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My mind flashed to an evening in Bournemouth…a male body pressed against mine, soft lips meeting—
I shook my head to clear it, meeting Niccolò’s eyes. JJ’s warning echoed in my head. Time to be upfront. “Good, yeah. Different, but I like it.”
His smile morphed into a smug grin, and he dragged our hands down again, lower, then lower, until they were at his waistband. “There’s a biiig difference down here.” He sighed theatrically. “I promised I’d play nice, and there’s a chance that JJ might shank me if I let you touch. But if you want to, there are plenty of dark corners that I’m intimately acquainted with.”
“Uh…”
The grin faded, and he moved my hands to his hips. “We’re just dancing, for now, curious boy. You can tell me later if you want anything more. No pressure.”
I relaxed. It was all good. This was my new experience, and I was going to fucking well love it, even if I had to dance with a hundred different men before I found one that I wanted to take things further with.
I alternated dancing with Niccolò and JJ and his friends, who seemed to be either dancers or models, from what I could make out. None of them sparked an interest, but the night was still young. Now and then, I caught a glimpse of Elliot from across the floor, my gaze tracking his movements every time I saw him. I had to watch out for my best friend, after all. Noah, Liam, and Preston were all with him, but he seemed to be spending a lot of time speaking to and dancing with a guy I didn’t recognise.
A couple of hours after we’d arrived, the music suddenly cut out. A loud siren noise sounded from the speakers, followed by an announcer’s voice, almost drowned out by the shouts and cheers and whistles that filled the club.
“Revolve! It’s time for the Thirst Trap Thursday lap dance challenge! All competitors, make your way to the left of the stage!”
The stage area suddenly lit up, illuminating a guy with a mic standing in front of a row of chairs. I didn’t even get a chance to take it all in because JJ grabbed my arm, spinning me to face him. “Ready for that deep end I mentioned?”
“You signed me up for this, didn’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
I grinned. “Bring it on, baby. Let me show the pro dancer that I’ve got moves too.”
We made our way to the side of the stage, and I realised that out of all the dancers, I was the only one in jeans. Whatever, I was going to win this.
“Feeling confident?” JJ glanced at me as the guy with the mic strode towards us.
“Always.”
When the mic guy reached us, he crouched down at the edge of the stage. “You have five minutes to find yourselves a partner. When you’ve chosen, come up onto the stage and seat your partner on one of the empty chairs. We’ll begin when all the chairs are filled.” He gave a saucy wink, which I swore was aimed at me, before straightening up. “Looking forward to the show.”
“How pissed off would Liam be if I chose him?” JJ’s eyes were bright with mischief.
I smirked, picturing Liam’s face. “Mate, don’t do it. Save yourself from the pain.”
“I won’t really, but I’m tempted to, just to see how he reacts. You gonna choose Nic?”
I shook my head. There was only one person I wanted. The person who was there for me through thick and thin that I could do this with and trust that it wouldn’t get weird. “No. I’m choosing Elliot.”
7
What was happening? One minute, I’d been standing with Curtis, our conversation turning more and more flirty as the night went on, and the next minute, my best friend, who was currently shirtless, had wrapped his hand around my wrist and was pulling me towards the stage.
“Ander! You can’t expect me to go up there!” I hissed, trying to yank my arm free from his grip. It was one thing to be up onstage, but to be up onstage with Ander grinding his hard, gorgeous body against mine…every single person would have a front-row view of the effect he had on me. There was nowhere to hide.
He turned the full force of his hypnotic gaze on me, his eyes going wide and pleading. “E, please. I know JJ thinks that I can’t beat him or I’m gonna pull out of this, but I have to prove him wrong. You’re my best friend, and Ineedyou.”
Bastard. He knew full well that I could never say no to him when he looked at me like that. But then, he wasn’t normally one to take advantage of my weakness.
Only in circumstances when he wanted something badly.
Like the time we were twelve and he’d heard that there was going to be a lunar eclipse, and he’d insisted that we should both set alarms for 3:00 a.m. and sneak out of our houses to take photos of the blood moon. We’d both ended up being grounded for two weeks for that.
Or when he told me he wanted to apply to LSU for his degree, and he’d begged me with his eyes to go with him. “I don’t want to do it without you,” he’d said, and then he’d wrapped me in his arms, and the only thought left in my head was that I’d follow him anywhere. Having said that, he had been fully prepared to give up his dream university had I decided not to go with him. The truth was, he was as incapable of saying no to me as I was to him.
I forced those memories away, raising my brows. “You do remember that JJ works as a dancer, right?”
