Dana adored her new apartment. It was a studio flat on the top floor of a twelve-story building. It wasn't in the greatest part of town, but it was a ten-minute walk to work and from twelve stories up, the view didn't seem so bad.
She still had a few of her belongings left at Marissa's from when she had been squatting at her place, and most of the things she had brought over were still in boxes, other than her bedding and some essentials. She hadn't unpacked because something about this place seemed so temporary. In her twenty-three years of life, she had never had her own space. She had grown up sharing a room with her younger brother and older sister in multiple foster homes. Since moving out, she had wandered from place to place, living temporarily with friends she met along the way until she felt it was time to move on.
She had never been happy feeling like she was stuck in one place, but she was starting to suspect that it may have been because she had never had her own home. She didn't feel like she was stuck when she was in this tiny apartment with its unfortunate view and three bolts on the front door (one of which she had installed herself upon moving in). Here, she felt free and wholesome, two things she used to assume were incompatible. Still, she could not convince herself that she could afford the luxury of unpacking. It would be too hard on her if she had to pack her things up again if she was forced to move out of this place.
She woke up at two in the afternoon, which was later than what was standard for her, even after nights when she didn't get home from work until seven in the morning.
She was considering going back to sleep again when she heard a knock at her door. She jolted upright, startled. Marissa was the only visitor she would expect to see and she was always practicing at the studio on Monday afternoons, so it couldn't have been her. Max was the only other person who knew where she lived. Briefly, she felt a swell of excitement clench in her stomach, before she realized she had just woken up and probably had horrible breath and bed hair. Her unsexy cat pajamas weren't doing her any favors either. Max had never seen her when she wasn't dressed like a stripper and she was worried how this could change his perception of her.
She clenched her jaw, annoyed with her feelings of insecurity, and walked to the door. She glanced through the peep hole to find Stan standing on the other side of the door, holding a bouquet of roses. He must of found her address through employee records. She couldn't help feeling both relieved and disappointed that it wasn't Max before she unlocked the three security bolts and opened the heavy door. Stan smiled as he saw her, but it was a nervous smile.
"Are you here to woo me?" she asked, grinning.
He laughed then cleared his throat awkwardly. "There were here when I walked up, actually." He handed the beautiful bouquet of different colored roses and her heart rate lurched with excitement until she saw the note that came with it.
Thank you for the kiss. Warm Regards, Lucas.
"How the hell does he know where I live?" she asked, showing the card to Stan. His face was an uneasy shade of red.
"I don't know if that's your biggest problem," he told her quietly. She felt her stomach grow queasy. How could this not be her biggest problem? He had to be tracking her down.
"Did you see him leaving when you walked up?" She asked, glancing past Stan as if Lucas would be hovering somewhere behind him.
"No," Stan said, bringing her disappointment and relief. "Listen. Nick, the guy who has taken over at the club? He's really dangerous."
Dana sighed and motioned for him to come inside. Stan passed through the threshold, glancing around her place with brief curiosity until the small size of the place easily revealed that there wasn't much to be curious about. "I got the impression he was when I met with him. You think that's my biggest problem?"
Stan's gaze returned to her and behind a forced casual demeanor, she could tell he was nervous. "I think he may be a little obsessed with you. Not in a flattering way, or not in a harmless way."
Dana's brow creased. "Flattering obsession?" Stan motioned to the flowers she held in her hands and she sighed. "I don't feel flattered." She walked to her kitchen and dumped them unceremoniously in the trash can.
"I know, I didn't mean to imply anything. Poor choice of words, sorry." She nodded and he took a deep breath. "I mean that Lucas' fixation with you comes from a place of fascination with you, like Max's does." Dana felt deeply uneasy that he was both comparing Lucas to Max and that he seemed to know so much about her personal life, despite her not having told him much of this information before.
"How do you know all of this?"
"Nick," he said, his voice dropping. "He hasn't told me directly, but I've heard him talk about it-about you. A lot."
"What does he say?"
Stan shook his head. Dana noticed that he looked messier than usual, his wavy hair was uncombed and his eyes had dark lines under them that indicated a lack of sleep. "The way he talks about you doesn't seem to come from a place of appreciation or desire, it comes from a place of greed. He talks about you like a business man talks about money."
Dana suspected as much, based on their previous interaction. "I guess that's what strippers are to some, a method to get money." She felt a deep resentment towards those kind of people which made her jaw clench.
"It's not that either." He ran his hand through his hair impatiently. It only made it seem more unruly. "It's not revenue-focused. It's like you're the most profitable attraction at his fair. He can use you for revenue, but more importantly, he can use you to influence other people. He can make others, like Max and Lucas, do what he wants them to do because he has you working for him."
Dana was overcome with anxiety. She suspected as much but it was still difficult to hear. "You think that Nick, Lucas, and Max are working together?" She couldn't help feeling disappointed, despite the fact that she actually knew very little about Max, so she didn't have the right to be so surprised.
"No," Stan said, to her relief. "I think that Max and Lucas are at odds with one another and Nick is trying to control them for his own benefit. And I think there's something deeply..." He searched for the appropriate word. "Abnormal about them."
Dana's breath quivered as she nodded. "I've sensed that too." She thought about telling him about Max, about how he had broken metal with his bare hands. A strange instinct to protect him overpowered her, however, and she found herself desiring to protect him. "I've sensed it with Lucas and Nick," she said untruthfully.
Stan didn't seem to notice her amendment to their conversation. Even if he did take note, Dana wasn't sure how much it would influence him to believe that Max wasn't unusual. After all, he was the one of the three who looked the most inhuman, with his tall, muscular build and his animalistic gaze. Lucas and Nick could be written off as sociopathic. Max didn't seem sociopathic at all, his emotions clung to him and were as easy to read as many animals' were.
"I don't think it's safe for you to work there, Dana. I don't even think it's safe for me to work there." He laughed at his second sentence, but it was devoid of genuine amusement.
"If I leave, he'll fire Marissa," she told him bleakly. His back straightened. This news was unfamiliar to him. "You know she has a record, she won't get hired somewhere else. She depends on this job to live."
"We can support her," Stan said. "We can work somewhere else and make enough to support her." Despite his hopeful expression, his tone conveyed that he was already skeptical about the plan.
The facts were that it was hard to get a job like theirs at a safe place where they made enough money to support three people. Dana hadn't even finished high school before she had to get a job to afford food. She wasn't even qualified for many minimum wage jobs. Besides, this job had been a lucky find until recently. And this job had introduced her to Max. Yes, it was dangerous, but that didn't mean that she should let it go without trying to take control of her situation first-she had too much to lose by doing that.
"I'm going to confront Lucas," she told Stan, whose expression immediately indicated that it was a bad idea. "And I'll talk to Nick if I need to. I've been treated badly before, it's nothing I can't handle. If I'm all that valuable to him, that means I have power over him. I can use it."
Stan held his hands out to her, pleadingly with her to slow down. "I don't think you should talk to Nick. Please don't do that, Dana." She nodded briefly, but it was only to console him. "I don't think you should talk to Lucas either. He's more dangerous than he looks."
Dana hadn't been fooled by Lucas' smug demeanor for a moment since they had met. He had a predatory look in his eyes, one that could strip you down to your bare worth and calculate how he could exploit it. But she had also noticed that he was different with her. That sometimes he would look at her with fascination and uncertainty. It wasn't Max's warm gaze, but it was indicative that he felt something for her, however little that redeemed his character.
"I'll be careful," she told him vaguely, knowing that as soon as he left her apartment, she would immediately start to search for Lucas. Strangely, along with the determination that came along with that thought, she felt a twinge of excitement. She realized that with Lucas, she felt as if she were the hunter and he was subject to her whims. The rush of power that accompanied the thought made her desire to find him grow into resolve.
She was ready to bring him down. She would show him what it was like to feel trapped, as he had made her feel just one night earlier.
Be prepared for some twists! Also perhaps for opinions about Lucas to change a little. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I've officially zoned in on the plot for this book (which I'm really excited about) and look forward to writing it and reading your reactions. Please do vote/comment/follow if you enjoy this story (and check out my other two as well if you like the writing and dark romance concept). I posted this important A/N on the other stories so here it is for this one: my goal is to update once a week and finish the first book of each series this year. You can expect updates to be on Fridays, or at least at some time during the weekend. Thanks for your continued support! <3