AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Bryson was just as smooth on the dance floor as he was in the bedroom. He moved effortlessly against me and let his hands wander up and down the sides of my dress. He grinned when I mouthed the words to the song and spun me around so I could grind on him. He grabbed my hands and let his forearms rest on my hips, and it wasn’t long before I could feel his arousal on my back.
The tip of his nose grazed the sensitive skin behind my ear, and my breath caught in my throat. “You look so fuckin’ hot tonight,” he whispered.
I turned back to face him just as the song ended. He tugged on my hand when I tried to return to the table for my drink.
“Come back to my room tonight,” he said over the beat of the music. He leaned in so his lips were only inches away from mine.
“We’ll see,” I teased. My fingers slipped out of his, and I felt him staring as I walked back to the table. It was hard to fight the smile on my face when there was something about Bryson that could make me feel so high.
When I reunited with the group, Jaxon was standing next to Katie, and it looked like everyone was still sipping their first drink.
“We need to liven this table up,” I yelled as I squeezed in next to Katie.
Her eyes widened, and her mouth spread into a devious smile. “Karaoke?”
Connor laughed. “I dare you guys.”
Jaxon glanced down at us and waited for me to respond. His eyes lifted toward the stage and he shot me a playful grin.
“Promiscuous?” I averted my eyes from his and brought my attention back to Katie. She grabbed my hand, and the table cheered as she led me through the crowd of people between us and the stage. The DJ greeted us, and Katie put in our selection. We barely had any prep time before we were handed two microphones and ushered on stage.
The song started through the speakers, and Katie and I fell into our routine effortlessly. We had rehearsed this song dozens of times in our apartment this year alone, and we had flawlessly mastered the alternating lyrics and even had gestures to go with certain lines. While I mouthed the words to Timbaland’s part, Katie took care of Nelly Furtado’s.
About a verse into the song, our table had made its way to the front of the stage. Connor hollered as Katie shot him a wink. She didn’t break character, and together we broke into the chorus.
Keeping step to the beat, we both sashayed next to each other toward the crowd. When we reached the edge of the stage, we played into the banter of the song. I caught a glimpse of Jaxon out of the corner of my eye and decided to go for it. I mouthed a verse of lyrics in his direction and he grinned. He shook his head and clapped his hands as I moved my body to the beat. I turned just in time to react to Katie’s next line, and the chorus started again.
Together we finished out the crowd favorite, and the final beats of the song died into the next track. The crowd burst into applause, and I covered my mouth with my hands. Katie threw her arm around my shoulders, and we laughed our way off the stage. Both of us were in awe of what had just happened, and I couldn’t believe we had just shared our iconic routine with an entire audience of people.
Connor whisked Katie off to the side, and they fell into a complete lip lock. I wasn’t sure if he was marking his territory as a room full of liquor-infused guys who had just witnessed Katie be a total bombshell on stage or if he was actually congratulating her performance.
Jaxon met me at the bottom of the steps. “You two have definitely rehearsed that before. That was pretty damn good.”
I looked him up and down, and butterflies rose into my ribcage. He looked completely edible—even in a plain black V-neck and dark jeans. His shirt hugged his chest and the definition in his arms. I watched at least six girls turn their heads as he passed.
I shrugged. “What do you think Katie and I do when no one else is at the apartment? This performance was a long time coming.”
His teeth dragged across his bottom lip, and he looked toward the ceiling. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he teased.
“Sorry” by Justin Bieber began to play, and my hips moved instinctively to the beat. Jaxon noticed the shift in my body language and extended his hand out in front of him. He raised his eyebrows, and a dimple appeared on his cheek. My eyes locked on his, and my lips parted slightly. Our hands met, and he lightly pulled me onto the dance floor.
My heart hammered in my chest as his body inched closer to mine. The giant smile on his face let me know that this was an innocent attempt to see me up close and personal in this dress. I smirked and turned my back to his chest so he could get a different view.
When he grabbed my hands, I wasn’t sure if I could curve my body into his or if that would be too much. This proximity had been off-limits since Halloween weekend, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.
As soon as I relaxed into our rhythm, I got a different view of my own. It was a scene I witnessed only a few months back. Bryson’s lips were locked onto a tall blonde right in front of the bar. I watched him take a breath and whisper something into her ear that made her giggle.
I thought of last night when he stumbled into my bedroom only after he slept with someone else. I thought of the time at The Attic when Tyler almost hit me, and he didn’t even know what happened. I thought of all the times he lied to me and sneaked around a topic he didn’t even need to hide behind.
I tried to take a deep breath, and it got caught in my chest. Every time I took a step closer in the direction of being done with Bryson, he found a way to make me feel shittier than the time before. I had wasted so much time waiting for him to change into a decent guy, all while losing sight of what I wanted at the beginning of the year. A hookup with no attachments, and here I was chained to the fucking floor.
I spun around to face Jaxon and leaned in so he could hear me over the music. “I need to get some air.”
I crossed the dance floor and made a beeline for the exit. I threw my body into the door and was immediately hit with the cold winter air of Lake Erie. Groups of people passed me on the sidewalk as I paced back and forth.
“What’s up?” a guy asked as he looked me up and down.
I rolled my eyes, and he shot me a cocky smile before he dipped inside.
