Page 93 of Collide

Kimmy smiled at me as she returned the bottles to their shelves andthen came to sit next to me. She was a little bit more covered up than the other girls working in the club, her ‘uniform’ consisted of a tight black skirt and light blue shirt that hugged her boobs.

“So, you’ve known Kai a while then?” I said after another few swigs ofmy drink, I knew I should have let it go, but I couldn’t stop the thoughts churning in my head about who Kai had been with, and yeah, I was aware I was beginning to sound like a crazy stalker.

“I’ve not slept with him if that’s what you’re asking,” Kimmy said witha chuckle. “Look, I won’t lie to you, and I’m sure you know Kai isn’t exactly a virgin, besides me, there aren't many other girls he hasn’t been with.” She paused when I snorted into my drink, making her laugh. “But, he hasn’t been with anyone for weeks, Riley. There were rumors he’d met someone, but I don’t think anyone believed it until you walked through that door a few minutes ago. And now, all the girls know those rumors are true because Danny, Hendrix, and Miles would never dream of bringing one of their fuck buddies here.”

I looked around as she was talking and became increasingly awarethat pretty much all of the girls here were casting subtle looks in my direction. Some were a bit more obvious and looked at me like I had three heads, some gave me nervous smiles before looking away, and there were others that looked almost as though they wanted to rip my head off.

“Huh.”

Kimmy laughed again, and as the warmth of the alcohol startedflowing through me, I couldn’t help but laugh with her. She was kind and funny, and I found myself liking her and relaxing even more. It felt good to be out of that damn penthouse.

Kimmy and I spent the next two hours talking about all sorts of shit, itdidn’t seem to bother her that I was dominating all of her time and keeping her from work. The only time she went behind the bar was to make me more Long Island cocktails, and before I knew it, she was sliding my fourth across the bar to me, and I had a nice buzz going on.

Kimmy told me all the gossip about the girls who worked here, howthey were all desperate to be in my position with one of Kai’s golden boys, AKA Hendrix, Miles, and Danny. She pointed out the girls I should avoid, in particular the petite blonde girl who had greeted Danny when we came in, Monica. Apparently, she had itreallybad for Kai, and any time I looked over at her, she was glaring daggers at me.

As the alcohol started giving me a confidence booster, I found myselfwaving at her just to piss her off which Kimmy found hilarious.

Just as I was about to start sipping on my drink, Danny and a smartlydressed man joined us at the bar.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you ladies but I’m afraid I need to borrowKimmy,” the man said. He wore an earpiece so I figured he worked at the club.

“Duty calls, babe. Catch you later.” Kimmy winked at me beforeslipping off her stool and walking away with the man.

“For someone who didn’t want to come, you look like you’re enjoyingyourself, Riles,” Danny teased.

I’d caught him a number of times looking over to make sure I waswhere he expected me to be and I had no doubt that had someone other than Kimmy tried talking to me, he would have been over in a heartbeat.He was holding a bottle of water and now that I thought about it, itoccurred to me that I hadn’t seen him drinking anything but water. Being on Riley duty sucked.

“It’s not so bad.” I shrugged, my words coming out a little bit moreslurred than I’d hoped. Enough for Danny to notice too.

“I think that ought to be your last drink, Riles, Kai will have my balls ifyou get trollied.”

“Yeah well, like I said before, Kai isn’t here so, tough shit.” I stared athim as I sucked more of my drink through my straw, grinning and daring him to stop me. He didn’t of course, but his eyes narrowed in anger.

Oh well.

Catcalls drew my attention to behind Danny and I watched asMonica climbed onto one of the podiums and started gyrating around the pole as a group of men watched on in fascination.

Call me a judgmental bitch, but Monica was a bad dancer. She wassloppy, clinging to the pole as if her life depended on it. She was unnatural and uncomfortable as she pulled herself up into the butterfly position, accidentally slipping down an inch or two before she managed to grip the pole between her thighs.To the untrained eye, no one would have noticed but to someone whohad danced practically every night for the last few years and had grown up with a love for dance, I noticed.

And I was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to show Monica justhow it was done right.

Especially as when she finished her dance and slid down the poleback onto her feet, she looked over at me and smirked, laying down a silent challenge.

I didn’t tend to get drawn into bitchiness, in fact, I actively avoided it.Even when Blaze had been downright nasty, it had taken a long time to push me over the edge.

But with the alcohol swimming through my veins and the smug smirkon Monica’s face that got under my skin, I was more than happy to accept the bitch’s challenge.

I downed the rest of my drink, eyes fixed solely on the pole, and nowI had it in my vision, it was like the rest of the room had faded away and I was being called home. It sounded stupid, but dancing was my life and I hadn’t realized until now how much I was missing it.

I slammed my glass down on the counter and stood up, swayingslightly on my heels. As I took a step forward fully intending to get my ass up on the podium and wipe that smug look off Monica’s face, a strong hand wrapped around my arm, stopping me from going anywhere.

“Don’t even think about it,” Danny, my fucking shadow, grumbled. Itore my eyes away from the pole, and the smirking bitch, and looked at him. He was wearing his menacing look, trying his best to intimidate me.

Well, fuck that.

“One dance,” I told him in my most authoritative voice I could find,however with four cocktails in me, even to my ears it didn’t sound very authoritative.

“No.”

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