Page 58 of Casino King

“Thank you,” I say shyly, not even knowing what I did out there.

“Alright, go change for your dance with Jeremy. No changing anything there. You have a partner.”

“Of course,” I assure him, hurrying off to the makeshift dressing area that was made for us behind the DJ’s both with a few well-placed black curtains.

Shit. My dance with Jeremy.

Alec is not going to like that.

Dan has had us paired in practices for the past few weeks to see if we’d be a good addition to the show, and during rehearsals on Wednesday, he told us we’d be added to the lineup in next Friday’s show. But today when we arrived, he said tonight would be good practice in front of a crowd before we debuted. I hadn’t even given much thought to what Alec would think when we performed before this moment, but now I’m worried.

Our dance is definitely on the sexier side, but I’ve been okay with it since I know Jeremy isn’t at all interested in having sex with me. I think his boyfriend would have an issue with it if he were. But Alec doesn’t know Jeremy. He’s going to see us on stage and think that it’s all just foreplay and borderline cheating.

Fuck.

He’s going to kill Jeremy.

It’s too late now to do anything about it, or warn Alec somehow since we all had our phones confiscated when we arrived for privacy’s sake. This party is meant to stay in this room.

Changing into another new-to-me costume, I re-curl a few pieces of hair that have fallen flat and touch up my makeup to make it more sensual and smokey. Swiping on blood red lipstick, I stand in front of the mirror and make sure everything is in place.

Jeremy comes up next to me and catcall whistles. Laughing, I slap his chest and adjust my boobs. The black-on-black jewel encrusted bra I’m wearing has extended straps at the bottom that crisscross down and around my waistline with some good padding that pushes the girls up. The matching high-waisted cheeky briefs show quite a bit of ass as well, and as I turn this way and that in the mirror, my heart rate kicks up. I know Alec isn’t going to like this.

“You look hot. Don’t worry, Tessa,” Jeremy assures me.

“I’m not worried,” I lie, and he gives me a look. “Fine,” I sigh, “there’s someone here tonight that isn’t going to like seeing our performance.”

“What?” He smiles wide, his whole face lighting up. “A man? You have a man? How come you haven’t told me? And he’s here?” His eyes widen a fraction before he composes himself again. “The men here tonight…they’re all…” I know what he’s trying to say. They’re not regular people. They’re the men who rule over their empires us normal people have no idea even exist.

“I know,” I finish for him. “And he’s really not going to like us dancing together. I already saw his face when he realized I was even here.”

“He didn’t know?”

“No. All I knew was that we were booked for a special event, and he’s been really busy this week. Shit,” I groan, rolling my neck around to loosen my suddenly tight muscles.

“You need to relax, Tessa. We’re going to dance. He’s going to watch. What’s the worst that can happen? He can’t storm the stage and take you away,” Jeremy says, rolling his eyes. Little does he know, that’s exactly what I think Alec will do. Especially because Jeremy is only wearing loose black pants and that’s it. He has a lot of muscles and skin on display that I’m going to be all over in a few minutes.

“Yeah. You’re right,” I tell him, bending to tie my black pointe shoes. I don’t want to put my worries of a highly probable scenario onto him.

“I know,” he gloats. “Now, let’s get your fine ass over to the stage so we can make the audience wish they were us.” He blows me a kiss and I laugh, some of my worry fading for the moment.

I can’t let Alec make me doubt myself or make me doubt what I’m about to do. Jeremy and I have an amazing routine together, and I know the people watching us tonight really will wish they were us. Or wish they could join us on stage.

The lights over the stage go dark, and that’s our cue. Taking my hand, Jeremy walks us out to center stage, and we stand face-to-face with my back to the audience. He loops his arms around my hips, gripping my ass.

I really hope Alec doesn’t kill us.

We remain in the dark as the beginning of the song plays, the guitar’s bass low and vibrating, preparing the room for us. The volume steadily increases until the lights flash on and the lyrics start.

Jeremy grips me harder to support me as my body bends backward in a sweeping motion, my hair brushing the floor before I’m snapped back up against him, the guitar and drums thrumming through me.

Lifting my leg to hook around his hip, Jeremy drags me across the stage, spinning me around before I hook my other leg up so I’m straddling him and repeat the same back bending sweep. The audience starts yelling all sorts of dirty expletives at us, but I push them away as the electric guitar vibrates through my blood.

This song is perfect. It’s dirty rock and roll at its finest, adding a little energy to our performance to get everyone’s blood pumping.

Holding on tight around his shoulders, I swing my legs out and around and Jeremy catches them, swinging me around his body like I weigh nothing at all and then placing me down in front of him where he pushes me away and I spin out on my toes fast and tight.

I do a slow walk back to him up on pointe, circling him, assessing him like he’s my prey. Jeremy catches my hand after my first pass and twirls me, lifting me off my feet.

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