Page 11 of Safe and Sound

“Aye, Aye, Captain,” I replied as I headed out of the room. Tapping the button beside the door, the glass tinted, shielding Callum and Caterina and their fucking from prying eyes.

In the adjoining VIP section, I found Eamon, my almost eighteen-year-old brother and a gaggle of his prep school friends along with some slightly older ladies. Since I wasn’t in the mood for their antics, I merely threw my hand up at him as I drowned my vodka.

One of the girls on his lap screeched at the sight of me. “Oh my God. You and your brother could be twins.”

Flashing a cocky smirk that was very much like mine, Eamon replied, “Aye, but I’m the better looking one.”

“At least I’m not a two pump chump with a micro willy,” I shot back with a grin.

As his friends howled with laughter, Eamon raised his middle fingers at me. “I could fuck you under the table, old man.”

With a wink, I replied, “You wish, little boy.”

I left him grumbling under his breath while his friends continued giving him shit. When I got out onto the riser, I groaned at the realization I’d left my vodka bottle in the room with Callum and Caterina. Although I normally enjoyed watching people fuck, Caterina was too much like my sister to get any enjoyment out of it. So, I decided to forego the alcohol and watch people for a minute.

From my perch, I surveyed the crowd. People in different states of dress and in different stages of their highs talked and danced. Others hit some second and third base action in the darker corners.

After losing interest in two girls fingerbanging, my gaze zeroed in on a banging brunette dancing on her own.

With her eyes pinched shut, she appeared lost in her own world. I wondered what it felt like to feel that free in a crowd. Because of who I was, I was always on heightened alert, even if I had bodyguards with me.

But not her.

Besides the aesthetic appreciation of her, my cock couldn’t help enjoying her moves. The slinky sway of her hips, the thrust of her pelvis, and the bounce of her tits. The way she ran her hands over her body with complete abandon. Her barely there little black dress was to die for.

Damn, she was sexy.

After the night I’d had, I needed to get fucked. Being with a woman always grounded me in the present and kept the ghosts of the past at bay. And this siren fit the bill.

I started down the stairs with the singular purpose of getting her in my bed…or at the very least against the wall of my office.

Chapter Two: Ava

As I made my way through the sweat-slickened crowd on the dance floor, the hearty base of the club’s music thrummed through me. Throwing my arms above my head, they moved of their own accord. With my eyes closed, my hips followed the beat, swaying back and forth to the sensual notes.

It had been far too long since I’d allowed myself to stop and feel the music. To absorb the power of lyrics. To allow the chords to strum the strings of my soul.

It had been even longer since I’d been in a club. During my college days, there wasn’t a single weekend I didn’t spend dolled up and dancing. Even after starting my career in finance, I still made it one or two Saturday nights a month.

That all came to a halt at twenty-six when I’d met my now ex-husband. Preston didn’t like doing anything that wasn’t sports related. Needless to say, over the last four years, I’d allowed myself to be dragged to enough stadiums and arenas to last a lifetime.

His refusal to attend clubs with me should’ve been a red flag to dissuade me from marrying him. But being in love had made me stupid.

But not anymore.

Since my divorce had become official this morning, I couldn’t help hearing Mel Gibson’s voice in Braveheart over the loud music. “FREEDOM!” echoed in my mind and more importantly through my heart.

I was free.

It had been six months since I’d caught Preston having an affair. Being cheated on would devastate anyone but finding out it was with an eighteen-year-old student at the high school where he coached was both soul crushing and life-altering. In a town as small as Gloucester where we lived, it meant having your marital issues play out in front of the whole town, not to mention being splashed across the newspapers.

I’d tried ignoring the whispers and stares, but eventually, they became two much to bear. I resorted to becoming a hermit, which wasn’t too hard to do considering I worked at home for an accounting firm. When I did have to venture out, I insulated myself with the strength of my family and friends.

Today was the equivalent of stepping out of a dark tunnel and feeling the warm light of my new future dance along my skin. My freedom from Preston was why I’d allowed myself to be draggedto Boston to go club hopping. The city’s most happening club,Bandia, was our first stop of the evening.

At the feel of a palm on my lower back, I threw a glance over my shoulder where a handsome man flashed me a grin. “Nice moves, sexy,” my best friend, Nick, said.

Cloaked in self-doubt, I asked, “Really?”

---