Page 3 of Surviving the Merge
“Uh-huh,” he responded as he cleared the room.
I stood there watching the curtain swing from his departure, not enjoying the flutter of regret and a different type of loneliness that churned in my gut. I pushed it down, exiting behind him.
One large square space made up the club level, with a circular stage in the center. Several poles were positioned along it, so multiple dancers could be on at once.
Center stage, on a raised dais, stood a pole for the dancers in high demand. The only pole I worked. Along the edges of the room were small, sheer, curtained-off alcoves where paying customers could have a meager semblance of privacy. Legally, a lap dance was as hot as things could get.
I whispered in the DJ’s ear, then made my way languidly to my spotlit position just as the music changed.
The lights strobed, and the music pulsed through the club like a heartbeat. The deep bass tempo escorted me right where I needed to be.
Time passed and not unnoticed, and my body now loose and slicked with sweat from my efforts, clung to the twenty-foot pole like a second skin. I’d reached the top, arms above me gripping the warmed steel, descending into a split, when the hairs prickled at the back of my neck.
He’s here…
I could feel his eyes on me as I danced. I’d been dancing for the last half-hour, awaiting his arrival, and was beginning to think he wouldn’t show. That maybe, he’d finally had enough. But no, he was here andseething.
His fury brushed against my skin like a lover’s kiss. It made me want to both fall to my knees before him in supplication and refuse to submit in defiance of his audacity.
A touch of anxiety ran through me as I maneuvered my way down the pole. The spotlight forgotten, the loud music a distant hum. My sole focus:him.
Lowering my legs and taking several deep breaths to get my nerves under control, I continued on with my set.
What’s in store for me tonight?I wondered as my gaze made a subtle circuit around the room. In search of my monster. I spotted him by the back of the bar, partly hidden by the shadowed corner he occupied. He stood there watching me dance for the crowd that had gathered around the stage to rid themselves of their hard-earned cash. Green blanketed the floor beneath me.
His obsidian eyes glowed in the dark with a barely banked hunger, betraying his need for me. I should’ve ended my set right then and there. Hopped offstage and made my way to him obediently. That’s what he would’ve wanted.But where’s the danger in that?As if I needed him any more dangerous. I allowed only one more rebellious minute to pass, and then with a weary sigh, I climbed off, to the disappointed cries of the crowd. Leaving the unneeded currency behind.
Private rooms filled the lower levels, where one could pay for the type of debauchery that couldn’t be had upstairs. As the club’s most popular dancer, I negotiated a room to be permanently reserved for me. I walked that way now, sensing he’d had enough of my games.
A tingling up my spine and a heat washing over my skin were only a few sensations that served to alert me of his nearness. Making me feel both hunted and captured at the same time.
Entering the spartan room, I flinched when the door slammed shut, cutting us off from the rest of the club. I braced myself for his rage before pivoting around to face him.
“Where the fuck have you been?” he asked, narrowly holding onto his control.
One wrong move, one word misspoken by me was all it would’ve taken for him to grant himself permission to let go. That’s what he was after.
Though considered tall myself, Damon towered over me by more than a few inches. His body composed of pure muscle. Part of the allure was knowing he could overtake me.
“Hello, Damon,” I said with feigned indifference.
Stepping closer than the space between us allowed for, black eyes bore into mine.
“Don’t fuck with me. Not right now,” he squeezed through gritted teeth.
I gave up the act. “We can’t keep doing this, Damon. Meeting here like this. We have to find a way to fix things. It doesn’t have to be this or nothing. Please say that you believe that?” Did I pick the wrong time to do the right thing? To be rational with him? If I had to go by the look on his face, then yes, I did.
“You. Are. Mine!”
Damon seized me by the throat, shoving me against the wall. Out of reflex, I grabbed hold of his forearms, but I had no plans to resist.
“You won’t do anything that could potentially keep us apart. I’ll burn everything down before that happens.” He cocked his head to the side, and his dark, penetrating gaze exposed me for what I truly was. “You need this as much as I do,” he said. “We both have an affliction. Your sickness finds kinship with mine.”
He knewme well. I couldn’t hold his stare.
“He’ll never be enough for you,” he promised.
His words caused a wet spot to form at the front of my flimsy underwear. But as turned-on as his possessiveness made me, I couldn’t help but to defend my husband in some way. “I love Blake, Damon,” I said with a type of calm defiance. The fire in my eyes reflected off his.
