Page 79 of Inevitable Inheritance

“I’m so sorry, Derrick,” Marty yelled back. It was completely obvious to Derrick that she was drunk. She was weaving, but she was also terrified. “She wanted to relax, said you told her to.”

Derrick mentally slapped himself. “She had already had champagne when I got there, and we had some more, and she said she wanted to go dancing, so we came, and got some more drinks and—”

“Where the fuck is she, Marty?”

Marty bit her bottom lip and reluctantly, with complete apprehension, slowly pointed to the main stage.

Derrick looked over to the front of the club and saw professional salsa dancers whirling, grinding, and grooving in a mesmerizing choreography to a club song. The woman’s long blonde hair …

Oh fuck.

Taylor was the female dancer. She moved seamlessly to her male counterpart’s rhythm, and they looked like they had been rehearsing the dance for months. Her dress was short, too short, barely covering her ass short, and it was strapless. It hugged her tighter than cellophane on supermarket steak. It had glittering fringe all over the bodice that bounced and shook with her every move.

Derrick was open-mouthed and turned back to his sister, wide-eyed and deranged.

“She’s really good,” Marty offered. “Where did she learn?” she asked but jerked back as Derrick pinned her with a look.

Derrick turned to Rog. “Take her home. Get her to bed,” he shouted at the formidable man. Rog jerked a nod, but then Derrick stopped him again before he moved. “Where is Taylor’s security?”

A glimmer of discomfort flitted across Rog’s face. He leaned into Derrick and explained, “She dismissed him when he told her she couldn’t go dancing up there.”

Derrick’s rage and mix of emotions was palpable. His nostrils flared as he struggled for air to calm himself.

“Go,” he said, and Rog had Marty by the arm, stirring her to the exit before the one syllable word was even finished.

With his sister safe, Derrick tore across the VIP section to a staircase that led him down to the main floor, propelling himself to the front of the club and the stage. When he arrived at the stairs, security tried to stop him. But they took one look at him and stepped back; they all but rolled out the red carpet for him to ascend.

Before Derrick took a step, he spotted Henry off to the side of the stage, a strained expression on his face as he kept eyes on Taylor.

So maybe the guy wasn’t all bad; at least he still had her in sight.

Derrick made his way to Henry, who jerked when he spotted him coming. It didn’t surprise Derrick. He also felt electric right now, ready to explode.

“Go to the back VIP exit,” Derrick shouted to the other man. “My car is there, and I want a clear shot to get her in the car.”

Henry didn’t argue; he just gave a curt nod and was gone.

Derrick then focused on Taylor. She looked hot, both temperature-wise and just all-out sexy. Her face was flushed, and she was smiling widely as she effortlessly kept up with the moves.

She certainly didn’t seem tense; that was for sure.

Derrick then noticed flashes and looked over to see an abundance of smartphones and professional cameras trained on Taylor. The hangover was going to be the least of her worries in the morning when she saw the photos they had.

Suddenly, Taylor was sent into a spiraling spin across the floor, and Derrick lunged onto the stage to intercept her.

Taylor leaned back and looked up to see where she had landed, complete confusion all over her face. When she recognized Derrick, the huge smile returned.

“Hi, baby!” she squealed, apparently tickled by Derrick’s presence.

Oh, she was most definitely drunk.

“Let’s go,” Derrick said into her ear, desperately trying to not return the smile, but it was hard. She looked so carefree. No stress, no tension, no falsity, and to top it all off she was ecstatic to see him.

But the smile slid off her face as she processed what Derrick was saying. “No way! I am having so much fun! Come meet my friends!” she said, smiling again and trying to tug Derrick further onto the stage.

It had not escaped Derrick’s mind that they were far enough on stage to be captured on film by some of the patrons. She was going to be bullshit tomorrow because this was going to be all over the news for sure. He needed to get her out of here and do damage control pronto.

“Taylor, let’s go,” he said, louder this time, trying to sound stern.

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