Page 14 of Play the Game

Every patron in the club watches her go, despite there being multiple half-dressed strippers around. Two of the women are putting on some type of show with a chastity belt halfway across the room, but even their audience catches a quick glimpse at Scottie in her tiny white lingerie.

She’s a devil disguised as an angel.

I roll my eyes because she is definitely not an angel.

The team piles into cars, and after I make sure no one is driving drunk, I wait a few minutes until the parking lot is nearly empty and head back inside.

I’m calm when I walk into the Cat House for the second time. I give the room a quick sweep and can’t find Scottie anywhere, so I casually head toward the back. Knowing I’m not the smallest guy in the room, I lean against the wall and act like I’m waiting for the bathroom until no one pays me any attention, and that’s when I start opening random doors.

To most, I’d look like a creep trying to get one-on-one time with a stripper. Maybe even a pervert or stalker. But the moment Scottie lays her eyes on me, she knows exactly why I’m here.

“Care to talk?” I ask, not giving her a chance to refuse.

She’s still in her skimpy, white lingerie, but she’s removed the wig, and her blonde locks fall gracefully over her shoulders. I do my best to only touch her delicate wrist and nothing else.I pull her behind me and shove us into the empty room next to the bathroom. I turn my back to the black leather couch in the corner and briefly wonder what it would look like if I held a black light up to it.

If I try hard enough, I bet I can smell the stench of body fluids covering it.

Scottie’s pulse rams beneath my fingers when she looks from the couch and then back to my face. Something flickers behind her eyes, and it pisses me off. How dare she look at me like I’m the one with bad morals?

A gruff chuckle leaves my mouth.

Her swallow is loud enough to echo throughout the room. My grip loosens, and she immediately pulls her wrist out of my grasp. As soon as she backs up, I advance. She hits the door, and I trap her there with a slight turn to my head.

“You look afraid.” I pin her arm above her head. “Worried that your filthy lies are going to come true?”

Scottie’s shoulders straighten, and her mighty chin becomes stronger. The effort she’s putting into her features to act unbothered is sort of…admirable?

I quickly move past the feeling and look at her rising chest. Her soft breasts are rising and falling swiftly, and my eyes travel down past her navel to the curve of her hips.

Why does she have to be so fucking alluring?

She’s undeniably beautiful, and I can’t stand it.

I hear her mouth open, and I snap to attention.

“What do you want?” she rasps.

Ignoring her question completely, because she isn’t in the position to ask one, I take my free hand and place it on her collarbone. A hot swallow works down my throat when I drag my finger down the center of her cleavage, brushing against the frilly lace of her bra.

“I thought the color white was supposed to symbolize innocence.” I cup her waist and press her further against the door. There’s a tug on my other hand from her trapped wrist, but she’s no match to my strength, and she knows it.

“You and I both know that you’re not innocent, huh?” She stares at my teasing smirk, and I finally give in to acknowledging her question, because the longer I’m alone with her in this room with my hands on her warm skin, the more I question my own wants.

“I want you to delete the photo of us.” I bounce my attention between her eyes and wait for her to give me some sort of sign that she isn’t just another untrustworthy woman who wants to ruin my life for the fun of it.

“I did.” She says it with a little edge to her voice, and it triggers me.

I lean in closer and ignore the scent of her sweet perfume. Her cute little nose scrunches when I sigh agitatedly. I give her torso a little squeeze, and something wild blooms in her blue eyes. “And you expect me to believe you, Scottie?”

When her free hand grips my wrist, it’s a swift punch to my gut. Her palm is so small she can’t even wrap her fingers around it, but nonetheless, I feel fucking trapped. Scottie tips her chin with confidence, and I can’t stop staring at her glistening red lips. “You have no choice but to believe me...” I get a quick peek of her white teeth when she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth before she frees it with apop.“Olson.”

She’s fucking with my head, and I don’t like it.

With her head still lifted like a defiant little brat, I quickly free her arm and trap her chin with a firm grasp. She tries to pull away from me but fails. I peer down at her, and our mouths are so close I taste her on my tongue. “If I see that photo circling around somewhere, I’ll know where it came from.” I pause to getmy bearings because if I move even a centimeter, my mouth will be on hers. “And you’ll regret posting it.”

I step away a moment later, and Scottie exhales, like she’s been holding her breath the entire time I’ve had her pinned. She quickly moves out of my way, and I grip the door handle with so much force the wood creaks.

Before I make it through the threshold, I hesitate.

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