Club Alpha by Marata Eros Read Free Book Online Page A

victory.
    His words reach me at the tenth. “ Nos vemos pronto .”
    I don't turn around, he and his band of semi-thugs won't be seeing me soon, because there won't be any repeats of that little thirteenth-floor bullshit.
    I burst out onto the twelfth floor, look at the elevator, and move back inside the stairwell.
    I'll take the eleven flights for now by foot.
    Flicking my eyes to the men who were just there, I see the y're gone.
    Instead of being relieved , my unease grows.
     
    *
     
    I flop down on my bed, flinging bags of purchases on the adjacent bed.
    I braved the elevator after a lengthy pissing match with the concierge.
    Was my service inhospitable?
    No, I'd responded.
    But I was dumped on the thirteenth floor and had to use the stairwell, where I was greeted by the Spanish mob.
    That retelling was not entirely accurate, but it felt like it.
    I stayed calm until he assured me there was no access to the thirteenth floor. I'd kept to English until that moment.
    Then I'd switched to Norwegian, and the exchange got colorful.
    He called his manager, who assured me the stairway was for emergencies only and was open exclusively to employees, not guests.
    They'd given me the stink eye since.
    The assumptions were rampant. Why was I lying about the thirteenth floor? Why was I traipsing around the stairway all those floors above and ranting about men in said stairwell?
    They definitely didn't take me seriously.
    I stab Gia's avatar on my smartphone, briefly contemplating the hour. At nine in the evening here, it’s six in the morning in Seattle.
    I grimace, thinking about a raw Morning Gia. It rings once. I'm committed now—can't go back.
    “Hello?” Her greeting is muffled.
    “Gia, it's Greta.”
    I hear a rustle. The phone drops with a clatter and I pull it away from my ear.
    I hear her moving it, probably swooping to pick it up.
    “Greta?” Her voice is sharper now.
    I close my eyes in relief just from hearing her say my name. How many times has Gia been my touchstone? The only thing to hold onto when I was drowning?
    Too many.
    “I just wanted to phone and…”
    “What's happened?”
    I pause, wondering if I should bitch about something that ended in a closely skirted hotel brawl.
    I laugh.
    She does, too. “Listen, you're calling me in the middle of the night, so it better be good.”
    I check the clock on the nightstand. “Ah, no. It's six there.”
    “All right, can't fool you. What's up, buttercup?”
    “I had a thing.”
    “Ah, yes, that delves into it so thoroughly. What on God's green earth is a ʻthingʼ?”
    I explain everything.
    She's quiet for so long that I open my mouth to say more.
    “Doesn't sound like Club Alpha,” she says in a careful voice.
    “That's what I thought. I mean, it's for a potential romantic entanglement, right?”
    Silence.
    “ Right , Gia?”
    “Kind of. Actually, Club Alpha is a method of exhausting the character of a person, showing their underbelly, if you will.”
    A handful of seconds roll by. “I know it's supposed to be intense. There's a lot of hoops to jump through.”
    “It's more than match-making. It's an irrevocable machine of non-compromise. It's meant to pair you with your best match while making sure the ineffability of life is ferreted out before a long-term commitment is engineered between the two.”
    “And I know two languages?” I make a sound in the back of my throat. “I think—yeah—English please. You make my brain hurt.”
    “You're a player in Club Alpha in part to face your fears, grow stronger, and find Mr. Right. It's simple.”
    “Yet, not,” I say with a laugh, realizing she can't see my rueful grin.
    “I'd love to refute that, but if you wanted a hole in one, eHarmony works. I guess they have the best outcome of all.”
    “Then why am I doing Club Alpha?” I put my hand on my stomach, feeling my pulse beating strong and sure.
    “First: I trust Zaire. Second: you don't care about money. What I mean is, you do, like most