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Dropping the teasing, I leaned into him, placing my hand over his in what I hoped was a reassuring gesture. It was so fucking weird how easily I kept slipping between hot-for-him mode and best-friend mode. Weird, but at the same time, it was so easy. Effortless, in fact. “I know. I’m sorry, E. I like knowing that I have an effect on you, and I like hearing you say it.”
“Of course you do,” he muttered, climbing to his feet. “Watch JJ. I’m going to find the toilets.”
Then he was gone, and although I returned my attention to JJ, all my thoughts were to do with wondering what was going on inside my best friend’s head.
27
Exiting the toilets, I wasn’t looking where I was going and almost stumbled into a group of guys. Apologising, I darted around them and then did a double take because one of them closely resembled Dr. Wilder. But no, I was mistaken. As if he’d be here, of all places.
“I thought I saw your favourite lecturer just now,” I said to Ander as I slid back into the booth. “Imagine if he was actually here.”
“If you’re talking about Dr. Wanker, then I can’t think of anything worse. I swear, he haunts me in my nightmares.” Ander gave an exaggerated shudder. “Hey, you missed JJ doing this thing on the pole with his legs where he stretched them straight out, and then he was walking them up through the air…I can’t describe it. But it was so fucking impressive. His core strength is insane.”
He began talking about core exercises, and I smiled at his enthusiasm. Tonight had been so unexpected, and instead of worrying about it like I normally would, I was doing my best to go with the flow and enjoy whatever happened. The time for overthinking would come later, I was sure, but for now, I wanted to be in the moment and have fun with the man I loved.
“JJ’s bringing Honey Rose over to demonstrate his dance,” he said after a pause, shooting me an unreadable look.
Oh. Honey Rose. The beautiful woman who was supposedly the most popular, in-demand dancer in the club.
I swallowed hard, fighting to keep my voice even as I said through gritted teeth, “Sounds good.” Jealousy was an emotion that I was used to experiencing when it came to Ander, but it had always been tempered by the fact that I knew nothing would ever happen between us. Now, though, after everything we’d been through recently…I wanted to fucking claim him. Mark him up, as he’d done to me.
The thought shocked me into silence. Where had that come from?
“Elliot.”
The firm, uncompromising tone in Ander’s voice had my eyes flying to his, temporarily diverting my mind from my sudden revelation.
He held my gaze steadily. “I’m only interested in seeing which moves JJ has picked up from me. We’ll go downstairs to the main club and dance after that.”
“Oh. Okay.” I was a little taken aback by his words and his demeanour, but…he said he was only interested in seeing whatever moves JJ had picked up from him.
If he really meant that…
Stop daydreaming, Elliot, and get your head out of the clouds.
Go with the flow. That was what I’d been doing so far tonight and what I’d continue to do.
My glass of gin was now empty, so I picked up one of the champagne flutes JJ had left for us. “Toast? To tonight? To you inspiring JJ?”
Ander’s lips kicked up at the corners as he reached for his champagne flute, having also emptied his glass of beer.
“To me inspiring JJ. And to us, for being fucking amazing. Not just tonight but every night.”
Laughing, I clinked my glass against his. “Cheers.”
Almost as soon as I lowered my glass to the table, JJ appeared in my field of vision, clasping Honey Rose’s hand. She had a sultry smile on her pouty lips, and it pained me to admit it, but I suddenly felt so insecure.
A warm palm slid onto my thigh, and then Ander’s breath was hitting my ear. “Did I tell you how gorgeous you look tonight?”
I couldn’t help turning to face him. He was…blushing? That was unusual, but the reason became clearer when he spoke again.
“It feels…weird sometimes, I guess…saying things like that to you. But I want you to know.”
Fuck. He was my everything. “Ander. I know…I know it’s—it’s weird.” I was tripping over my words. Inhaling deeply, I squared my shoulders. “I feel the same.”
He smiled, happy and bright, and I relaxed back into the booth as JJ came to a stop in front of us.
“Ander, Elliot, meet Honey Rose, our best dancer and a goddess among mortals. Honey, meet two of my housemates, Ander and Elliot.” He twirled Honey Rose around, her body shimmering under the club lights like JJ’s, her glossy blonde hair floating around her like she was in a shampoo advert. She was exactly Ander’s type—not that he was particularly discriminating when it came to choosing partners, but they always had one thing in common, and that was that they were very, very pretty. This woman was beyond pretty. She was—
