Page 28 of Fox
“You want my hair?” Wow, that has to be the least sexy snort laugh I’ve ever heard. Seriously, it’s terrible, and yet, I feel a small smile trying to pull at the corner of my mouth that I have to resist.
“No, you silly goose!” Silly what? I can’t handle this woman, and I’m three seconds from tossing her over my shoulder and taking her to my truck. “I want to dance! But my hair is getting messy!” She pushes her bottom lip into a pout while her blue eyes go wide and round.Jesus Christ, she has to stop making that face.Letting out an annoyed breath, I reach into the pocket of my jeans and pull out a hair tie. She attempts to grab it, but her depth perception is off, and she nearly falls off the stool. Shaking my head in disapproval, I walk behind her and run my fingers through her thick mane. I’m not too fond of her straight hair; it looks fake. In fact, most of the Janie I know isn’t here tonight. Her eyes are different, and this makeup is apparently sweat-proof because no freckles are showing, and her pretty curls are gone. It’s fucking annoying the piss out of me that those things are gone, and even more, that I miss them. I pull her hair back into my hand, smoothing the flyaways on her neck up and…Oh, that’s an interesting development.I watch goosebumps erupt down her arms, and holy shit, was that a moan? She must realize what she’s done because she goes stiff and looks around. I’m smart enough to play it cool and act like I heard nothing.
I finish her ponytail and lean over, my mouth right next to her ear, whispering, “I don’t think you need to be on the dance floor right now, Torch.” She shudders, and I watch her hand clench in her lap. “What are you doing?” I chuckle as I face her, gesturing to her hands.
“You gave me a lady boner, you butthole,” she slurs.
A what?
“I wanna dance!” she whines as she stands up.
“Dance with me?” She pouts and gives me big round eyes that I’m guessing get her way all the time. Not me, though. I’m immune to “Jai”.
“Not even if there was a meteor heading straight for us and the only way to save all mankind was to dance.”
She stares at me silently for a long moment before shaking her head. “Okay, a simple no would have sufficed.”
“No.” I shrug, sipping my water while watching her head out to the crowded dance floor. I grimace, not liking the idea of her being out there alone. I’m about to yell at Ash and At to follow her, but Ren is already on her way out there. The girls reconnect and start dancing together on the packed dance floor.
“Ughhh…” Atlas groans while resting his head on my shoulder. “I would pay a thousand dollars to have Ren dance with me like that.”
Shoving him off, I continue to watch the girls as they sway to the music. God, Janie is a terrible dancer. I mean, she’s giving it her all. She’s dancing with all the passion in her tiny body but has zero moves.
“So get off me and go ask her to dance,” I grumble as a man catches my eye. His gaze locks on the girls as he walks through the crowd.
“Right, because she would be interested in—Where are you going?” Atlas asks as I head toward the dance floor. At the same time, the man gets into Ren and Janie’s space. I hear Atlas and Ash follow me as everyone moves out of our way, giving us a clear path to the girls.
We reach them just as Ren shoves the man’s chest to try to get him to let go of Janie’s wrist. I feel my blood beginning to boil at the sight of him touching her, and I’m no longer sure if it’s the beat from the music or my pulse I hear pounding in my head.
“Get the fuck out of here, blondie. I ain’t a chubby chaser.” He sneers before looking back at Janie. “And you don’t say no to me, you—” The man stops his threat when his eyes meet mine. The color drains from his face, and his eyes widen, causing Janie to look over her shoulder to spot the guys and me. All I see is red.I want to rip that hand he’s using to grip her small wrist off his stupid body.
When I step forward, I can see the grip on her wrist is tight enough that I’ll bet it leaves a mark, and for whatever reason, I feel like that’s my green light. Before anyone registers what I’m doing, I grip the asshole’s hand, digging my fingers in as deep as possible before twisting his wrist, making him release Janie. The guy falls to his knees, and I continue to twist until his wrist makes a deliciouspop, and he lets out a loud cry.
Grabbing the crying man by his shirt, I pull him up so we are at eye level. Before snarling in his weeping face. “Who in the fuck are you to lay a finger on her? Touch her again, and I’ll break your fucking face.”
“H-Hey, man. I’m sorry!” The man cries. “P-Please! I didn’t know she was taken!”
Grabbing him roughly by the back of the head, I ignore the greasiness I feel in his hair and jerk him to face Ren and Janie. “Apologize,” I growl out, rolling my eyes when he starts blubbering his apology to me. Gripping him by the throat, I pull him to my face. “Not to me, you fucking moron. Apologize to them. Now.” I snap, motioning my head toward Ren and Janie.
The man nervously looks over at them with his pleading eyes and wobbly lip as he begins to cry. “Ladies, I am so sorry.” He manages to get out between his shaking sobs. I feel a soft hand on my bicep and look down to see a greenish-looking Janie.Oh fuck.
“Fox, I don’t feel good,” she whimpers while motioning to go to the exit. For a moment, I think about staying and killing this shit stain first, but I can tell she’s about to hurl. So instead, I drop the man, rougher than necessary, before placing my hand on Janie’s overly heated bare back and leading her up the stairs and out the door.
As soon as we walk out of the nightclub, and the cool night air hits her, I watch Janie go completely green and hear the gag as she manages out, “I’m going to be sick.” While staggering into the alley right before vomiting on the ground. Ireallydon’t want to do it, but I take one last fresh breath before going into the alley. I place my arm around her waist, resting my hand on her hip to hold her steady while using the other to pull her ponytail away from the line of fire. She lets out a small whine before another wave hits her.
“It’s okay,” I say softly while running my thumb over her hip, trying to soothe her as she continues to hang over my forearm and vomit harder than I think I’ve ever witnessed someone vomiting.
“Fuck… my birthday.” She gags before standing up too fast and nearly falling. I scoop her up, bringing her to my chest, and she groans.
“I have barf breath,” she cries as I walk toward the parking lot, praying At, Ash, and Ren are already there.
“Yeah, it’s on your dress, too. What’s your point?” I ask, trying to breathe through my mouth—it’s not helping; now I taste it, and that’s substantially worse.
“Oh my god!” She buries her faceand her vomit-covered dressinto my chest. “I’m so embarrassed. You’ll never let me live this down, are you?”
“Eh, the puking thing happens to the best of us, but Torch, sweetheart, it’s whatever those moves were on the dance floor that I’m never going to let you forget.” She begins shaking as she laughs into my chest, and I’m amazed at how it completely relaxes me.Sherelaxes me. I don’t know how or when that happened, and I need it to stop, but even though I know I should do something to piss her off and push her away, I hold her closer to me as I walk up to my drunk friends who are laying all over my truck.
I put her in the backseat with Ren while Atlas and Ash cram upfront with me, and we take off to my house, where I’m sure we are all going to be in for a very long night.
