Sophia’s POV
I was a few metres past the towering gates of the Baxter mansion when the heel of my shoe snapped.
Wiping furiously at my tears, I kicked off my shoes and kept running barefoot. Maybe if I kept running I would be able to outrun this overpowering pain and heartbreak I felt.
I flagged down the first cab I saw and it wasn’t until I was sitting in the backseat of the cab that I realized that I had nowhere to go.
My former home was gone, leased out to another family after Dad moved out to enjoy the riches his new in laws had given him. Mom was in the hospital drifting in and out of consciousness due to the medications she was on and I couldn’t go to the hospital in this state.
I had no friends to stay with either.
The Baxters had forbidden me from keeping contact with any of the friends I had prior to marrying Jerry because according to Anastasia they were riffraff unworthy of being affiliated with the Baxter name.
I had no one.
“Where to Ma’am?” The driver asked turning to look at me.
I opened my mouth unsure of what to say only to hear myself say.
“Rewind.”
The driver paused, hesitating for a second before he started the engine.
I understood his hesitancy. Rewind was the last place any respectable person would go to. It was an infamous nightclub that was as far away from this posh society as possible.
But no one would recognize me there. There would be no press, no cameras, no mocking crowd and best of all no Jerry.
Jerry.
With that thought, the unforgiving memories of the party flooded my mind.
Me looking down the staircase feeling like for the first time I could get it all, Jerry walking in with Kate, Jerry flinging the divorce papers at me, Kate’s belly bump and the cold impersonal look Jerry had fixed me with while ripping my life apart to shreds.
“We are divorced now, Sophia. Get the hell out of my life.”
I ran my fingers through my hair scattering my intricate updo while trying my best to hold in the scream of pain and betrayal I felt building in the back of my throat.
My nails bit into my palms the moment I took my hands off my hair, the sharp pain centering me as hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
I had never felt so foolish in my entire life. Last night had been a lie. Jerry’s kisses, the need in his voice, the glimpse of what I had mistaken as love in his eyes. All of it had been a lie.
Jerry had played me hard and like a fool I had fallen for his lies hook, line and sinker hoping for even a slim chance at a real marriage.
I felt like going under a hot shower and scrubbing away his touch from my skin.
But even a hot shower would not erase the fact that I had been divorced without my consent, an inheritance I didn’t even know I had stolen from me, and my husband had impregnated another woman.
Ex husband, I reminded myself, digging the dagger of betrayal deeper into my chest. Jerry was now my ex husband.
The cab pulled up at the nightclub.
Rewind was just as I remembered it with neon lights flashing, the contrasting blue and silver disco balls hanging overhead and the music blaring so loud that I could barely hear myself think.
The last time I had come here, was the night of my eighteenth birthday when I had snuck out with my friends Rhoda and Trina.
We danced, laughed and even cried a little as we ordered the cheapest sides we could afford. We were young, invincible, unstoppable and would never be parted.
Now I didn’t even know if Rhoda and Tina had entered college the way they had planned to. Didn’t even know if they were still in LA. Maybe I hadn’t come here to hide from the world but to catch a glimpse of the girl I had been before my life fell apart.
I went straight to the bar.
“Vodka.” I ordered.
I knew the last thing I should have been doing was drinking but I needed to drown out the heartbreak, pain, humiliation and screams in my head and I had my phone and cards with me so to hell with common sense.
I knocked back the shot immediately after it arrived and gestured for a refill. Already I could feel the edges of my pain dulling and my mind clearing up.
I was about to take my fourth or so shot when someone held onto my shot glass on the bar top.
“You should go easy on that. A pretty girl like you shouldn’t get drunk in a place like this.”
I looked up to see a slender tall prettyish guy with shaggy brown hair in jeans and a plain t shirt smiling down at me. A younger me might have been impressed and maybe a little bit smitten but I just shrugged.
“I don’t care.” I said holding my hand open for Shaggy Hair to return my drink.
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “If you insist.”
With an eye roll, I pulled my drink back over to my side. The drink was fizzing now probably due to me dragging it over the counter but I didn’t care as I lifted it to my lips to take another shot.
I had taken exactly one big sip when the shot glass was knocked out of my hands, my vodka spilling across the bartop.
“What the-” Startled, I began to curse only for my words to freeze on my lips when my gaze met that of the person who slapped the shot glass out of my grasp.
Even with the terrible lighting and my somewhat blurry vision from the drinks, he was the most handsome man I had ever seen.
He was tall, broad shouldered with ink black hair that fell to his shoulders and startling clear gray eyes, a chiseled jawline, high cheekbones and lips that-
“He spiked your drink.” Handsome Guy said pointing at Shaggy Hair.
My mouth dropped open in surprise but before I could get a word out, Shaggy Hair paled and bolted disappearing into the crowd.
The bartender cursed loudly going after Shaggy Hair while calling out for security.
Despite my slight buzz from the drinks, I felt a chill go up my spine. If Handsome Guy hadn’t warned me, what exactly had that creep wanted to do to me after I consumed that drink?
I glanced at Handsome Guy who was still standing in front of me.
“Thanks for warning me,” I said softly.
Then I felt something tickle in the back of my mind. The more I stared at Handsome Guy under these ever shifting lights, the more familiar he looked.
“Uh, by the way, do I know you from somewhere?”
“I doubt it.” Handsome Guy said curtly before settling on the seat next to mine and pulling the vodka bottle from my side to his.
Was he trying to stop me from drinking because I had almost been drugged?
Out of nowhere, I felt a spark of annoyance flare to life within me. I was so damn sick and tired of men trying to take control of my life.
“Just because you saved me doesn’t give you the right to stop me from drinking!” I spat out angrily at him.
Handsome Guy didn’t even look at me as he picked up a glass and poured himself a shot of vodka. After he downed the shot, he looked at me with dead grey eyes.
“I don’t save people, Princess.”
His words sent chills down my spine. I might not have known Handsome Guy’s story but I could tell that someone had hurt him. Almost as bad as Jerry had hurt me. If not more.
I picked up another shot glass and held it out to him barely holding in a giggle for whatever reason.
“Then you shouldn’t mind sharing a drink with me.”
Handsome Guy looked from me to my empty glass and just when I thought he would ignore me, he poured me a shot.