Page 292 of Blackwood

Knox is cracking up. “Holy Russian shit, Rez! Bestie, your boy’s got moves!”

Lex groans again. “I’m gonna kill him.”

Knox leans into the mic. “Ladies, time to go get ready for Haley’s birthday surprise.”

“You good?” I ask, passing him a beer.

He chugs half, wipes his mouth, and growls, “I swear to God, if Haley’s present is anything like what I’m imagining, I’m gonna need ice packs. Plural.”

After a song or two, Knox’s voice cuts through the beat. “Okay, Wexley, I hope y’all are ready, because this next performance is a personal request from our resident redheaded heart breaker. And my baby said go big or go the fuck home.”

The lights dim. The bass hits right as the girls step back out.

Bella and Ellie in plunging black one-pieces cut so deep they flirt with scandal. Slits down to their damn belly buttons, torn fishnets painted across long, toned legs, and knee-high boots that strike the ground like a fucking drumbeat. Their eyes are smoky, hair wild. Untamed halos of heat and hunger. They don’t just look like sin… they wear it like armor.

Haley? Same cut, but hers is blood red, criminally bold, the kind of color that doesn’t just turn heads but instead owns the room. She’s pure disruption, grinning like she lit the match and dares you to ask what’s burning.

Lex chokes beside me. “I called it. Go get the ice packs.”

I grin. “They do look good.”

“Good?” he barks. “The girls look like every filthy thought I’ve ever had and I’ve had more than my share.”

Javi’s already laughing and shaking his head when the girls drag him out to the chair center stage. He tries to protest, but it’s no use. Haley plants a kiss on his cheek and he goes red.

“Ok Javi, here’s a special fusion straight from Haley’s brain to your bloodstream”

It’s filthy. A hurricane of hips and legs and hair and attitude. They surround Javi like he’s prey and they’re the wolves. Bella runs her hand down her own thigh. Ellie licks her lips. Haley spins, drops low, and then pops up with a wink that sends the whole place into a meltdown.

Chase saunters over with DeShawn, both whistling low.

“Yo,” Chase says, eyes locked on Ellie. “The fuck y’all feeding these girls?”

“Violence and glitter,” I tell him.

DeShawn elbows Lex. “Damn, Barinov. That’s your wifey up there? Shit.”

Lex doesn’t even blink. “Yeah. Keep your paws off or I’ll break your fingers.”

DeShawn laughs. “Heard.”

Lex exhales like he’s being tortured. “I swear on every Black Book in this world, I’m not making it to the end of the night. You better hold me back if she comes off that stage looking at me like that.”

“You want me to hold you back or hold you down, babe?”

Lex shrugs, eyes never leaving her. “Both.”

The lights flash. The song ends. Javi is blushing so hard I think he might pass out.

Knox’s voice cuts through the noise like a firework, “All right, Wolves, dance floor’s open! Let’s make this place pulse!”

“Badd” by the Ying Yang Twins starts booming through The Catacombs and the dance floor fills. Lex doesn’t say a word. Just knocks back a shot, grabs my hand, and pulls me toward the floor with that look on his face. Thatminelook.

Yeah, I know it well.

Bella’s already moving, hips still riding the rhythm from that last set, hair wild, eyes glowing. Lex catches her by the waist and pulls her flush against him. His mouth drops to her ear. I can’t hear what he says, but whatever it is makes her smile and laugh.

Then she leans back, hooks her arm around his neck, and says loud enough for both of us, “Yeah… but I’m your bad bitch.”