Forbidden Love in the Dark - Chapter 5

“ Mystic Nights”
Tonight was the night ’Midnight Riot’ wouId be pIaying at Mystic Nights. I
wasn’t exactIy sure where it was downtown, so I drove around earIier today to see if I couId find it.
It was on the south side of town, in what used to be an oId abandoned,
diIapidated factory. Pretty much in the middIe of nowhere, I wondered how
they thought they wouId attract any business out here. They did fix it up niceIy, though, with the outside painted bIack, with a shiny exterior that refIected Iike a mirror around the entire buiIding.
Painted on the Ieft corner of the front were the words ’Mystic Nights,, angIed in a white, ghostIy script that dripped beneath each Ietter Iike wet paint from a
paintbrush.
I couIdn’t heIp but think how fitting the name was, as the whoIe pIace exuded a secretive, aIIuring atmosphere. Tonight wouId be their grand opening. No
wonder Ace seemed so excited; they were the band chosen for the grand opening.
I rummaged through my cIoset Iooking for the perfect outfit. It had to be bIack, to match the theme of the cIub. That seemed to be aII I wore anymore anyway.
BIack.
I settIed for bIack jeans with a baby tee that said ’MR, in fIuorescent green, with my new Ace hoodie. I straightened my hair, took money from my waIIet aIong with my ID and pIaced them in my back pocket. After doing a quick twirI in the mirror, satisfied, I headed to the cIub.
Mr. Thompson met me at the bottom of the stairs, hoIding my keys. “Thank
you, Mr. Thompson.”
“Anytime, Miss AmeIia.” He grinned.
I smiIed and kissed his cheek. “ Don’t wait up.”
As I puIIed into the cIub, I couIdn’t beIieve aII the peopIe swarming around the buiIding. The parking Iot was fuII, and peopIe were Iined up from the door of the cIub, down to the street corner. It was going to take forever to get inside.
I drove around in circIes for fifteen minutes before I finaIIy found a parking
space and puIIed in, centering my car perfectIy between two others. Turning
off the Mustang, nervousness fiIIed me. I wished Ethan couId have come. Ethan had made pIans to go to dinner with AIex, though, and he was going to try and stop by before the night was over.
I anxiousIy Iooked around the parking Iot, pausing at my rear – view mirror.
,Him,. What is he doing here? Our eyes Iocked in my mirror. His eyes seemed to gIow even brighter than before in the moonIight, and again I couIdn’t bring myseIf to Iook away. He was beautifuI.
I forced my eyes to bIink, which took a great deaI of effort; it was aImost Iike being hypnotized by ,him,. When I reopened my eyes, he was gone. I took a
steadying breath, wondering if I had imagined it, then got out of my car to wait in that dreaded Iine.
There was a Iot of excited chatter in the Iong Iine. Everyone was waiting in
anticipation, not knowing what to expect once they got inside, and there was a Iot of taIk about how great it Iooked from the outside.
I stood there, eavesdropping on a couple of girls, watching their reflections in the building. Feeling someone grab my arm, I turned sharply to see who it was, and met dark eyes.
“ I’m sorry. I thought you were my girlfriend.” He was my height, with long, dark
– brown hair, a goatee, and silver hoops in his ears. His voice was deep, mysterious, with an edge to it.
“ It’s okay.” I replied, my eyes wide with surprise.
After several seconds, he loosened his grip on my arm, looking around in
search of his girlfriend. Watching him walk away, feeling sorry that he had lost her in this chaotic line, I noticed he kept glancing back at me, causing a bit of unease in my stomach. Why does he keep looking at me? He already realized I wasn’t her.
“Amelia!” I heard my name being called. I looked to see where Ace was, already recognizing the Scottish accent.
“ Hey, Ace.” I yelled back, raising my hand.
“Aye. Come on, girl. Yer comin’ wit me.” He grabbed my hand and led me inside. “Wait till ya see this place. It’s so grand.” He said with enthusiasm.
Following behind him, I realized I’d probably follow Ace to the ends of the earth. As long as he had his drums.
We walked past a bouncer checking IDs at the door. He was extremely tall, an obvious well – built bodybuilder; his arms were huge, the muscles bulging from under the sleeves of his tee. He was wearing dark glasses, and I wondered how
he could see in this darkness. He gave Ace a nod as we passed by.
“ He didn’t even ask to see my ID, Ace.” I whispered.
“ He’s a strange one. I’ve not heard him speak much.” Ace whispered back.
We walked through the main doors into an entryway and came to a narrow
hall, with coat racks lining each side. There were several doors on either side of the hall after the coat racks, with tinted double – glass doors at the end. That’s where we were headed.
Ace opened the door and stood off to the side, waiting for me to pass. I smiled at him, “Thank you.”
“ It’s my pleasure. Wait till ya see this amazing place, Amelia.”
I couldn’t believe it. This place was beautiful. You would never know it was an old factory the way it looked now. As soon as you walked through the doors, you could hear music playing. A soft classic rock, not too loud, yet not too
quiet that you couldn’t hear it at all. In the very front of the room, just past the doors, were a set of stairs, leading to a circular bar. The bar was shiny and black, and sat about five feet off the ground floor. The platform that surrounded the bar was big enough to have five people standing next to each other with their arms outstretched, and it was full of people.
There were tables on the ground floor, all positioned to be able to see the
stage that was at the back. The floors were glossy black, with the words Mystic Nights in the center, with the ghostly dripping effect as on the outside of the building. The stage, too, was black, with the white letters again against the
back wall.
This was just the ground level. As I looked up, there were three more levels of floors, all able to overlook the stage. It was almost like a balcony – style setup, without the cages. Each level had a railing to keep patrons from falling, and
there were people leaning on them, looking down to the ground floor. Large – screen televisions hung on the wall and from the ceiling, displaying the video to the song that was playing.
I was in complete awe. It was beautiful, shiny, and new. “ It’s amazing.” I managed to say, realizing that Ace was staring at me.
“ I told ya. Ya wer n’t gonna believe this here place. It’s pretty awesome, eh?”
“ I don’t think there are words to describe it, Ace. It must have cost a fortune!”
“ I’m sure it did. I ‘ave n’t met tha owner yet, but I ‘ear he’s pretty extravagant.”
I continued to look around. This place was just too amazing. I had never seen anything so ….amazing. Wow. Just wow.
Ace excused himself to go get sound – checked. Wandering around like a kid in a candy store, eager to see everything they had, I went up the first flight of
stairs to the next level. The stairs were cement, but had black carpet covering
them. At the top of the stairs, the walls were of that mirrored black, like outside.
A bar was centered in the middle, in the shape of a horseshoe, and the floors were shaped in a half – moon, with stairs at each end. There were several doors
again off the back wall, and tables were lined up in between the doors. Black stools lined the bar.
Again, the bar was shiny black, and this time I could see that Mystic Nights was engraved in the wood of the bar, which was stained black, the letters stained
white, and a clear lacquer finish on top. Behind the bar were mirrors, and in front of the mirrors were shelves lined with liquor.
The bartender here was built, much like the bouncer at the door. His hair was black, his skin was pale, and he, too, wore dark sunglasses. What was up with the sunglasses? How could they see? It was just as dark in here as it was
outside. Strange.
I heard Ace hitting the drums and turned to peer over the railing. Realizing I
didn’t need to look over the railing, as the television screens that were hanging from the ceiling were actually for people to view the band while they played. It was almost like being right in front of him, that’s how big the TV was.
I walked back down to the ground level, assuming that all the floors were
going to be pretty much the same. I found a table in the corner, but close
enough to the stage that I could enjoy the band. I really wished Ethan could have been here.
“Can I get you anything to drink, Miss?” I heard a soft, seductive voice asking.
The waitress was wearing a black mini – skirt, a black tank top with Mystic
Nights on the front, black stockings, and black high heels. My first thought was how could she work in that? “ I’ll take a soda, please. ”
“Coming right up.” She strutted away like she was a supermodel and wore those shoes every day on a runway. Ouch.
A few minutes later she returned carrying a pitcher of Coke and a glass. “ I
didn’t want a whole pitcher.”
“ It’s on the gentleman at the bar, dear.” She pointed to a man in a dark suit.
“ He’s the owner.” She smiled when she said it.
“Why’s he buying me a drink?” I asked.
She just smiled, and after pouring my drink into my glass she walked away. I
glanced up at the owner, who was leaning with one elbow on the bar. He too was wearing dark sunglasses, his jet – black hair hung loosely around his face, curling at the ends where it landed in the middle of his back. Well – muscled,
you could see the thickness of his arms through his suit jacket. I couldn’t really tell how tall he was from where I was sitting. He looked down at me and smiled.
I smiled back, gave a small nod, and quickly looked away, starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Turning back to watch Ace, I sipped my soda.
Once the band started playing, I chanced looking up at where the owner was
standing. Whew. He’s gone. Letting myself start to relax a little, I looked around, once again having that weird feeling like someone was watching me.
You are in a room full of people, Amelia. Quit being ridiculous. Everyone is
probably watching you. Finishing my soda and deciding it was time for some pictures, I pulled out my camera, so I could show Ethan what he had missed. I started snapping pictures of all the levels, the band, the bar up front. Staring into my LCD screen, getting ready to snap a picture of the stairs, icy sapphire blue eyes looked back at me. I watched into my camera, afraid to move. It was
‘him’.
I slowly looked up to where he was standing. My heart fluttered at the sight of his beautiful figure. He smiled, moving towards me. Oh God. What do I do? In my fluster, I dropped my camera. Bending down to pick it up, a hand met mine.
Looking up into those glowing blue eyes, I thought I was going to melt right there.
We knelt, staring into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. I couldn’t move, look away, or say anything. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering frantically. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks.
I let my hand drop away from my camera when he started to stand up. He reached for my hand. I obligingly took it, letting him help me to an upright position.
“ Hi. ” His voice was deep and serene. Not like boys from school. It held a touch of mystery to it. I wanted to melt ….again.
“ H..” I cleared my throat. “ Hi.” I kept my eyes locked on his, afraid to look anywhere else.
“ I saw you at school. Why didn‘t you come back?”
“Um. We had a family emergency. ” It came out in a whisper.
“ I’ m Damian.” He smiled.
Oh, that smile. His lips were perfect. I want to kiss those lips. “ I’ m Amelia.”
His smile curved into a smirk. He shook his head. Realizing my own thoughts, I looked to the floor in embarrassment. “ It’s nice to meet you, Amelia.”
I smiled back, “You too, Damian.” “So, do you like this band? I saw you at Club Azure when they were playing there too.”
“Oh. Yeah, they’ re my favorite. I’ve been following them for some time now.”
“ I just moved here a week before seeing you in school. My family and I move around a lot. We like it here, though, and may stay for a while.”
I couldn’t get over his smile, or those eyes. I was so drawn to those eyes. Out of all the girls at this club, he was talking to me. I can’t wait to tell Ethan.
“Canada is nice. A bit cold at times, but all in all, it’s nice.” My voice was shaking.
I was going to embarrass myself if I kept talking.
“We don’t mind the cold. Actually, we prefer it.” He smiled again.
Just then, I heard my name. “Amelia, this one’s fer ya, me biggest fan.”
I turned, and Ace was starting his drum solo. It was new. Did he write that just for me? I’ m touched.
I turned back to Damian, but he was gone. Dang Ace. You couldn’t have timed that any better? I moved closer to the stage to get a picture of his solo. It was really good. I can’t believe he dedicated this to me.
Damian, huh? Wow. That is a nice name ….Damian. I can’t believe he was talking to me. He is so gorgeous! I couldn’t help but to look around for him, wanting to know more about him, wanting to hear his voice again, and most of all,
wanting to feel his lips on my own. Ahhh. Those perfect lips. I was going to dream about Damian tonight.
The band finished up, thanking Mystic Nights for having them. Ace took a
short break before tearing down his equipment. “WeII, AmeIia, how’d ya Iike the new soIo?”
“ It was great, Ace.” I was stiII gIancing around for Damian. Just as a shiver
rippIed through my body, I saw the owner Iooking down at me. Why was he watching me?
Ace turned to see what I was Iooking at. “Who’s that?” He asked, watching the man Iooking at us.
“That’s the owner, I guess.”
“The owner? He doesn’t Iook so bad.” Ace said.
“Why do they aII wear sungIasses, Ace? It’s weird.”
“ I n’t be knowin’ that, AmeIia. Maybe they think they’re cooI. Maybe it’s the
styIe where they come from. From what I ’ear, the owner isn’t from round ’ere.”
I Iooked back up at the owner. He was stiII watching me. Another shiver ran through me. I was becoming extremeIy uneasy. “ I have to go, Ace. Thanks for meeting me at the door, and the new soIo. It was great!”
“ Do ya want me ta waIk ya ta yer car, AmeIia?” Ace was sensing my uneasiness.
“ No. That’s okay. You have to cIean up anyway. I’ II be okay.” I said more for myseIf than him.
“Aye, AmeIia. Just be carefuI goin’ home.”
I nodded, grabbing my things and heading for the door. I gave one Iast Iook
up, and yes, he was stiII watching. There was something about him, he seemed famiIiar. I couIdn’t put my finger on it just yet, but I wiII.