Page 26 of Dance for Me

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like having fun at all.” They glanced at each other from the other side of their beer bottles.

Vanessa remembered what Jazz had said about him and Trixie and she suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her chest. The jealously ran deep and he was probably with her the days he wasn’t at the club. No wonder he didn’t have time for anything else. She was his “work”.

He lifted her chin with his fingers, bringing her eyes to his. “You got lost inside yourself like you always do.” He knew her that well already that he could pick up on her body language.

Someone bumped into her from the side, causing her to land straight into Jack’s chest and he steadied her with a hand on her elbow. Jack gave the man a menacing look and the guy who pushed her mumbled sorry, but she paid no attention to him.

Before realizing what just happened, her hand was planted on his solid wall of muscle. It wasn’t enough though. Being that close to him, made her want to feel more of him. So, she ever so slightly traced her fingers on his chest, running them down slowly until she got to his rock-hard abs. Even with the noise of the people and music, she heard the harsh inhale of his breath and he slid his hand from her elbow, back down to her waist. Then, he tightened his grip and jerked her into him, closing any space they had left between each other.

Being pressed up against him, she felt the hardness of his cock. His groin being pressed so close. She couldn’t help it, she wanted to feel him, so she didn’t pull away.

His breathing picked up and she looked away from his mesmerizing body, meeting his stare. Eyes that were hungry and passionate and they screamed, want and need. If she didn’t move away from him, she was going to be tempted to pull him down and kiss his ready for her lips. Maybe even tear off his clothes and fuck him right there. She closed her eyes slowly then when she opened them, she blurted out the oh, so embarrassing words, “I have to pee.”

When she realized that they made it from her brain to the outside of her mouth, she was completely mortified. Wide eyed, she couldn’t believe she said that. But he must have thought it to be funny because his mouth started to curl into a smile or a laugh, she wasn’t sure which one because she escaped his hold and made a bee line for the restroom.

Two women were walking out as she walked in. Rushing by them, she planted her hands on the sides of the sink and leaned forward. “I have to pee?” She repeated to herself.

She shook her head in disbelief and hugged her middle with her arms. She already missed his touch. Missed the warmth that poured out of him. God, she wanted him and she wanted him bad.

She finally summoned up the courage to go back out there. Stopping just outside the restroom, she admired Jack at the bar. She was completely enchanted by him. He must have taken his leather jacket off while she was in the restroom, because his white shirt now made his tanned skin even tanner, his shoulders even larger, and his biceps a work of freaking art. Jack affected her so much that it hurt her down to the core between her aching thighs.

She was just about to start walking back to Jack, when a man stepped out in front of her, blocking her path.

“Uh, excuse me.” Without even looking at his face, she tried to side step out his block, but he mimicked her move.

“Vanessa, I thought that was you.” With the sound of his all too familiar voice, she looked up and a wave of nausea hit her.

“Doug?” She had to really study him or she wouldn’t have believed that he was there, standing directly in front of her, at the same bar. His features hadn’t changed much. Was he still handsome? Sure, but her blood didn’t turn to fire like it did when she looked at Jack.

“It’s been a long time, how have you been?” He tried going in for a hug, but she took a step back. She didn’t want to hug him. There was no reason for the friendly gesture, they weren’t friends, they weren’t even acquaintances anymore at this point.

He dropped his arms to his sides in disappointment. “I didn’t know you hated me that much.”

She could smell the alcohol coming from his breath. She sighed, “Look Doug, I don’t hate you. We just have nothing to say to each other.”

“What, you couldn’t answer the texts I sent you after you dumped me?”

“Doug, please can we not do this here, right now? Actually, can we not do this ever?”

“Ya know, I saw your video,” he sneered. “I wonder… has being a whore now made you into any less of a prude?”

Vanessa didn’t even give herself time to think about what he had just said to her.

Her hand connected with his left cheek, enough to draw attention from the people standing around. Okay, now she hated him.

He was definitely drunk because his eyes were glossed over and they turned evil.

“You bitch.” He started to take a step toward her, but a strong hand gripped around his scrawny neck from behind, throwing him up against the nearest wall. Vanessa stared in shock when she saw it was Jack.

“What the fuck man?” Doug tried to spit out, but his words were mumbled.

Jack had the side of his face pressed against the cement wall. His bicep muscle visibly bulged as his grip tightened. The snake tattoo moved with every muscle that flexed, giving it an illusion as if it were real.

Vanessa shivered at the sound of Jack’s voice. It was deep and terrifying. “Listen to me asshole,” he pushed him further into the wall. Even though, clearly, there wasn’t any more space. “Now, you’re going to walk the fuck out of here or I will personally remove you. Got me?”

Doug’s head violently tried to move into a nod but Jack held him in his Hercules hold.

“What was that?”

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