Dance Of Desire by Sweet and Special Books Page B

burned “to the ground in intense heat and leaping fire like Hell’s own fire,” the news article had read in print and online.
    It hadn’t been empty during that blaze, either.
    Cassie’s dream view was as clean and precise as her mind. Her mental schematic included the entire rectangular complex—meaning that in her dream perspective, she could see all of it, like a 3D blueprint. It had a garden square section in the middle that wasn’t yet thriving with greenery—okay, it was just dirt, so far. All doors faced the main, encircling corridor. Each tenant had the choice of a view of the surrounding city block area, or a view of other tenant's windows from the facing buildings.
    Cassie’s corner apartment was bigger than the others beside and opposite hers, which were still vacant, at least for now. It overlooked the street and a park and…
    And that gross stain on her bed.
    Well, on her dream bed, not under it. Either way, it intruded into her mind’s dream.
    She scowled in her sleep. She would have been surprised if she were now watching herself dreaming, whimpering a bit, as if she were frightened. Then her alarm went off.
    And it quickly dragged her back to this reality. She resurfaced sluggishly, briefly seeing a 3D blueprint of the city, too, especially her university campus with dark, writhing, and gross stains dotted across and encircling…
    “Uh!”
    Cassie awoke fully, startled upright from her nap by real alarm. And with the shock, she immediately forgot what she was dreaming about. It quickly faded into unreachable nothingness. She could not even remember what shocked and scared her so much that she woke up.
    She turned and saw the gold lettered business card propped on the table by her bed, beside her alarm clock. It was one of several given to her by her friend Krystal. She said a “maybe cute, tattooed guy in a hoodie and sunshades, with delicious lips for kissing” had given it to her to distribute to her friends. And she was gushing when she said it, which surprised Cassie because it was so un-Krystal-like.
    Cassie hadn’t seen the hot, hooded guy. She was on a mandatory library training session when the guy walked up to Krystal and gave her the cards. They were passes to a club “for free entry, plus one, and a free drink,” was what he apparently said. Krystal said the club was one of best in town and really hard for just anyone to get into.
    “Bring all your friends, Sweet Girl. There’s always room for the smart and beautiful,” was the last thing the guy said before leaving, according to Krystal.
    Cassie had asked if the hoodie guy had said he’d be at the club, too. Krystal hadn’t asked. She’d hoped, but had been too shy to ask. He must have really been impressively magnetic to get K all wet and waxing poetic, even with tats, a hoodie, and dark shades. She often said that she only liked guys who were clean, open, and honest.
    And then she suddenly realized… “I’m going out tonight! For the first time, out on the town with my girls; all night. Oh, wow!”
    She leapt out of bed, grinning ear to ear, and paused to take a look around her new adult residence—all hers. She still had some unpacking, decorating, and settling in to do but she’d accomplished her dreams. She was grown up now, had moved out on her own and would be “moving up in the world,” as her Dad would say.
    Looking at it and feeling it all around her felt so good.
    She went to get ready.

Chapter Two
    CASSIE JUMPED OUT of a city taxi with her free card held tight in her hand and rushed to get in line at the nightclub to wait her turn.
    “You!” The guy on the door waved her out of line, past those who’d been waiting much longer.
    “Me?” Cassie stopped, dead in her tracks, like a deer spotted by a hunter.
    “Ah, come on, man! You let the cute girl go in? She just got here!”
    The guy on the door shrugged to the complainer. “What can I say? She’ll lighten up the place. Go right on in,