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Best friends. I wanted us to take the next step so badly, to be able to call him my boyfriend, to tell him that I loved him. But now that I’d had a small taste of what it might be like for us to be together, I was so scared of him deciding that it was all too much. He’d said he liked me, and it was obvious that he was attracted to me, but I had to be realistic. Ander didn’t do serious relationships, and despite what he said, I still couldn’t help feeling like when he’d satisfied his curiosity about being with men, he’d back away from me. And I’d be devastated.
I knew that heartbreak was coming, but it wasn’t enough to make me pull back all the way. I’d take what he wanted to give me, and then when it was all over, I’d…I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
Pasting a smile on my face, because right now, Ander needed cheering up, I said, “As part of my best friend duties, I’m going to make sure that you kick ass on this assignment, and Dr. Wilder will be so impressed he’ll actually give you a compliment.”
Ander raised his head, huffing out a laugh. “Miracles don’t happen when it comes to him.” Leaning forwards, he surprised me with a soft brush of his lips over my cheek before releasing me. “Come on. Let’s get this assignment over with.”
My smile melted into a genuine one as I followed him into the library. Maybe what I wanted wasn’t so hopeless after all. Miracles didn’t happen when it came to Dr. Wilder, but maybe they’d happen when it came to me.
* * *
“I think I caught a hint of a smile.” Ander burst out of the faculty building with a grin on his face. “He said, ‘Why couldn’t you have written it like this in the first place?’ which I’m taking to mean that he was impressed with my work.”
“I knew you’d do it.” I returned his smile, falling into step with him as we took the path through the centre of the grassy quad. “You hadn’t even written it that badly last time. I think he was just looking for an excuse to make you do some extra work because he’s sadistic like that.”
“Yep. Total sadist.” Ander nodded. Tugging his phone from his pocket, he glanced down at the screen, his brows pulled together in thought. “E? Do you wanna go to Sanctuary tonight? Where JJ works? He wants to show off his new routine, and he’s on the pole tonight too.”
“I guess so. As long as we don’t drink too much—I’ve got a 9:00 a.m. lecture tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’ve got to be at the gym early tomorrow anyway, so I won’t be drinking much.” He groaned. “We sound so responsible. Fuck. Are we getting boring?”
“Maybe we are.” Our eyes met, and the look of horror on his face made me laugh. “Okay, look. We’re young. We can deal with workouts and lectures with a hangover. We just have to make sure we line our stomachs before we go out.”
Ander threw his arm around me, planting a loud kiss on the side of my head. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”
Warmth spread through me, and even though I knew that he meant he loved me as a friend, at that moment, it didn’t matter. To have a best friend like Ander… It was everything.
26
“Looking sexy, Mr. Clarke.” I looked Elliot up and down, appreciating his outfit of tight, midnight-blue jeans and a sheer black sleeveless T-shirt that clung to his torso, similar to the one that he’d worn to Revolve. He’d looked hot as fuck then, and he looked even hotter now. How was that even possible?
After handing my coat over to the attendant, I turned back to Elliot. “Ready?”
He nodded, his eyes sparkling, with that little flush on his cheekbones that I was starting to develop a bit of a fetish for. I loved seeing the physical evidence of what my words did to him.
Placing my hand on his back, I steered him into the cavernous interior of Sanctuary, decorated in shades of black and midnight blue, with burnished gold embellishments. As guests of JJ, we were allowed into the VIP area, which was a mezzanine level accessed by a set of glass stairs. After stating our names and flashing our IDs, the security guy unclipped the rope marking the stairs as out of bounds and waved us through. We ascended the stairs to the mezzanine level, where Elliot suddenly stopped dead, and I had to grab the handrail on the glass balcony to avoid running into his back.
“What’s wrong?” I hissed into his ear.
“Are you sure this is the right place? It’s all secluded booths. No dancers. Look at those people there—they look like they’re having a business meeting.” He subtly indicated his head towards the central booth. I followed his gaze to where four people sat in serious conversation. There were three guys, all dressed in business suits, and a woman with blue hair twisted into a bun, an iPad in front of her that she was tapping on. When the guy on the right raised his head and his golden eyes met mine, chills went down my spine, and not in a good way.
I blinked, returning my gaze to Elliot. “Uh, I think so.” Pulling my phone from my pocket, I checked JJ’s text again. “Yeah, see. He said to come up the glass stairs to the VIP area, and…oh, yeah. We need to go through this bit. There should be a black curtain at the far side, leading to another room.”
Elliot visibly relaxed. “Good. Let’s go.” He made a beeline for the far side of the VIP area, speed walking to get there as quickly as possible, which made me smile. He was so fucking cute. Also, his ass and legs in those jeans…mmm. I liked the view. Very much.
I caught up with Elliot as he reached the curtain, our route blocked by an intimidating-looking bouncer. Turning on my charm, I gave him a wide smile. “We’re guests of JJ. He’s expecting us.”
The bouncer looked me up and down, blank-faced, taking in my attire. JJ had said to dress smart, so I was wearing my nicest pair of black jeans, paired with a navy shirt that I’d unbuttoned the top few buttons of and rolled up the sleeves.
“Ander,” the bouncer stated and then turned to Elliot. “Elliot.”
“Correct.” My smile widened. “It seems that my reputation precedes me.”
The bouncer almost cracked a smile at that, I could tell, because his mouth twitched. Stepping aside and pulling back the curtain, he indicated for us to walk through.
Down a short corridor was another room. This one was entirely black with sparkling floors and a mirrored wall, in front of which was a small stage and a pole. There were booths similar to those in the VIP area, but these had heavy curtains that could be pulled across the opening for privacy. Dancers performed for patrons in some of the open booths, and I assumed that there were more private dances happening behind the closed curtains. There was another door leading out of the room, and I wondered if it led to even more private places. A stunning woman in a silver G-string was writhing on the pole, her long blonde hair cascading down her back.Honey Rose. Once, it was my life’s ambition to get a lap dance from her. Standing here now with Elliot, though, I found that I wasn’t interested. Not even a bit. It was fucking weird, to tell the truth, because she was hot like lava. Or the sun. More evidence that I was getting in way too deep with my best friend because right now, he was all that I saw.
“Wow. I didn’t picture JJ’s workplace looking like this,” Elliot murmured, pulling me out of my thoughts.
