Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

Chapter Thirty Two
Hallie
Hollis doesn’t stay all day. I get some work done after he leaves, but since I have to be ready to
go by 4:30, I don’t get as much done as I would like to.
My hands are a bit achy by then anyway, so I do a few stretches and make a mental note to ask
Calvin for my yoga mat so I can get back to my routine of regularly doing yoga in the mornings before
work. Once I’m finished with that, I give Marie some cuddles and play with her a bit since I’ll be out
all evening, then I go to get dressed and put my pretty new heels back on.
I love the way I look in this outfit and that makes me feel really good, too. Rationally, I know I
shouldn’t be okay with going out with a man who wants a captive girlfriend and who had a man shot
just the other night, but I guess knowing I have no other option makes it easier to swallow.
it.
I can be miserable about going tonight, or I can make the best of it. I choose to make the best of
Hollis comes back when it’s time to get me. I wait upstairs for him instead of meeting him
downstairs. When he asks why, I tell him, “I need my phone.”
Of course, he tells me I’m not allowed to have the phone, but after a couple of minutes of
bickering about it, he grabs “the damn thing” and slides it in his jacket pocket.
“There, are you happy?” he asks as we finally step inside the elevator.
I flash him a smile. “Very.”
I expect Calvin to be in the car, but when Hollis lets me in, I’m alone. He tells me Calvin had to
finish up work and he’ll meet me at the restaurant.
Hollis pulls up to the curb and shoots off a quick text as he walks around the car. When he opens
the door for me, he tells me to go on in; Calvin is waiting.
The icy hostess seems annoyed with me for existing, but I give her Calvin’s name and tell her
he’s waiting for me. She grabs two menus and wordlessly makes her way through the busy steakhouse
with me right on her heels. I expect her to lead me to an empty table down here, but instead she walks
me over to a winding staircase with red carpet cascading down the shiny onyx steps. The doorway is
roped off, but she unlatches the red velvet barrier and lets me pass before securing it again behind us.
Nothing explicitly says it’s a VIP area, but it must be.
I suppose I should have expected Calvin would reserve a table in the VIP section.
As soon as we step into the upper dining room, everything feels more relaxed. There are fewer
tables up here, more spaced out to allow for more privacy. She leads me to a booth in the corner