After Sadie leaves to get her mom, I know I’m grinning like a goddamn fool. Cal comes back up to the bar for a refill and calls me on it.

“So, what has so happy?” Cal asks.

“I proposed.”

“And what did she say?” Cal asks, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“She said yes, dumbass.”

“Man, you died, came back to life and fell in love all in one month. You know that’s more insane than most of the scripts floating around Hollywood?”

“I know. No one will believe it.”

“And Sadie, she’s okay with you being undercover the rest of your life?”

“We’ll see what happens. I still plan on telling my parents the truth. I’m not hanging onto the shit that holds me down. If I do, I’m never gonna fucking fly.”

Cal whistles, slaps the bar, biting his bottom lip. “Who the hell are we?” Cal asks. “You came to the middle of nowhere and met the woman of your dreams. Damn, and in a small town like this no less.”

“A Small Town Fuck Club, no less, I think you mean.”

Cal raises his eyebrow. “Come again?”

“You heard me right,” I say explaining to him the details of what is actually happening in the basement of this place.

“No fucking way,” Cal says. “I’ve got to see it.”

A sex club in the basement is too rich for my friend pass up so I give him the access code. “Man, this is gonna be great.” Cal laughs, but I don’t think Jules will be laughing when she gets downstairs. A few dozen people have already come tonight asking for the code.

“Alright man. Congratulations. I’m gonna take my beer downstairs. Maybe later you should join us?”

“I don’t know, the fuck club down there is little bit more orgy inspired than say, what you’re used to back at the A-List.”

That piques Cal’s interest because he raises his eyes and immediately grabs Jules’ hand.

Which only confirms the fact that I have no interest in going downstairs tonight, out of fear of seeing my oldest buddy bare-ass naked.

* * *

It’s been over an hour since she left and I still haven’t seen Sadie come back. When one of the bouncers from downstairs walks into the bar, I call him over.

“I know you’re not a bartender, but I just need you to cover the cash register for a few minutes. I haven’t seen Sadie in a long time, Dusty, either for that matter,. I’m gonna go to the house and check on them. Are you okay to stay here and cover the bar?” I ask.

“Of course, I’ve got your back. Teddy’s downstairs and he can hold the fort for a few minutes. It’s still early and there aren’t a ton of people yet anyways, he can handle it. Maybe Dusty’s down there too? ”

“Maybe. I didn’t see him come through, though. I’ll just go find Sadie and make sure she’s okay.”

I head out through the bar kitchen and cross the full parking lot toward Dusty’s house. When I get there, there aren’t any lights on, which I find pretty strange.

I knock on the front door, but no one answers. After waiting a few minutes, I push it open and step inside.

“Sadie? Maria?”

I don’t hear any noise, not a single sound. I walk around the house trying not to be paranoid, but I can’t imagine Sadie having returned to the bar without me seeing her. After taking a few moments to look around, I decide to head over to the cottage—maybe they went over there.

I jog over to the cottage and find the same thing. No lights, the place completely empty.

Just as I’m about to lock up the cottage door, I see three figures in the dark. I swear to God I hear a woman gasping, someone trying to scream but being muffled.

I run right toward them, but they cut through the back kitchen of the bar. No one uses that entrance except staff.

My stomach falls as I watch someone push the other two people into the bar.

I run after them, but they are several yards ahead, and by the time I get inside, they aren’t visible anywhere.

Running to the bar, I ask the bouncer covering for me if he saw anyone come through.

He shakes his head though, pouring drinks for the customers. Like he owns this place.

I’m freaking the fuck out, something isn’t right. The bar is full, but no one I know is here. It’s then that I realize where Sadie is. The janitor closet. Running to it, I pull open the door and punch in the code.

When I get inside, the heavy door closes behind me and I see dozens of people in various stages of undress, screaming. It’s fucking crazy how soundproof this place is. Back in the closet I couldn’t hear a fucking thing. I consider heading back to the door and calling the cops, but then I hear her scream.

Sadie, screaming.

People are fighting, shrieking, running for cover. I run down the stairs, looking for my woman. The woman I love, the woman who is going to be my wife.

“No,” she screams, her voice stopping my heart and forcing my feet to move. “Don’t you dare touch me!” There’s a tangle of naked people scrambling for articles of clothing, there’s gotta be three dozen people down in the middle of their intimate moment.

My eyes scan the room, looking for Cal and Jules. Needing to find Sadie.

I see Cal pushing through the crowd, toward me, but I still can’t see Sadie. I call her name, desperate. I see people with phones, trying to make calls. No phones are allowed down here, but I’m sure as hell glad people have pulled them from their bags. Though I figure the reception is non-existent down here or else someone would already be barging through. Jules crouches against the wall, pointing, and then I see her.

There’s a man holding a gun at Sadie’s head, her mother in his other arm. I don’t see Dusty anywhere, and I see Teddy, on the floor, knocked out, blood oozing from his head.

Seeing the man who has done nothing but try his best to help a messed up situation, bleeding out, forces the fire in my soul to ignite. Who the fuck does this man holding my woman and her mother hostage think he is?

He is going to pay.

No one told me what Sadie’s stepdad looks like, but he is so gruesome it looks like he could have just been released from prison. He’s got tattoos up and down his arms, but he doesn’t scare me. Fuck no. I know the truth. A man like him is a sad sack of shit. He’s a weak ass motherfucker too—hurting women to make himself feel in control.

He waves the gun around, terrifying everyone. There’s no time to waste, people are running for cover, and I need to get him on the ground and get my woman back in my arms.

“Just drop the gun,” Cal says to the fucker who is holding my woman. “Drop the gun and let them go.”

He laughs maniacally, pressing the barrel of the gun under Sadie’s chin.

“I’m not going anywhere until this bitch dies. And then I’m going after her whore of a mother. You know what they tried to do to me?”

And then I see it, his skin is still bandaged in places, he really was burned. But not all the way to the ground, he wasn’t turned to dust and bones, no. He should have been after spending years tormenting and hurting Sadie and her mother.

But he sure as hell is not going to take her final breath.

He still doesn’t see me. I’m going to use that to my benefit.

“Don’t come any closer, Cal. He’s crazy. He’s will kill you,” Sadie screams, her face a river of mascara and tears, her body flailing in fear, her chin trembles and I swear to God I will kill the man doing this to her. “Just leave.”

“No one is going anywhere,” Jim growls. I kneel next to Teddy, his eyes blank, and pull the gun from his pocket.

I may have faked my own death, but when this motherfucker goes down, it’s’ gonna be the real deal.

I circle behind him, raising my gun in the air.

“You drop the gun,” I tell him. My voice is loud and booming, so fucking clear I know he can hear every word I say. I’m not mincing words, there will be no messing around. This man needs to understand that I mean business.

He turns to me, his eyes wild with rage, and Sadie and her mom fall to the ground as he does. Not realizing who I am, and what I intend to do, he focuses on the woman he is determined to break. He pushes them, kicks them with his heels, trying to pin them down. But Sadie rolls out, begging me to move away.

“He’s going to kill you, Sawyer. You can’t let that happen,” she cries.

But I’ve escaped death once already, and if my death actually happens this time, then it will mean that Sadie can live.

Sadie, gathering all the strength within her, pushes him off and finds the will to stand. Her determination to live isn’t something he expected, because he spins toward her, his back to me.

He grabs Sadie’s neck, as if he isn’t finished with her being his bait. He pushes his gun against her chest and the fear in Sadie’ is eyes is too much.

I don’t hesitate.

I raise the gun, my finger on the trigger.

I pull the trigger and I shoot him in his back once. Twice. Three times.

He falls on a mattress, dropping his gun, Sadie screaming in horror.

In relief.

Everyone shrieks, blood from the gunshot wounds blooming on the mattresses. The door from the outside is pushed open and Dusty stands at the top the stairs. “What the fuck,” he bellows, looking down at the dead man, taking in the screaming guests in the basement. He sees Teddy, his face goes white.

Then he sees the gun still in my hand.

This may be a Small Town Fuck Club, but what just happened here is a big fucking deal.