AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It didn’t take very long and both Sephie and Giana came out to find us. Giana had straightened Sephie’s hair and put it in a high ponytail. She almost looked like a different person without her loose curls around her face. My breath still caught when I saw her. She was gorgeous no matter what she did or wore. But straight hair made her look different.
She caught me staring as she walked to me, a small smirk on her face. “It’s weird, right?” she asked. She was smiling, but I think she really was uncertain about my opinion.
I clicked my tongue. “You’re beautiful no matter what, solnishko.” I ran my hand through her ponytail. It felt completely different than her normal hair. I couldn’t help but laugh, somewhat astonished at the difference. “It’s so different.” I looked down at her, grinning. “I don’t know how I feel about this. I feel like I’m cheating on you. With you.”
She laughed, planting a kiss on my lips. I reached up and ran my hand through her ponytail once more, then grabbed the whole ponytail and pulled gently. I leaned down, brushing her neck with my facial hair. “I could get used to this once in a while, though.” Her breath hitched, ever so slightly and her cheeks were definitely flushed when she turned to look at me, a knowing look in her eye.
She wrapped her arms around my waist, looking me in the eye for a few moments. I saw a flash of uncertainty in her eyes. She didn’t hide it like she normally did. Instead, she just asked, “You’re not going to leave me at any point tonight, are you?”
I felt a pain in my chest, knowing she was still struggling to process everything that had happened since the ball. I put both hands on either side of her face, pressing my lips to hers. “I pinky swear I will not leave you the entire time we’re there.”
The club was packed, as it was every time we had been here before. Before we left Trino’s villa, a few of the girls tried to get the attention of Misha and Andrei, but neither seemed very interested. I think the girls were scared of Viktor and Ivan. Stephen was making himself scarce as usual. He was not one for socializing. Even with us, he would disappear on his own regularly.
I wasn’t normally one to dance, but I found myself eagerly following Sephie to the dance floor. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It didn’t seem to matter what she did with her hair or what she wore, she was the sexiest woman in the room to me. Now, with the difference in her straight hair, plus the new clothes, plus her willingness to get outside her comfort zone and even come to the club, it was like I was seeing a completely different side to her that I hadn’t seen yet. I was intrigued.
The music was so loud, you could feel the bass vibrating your body. There were people everywhere. Sephie was following Giana, who had Armando in tow. Giana managed to find a spot in the sea of people. Sephie pulled my arms around her, still facing away from me, as she started to move to the music. She was slightly tense and I could tell she was watching the people around us carefully. I turned her to face me, pulling her tight against me. “Just focus on me, solnishko,” I said to her, my mouth close to her ear. She leaned her head against mine and nodded slightly.
She eventually relaxed a little, as long as I kept my arms around her. She eventually pulled me off the dance floor, indicating she needed a drink. With so many people so close together, it was warm in the club. I glanced toward Armando and Giana, but they were completely wrapped up in each other and didn’t notice us leave.
I got water for Sephie. She drank half, then handed it to me to finish. She was still watching everyone around us carefully. I pulled her closer to me, tracing my finger down her face. “You’re not worried, are you?” She looked at me, puzzled. “You’re watching everyone around us like you’re expecting someone to do something.”
Her beautiful smile stretched across her face, making my heart jump in my chest. “No, it’s not out of worry now. It was when we first got here, but now I’m used to it. I’ve never been a fan of big crowds, but less so now,” she said, looking down. I felt that pull in my chest as I knew she had been fighting to remain calm. She looked back up, a mischievous grin on her face. “It’s out of curiosity now. I don’t go to clubs very often, but when I do, I always try to pick out the couples that are still going to be together by the end of the night and the ones that will get together by the end of the night. It’s like my own game that I play.”
I caught sight of one of Trino’s men talking to a girl at the bar. I nodded my head toward the couple. “What about those two?” I asked.
She watched them for a few minutes, then shook her no. “Not gonna happen. He’s way too intense for her. He hasn’t stopped talking about whatever it is he’s talking about since you pointed them out and she’s quickly losing interest. Ten bucks says she ditches him in the next fifteen minutes.”
“You’re on. I say it’ll be at least twenty-five,” I said, motioning for the bartender to refill our water. Ivan and Viktor walked up to the bar.
“You two look like you’re stirring up trouble,” Viktor said.
“Sephie just made a bet that the girl behind you will ditch Trino’s man in the next fifteen minutes,” I said. Both Viktor and Ivan looked at the couple discreetly.
“And you bet against her?” Ivan asked.
“Oh, no. I’m not that stupid. We’re betting on the time limit. She says fifteen. I say twenty-five,” I said, laughing.
Ivan looked back at the couple. “I give it ten.”
Sephie laughed at us. “Bet pool it is, gentlemen! Viktor, do you want to get in on this too?”
Viktor watched the couple for a moment. “Hell yeah. I’ll go twenty.”
We stood at the bar, watching the first couple as best we could without being too obvious. Sephie picked out three more couples to add to the bet pool while we were waiting on the first couple. At the ten-minute mark, they were still talking. “Sorry, Super Squish. You’re out,” Sephie said, grinning. At the fifteen-minute mark, he bought her another drink. Sephie laughed, then looked to me. “You might win this one. Now it’s down to how fast she finishes that drink.”
Andrei and Misha walked up to us as we were laughing about yet another couple that Sephie had added to the bet pool. Ivan had made a comment that he didn’t know he should’ve brought a white board with him to keep track of everyone. We explained our game to Andrei and Misha, who, of course, wanted in on the action as well, making Ivan’s comment about the whiteboard all the more relevant.
At the twenty-five-minute mark, the first girl walked away from Trino’s man. Sephie gave me a high-five. “I’m impressed,” she said, her wide smile stretching across her face. We quickly moved on to the next couple and kept track of who bet what. We spent most of the time we were there at the bar, watching other people.
We also enjoyed watching girls come up to Andrei and Misha and try to get their attention. As the night progressed and the alcohol flowed more freely, there were even a few girls who were brave enough to approach Ivan and Viktor. Ivan got plenty of sympathy for his bandaged arm. If he had wanted to, he could’ve milked that.
None of the guys were especially interested in any of the girls. They would leave for a song or two, but they always came back. I knew it was because it was more fun to see the results of the bet pool than it was with any of the increasingly drunk girls in the club. Drunk people are generally only fun to interact with if you’re also drunk. When you’re the sober one, they’re fun to watch but not so much try and talk to. I never allowed my guys to drink while they were working, but it was really a useless rule at this point. They chose not to more often than not. Tonight, they could if they wanted to, but not a single one of them wanted to.
At one point it was just me and Sephie at the bar again. I had turned to get the bartender’s attention and a drunk guy approached Sephie, offering to buy her a drink. Because of the loud music, I didn’t hear him talking to her. When I looked back to her, she was politely declining his offer, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He reached out to try and touch her leg, as she was sitting on a bar stool. She moved her legs toward me, just as I stepped in front of her to stand between them. I didn’t even have to say anything. I just glanced down at the guy and he clearly understood that there would be no drinks with her in his future.
I felt her grab my hand as he walked away. She stood up and wrapped my arm around her waist. Since she was wearing heels, she didn’t need to stand on her toes to kiss me. She leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. “Thank you,” she said against my lips.
“Are you ready to leave yet, love?” I suddenly found myself wanting to be alone with her. She eagerly nodded her head, a smirk on her face that told me she knew exactly what I was thinking. Apparently, the guys also read my mind about leaving because they all showed back up at the same time.
