05

Any bit of fleeting confidence she may have encountered earlier that day evaporated all at once with a little red dress. She groaned as she stared disapprovingly at the image in the mirror. She could hear Julie humming in the dining room downstairs and knew it wouldn't be long until she was summoned for her debut.

She had brushed her hair until her arm ached with it but the practically hopeless mane rebelled against any taming.

The dress clung to her frame in a way that challenged her knowledge of clothing and the matter of it fitting appropriately.

She could feel the apprehension building.

She was far too pale for a deep, red dress.

Too skinny, Kate. Danny's voice mocked from somewhere afar.

Her subconscious snapped at her to get real and stop being uptight. Inhaling a steadying breath, which caused her ribs to ache in slight agony, she leveled a meaningful stare on the woman in the mirror. "You can do this, Kate, new beginning, new you."

"Come on, you!" Julie exclaimed from the foot of the stairway.

Squaring her shoulders, she stumbled rather awkwardly into the hall, having never worn heels before.

Julie suppressed a grin.

"Don't you dare laugh." Kate warned in slight humiliation.

Julie straightened, a grin still playing on the corners of her mouth, "I wouldn't dare, besides, you look great!"

Kate winced at the compliment, praying Julie hadn't noticed.

Once she reached the bottom fully intact, Julie held out the crook of her arm, "Ready, mademoiselle?"

For the first time since arriving at BlackMountain, Kate gave a heartfelt laugh.

Julie smirked, "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Come, the night awaits us."

They drove about 30 miles east of BlackMountain and the closer they drew to their destination the antsier Julie became.

Clearing her throat and clasping somewhat shaky hands in her lap, Kate asked with a hint of wariness, "Where are we headed?"

"Club Red."

Kate stiffened within her beige pleather seat, lasting bells pealing with alarm as her anxieties magnified tenfold, "Club?"

Julie peered questionably at her, "Well yeah, where did you think we were going, silly?"

Somewhat bothered she confessed a bit awkwardly, "A quiet little café?"

Julie's white smile widened, "Dressed as we are?" she gave a little giddy laugh, "Oh no, we're headed to the hottest nightclub in the city."

Kate closed her eyes, cringing inwardly at how presumably absurd it was on her part to have thought they'd sip on cappuccinos in flashy, little dresses.

"I don't know." She groaned as the turning, forthcoming night appeared conceivably threatening to her tightly spun emotions, "A club isn't particularly my scene."

"All the more reason to go and trust me, you're going to love it." Julie exclaimed with enough convincing that even Kate questioned her reluctance in it. On a more serious note, Julie added, "If you don't like it, we'll simply leave. Try and unwind a little, new town, new you?"

The fact that Julie reiterated practically the identical phrase of which she stated nearly an hour ago simply deterred any further words of dispute. And she realized somewhat alarmingly that she unknowingly allowed Danny to control her, though he was no where, physically to be seen. Wasn't she letting him win by remaining this hesitant, hollow shell of which he reduced her too?

Despite the sanity of her fragile thoughts, her notions turned to a darker and more sensitive matter, one of which she'd manage to bury deep into the recesses of her mind in a means of coping.

Because of Danny she lost the baby.

She blinked against tears as the void in her chest seemed more profound in its hollowness.

Danny Horner would never again control her every whim.

As they arrived within the city limits, it's equally striking resemblance to Albany struck an unsettling chord in Kate. Bright, statuesque buildings illuminated the night, twinkling towers pressed against a sheet of black sky, portraying an eminent, bustling nightlife.

Her mouth felt incredibly dry at that intimidating sight and she struggled to maintain a semblance of confidence for Julie's sake.

The thundering sound of intangible hard rock clamored from a seemingly sizable brick structure that invaded the corner street.

She noticed discernibly as Julie parked the jeep that they were just on the outskirts of the city, which somewhat relaxed her taut nerves.

"You ready?"

As if she had a say in the matter, Kate peeled herself from her seat and stood on teetering heels, tugging at the hem of her red dress which earlier hadn't felt so high on her thighs.

Julie came around and laced her arm through Kate's, ushering her along the smooth, black pavement which curved the brick building, giving way to the line of fidgety party-goers sashaying for the beefy bouncer to admit them entry.

"Hey, Jax!" Julie waved to the ominous looking stature of muscle guarding the door whose meager black tee strained against his thickened chest.

Spying the women, Jax gave Julie a toothy grin, unhooked the velvet rope and motioned them onward.

The size of the man alarmed Kate but his wolfish grin somewhat likeable despite his threatening countenance.

They ducked past a many pointed and annoyed glares coming from the line and head-on into the reverberating sound of Rob Zombie streaming from beyond a black, velvety overlay.

"Do you know him?" Kate felt compelled to ask.

"He's a friend!" Julie chimed cheerfully.

They stepped through the ebony curtain and directly into the darkened realm of Club Red. Flickering lights whisked repeatedly across the sleek dance floor in slivers of red and white, illuminating the silhouettes crowding its compass.

Kate wrinkled her nose against the onset odor of sweat, cigarettes and hard liquor. Her heart began erratic beat, the insufferable pounding assailing her ears despite the deafening metal that shook the walls, which were donned noticeably in deep red curtains, several blocking sections to the prying eye including a winding stairway that led to a second level.

"Julie-" she called but the thunderous music drowned out her subtle voice.

She could feel a panic erupting in her chest and as if sensing her unease, Julie turned and shouted reassuringly, "We're just headed to the bar for a seat."

Nodding, she inhaled a steadying breath as she latched onto Julie's hand.

They eventually made it to the opposite end, slipping into two leather stools and from there Julie ordered a light beer.

"What do you want?" she and the bartender, another foreboding looking character, peered questionably at her.

Kate swallowed like a deer caught in a pair of beaming headlights. She'd never had alcohol. Danny hadn't allowed it which prompted her immediate, impulsive response, "Whatever you're having."

Julie grinned and turned back to the bartender.

Kate surveyed the red and black suspended throughout, fascinated some by low hanging lights, splashing table tops in florescent streaks.

Julie retrieved their beers and handed her one. She watched Julie take a considerable swig as cerulean eyes swept the dance floor.

Taking a tentative sip of her own and feeling quite the awkward and apparent newcomer, shrank some in her stool.

Her eyes swept the darkened remnants of the club with hints of glistening red displayed diversely, and mused decidedly that it had an intriguing allure all its own.

Danny would be furious.

As the bitter taste of her beer slipped coolly down her throat it began to relax her rigid muscles. It wasn't so bad she affirmed, though increasingly loud and a bit eccentric, she quite liked it.

With a flourishing smile, she took a hearty sip of her beer.

He smelled her fear the moment she entered his nightclub. It captured his senses quite profoundly, the sound of her uncanny, rather fast beating heart illustrating a recognizable fear. It lured him from his seat obscured in the corner to the balcony railing to survey the floor below.

Grasping the cold banister, he observed the lower level teeming with perspiring bodies rocking to the sensual and seductive lure of Cibo Matto but failing to find the woman whose heart assailed his incredibly heightened ears.

Leaning lazily against the railing, it protesting against the magnitude of his weight, he appraised the bar in a slow perusal, eyeing the drunken patrons, some slouched over their toppled beers, others tossing back shooters of hard booze with aimless regard to one hell of a hangover in the morning.

He noticed a pretty blonde in a rather eye-catching pink dress as its sequin caught flickering hints of light as she leaned seductively into a man who frequented Club Red more so than his pregnant wife at home.

But it was the other woman in an enticing little red dress that drew his heated stare.

He felt the hardness of the railing digging into his forearm as he angled further to better observe her.

She was obscured beneath the hanging top level but her heart was unmistakable in its beat as it carried frantically his way.

He inclined his head, inhaling deeply to extract the scent of her but catching a detestable whiff of air thickened with lust and liquor.

He straightened from the railing, all the while his eyes leveling on Little Red Dress as he made his way towards the stairs.

The celestial voice of Cibo Matto coaxed numerous women to the floor. They swayed their hips in a timely, come-hither manner, a clear indication to those warranted stares, only tonight he had eyes for one in particular.

He stepped into a shadow just across the bar, giving him perfect alignment to the object of his fixation.

Crossing his arms against his chest and propping his weight against the solidness of the wall, his eyes carried leisurely over her small feminine frame, rousing all male and inner beast urgings.

His stare darkened all the more as a besotted suitor pulled her pink friend to the dance floor, propelling that enticing heart into overload.

Kate nearly leapt out of her skin as Julie was whisked to the dance floor by a man who obviously disregarded his wedding vows. She clutched her cold beer until her knuckles turned white, a desperation and eagerness to run for the door becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Her chest rose and fell with hastening breaths and she closed her eyes to quell a certain panic attack.

You're fine. She assured to her panicking self.

"Hey, beautiful." A foxed voice murmured from above her, pulling her from her subliminal thoughts.

She was struck with the smell of liquor on his breath as the stranger towered beside her, a lanky frame struggling to remain afoot as his beady, slightly dilated eyes accessed her a bit uncomfortably.

She forced a smile in hopes of shooing him along, "Hi." Then spinning back around to the bar pretended to favor her beer.

"Can I get you a drink?" he slurred, signaling to the bartender.

"I have one, thanks." She muttered.

The man swayed on his unstable legs, obviously several beers under, "You came with Julie?"

This captured her attention, "You know Julie?"

He shrugged aimlessly, "I know Jax."

Apparently everyone did.

She eyed him warily, taking considerable note that he'd stepped closer that robbed her of a hitched breath.

"You want to dance?" he asked, reaching for her.

She jerked out of reach, a fleeting panic taking root as paleness washed over her, "Don't do that."

"Come on, honey, just one dance?" he grabbed her forearm that unleashed a tide of noticeable fear.

It wasn't so much the sudden wrenching of the man's body but the menacing, ill-boding force that suddenly dominated the space separating her and the drunken imbecile, who was tossed heedlessly across the floor into the shins of unsuspecting dancers.

Kate peered momentarily stunned at an immense, muscled back donned in another hapless black tee.

The sudden commotion drew many collected stares and a few derisive snickers as the crumpled man picked himself off the floor, appearing bent on murder until perceiving just who had tossed him like a sac of grain.

The man went utterly still, paling significantly, "Hey, Ronan man, I wasn't causing the lady trouble." He retreated some from the imposable threat looming before him.

"Get out." muttered a thunderous, guttural tone that sent tremors down her spine.

The man scrambled from the floor with his dignity barely intact. Kate followed his hasty departure with wary eyes only to become innately aware of his eyes now fastened on her.

**********