Sammie

I pulled the heavy door to the VIP room shut and stood with my back against it for just a moment. Behind me I could hear my father, brothers and co-workers laughing and having a wonderful time. I smiled. It had been a long time since they had had a chance to get together like this. It seemed as if everyone at Steele had been working overtime lately. The engagement party was just an excuse to spend time together. Even though my brothers had gone their own way, they were still popular at the company.

I pushed away from the door and made my way to the public bar close to the entrance of Maddie’s. Sitting on one of the stools at the bar, I motioned for the bartender to get me a drink. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out my cell phone and began checking my notifications. The voices of the other patrons in the bar blended like a wall of white noise around me.

It wasn’t long before I realized my dress kept working its way up my thighs. In the VIP room, there was a table hiding my legs but here, they were on display, and I didn’t relish the idea of showing off more than I was comfortable with. Taking a moment to look around to see if anyone was watching, I did my best to pull the hem back down, recrossing my legs as I did so. Still, the dress seemed to keep inching its way up to my eternal frustration.

“Hello, Miss Lady.”

While I had been trying to get my dress under control, two men had moved to either side of me. I glanced at the one who had spoken to my right through my eyelashes without moving my head. I didn’t say a word as I accepted the drink from the bartender. As I gave it a sip, the man to my left pursed his lips and soundlessly let out a soft huff of air. I could tell he and his friend were absolute creeps.

Staring in front of me, I realized I could see both men in the mirror behind the bar. They exchanged a look that was obviously predatory. The man on the right mouthed “damn, she’s hot” just as I looked over at him. His face twisted into a startled look before the corners of his lips turned up into a wolfish grin. I set my phone down on the counter and met his gaze with a tight smile.

“Hi.” Unfortunately for me, they seemed to take my awareness of them as permission to start a conversation. Luckily for me, before they could say another word, my phone began to ring. I held up my hand to halt further interaction as I answered my phone. It was someone wanting me to answer some questions about local policies.

Usually I hung up on them, but today I didn’t want to talk with the two creeps, so I continued to answer the questions from the survey. In the mirror I could see the guys hover over me. I was annoyed that they seemed to lack consideration of personal space, but they were just far enough to allow me to ignore them. The bar had a strict policy on harassment if they knew about it so I tried to get the bartender’s attention, but Maddie’s was slammed today.

As I talked into my phone, I could see their smiles change to frowns. They kept mouthing words behind my back as if I couldn’t see them in the mirror. It seemed as if they were arguing back and forth. One of them wanted to pick someone else, but the other wanted to wait for me. The longer I talked on the phone the more  heated their silent conversation became. I could see them start to fidget on their bar stools and their agitation was hard to miss.

Just when it seemed that they were going to move on to someone else, the call ended.

“Sorry boys,” I said with a faux apologetic smile. “ I don’t have time to play today.” Picking up my purse I slid my phone into it. I made sure the hem of my dress stayed down and hopped off the stool. It was time for me to head home anyway so I sent a quick text to my family and headed to the front door of the restaurant. The night was chilly, and I hugged my arms close.

“I should have grabbed my sweater.” I whispered to no one in particular. Most of the taxis had already left for the night. I turned and began walking down the street back to the office. I registered the doors to the restaurant opening behind me.

Glancing back, I realized that the two men had come outside as well. I heaved a heavy sigh, pulling my mace out of my purse. The hard part about living in the city was that you never knew if a guy was a basic creep or a criminal one. I listened carefully to see if they were coming in my direction and was relieved that they seemed to be staying by the door. I kept the mace at the ready and hurried down to the office.

Before turning the corner, I glanced back at the entrance of the restaurant and realized that the two men were gone. I really hoped that would be the last I saw of them, but I couldn’t help worrying about the next woman they tried to target.

Turning down the road, I continued along my way. I pulled my phone out and called up my brother to wish him and his fiancé more congratulations. I probably should have ordered a taxi this late at night, but I really wanted to get home. As I hit send on the call, I heard a rustling from a niche in the wall. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness and realized that it was a small alleyway that was usually blocked with a fence.

The door had been forced open and I could see the face of one of the guys from the bar peeking through. I forced the paralyzing fear away and lifted my hand with the mace before hearing the pounding of footsteps behind me. I pivoted and hit the man’s buddy behind me with my mace.

He screamed and stepped back, blinking in pain. I kept the momentum of my turn up and used my leg to swipe him off his feet. Crouching down, I pointed the mace up at the other man, spraying him and pushing with all my might up to barrel into his chest. My phone clattered to the ground, and I could hear my brother answer and start shouting as he heard the sounds of the fight. Both men had been knocked out and lay on the ground. I snatched my phone up and told my brother what had happened and asked him to call the police. I heard more footsteps and looked up into a pair of dark worried eyes. The man’s face was masked, and he had his phone out.

He must have been passing through and came across us. I could feel the relief that I wouldn’t have to deal with another creep tonight. The momentary adrenaline rush was passing, and pain began to radiate from my arm. I realized that there was a needle sticking out with half of the contents dispensed into my body.

“Shit.”

As the effects of whatever they had injected me with started taking over, I fell into the man’s arms as I blacked out.