Aiden turned back to his ex. “What are you doing here? You know club policy is not to cause a scene with the dancers.”
“I’m not the one causing a scene. I’m having a drink.”
“Why are you having onehere? There are dozens of places that serve drinks between your place and the Fox.”
Mike shrugged, idly pushing his glass back and forth on the bar top.
At that non-answer, something caught fire in Aiden’s chest, kick starting him into action.
“Follow me,” he snapped.
At the order, Mike instantly slid off his stool. Aiden spun on his heel and strode off, Mike following close behind. He walked quickly, not stopping until he reached the hallway to the champagne rooms where dancers gave guests private lap dances.
“I need a room,” Aiden said to the attendant sitting in the little mock ticket booth at the hall’s entrance.
The attendant shook their head. “Glimmer, you know the rules. No personal time in the champagne rooms.”
Aiden normally adhered to the rules of the club without a problem. But tonight, he needed privacy and he needed it now. He pulled a twenty from his boot and slapped it on the counter in front of the attendant.
The attendant looked down at the twenty then up at him. After a moment, they slipped their beringed hand under the plexiglass window and swiped the bill off the counter. The money disappeared into their pocket.
“Room number two. You’ve got the normal amount of time—fifteen minutes,” they said as they buzzed open one of the locked rooms.
“Thank you. And turn off the camera.”
“Camera stays on. No sex in there, Glimmer.”
Aiden whirled back around, yanked another twenty from his boot and slapped that one on the counter too. “Cameraoff.”
This time the twenty disappeared immediately. The booth lights reflected on sparkling jewels as they reached a hand out and flipped a switch on a small black machine. “It’s off.”
“Thank you.”
Aiden flicked a glance to Mike, silently ordering him to follow him again as he went to the room the attendant had opened for them. Mike had barely made it in behind him when Aiden slammed the door shut. He grabbed his ex-lover by the front of his shirt, towing him over to the straight-back chair in the center of the room. Before he made another move, he looked up at the security camera, making sure the red light was off. It was dark, as he’d requested.
“How many drinks did you have?” he asked as he shoved Mike down into the chair.
Mike looked up at him with his eyes wide.
“None. That was plain Coke in my glass.”
“Good. What’s your safeword?”
“Red.”
“Are you using it?”
“No.”
“Then shut up. Don’t speak unless I give you permission and keep your hands on the chair.”
Mike shifted once, reaching down to grab the back legs of the chair. Then, he waited.
In the champagne room, soft, sexy jazz played on loop while dim lights that slowly shifted from red to blue to purple helped set the mood. His back to Mike, Aiden started to dance, letting the music flow through him, taking the edge off the churning energy he’d stormed into the room with. He knew what he wanted to do, but he needed to make sure he wasn’t doing it in anger.
When he spun around to face Mike, the other man was watching him, heavy lidded eyes dragging over his bare chest, down to his thighs and back up to the black thong that cupped his cock. Aiden strolled forward, Mike’s eyes going wide again as he got closer. He stopped in front of him, lifting a foot to put it directly between Mike’s spread thighs on the chair seat. “I’m a fool.”
“You’re not,” Mike replied with a shake of his head.
