He leads me out of the club, and by the time we leave the men are becoming more menacing. They’re menacing toward the women surrounding them. The men are outnumbered, but the women have no power. I don’t know if it’s because their clothes are off, but I can feel their fear.

I’m afraid too, but I don’t know if I need to be. I don’t know if I have anything to be afraid of.

Is it fear that I’m feeling, or something else?

When Sean took me in his arms and danced with me, my body felt calm for a moment. Starting at the top of my head, and down to my toes, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I closed my eyes and put my head on his shoulder, and I breathed him in. I felt him. It was intense and I wanted it to last forever. But I knew it was just for a moment, and I didn’t know how long that moment would last.

It was never supposed to happen. He didn’t have to rescue me. I never asked to be saved.

We leave the last door of the club and we’re out on the floor of the casino again. I feel the night and its tempo on my skin as I walk in the high heels he bought me. He’s half a step behind me, and I don’t know if he’s looking at my body as he walks, or if his eyes are straight ahead. I don’t know if I’m keeping the dress and the shoes. I have no use for them.

I wonder if it’s actually over. If my debt has been erased, and whether Sean will ever give another thought to my father ever again. And I wonder if he ever did give a thought to him, or if he was just a name on a piece of paper, or if my picture was just something he glanced at and then tucked into his pocket, or if I was more to him.

Whether he did this to save me or just to fuck me. It doesn’t matter, though. I can still feel his lips on mine.

My fingertips land on my collarbone. I feel my throat move as I swallow, and I want his mouth on my neck. The dull ache between my legs grows. I turn my head to look at his face, and his expression is stern and hard, like stone.

We stop at his tiny studio apartment on the top floor of the hotel, and I gather up my clothing in a ball and shuffle into the bathroom. Inside, I slide out of the dress and leave it along with the shoes carefully on the large double vanity.

I put my clothes back on. It feels wrong, and almost perverse to be putting these clothes back on now that he’s had me take them off. I look into the mirror as I lace myself into the corset, my arms contorted behind my back. I work myself back into it slowly.

Swallowing thickly as I lace the satin strip of fabric through the last eyelet, I tie myself into the corset securely and go back out to see Sean.

He’s sitting on the bed, his elbows resting on his knees. But he is not at rest. He is ready to pounce at any moment. I can feel the energy coming off of him. His head turns and he looks at me, drawing his eyes up and down my body. Drinking me in. It’s almost time to say goodbye.

“I promise to never let something like this happen to me again,” I say. He pats the bed next to him and I go over obediently to take a seat next to him. His action looks like he’s making a suggestion, but it feels more like a command. It feels like an order, and all I want to do is comply. My stomach flips and my pussy clenches as I sit down next to him.

“I know, Cherry. I know you’ll never let this happen again.” His body feels hot and strong next to me. I want to reach out and touch him, but all I can do is allow my thigh to brush against his. His hand comes down on my knee and he squeezes before slowly moving down to the floor in front of me. His chest is broad and his eyes are intense, making me feel weak inside. He nudges my knees apart with a shoulder and puts his hands down on my thighs. “I know this wasn’t your doing. I know what happened with your father. I knew him.”

I swallow thickly as I feel my blood run cold inside my veins. I knew he must know of my father - my father racked up the gambling debt, he knew these men, and even if he didn’t know Sean personally, I knew Sean must have been aware of Dad. But I didn’t know he knew him. I didn’t realize.

Dad wasn’t the only one who ever called me Cherry. A lot of people have called me that. But Sean knew. He knew to call me that. He knew it would put me at ease. It’s what dad called me. It was his pet name for me. He said my hair was my most unique feature.

“He was a good man, Cherry. But if he was better, he wouldn’t have done this to you.”

The way he’s down on his knees makes it feel like he’s confessing something, or begging for forgiveness, or maybe he’s try to make me feel that I have control in this situation. It might even be working, if only a little. Because I know it’s all almost over. And my time with Sean is almost over, too.

“He didn’t do anything to me,” I say. It’s the truth. The suggestion that my father caused this makes my heart feel heavy. “He couldn’t have known he would be unable to pay you back. There was no way for him to know I’d be trapped in the middle of all this.”

His expression shifts, and I see his jaw clench down. His gorgeous lips part slightly, and then purse into a straight line as he pushes off the floor and grabs a black duffel bag from his closet.

“Here,” he says, tossing it on the bed. “Pack up. Take your new shit with you. I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

I can still feel his hands on me. He’s so cold now, though, and I move toward the bathroom to retrieve the new things he purchased for me. I carefully fold the dress and tuck the shoes in the bag, and start to zip everything up as he moves around behind me, packing a bag for himself.

He tosses me a couple of t-shirts and boxers.

“So you won’t have to sleep in...that.” His eyes scan up and down my body hungrily. I put the clothes inside the bag and zip it up.

We leave the hotel silently. I don’t know that this isn’t a trap, and the thought crosses my mind. I don’t know him, and the thought that I’m putting my trust in him frightens me. But he said he knew my father. He softened when he said it. That alone is enough for me to follow him, to let him be my eyes, to guide me when I can’t even see my hands in the dark in front of my own face.

We pass through a few doors that say Employees Only until we’re in a private underground parking garage. A few bright beep!s and we make our way to a black SUV. He takes our things and throws them in the back, and comes around to let me in the passenger side door.

Part of me wants to walk away, but I don’t know where I’d go. Home, of course...but I don’t know if I’d be safe going there. He told me to stay with him, so I do. I don’t know what else to do right now.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask as he comes around to his side and gets in. The vehicle is large and smells new, and it’s high off the ground.

“I have a place on the outskirts of the state. I’m going to get you there and keep you out there until this whole thing blows over. My uncle doesn’t like secrets.”

“How long will I be there?” I ask. The air conditioner rumbles on and he guides us out of the garage, past lines of convertibles and SUVs. He handles the machine smoothly, like it’s an extension of himself. I lean my head back, take a long, deep breath, and close my eyes.

“A few days. Not much longer than that, if anything. We just need to wait until my uncle forgets this ever happened. Just don’t come back to Vegas. Can you do that?”

“Okay,” I whisper, defeated. I don’t have any good memories there, and it’s fine if I never have to go back. My ex liked to gamble, too, and drink. And Dad...it’s all enough to make me want to hide from it forever. “When I’m at your place, will I be allowed to leave?”

“If I think it’s safe, then yes. I’m going to drop you there and then I have a job I need to do.”

“What’s the job?” I ask. He glances over at me and shifts in his seat, saying nothing at all. His knuckles become white as he grinds his hands over the steering wheel, and I look straight ahead, closing my eyes, not knowing where I’m going.