She ended up finishing the set with the band. Afterwards, the bartender sent a round of tequila shots to the stage for the reunited band and they obligingly took their shots together. “Here’s to Groove Delay finally being back together,” Willy, the bass player, shouted, raising his empty shot glass.

“It’s definitely good to be back singing with y’all.” Olivia looked around at the guys that she practically lived with during her college years. Besides Kiera, they were the only family she had left, although she had shut them out of her life the past several years. Why she had waited that long to see them again, she had no idea.

“So, will you sing with us once in a while?” Mo asked with a hopeful look on his face.

“You know I can’t tell you no,” Olivia replied coyly. She wrapped her arms around Mo. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear so no one could hear.

“You know I love you, baby girl.” Mo squeezed her tight and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She pulled away, happy to have reconnected with him.

“Well, I should probably get back to Kiera and the girls before they leave without saying good-bye. Mo, let me know about rehearsals. I’ll see you all soon, I promise.” She gave Mo her cell number before waving to the guys, thankful to be able to perform with the band again.

Olivia walked through the large dance floor area as she searched for her friends. People kept stopping her, saying how much they loved the performance. A few people gave her a beer or shot and, while she knew it wasn’t the smartest idea to take drinks from people she didn’t know, Olivia felt invincible and on top of the world.

“You were amazing!” Melanie screamed as she wrapped her arms around Olivia once she had finally found her friends milling about the downstairs bar. “I had no idea you could sing like that!”

“Me neither,” Bridget said, handing Olivia yet another shot.

“Thanks girls.” The four friends raised their shot glasses and downed more tequila. At that point, they all had more than enough liquor in their systems. Olivia was not drunk, but she was definitely buzzed, or so she thought.

No. She was drunk.

“So, are you going to gig with them on a regular basis again?” Kiera looked at Olivia, raising her eyebrows.

“I think so. It felt good.”

“Good.”

The girls left the bar, it being long after last call. They stood on the relatively empty street and said their good-byes. Olivia waved, telling her friends that she had to go back to her office to grab her laptop and a few other things before she headed home for the night. Kiera gave her a worried look.

“I’ll text you the second I get home. I promise!” Olivia said, turning down the street as her friends piled in a cab.

Olivia walked the few blocks from the bar to her office in her own little world. She kept replaying the night in her mind. She finally started to feel happy for the first time in years. Maybe it was okay to start letting people back in again.

Olivia reached the building and recalled Jerry telling her that the front doors were locked at ten o’clock every night so she would need to use the night entrance on the side of the building. She walked past the front doors and turned the corner. As Olivia looked down into her purse to find the keycard that would grant her access to the night entrance, someone grabbed her around the waist and pinned her body, face first, against the brick building opposite her own office building, slamming her head against the hard wall.

“We meet again beautiful.” Fear rushed through Olivia’s body as her head began to ache and her vision became blurry.

“Simon, please. Leave me alone,” she pled, her heart racing.

“Come on, Livvy. You weren’t very nice to me before sweetheart,” he slurred his words. Even drunk, he was stronger than Olivia.

“You’re drunk. You’ll regret this tomorrow. Just let me go.” Blood began to trickle down her face. Olivia realized that Simon must have slammed her head pretty hard.

“You’re making it difficult for me to do my job,” he growled, pressing her even harder against the wall.

“What job is that, Simon?” Olivia decided the best thing to do was to just keep Simon talking. Distract him.

“I can’t tell you, bitch. Don’t you see?” he demanded forcefully, his breath hot against her neck. “But they know, Olivia. They know who you are. And they want their stuff. The proof.”

“What are you talking about Simon? I don’t know anything about that.” She was so confused at what Simon was saying to her. He didn’t make any sense.

“Don’t mock me, bitch!” Simon reached into his pocket, keeping Olivia pressed against the building with his body, and grabbed a knife, putting it up to her throat.

She looked down when she felt the cold metal against her skin. Tears streamed down her face. “Simon, please. I think you’re mistaken. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear.”

Simon thought about Olivia’s words. The people he worked for warned him that she may not remember, as it was so long ago. Then an idea came to him. It was a brilliant plan he was proud to have come up with, considering he was drunk. He knew it deviated from the plan he was told to adhere to, but he didn’t care.

“Well, maybe one last fuck will help you remember. And for once it will be on my terms and not yours,” he growled.

Olivia was confused and scared. “S-Simon. Please.” Tears started to flow more steadily from her eyes as he pushed Olivia’s skirt up. “Someone might see you,” she pled quietly, closing her eyes and hoping she would wake up and the entire evening turn out to be a bad dream.

Simon grabbed onto her panties and ripped them painfully from her body. She screamed from the shock of it.

“You know I like a screamer, but now’s not the time for that.” Simon pressed one hand over Olivia’s mouth, holding the knife against her throat with the other. Her entire body trembled under Simon’s weight.

Her mind started to race as she assessed her situation. Simon had her pinned against the wall with his body. He easily outweighed her by a hundred pounds. But he was drunk. All she needed was a few seconds to get away from him and run. She couldn’t move her back or her arms, and her legs were useless. She opened her eyes, but all she could see was the brick of the wall he had her pressed against. Her heart raced, fearful of what Simon was about to do to her.

She was in pain from her head being smashed into the brick wall. She felt dizzy and nauseous, probably from the combination of the head injury and the liquor she drank. The rage inside of her rose. She was not going to let Simon get away with this. She knew she needed to fight. Her eyes grew wide when she realized a way to get out from Simon’s grasp. Parting her lips, she sunk her teeth into his skin, biting down hard on his hand covering her mouth. When she tasted metal, she knew she had drawn blood.