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“You can.” His chin rested on my shoulder, his mouth an inch from my ear. “And fuck, you were as hypnotizing on this stage as you are on the court. But there’s a reason you did it. What is it?”
My breath caught in my chest when he pushed up against me. He might be suspicious, but the hard-on that was pressed against my ass proved he had other thoughts too. I could work with that to get out of here and still have a chance to do what I’d come here for.
“Did you enjoy watching me, Eli?” I purred, moving my hips to grind against him.
He froze as I continued to move. He had probably expected me to fight and argue with him. But why do that when this worked so much better?
“If you liked me dancing, why’d you stop the show?” I asked, keeping one hand on the pole as I slid down his body.
“Kat.” He sounded like he was an inch away from losing it. “What are you doing?”
“You’re the one who kicked everyone out. And you won’t get your hands off me. I think the bigger question is, what are you doing?”
I was low enough to grab the cuff that was still locked around the pole. My fingers wrapped around the cloth-wrapped chain, and I slowly lifted it with me as I straightened up. I hadn’t stopped moving the entire time, and Eli grasped my hips again once I was standing.
“Jesus, I’m as bad as West,” he muttered under his breath, almost too quietly for me to hear. I grinned until I caught sight of a camera on the ceiling near the stage.
“They’re all off,” he informed me, realizing why I had stiffened. “The video of you dancing will get wiped. Don’t need the families to know what you were up to tonight.”
“And why do you suddenly care about my well-being?” I asked, realizing this made my night a lot easier.
He didn’t answer, and I reached back and gripped his wrist, not slowing down my dancing. Before he could catch on to what I was doing, I brought my other hand back and slapped the cuff over his wrist. I clamped it shut the second he tried ripping his arm away. Lunging forward, I slipped away before he could get a hold of me.
“I swear to fuck,” he hissed, jerking the arm that was now tethered to the pole. “Unlock this, Kat. Now.”
The lust he’d been consumed with had all but faded as rage gleamed in his eyes while he glared at me. My smile grew as I stepped back, making sure I wasn’t close enough for him to grab me.
“Sorry, I don’t have the key.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
I shrugged. “You shouldn’t have kicked everyone out.”
His jaw ticked as he pulled against the cuff. I bit my lip, watching his muscles flex under his T-shirt. If they weren’t real cuffs, they weren’t going to hold him. But as he yanked at them again, my confidence built that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Kat, you better find a way to unlock this,” he warned in a low voice.
“I’ll be sure to call someone once I leave.”
My heels clicked against the stage floor as I walked toward the dressing room. Eli continued to yell at me when I stepped behind the curtain. I had a feeling I was seriously going to regret doing that. I didn’t know if he had his phone on him, and I needed to get out of here in case he called West.
I grabbed my phone out of my bag before digging around for the set of keys I’d stolen from West’s bag yesterday during practice. I was sure he’d realized by now they were missing, but hopefully he thought he’d just misplaced them. I planned to slip them into Eli’s car tomorrow on the way to family dinner.
I strode to the back room, ignoring Eli’s threats bellowing through the club. The first two keys didn’t work, and my heart lurched when the third one slid in. Twisting the key, I opened the door to the room where I’d crashed the meeting a month ago. Flicking on the lights, I went straight behind the bar. There was a small filing cabinet hidden away under it, and I sifted through the keys and found one that was small enough to fit in the keyhole of the filing cabinet.
Surprise filtered through me when it clicked open. West had more access than I thought he would. Technically, we weren’t supposed to help with business until we graduated. But obviously Eli and West were already in deeper than I’d expected.
I slowly looked through the files, making sure I didn’t miss anything important. Most of it was paperwork that had to do with the Blue Lounge. My frustration grew when all I read was bogus legal stuff. None of it was what I needed. I knew this was a long shot. The things I really needed were most likely at the Estate, tucked away in their offices. West had fucked that plan up when he took my skeleton key. I had no way to get into William’s office without it unless I learned how to pick locks.
I didn’t hear Eli anymore, and that caused more anxiety than listening to his angry yells. My heart thudded against my ribs as I took another folder out. I’d only been in here a few minutes, but it felt like much longer.
I scanned the contents of the folder before putting it back and taking out another. My stomach clenched when I read the paper. It was a blueprint for a new business. Not the coffee bar that was being built on campus. It wasn’t even in Braidwood, but a couple of hours away. A warehouse. What did they need that for? I lifted my phone and snapped a picture of it before putting the paper back. For the next few minutes, I continued to look, but there was nothing else important enough to use.
Making sure everything was as it had been before I came, I locked the filing cabinet before shutting the door quietly and locking that too. I opened my bag and shoved the keys under my clothes and then slung it over my shoulder.
“I know you’re still here,” Eli called out, making me rush toward the back door. “Your heels aren’t quiet.”
Ignoring him, I pushed the door and cursed under my breath when it didn’t move. There was no lock I could twist open, only a keyhole. I bit my tongue, debating whether I should use West’s keys. But if I did that, then Eli would know, and it wouldn’t take much for them to realize I had taken West’s keys. I really didn’t want them to figure that out. Their suspicion would only get worse.
