Page 91 of Heart Break Her

“Ooh, oh, oh.” Merry’s singing along to nothing ahead of me. Even if I can barely hear her over the noise of the club, I know whatever she’s screaming isn’t the same as the song that’s currently playing.

When we finally make it to the dance floor, Merry drags us all the way to the middle, stopping when we’re packed in tight with hundreds of bodies. She spins and wraps her arms around me, smiling so big I know she must be wasted.

Which, I’m realizing, I’m not far behind after those two shots. I’m not a heavy drinker, but usually I can hold it together better than this. Maybe it’s the heat, or the thrumming of the music, or the bodies pressing close all around me, but it’s blurry in this club all of a sudden.

“Cassie, dance,” Merry yells in my ear.

I look down and realize I’m standing still, so I start to move. Slow at first, mirroring the sway of Merry’s hips as she slowly picks up speed with the chorus of the song. I hope it doesn’t show that I don’t really know what I’m doing as I swish around. I can’t remember the last time I danced.

In college, I spent too much of my free time studying. I wasn’t the girl who stayed out late at night partying and showed up to class too hungover to take a test.

I behaved.

Always.

As I throw my arms up and dip a little lower, I realize I don’t want to be the good girl anymore, because this version of myself is starting to feel so much better.

Merry slides her hands down my sides and grins, singing along to the lyrics. And so am I. Yelling at the top of my lungs along with everyone else here. Not that anyone can hear me over the music. I might as well be screaming into an empty desert, letting loose in the vastness of it. A wild side I didn’t know was inside me is clawing its way out.

The song changes and the whole dance floor screams like it’s the greatest thing we’ve ever heard. Maybe it is. I’m sure I should recognize the song since my mouth seems to know the lyrics, but the disconnect from all the booze makes my memory fuzzy.

Merry spins around so her ass is grinding against me as she simultaneously grabs onto some guy’s face and starts making out with him on the dance floor. She’s definitely not shy, but there’s still something seriously wild about these drinks because she’s sticking her tongue down his throat like she’s five seconds away from fucking him.

The beat slows down, and it takes my thoughts away with it. My hips are swaying as I look up at the orbs of lights blinking above us. Red bulbs thump with the beat of my heart. My eyes blink, and the room sways in time with my body.

Is it just me, or is the whole room breathing?

“Feeling good?”

A voice comes from somewhere behind me. It’s deep and melts into the sounds of the song as hands slide around my waist. Thick hands pull my back flush against a solid chest. I try to turn my head back but there are so many people in here and the music won’t quit. It’s getting to my head. So I close my eyes and try to feel instead.

“Sebastian?” I say, folding my hands over his, but everything is fuzzy, and I can’t tell what’s familiar and what isn’t.

His hips press his thick erection against the ridge of my ass. “Guess again.”

My eyes fly open, and I spin in his arms, face to face with Gage’s cold dark eyes and white-blond hair. I try to take a step back, but his arms are latched around me.

“I thought you were someone else.” Music blares from the speakers and it’s hard to even hear myself speak.

Gage’s mouth dips to my ear. “Who? Him?”

He pulls back slightly, and his eyes move toward the second level. Sebastian is now standing with his back to the balcony railing and there’s a woman on either side of him. One is laughing at something he said and another brushes her hand over his arm.

“He won’t mind,” Gage says, and I realize he’s once more moved in close enough that his lips are on my ear. “We all share.”

My stomach turns, and I think I’m going to be sick.

“I don’t,” I say.

My words are almost a whisper in this throbbing night club, and I suddenly couldn’t feel more out of place. By pretending I fit in this world, I’ve placed myself at the gates of hell in an itty-bitty dress. Knocking, seeing how much I can tempt the devil before he swallows me whole.

“Come on, baby.” Gage’s hands slide down to my ass, and he pulls me in closer. “Let’s give him a little something to be jealous of; he likes it.”

Gage’s mouth dips to mine so fast I don’t have time to think. But the second his lips connect, a bolt of rage strikes through me. I shove his chest as hard as I possibly can, and finally it’s enough to break him loose and make him stumble.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” I turn around as fast as I can and start pushing through the crowd.

I look for Merry, but she’s been swallowed up in a mass of bodies, so I head for the nearest gap to escape. My eyes move to the second floor, but I don’t see Sebastian’s back against the balcony anymore. Rome has taken his place.

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