Palms sweaty, heart racing, Nicole tried to open the door and found it locked. She pounded on it a few times with her fist. “Hello?” she called out, feeling like an idiot.
A moment later, the door swung open and a man in a skintight dark t-shirt stared her down. He was pale, so pale that she was sure he must be an albino. Or was he just a weird guy pretending to be an albino? Either way, Nicole decided he creeped her out in a major way. His pale eyes were like two glinting white marbles in his head. “Yessssssss?” he asked with an odd, lopsided grin.
“I’m here to see Kane Wright,” she told him.
“Oh, honey,” he clucked, shaking his head at her. “I don’t think he wants to see you.”
“He’s expecting me.” She tried to stand her ground, even as everything in her told her to just run away as fast as she could.
The albino made a screwy face as if he really and truly couldn’t comprehend the notion that Kane Wright would want anything to do with a girl that looked like her. “If you’re wasting my time, I’m going to make sure you regret it.”
Despite the man’s flamboyant manner, Nicole sensed that he was a dangerous person. For one thing he was muscular, wiry—and he also looked like he’d been in a lot of altercations in his time. Pale, thick scars were visible on his neck, his cheek, and one scar ran the length of his bicep.
“I’m not wasting your time,” she told him. “But you’re wasting Mr. Wright’s time, and I wonder if he’d like that.”
The albino man grinned at her again, a leering, greedy look. “You better hope you’re truly a guest of Mr. Wright’s honey. For your own sake.”
She crossed her arms as he closed the door and disappeared back inside. Nicole once again considered turning around and getting the hell away from this place, but before she could convince herself to do it, the door opened once more.
The albino man was back, with a severely altered attitude. “We should hurry,” he said, the grin wiped from his face. “Come with me.”
Nicole tried to restrain a smile.
Inside, she could more clearly hear the thump-thump-thump of the base from that industrial music. The halls were dark and foreboding, the dim strobe light blinking off and on, and as they walked, she was aware of shadowy people watching her pass by.
She could feel their eyes on her, watching her, thinking god only knew what about her.
Bare chested men, semi-naked women, tattooed, clad in leather—these were the people that inhabited Club Venture.
The albino man led Nicole into a stairwell, and as they walked into it, she heard moans and groans and slurping sounds bouncing and echoing off the walls. The sounds came from a flight below—what must have been the basement level. It could have been a couple or it could have been five people down there, and Nicole didn’t care to know which it was.
They started to climb the stairs.
On the second floor, the albino stopped and led them out of the stairwell, into another long hallway with doors on both sides. “Go all the way down to the last door on the left,” he told her. “Give a knock and Mr. Wright will let you in.”
She started to walk down the long hallway.
“Bye now, honey,” he called to her. “I hope to see you again real soon.” And then he flitted away.
Alone in the hallway, Nicole almost missed her albino chaperone—but not really. She walked slowly, hearing the thumping music louder again. Finally she reached the last door on the left and knocked.
When the door opened, Kane Wright was behind it. He was wearing a cream colored suit, his hair immaculate, smiling at her as if she were an old friend who’d dropped by his summer house out of the blue. “Nicole, my dear. So good to see you. Come inside, please.”
She was surprised that the room she walked into was large, well-lit, with a white carpet and white, modern furniture to match. A window on the left wall overlooked the inside of the dance club from above. Strobe lights pulsed and flashed and a mob of people moved almost as a single organism below them.
Although this room was removed from the club atmosphere, it soaked it in a little just the same.
“Drink?” Kane offered.
She shook her head once. No.
“Please, have a seat then.” He motioned to one of the white couches. She sat down and felt its immediate luxury, sank into it just enough to feel enveloped.
Nicole had taken great care to dress down for this meeting.
She wanted there to be no confusion, so she’d worn unflattering jeans, sandals, and a light gray sweater. Her hair was not particularly styled and she’d put on no makeup whatsoever.
Kane went and poured himself a drink of some sort and then sat down across from her, affable, as he always seemed to be. “Any troubles getting here?”
She shrugged. “You’ve got a strange employee working the door, but other than that it was fine.”
“Oh,” he grinned. “You must mean Jeffrey. He’s nice enough once you get to know him. And as long as you don’t make fun of him being pale.”