Page 3 of The Bane of a Sinner
“Wanna go with me to a private club?”
Sighing, I shook my head. “No. I need to head back.”
“Oh, come on, Diana,” she whined. “We agreed on a night of fun.”
“Fine, but after you have to help me study for my algebra test.”
“Deal!” she smiled, grabbing my arm as she rushed me from the club and onto the next.
After hailing a cab, I frowned as it pulled up in front of a large black building. The line waiting to get inside wrapped around the block.
“The Gentlemen’s Club?” I muttered as Angelica paid the cabbie his fare.
“Yep.” She smiled, reaching into her purse for a tube of lipstick. “It’s the most exclusive and private club in New York City.”
“How did you learn about this place?” I asked as she opened the back door. She just winked but said nothing as she grabbed my hand and yanked me from the cab.
Inside, the air buzzed with an energy different from anywhere else we’d been—velvet ropes, dim golden lights, laughter echoing off marble floors. The bouncers eyed our IDswith the skepticism of seasoned gatekeepers, but Angelica’s confidence carried us through.
The crowd inside was a tapestry of velvet gowns and tailored suits, the music a heartbeat too high for comfort, and every table seemed to be a world unto itself. Angelica led me past couples murmuring over glasses of something sparkling, past a spiral staircase that twisted upward into shadow.
“Relax,” she whispered, sensing my hesitation as we found a table near the back, half-hidden by a curtain of orchids. “Tonight, there are no study groups, no tests to worry about. Just fun.”
I wanted to protest, to remind her about algebra and tests and all the rules that kept my world spinning straight. But the thrill of anonymity shimmered in the air, and I let myself dissolve into the possibility of a night without boundaries.
I said nothing as an older man walked over to the table and greeted Angelica. “Angie! What are you doing here?”
Jumping up, she hugged the older man. “Hey, Barney. I brought you someone new.”
“Really?” The old man smiled, then looked at me.
Extending his hand, he said, “I’m Barney, the owner. Welcome to the Gentlemen’s Club.”
Shaking his hand, I muttered, “Diana Cooper.”
“Freshman?”
I nodded, looking at Angelica, who beamed happily. “Barney, Diana needs to loosen up a bit. She studies way too much, and she’s missing out on life. You got room for one more?”
“I don’t know, Angie,” Barney said, taking a better look at me. “She doesn’t seem like my other girls.”
Angelica threw her head back and laughed before leaning toward Barney and whispering something in his ear. The second she said whatever she told him, I watched the man’s eyes widen as he grinned.
“Well, that changes everything,” he muttered, then reached into his coat for a business card. Handing it to me, he said, “I always have a need for more beautiful girls.”
Confused, I said nothing, but took his card.
Had I known what it meant to work for Barney, I would have stayed in my dorm room and studied.
Chapter Two
August
May 2003, New York City, Soulless Sinners’ clubhouse...
I was bone-tired. Every muscle in my body screamed for a hot shower and the oblivion of my bed. Instead, the clubhouse loomed before me, a steel monolith of forced camaraderie and stale beer, and a groan escaped my lips as I slowly wrestled my motorcycle to a stop.
How could I have forgotten?
