Patricia Rosemoor - Skin

Her euphoria lasted all the way to the gym.

It was only when they were changing clothing in the locker room that Lilith’s mood darkened. Another early morning dream of her sister’s murder had haunted her on and off all day, and now the memory returned.

By the time she got to the mat, she was worrying again about what might have happened to Hannah. As she warmed up with Elena as her partner, she was wondering if Hannah could have gotten free of her kidnapper if she’d known how to fight back. And as Lilith fought Jack, he became the nameless padded man in her mind.

Then became something more sinister.

The man who had taken her sister…

A killer…

Pumped, she let loose with a viciousness she’d only dreamt about all those years when dealing with her brutal stepfather. This was for real. She snap-kicked his kneecap and followed with a double strike to his nose and throat.

He went down.

Blind with fury, she sat and kicked him in the head with her heel… kicked again… and again… and again…

…until voices around the mat finally got to her.

“Lilith, please!” the instructor pleaded. “Stop!”

Lilith jerked to an uneasy stop.

The man who’d volunteered to be a punching bag scooted away from her. And all around the mat, the women were staring at her, their expressions shocked.

Abruptly, Lilith came out of the zone.

Horrified at her own actions, she rose and offered Jack her hand. “So sorry, Jack, I don’t know what got into me,” she lied.

Jack refused her help and got up himself, removed his head padding and threw it to the mat. Giving her a disgusted glare, he turned his back on her and strode off toward the men’s locker room.

All eyes were glued to Lilith. She closed herself off from the stares. Seconds later, she was being escorted to the locker room, Elena holding one arm, Carmen the other.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Elena whispered.

But Carmen seemed pumped rather than disturbed. “Nobody better mess with you!”

A stricken Lilith looked at Elena, but her friend had nothing to say, so Lilith quickly showered and dressed.

Surely Elena understood her fear and frustration for Hannah. Lilith had spent more than half her lifetime under the thumb of a man who made her fear him, and just when she thought she had the fear conquered, it came rushing back to haunt her. She knew how to fight — she’d just proved that. The problem was calling up the will at the right time.

On the person who deserved it.

“Are you going to be all right?” Elena finally asked when they were ready to leave.

“I don’t know, Elena. I’m trying.”

But she didn’t feel all right. Blind rage had given her focused strength, but now that her adrenaline had plummeted, she was uncertain not only of herself but of her decision to act as a lure for whoever had Hannah.

She couldn’t shake the doubt. It followed her into Club Paradise. Storing her emotions to some far corner of her mind, she changed into her uniform and entered the lounge. She didn’t get far.

Halfway to the bar, a balding customer sitting alone at a table grabbed her by the wrist. He whirled her into his lap against his paunch and wrapped his beefy arms around her, saying, “Honey, I got something for you.”

The confidence she’d had an hour ago was gone. Her pulse rushing, she gasped, “Let go of me!” To her horror, Lilith suddenly felt weak, like in the old days with her stepfather. She couldn’t find the strength to push herself away from the repulsive man.

“Oh, now don’t be like that.” He pulled her closer, his whiskey-breath nearly choking her as he said, “I have plenty of money,” right in her face. “You’re just my type.”

“You’re not mine.” Panicked, she struggled against him, her hands ineffectively pushing at his chest. His arms around her were like steel. Forgetting everything she knew about defending herself, Lilith went light-headed.

Before she could pull herself together, she heard a firm “Let go of the lady” and glanced back to see Michael standing over them.

The customer tightened his grip. “Who the hell are you?”

Michael grabbed the man by the throat and jerked the man’s head back. His expression grim, he glared down into the man’s beady brown eyes threateningly. “I said let go.”

The arms binding her immediately loosened.

Her heart thumping wildly, Lilith jumped to her feet, and Michael released the man even as Sal rushed up to them followed by a bouncer.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Sal demanded.

“I was doing his job.” Michael indicated the bouncer.

“Whatsamatter, Sal?” the customer whined. “Your girls too good for the regulars now?”

Lilith recovered her breath. “I am not one of Sal’s girls. I serve drinks. Period.”

With a look of gratitude and a mouthed thank you for Michael, Lilith stalked off, but Sal caught up to her, grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. “Hey, Tommy’s a good customer.”

Her anger restoring her confidence, Lilith pulled her arm from his grasp. “That doesn’t mean he gets to handle my merchandise. And neither do you.”

“Tommy can afford to handle anything he wants, know what I mean? And you oughta be nicer to the man who pays your salary.”

Lilith controlled her mouth. She couldn’t lose this job. Not now. Not until she knew Hannah was safe. But afterward…

She gritted her teeth and raced away from Sal, not to the bar, but back to the dressing room, where she threw herself into a chair before the mirror. Angry with herself for caving to fear the first time she’d had to face it in the club, she said, “I can do this. I CAN DO THIS!”

Caresse sauntered in and checked her own makeup case. When she couldn’t find what she wanted, she went through Mariko’s case, seemed to be examining it thoroughly before borrowing a blush.

As she swiped some color across her dusky cheeks, she said, “Had a little trouble, huh?”

“I freaked out because the customer surprised me is all.”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t think you’d worked a joint like this before.”

“I’m that transparent?”

Putting down the makeup, Caresse appeared serious. “You got options, you know. Go back to whatever it was you were doing before you get immune.”

The dancer seemed to be the most likely person to care about her sister. “That girl who disappeared… Anna… was she immune?”

Caresse stared at her via the mirror. “She was a lot like you, honey. Tough on the outside, but on the inside, well, she just tried not to show it.”

“Sounds like you really knew her.”

The dancer shrugged. “As well as anyone around here knows anyone, I guess. Gotta go. I’m on next.”

After Caresse left, Lilith took a big breath and regrouped. She was going to have to play nice with the customers just like Hannah had, or she wouldn’t tempt the kidnapper-killer to come for her. Straightening her hair and putting on another coat of lipstick, she readied herself for another try at the big room. On the way out, she passed Mariko, who had just come off stage. The other dancer didn’t say anything, merely gave her a look that told Lilith that Mariko didn’t think she would last.

But Mariko didn’t know her.

No matter that she’d had a setback; Lilith wasn’t the teenager who’d had to escape her home to survive.

Nothing would drive her from the club, not until she found her sister.

THE END OF HER SHIFT couldn’t come quickly enough for Lilith. There were no further incidents, and tonight she easily agreed to meet Paul Ensdorf for that high tea at The Plaza he was so hot on. If he’d had anything to do with Hannah’s disappearance, she would find out, Lilith vowed. She wouldn’t allow herself another weak moment.