Page 9 of Easy Out

“How can you know nothing about the girl when she’s braiding hair and painting nails with Sydney every weekend?”

“Why do you care? You into her?”

Enzo shifts his attention to me. “If I was?” Enzo and I have never gone toe to toe over a girl before. Lauren isn’t his type. I know it’s an empty threat. I offer him the same response I did Matt. Indifference.

“I’m not into her.” I find this hard to believe with all the questions he asked Lauren. She’s caught his eye for one reason or another. “Nash, on the other hand,” he throws out casually, yet his words hit me like a bullet to my chest.

The entire warehouse blacks out before I can respond. When the lights pop on again, the girls lingering on the dance floor are gone, Lauren is a ghost in the crowd, and the DJ is calling someone named Killer to the floor.

A tall guy rocking a tank top and jeans hanging low on his hips, struts to the middle of the floor. Church by T-Pain pours out of the sound system. The dude lights the floor on fire with his feet. He’s good.

It takes me a minute to realize it’s the same guy who was in Lauren’s face earlier. Suddenly he’s not as good of a dancer as I initially thought.

As commanding as he is in the middle of the dance floor, Killer isn’t the person who holds me captive. It’s the firecracker in the front row watching him dance with malicious intent.

Lauren is bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to pounce and take him out. Her hands are balled up in tiny fists. I can almost see the steam leaving her ears.

Killer’s time runs out. He exits the floor walking right in front of Lauren. A few words are spoken then he shoulders past her.

Marco passes out another round of beer. Just in time. I down half of mine in one swallow. I need to drown out the urge to follow Lauren like her personal bodyguard. How does someone so small amass the attention of an army of men?

The warehouse blacks out again. This is apparently going to happen every time someone new competes. Great.

Lauren cheers and wolf whistles as a group called The Kings take their marks. The music starts, and Lauren’s body starts moving to the beat.

Leaning lower onto the rail, I discreetly watch Lauren instead of the main act. Taking sips of my beer, I nod and grunt when Wyatt or Nash attempt to make conversation.

Lauren moves on instinct. Her body twists and turns as she gets lost in the pulse of the music. It’s like the music beats right into her veins. It was the same when she was dancing with Syd. I noticed. It was hard not to.

The crowd erupts, and once again, The Warehouse blacks out. The DJ hops on the mic and calls the Newhouse Dance Squad to the floor. Wyatt slaps my arm and asks me if I’m ready for the show. Nope. Don’t care. I doubt the girls will do anything original.

I stay locked in on Lauren in the dark. When the lights pop back on, I rock back on my heels. Lauren’s eyes are blazing back into mine. Her stare is unrelenting. What does she see? Can she see all that I’m hiding?

I don’t move. Not even a tick of my jaw. I won’t be the first to cave from our stand-off. Lauren is hard as stone. Her body doesn’t submit to the power of the music like before. Lauren stays frozen while everyone moves around her. Why? Did she feel my eyes on her the whole time?

“Dude!” Wyatt yells when the lights go out. “I need to get one of those dance team girls on my jock. I don’t even care which one. We should invite them all over tonight. Fuck.”

“No.” I clip back at him.

“Did you just watch the same thing I did?” No, and I didn’t want to. I want nothing to do with girls like that. They all want the same thing. They’re like one long chain of paper dolls. Nothing special about any of them.

“I’m in. Enzo, too,” Marco adds.

“No. Party,” I growl. Wyatt mumbles something about it being his house, too, and he can do what he wants.

The next group is called to the center of the floor. When the room lights up, Lauren is gone. I scan the crowd, but it’s impossible to find her. There are too many people eating up her five-foot-nothing stature.

Damn it.

“You good man?” Nash asks as I push off the railing.

No. I think the brujita just used some voodoo woo-woo shit on my brain because I am far from good right now. Lauren is making me feel something strange in my gut. My whole body is on edge. I don’t do this. I don’t let girls get to me. They are an unnecessary distraction.

“Yeah,” I lie and leave to get another beer from the bar. I’ll stay over here drinking until this shit show is over, or I manage to drown out this weird sensation pulsing through my body for some girl I know nothing about.

“Alright, alright. Next up for the final act tonight, we have LoLo dancing to Look at Me Now. Get your ass on the dance floor, girl!”

Thank fuck. I’m ready to go home. We agreed on the way here that we would leave once the competition is over.

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