Page 94 of Collide

“Oh come on, that little bitch was shit on the pole, just let me showher how to do it properly,” I whined and tried to yank my arm away, but Danny was having none of it.

“Not a fucking chance, Riley, if Kai knew you were gyrating around apole, he’d kill us both and I don’t know about you, but I quite like my life.”

Danny pulled me away from the bar but not before I caught Monica’ssmug grin turn into a beaming smile which made me want to stomp over and wipe it off her face.

Drunk Riley could be a feisty little cow sometimes.

“I won’t tell him if you don’t.” I winked at Danny, or at least I tried, Imay have just looked like I was having a fit or something. Those iced teas really were quite strong.

“Jesus Christ, you’re going to be the death of me,” he replied, swipinghis hand down his face in frustration. “I’ll make a deal with you, no pole dancing but in exchange, I’ll give you a tour of the club.”

Now that seemed like an intriguing idea.

Sapphire wastheplace to be and attracted the rich and famous fromall over, so yeah, having a look around definitely piqued my interest.

“Fine,” I deadpanned, letting Danny think he had won when secretly Iwas quite pleased to be going for a look around.But Danny saw right through me. He shook his head and laughed.

“Come on, you little troublemaker. But don’t leave my side, understood?”

“Yes, Sir!” I saluted him, earning me an eye roll.

He let go of my arm and instead took my hand, leading me to a doorat the other end of the club from where we had come through earlier. I hadn’t noticed until now but the four security guards who had escorted us here were all standing by the door and as Danny approached, they all stood to attention.

“You two with me,” he said pointing to two of them who immediatelynodded. “You two,” he pointed to the other two, “I want eyes on us at all times.”

They mumbled their, ‘Yes Sirs,’before Danny pushed the door openand led me through with the two goons falling behind us.

“Bit of an overkill isn't it?” I giggled. Now I was on my feet, thealcohol was swimming nicely around my body making me feel somewhat lightheaded and a little bit giddy.

Not that I would have said it out loud, but maybe it was a good idea Ididn’t swing around a pole after drinking as much as I had.

“It’ll never be an overkill when it comes to your safety,” Danny repliedseriously as he typed something into his phone and then put it away.

Fucking hell, he was beginning to sound like Kai now.

Danny led me down a set of stairs and as we got closer to thebottom, the music grew louder, and the thumping of the bass settled once again in my chest. He opened a door and walked straight out into the heart of the club.Immediately, we were surrounded by hundreds of partiers, alldancing, drinking, and shouting to be heard over the thumping music. The atmosphere was pumping, and the live DJ was riling the crowds up, preparing them for a famous R 'n' B group that would soon be on stage. The two goons who Danny had brought down with us stayed behind us and Danny’s grip on my hand tightened.

“Well as you can see, this is the main club,” he shouted to me, Icould just about hear him over the noise.

My eyes darted everywhere, taking in the club. Other than Club Sin,I’d never set foot in a nightclub before, I’d never had the money to spare and after dancing six nights a week, the last thing I wanted to do was go to a nightclub.

But this, this was incredible.The whole atmosphere was different from Club Sin, there were noseedy little men sitting in dark corners nutting one out over the naked girls.Groups of friends danced together, couples gyrated against eachother, and bottles of champagne were passed around as if they only cost the price of a bottle of water. Huge cages hung from the ceiling with men and women inside dancing in scantily clad outfits.The room lit up when one of the dancers inside a cage twirled a batonthat had flames on either side. Ilovedthe place, and it was already in the back of my mind to ask Kai if we could come back again. It was easy to see why this place was as popular as it was.

“Come on, I’ll show you the champagne bar,” Danny yelled andstarted tugging me towards a tunnel that led out of this part of the club.

“Champagne bar,” I repeated stupidly but with a grin on my face. Since having sampled some of the finest champagne money couldbuy, I had acquired a taste for it, and now Danny had mentioned a bar dedicated to champagne, yep I was up for a visit to that bar.

The tunnel Danny led me down was dark but the strobe lighting fromthe main club cast some light into it, and with the mirrors on either side reflecting it, it was bright enough to make out the faces of people passing through the tunnel.

As we walked through, a man walking towards me knocked into myarm as he side-stepped a couple who were grinding against each other. I turned around to apologize, not because I had knocked into him, but you know, that was the polite thing to do, and as I turned, so did he.

“Sorry,” the man said and recognition instantly dawned on me.“Toby?” I gasped, not believing my eyes.

The man looked at me for a second, not recognizing who I wasbefore the penny dropped.

“Riley, is that you, babe?” he said curiously, and before I knew it, Ihad tugged my hand out of Danny’s and had run into Toby’s arms, a huge grin on my face at seeing my old friend.His arms snaked around my lower back and he pulled me firmlyagainst his chest.

The boy who had taken Angel and me under his wing when we firstlived in Hollows Bay looked so different from the last time I had seen him. Then, he had been a scrawny kid in need of a good meal. But now, well he had obviously been putting in someserioustime in the gym given how much he had bulked up and how solid he felt under my arms.

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