Page 29 of Free Fall

Fifteen

Zelda

Thepolegrippedbetweenmy thighs and I locked my ankles, tilting my entire body back to show off the curve of my pierced tits. Contentment rushed through me as the familiar music thrummed through my veins and I worked to complete my regular routine. An acrobatic display for the wash of sweaty bodies below.

Pounding music blared around us as I threw myself about, showing off every inch of my skin, slick with glittery oil and perspiration. I pushed myself harder than normal. The vacation had wiped me, unsettled me, let me pent up and frustrated and in desperate need of an outlet. Letting my body free up, loosen and perform got me out of my head, gave me the power I needed back.

I hadn’t been on the schedule for tonight, but when I dipped in earlier, antsy and harassed, they’d been all too pleased to make space for me. Going home was not an alternative. Being around my parents, my sister, pretending I was okay in the confines of our house? I couldn’t do it. There was no sightseeing or vacation fog to put distance between us, and I’d seen the way my mom was looking at me, like she was planning to corner me the second the front door slammed behind us.

So, I got a taxi from the airport to the college with the twins, ignoring their jibes and snide remarks for forty-five minutes. Here was where I needed to be. On this stage is what I wanted.

It made fear ripple through me, the heated throws of terror in my veins twisting up, creating something vibrant, sexy… the way horror and horny ran through me together in tandem was what I needed. Craved.

It sickened me. Thrilled me. Power. Fear. Jetlag. I rolled my neck and rocked my hips.

My neon mask stayed firmly in place as I tipped upside down and carried my legs over my head, twisting and landing on my feet with my ass thrust out. I wore a mesh thong and heels, nothing else, every other inch of me on display, bare or painted with that shimmer. The way it sparkled off my piercings was beautiful in the flashing lights.

Grinning, I moved closer to the edge of the stage, letting the audience reach out to paw at my ankles. It was part of the show tonight, the impression they might ‘win’ me. They could win some of the other performers, an hour backstage for a private performance, but not me. But still, I let them believe it for a moment and soaked up the strength it gave me. Another member of staff scooped up the rain of tips as I returned to the shadows.

The ribbon came down as the music dipped, and the audience fell quiet as I slipped my shoes off in the shadows. One sweet bouncer had scrambled to get the ribbon tied to the ceiling when I came in, and I'd tested it, but that little needle of fear in a deep corner of my brain got my heart racing right to my clit. Mmm.

I worked the ribbon around my thigh, using my feet to climb as I did, ascending higher above the stage, the audience. My legs separated with the two dangling ribbons, close to the lights in the ceiling, I let go with my hands and tugged on the strings of my panties, revealing my pierced pussy as the fabric fluttered into the crowd. With only the neon mask still in place, I wrapped the ribbon into a different position, allowing every bit of my body to be on display.

Wolf whistles and whoops sounded as I released the hold, tumbling, spinning and throwing my legs out as wide as possible, so the piercing glimmered in the lights. The rush of air was intense, blurring my vision and intoxicating my mind. The ribbon reached its end, and I slammed into position with my back arched and my head thrown back. I span as the music ended, remaining frozen until the bright lights faded to darkness.

With my heart pounding, I unraveled myself and settled my bare feet onto the cool floor. My blood raced through my body, making my head light and my vision double. But it was blissful, pushed almost too far. As I panted in breaths, I couldn’t help the wide, glowing smile tugging across my lips. I tugged the mask off to get more oxygen and looked up. The crowd couldn’t see me in the shadow, but I saw them. Sinking back into chatting, laughing and flirting. Sweaty and sloppy as they drank into their savings or sank into their depraved fantasies.

This club had separate, private rooms for sex and one-on-one shows, or whatever the patrons wanted. More went on here than in a typical bar or strip club, and I enjoyed the pandemonium of it from the outside. It reminded me of the haunted house, how inhibitions dropped and desires came to the surface.

I turned to leave, to go to the safety of the changing room, but a familiar person caught the corner of my eye. I did a double take, and shock settled over me. Unbelievable.

Luca was here. And from the look on his face, he’d seen everything. Oh my god, if he was here…

He gave his head a little shake at the fear no doubt crossing my features, and my heart skipped, my belly heated. We were like fucking magnets, or attached with an invisible string. How the hell had Luca found me here? How had he found out what I was doing? No one apart from Seren and Avery knew. I laughed, giving up on ever being surprised by Luca, and shrugged, striding off the stage as the next performer hopped up with a nod.

We grinned at each other and gave short words of encouragement, and then their music started, a heavy guitar rock beat that had me wanting to dance. Screw it. I rarely entered the floor after a performance, but tonight, I had no desire to stop being on display. Something shifted, and the sight of Luca had me wanting to piss him off. To show him how desirable I might be to other people, how free I felt in this space. Our promise of distance was an obvious farce. It had been a few hours since we’d touched down and already he was harassing me, in my head.

I was being watched. Luca’s gaze burned into me, stalking me like before. But I danced, tits and pussy out and proud. I swayed to the club music and ignored his presence, whooping and cheering for my co-worker with each piece of clothing she peeled off, revealing more of her curves. Luca wasn’t scaring me like the other times we’d been in a club. He wasn’t angry or fighting anyone, nor chasing me until terror made me loopy. He just watched from the edge of the dance floor, an unreadable expression on his face.

It was only when my feet hurt and my throat parched with thirst that I let my guard down and headed toward the back, slipping into the dark corridor with a sigh.

His hand wrapping around my wrist the second the door closed us into darkness didn’t surprise me, I just smiled, resigned to our fate. I stopped walking, pressed my ass into his front as he pushed me against a wall. We were ruining each other, but there was no stopping it now.

“Oh dear, I’ve been caught,” I murmured with a breathy sigh, squeezing my eyes shut as the sensation of being in his aura flooded over me. I just couldn't stop it, he flowed over me and made me forget every sensible thought I'd ever had.

“You looked fucking sexy up there, Zel,” he said, pressing his nose into my hair. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Jealous?”

He laughed, before running his nose from my shoulder to my neck, breathing me in. He hummed, then with that gravelly voice that was almost laughable now that I knew who was behind it, said, “Did you see how many inappropriate men were watching you tonight?”

“Were you one of them?” I whispered back. The music from the club was loud, but the heavy door blocked a lot out, leaving just the vibration of the bass to course through us. I was drunk off of it, the wooziness of being up for too long, the fatigue of the workout on stage, the hedonism of dancing naked in a crowd… Luca at my rear, his body pressing into me.

His hand came around my throat, squeezed a little.

“You looked too fucking good to resist. Couldn’t let one of them assholes catch you first.”

I laughed. “You going to catch me? Chase me? You want to hunt me through a maze or throw me into a cabana and ruin me?”

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