Page 25 of Only for the Week
She stares deep into my eyes and licks her lips. “Okay, that’s fair. We have a few minutes. Do you want to come inside?”
Absolutely. But I also want her to be as desperate for me as I am for her, so instead of letting her open her door and guide us inside, I place her legs firmly on the ground and take a step back.
“Nah, like I said I just wanted to see you. I don’t want to mess up your outfit before you have a chance to show it off.”
“What?” Her brows furrow and she tilts her head to try to make sense of what I just said.
“I’ll see you downstairs, J.” I pull her into me for a quick kiss before I turn around and walk back to my room.
Mystical Nightclub is one of the biggest nightclubs in the Tulum area. The bar consumes the entire back wall of the club with about five bartenders on duty. The VIP tables line the perimeter behind the DJ booth and wrap around looking down on the large dance floor. Outside, there’s another bar, another dance floor, and a hookah lounge.
When we walk in, Janelle and the other women capture the attention of everyone. They’re all wearing white outfits, I’m sure coordinated by Amerie, and have an aura about them that says they’re not to be fucked with. I catch a lot of eyes lingering on Janelle, but it doesn’t bother me. You’d have to be blind not to notice how beautiful she is.
I recognize Tiana from earlier, when she runs up to give Eve and Janelle hugs, pulling a tall, dark-skin man along behind her. I turn to see if Christian is bothered but he’s already sizing up the room to find his next target.
A hostess leads us to a VIP table and gives the women glow stick bracelets and the men chains with glow sticks hanging from them. A bottle girl brings out a bottle of Promesa tequila on ice and a bottle of D’Ussé along with glasses. Arnold grabs the bottle of D’Ussé and Amerie grabs the bottle of Promesa. They pour glasses for everyone and hand them out to us before raising their own.
“To a night we’ll never forget to kick off a life we’ll never regret,” Amerie cheers. Everyone cheers with her and takes their shots. My eyes connect with Janelle’s and she never takes her eyes off me as she downs her shot of tequila with no chaser. I smile around my glass as I let the brown liquid burn my throat.
The DJ announces it’s “Blackout Night” at the club tonight, which means that at random points throughout the night, the inside of the club will go completely dark and the only thing you’ll be able to see is the shine of the glow sticks. He then goes back to his playlist and when WizKid and Tem’s “Essence”comes on, Eve drags Janelle and Dani out to the dance floor. Amerie does the same with Arnold, but guides him a little farther away from the other women.
A red light blinks throughout the club three times and then the room is bathed in darkness. A few people shout with excitement and then the DJ starts to play Usher’s “Good Kisser.”I can barely see in front of me so I certainly can’t see anything happening on the dance floor. The only way I’m able to see the glass in my hand is because of the green glow stick hanging from my neck.
He mixes the song with a few Afrobeats. With the lights off, the energy in the room is almost palpable. Everyone is intrigued with what can be done in the dark.
We stay in the dark for a little while longer and then that same red light starts flashing again but this time, I notice it flashes ten times before the lights come back on. I watch as we collectively adjust to the change, even though the lights aren’t bright at all.
Christian, who I never even saw leave our section, comes back with three women in tow. Two of them try talking to Micah and I but we show no interest in them so they turn their efforts back to Christian. Micah pours himself another glass of D’Ussé, and I hold out my glass for him to fill mine as well. “You not interested in Christian’s trappings tonight?” he questions.
“Nah, you know I’m never up for his fuck shit.” I find Janelle in the crowd, whining her hips to the music. Her movements are like water, flowing effortlessly to the beat. Right now, she, Eve, and Dani are all dancing together in a circle, but my focus never leaves Janelle. I’m in a trance only she can free me from, but I hope she consumes me instead.
“Word of advice, bruh. If you’re trying to hide whatever’s going on with you and Janelle, you might not wanna stare at her like she’s your next meal.”
Micah’s words snap me out of the moment. I turn toward him and catch the childlike grin on his face. “What you mean?”
“It’s obvious you two got something going on. How long?”
I rub my hand against my beard. I know Janelle doesn’t want anyone to know, but Micah is the person I’d trust the most with this besides my brother, Jalen. I don’t see a point in lying to him. “It just happened last night. It’s just supposed to be a friends with benefits situation this week.”
“Just for the week? Interesting.”
“Interesting? What’s interesting?”
“Nothing at all.”
I’m not even going to bother trying to decipher his meaning. He sees too much as it is. “You don’t think this shit is crazy? With her being Arnold’s ex and all?”
“It’s no crazier than Arnold ending up with Amerie, and I don’t think the two of them together is crazy at all.” He shrugs.
I nod my head in agreement. Even if I think it’s shady that Arnold ended up with his ex’s sister, it kept Janelle in my life so I can’t be too upset. “Aight, so what about you? Since we exposing shit we’ve noticed and all, I did catch some weird vibes between you and Dani. What’s up?”
At my comment, he turns to watch Dani grinding her ass against some man on the dance floor. “I wish I knew.” He shakes his head and stands. “I’m gonna go hit this hookah. You coming?”
Looking back at Janelle, I take note of the color of the glow sticks on her wrists. Blue. They’re all blue. “I’m good for now.”
“Bet.” Micah heads down the steps and out to the lounge area. Christian is fully engrossed with his three companions, so I head down to the dance floor.
I walk a straight path past Janelle and my hand grazes her lower back as I pass. I can feel her skin prickle beneath my touch. I love how easily my touch affects her.
