Chapter 17

Alice was led to an apartment above the club by Simon. She had wailed like a child in a bar with minimal people, but still it was mortifying. Her outburst, snorting and smudging, her makeup on Simon's clean shirt. She had a glimpse of herself in a mirror while she was looking around Simon’s apartment while he was changing a shirt. It wasn’t her finest moment and Alice wanted to find a dark cave to crawl into and never show her face, ever to the world. This was not her, not that she wanted to impress anyone, but this was Simon. Whether he was married, Alice at least wanted to look presentable.

"I put it on the charger and it’s working, but." Simon handed Alice her device. “The screen is cracked, though.”

"Oh?" Alice looked at Simon with an awkward smile, accepting her phone. "Thanks."

"You must be a busy woman. Someone is eager to chat with you. It rang the moment it was working on the charger. You must have -him worried."

Alice gave a tight-lipped smile and looked at her phone. Her c