But that was then, and this was now. She felt ready to face them. The weight of a year of pain felt gone from her shoulders. She’d worked hard to turn everything around. And was proud of what she’d accomplished. She lived in a roomy loft on Brooklyn’s waterfront with her two roommates. On the southern edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, in an old warehouse, they rented the place for a ridiculous amount of money that none of them could afford on their own. The large windows provided beautiful natural light, and the openness was what had made her fall in love with the apartment in the first place. The distance from Manhattan was the second. Her night at Phoenix was the first time Zoey had returned to Manhattan since her last day of school. She threw up the second she got off the subway, and stayed close to total strangers so she wouldn’t have to walk the streets alone.
When Zoey finally unlocked the door and strode inside, her roommate Hazel Rose immediately leapt up from the couch, nearly plowing into Zoey. “What happened? Tell me every single detail.” Hazel had medium-length light-brown hair and beautiful light-blue eyes, and the longest natural eyelashes Zoey had ever seen on anyone.
Zoey snorted a laugh. “Well, I’ll tell you what happened if you let me shut the door.”
“Oh, sorry.” Hazel smiled sheepishly, releasing her tight hold on Zoey’s arms.
Their other roommate, Elise Fanning, smiled from the couch. “I had to take her jogging to get her to finally sit down.” Elise had long dark-brown hair and strong dark-brown eyes, and she lounged on the sofa like she didn’t have a worry in the world.
Zoey always envied that about Elise, and she’d counted on Elise’s calm nature many, many times. Zoey had met them when she saw the wanted ad for a roommate on a coffee shop’s community board after the assault. The rest was history, and now Hazel and Elise felt more like sisters than friends.
“I wouldn’t get too excited,” said Zoey, kicking off her heels and plopping into the chair across from Elise. “I had sex.”
Hazel rolled her eyes at Elise. “She had sex.” Her gaze fell to Zoey, and she waved her on. “In a room full of people. Oh my God, Zoey, tell me everything.”
Again, Zoey laughed. “I don’t really know what to say. It’s just as you’d imagine it to be. Rich, luxurious atmosphere. Everyone wears masks, which honestly, made things less scary.”
“So, it wasn’t creepy?” Elise asked.
“Surprisingly, not creepy,” Zoey replied after a moment’s thought. “Actually, very sensual. Like the room was vibrating with lust. It’s like there is no judgment there. Just a connection to watch others.” She was sure she wasn’t getting it right, so she shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just…not creepy… It’s sexy as hell, and I shockingly liked it.”
Hazel sat next to Elise, leaning forward. “And did you take off your mask? Did Jake and Scott see you?”
Zoey nodded. “Even behind the masks, I knew who they were.” Their faces were burned into her mind.
“And?” Elise pressed. “What happened?”
“They took one look at me, lost all the color in their faces, and left.”
“Fucking cowards,” Elise snapped.
“Wow,” Hazel breathed, leaning back against the couch, hands pressed to her chest. “That must have been empowering for you.”
Zoey thought it over and finally nodded. “I think it was the biggest fuck you I could have given them. That I knew, and they knew and saw, that the lies they spread were never true. That I was a virgin up until tonight. And that they didn’t break me or make me afraid of them. I’ve already been in front of people, exposed completely, and that was not my choice. This was my choice. On my terms.”
Elise gave a firm nod. “Good for you. Fucking pricks.”
Zoey smiled. “My sentiments exactly.”
Hazel bounced on the couch. “So, what happened after that?”
“The virginity-taker slid the mask back on my face and whispered in my ear that I owed him answers.”
Elise’s brows shot up. “Did you give him those answers?”
“Nope, I snuck out before anyone could question me.”
“Atta girl.” Elise grinned.
Hazel shook her head slowly as if she couldn’t believe any of this was true. “Wait. What was the guy like?”
Zoey dropped her head back and shut her eyes, swearing she could still feel his breath by her ear, his hands on her body, his cock deep inside her. “Incredible,” she breathed, glancing back to her friends. “I’ve never met anyone like him. He was so passionate. I didn’t know a touch could feel like that.”
“Wow,” Hazel said again, eyes twinkling. “Well, as far as losing-your-virginity stories go, yours wins, every time.”
Zoey nodded with a smile. “Maybe an unconventional way to lose your virginity, but he definitely made the experience memorable. I wasn’t really expecting him to care about my needs; I just figured he’d want to put on a show.”
“But it wasn’t like that?” Elise asked.
Zoey shook her head. “He was just tuned into me. Does that make sense?”
“Total sense,” Elise agreed with a smile.
Zoey grabbed some chips out of the bowl on the coffee table, tossing them into her mouth as Hazel asked, “Did they ask you how you found out about the place?”
She finished chewing then answered, “No, they have nothing more than what I put on the application.” In which, she said she’d heard about the club from a member. In actuality, Hazel was a reporter and had gotten wind of the secret sex club in Manhattan.
“Did they have any idea that I hacked in to get that code?” Elise asked.
“None,” Zoey replied.
Elise owned a private investigation company, which was how they’d learned about the financial gift that came along with doing the show. But she’d also obtained the necessary code to access Phoenix’s portal through the cigar club’s website. After Zoey entered the code, it brought her to the application with the required photographs and intimate details about her life.
The conversation about Zoey applying to Phoenix to confront Jake and Scott didn’t happen all at once. It was a handful of conversations and lots of late-night thoughts. Both Elise and Hazel had been there for Zoey after she graduated and began trying to bandage her life back together again. Two strangers had been her shelter through a fierce storm. Ava and Julie had moved back to their hometowns, and the communication grew silent after that. Zoey hadn’t spoken to them in over six months. She’d never forget what Elise and Hazel did for her, picking up all her broken pieces until she resembled a human again. But one night, after a first date ended with Zoey having a panic attack, she decided this was her way out. Her do-over.
“Well, I’m glad they didn’t suspect anything,” Elise commented, grabbing some chips out of the bowl. “The last thing I need is Rhys Harrington coming after me.”
Zoey nodded. “Yeah, no kidding.” From what she read up on the owner online, he was the CEO of Harrington Finance before he stepped down when he bought the cigar club. The New York City Harringtons were a wealthy family, coming from old money, and were very powerful.