chest, hugging my legs, and hide my face.

It feels hard to breathe.

After a few moments, someone rushes into the room.

"Breanna." Ghost rushes up to me and lifts my head to see my tear and makeup-stained face.

So many emotions are swirling in those dark eyes: anger, concern, fear, empathy.

Ghost's eyes are my favorite thing about him. They show me who he truly is.

"I-I messed up. I thought if I acted confident I would be fine...but then he p-pulled me in really close a-and I started-" I stammer—flustered and overwhelmed—as tears well in my eyes.

He cuts me off and embraces me in a hug, rubbing my back.

"It's alright now. I sent him away."

He...did?

"W-what?" I ask, my brows furrowed in confusion.

"Are you alright?" He asks me.

"W-wait? What do you mean by 'I sent him away'?" I look at Ghost, puzzled.

"I may have started a small fire in the club that made some of the girls panic." He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly like he didn't just commit arson.

What the fuck...

"W-why?" My eyes bulge.

"Private rooms don't mean anything good. I was worried about what might happen. I was worried Hassan would force himself on you," he says strained, a muscle feathering in his jaw.

He caused a distraction to save me from Hassan.

Ghost furrows his brows, concerned. "Are you upset? I'm so-"

I kiss Ghost over his balaclava, cutting off his words. The cloth is getting in the way, but that doesn't matter right now.

I pull away and he lifts his balaclava just above his nose and then kisses me directly on the lips this time.

Ghost has proven that he's someone I can trust, someone I can depend on.

One thing led to another and we ended up having sex in the private room. Nothing too crazy.

Consider it a quickie.

He brought my dress back in from the stage too.

God bless this man.

After composing ourselves we leave the private room and head back to the main area.

Hassan and Ahmad are talking by the bar and Cyra is sitting alone at the table.

"I saw someone was pretty handsy." I quietly relay to Ghost, irritation lacing my tone.

I'm not irritated with Ghost, but rather with Cyra's actions.

Ghost looks at me and sighs, his eyes saying, Sorry.

It's not his fault she doesn't know the concept of boundaries.

We pass Cyra and approach Ahmad and Hassan.

They said they were able to put out the fire and calm the girls down. They said a man was smoking in there and dropped his cigarette without realizing it.

Hah. If only they knew.

"Michael, Sarah..." Hassan winks at me. "It was a pleasure to meet you both."

"The pleasure was all ours." I smile softly at Hassan.

"I feel this will be a good partnership. Sarah is very...what's the word? Ah, exciting. Fun." He tells Ghost. "Please accept my invitation to my residence. This is where we will do our business trade."

"We gladly accept." Ghost shakes Hassan's hand.

We did it.

Fuck yeah, we did!

Hassan doesn't give us the location of his private residence. Instead, he scheduled for some of his guards to pick us up from our hotel and escort us to his residence.

His guards come for us in two days.

The ball is rolling now.