Page 24

By the time we made it to the small downtown, he looked both ways to make sure no one was watching him, then he dipped into a dark building.

I squinted around for a name on the building but couldn’t find one.

After parking a few blocks down, we ran through the rain and entered the building through the same door he used.

“Umm, so this is weird?” Paige asked, tucking her dark hair behind her ears.

“Yeah,” I mumbled, worrying my bottom lip. Inside was just a dark hallway and a small, older elevator. I was now positive that Richard was up to no good.

“Should we…get in the elevator?” Ria asked hesitantly.

“This feels a little creepy. How well do you know this guy?” Paige asked.

“Really well.” I thought, at least.

A second later, a group of women, all definitely tipsy and dressed in bright pink, crashed loudly into the little lobby area. The lone girl dressed in white had a sash draped over her outfit proclaiming her the bachelorette.

I whirled around to face Ria and Paige. My eyes widened, but I couldn’t even form words.

“Yes!” Ria jumped up and down, making the group of women give her curious glances.

“What? What’s going on?” Paige asked, clearly still clueless.

Ria grabbed my hand and pulled me in to whisper, “I’ve always wanted to go to one of these!”

“Are you guys going to Lucinda’s too?” one of the girls asked.

“Lucinda’s? What the hell is Lucinda’s?” Paige pulled a face.

I gulped and shook my head no at the same time Ria said, “We sure are!”

Grabbing mine and Paige’s arms, Ria tugged us into the cramped elevator with the bachelorette party.

Seconds later, the elevator opened to a dark room with leather booths along the sides, a dance floor at the center, and a bar at the back. Up front was a large stage surrounded by chairs and high-top tables.

Paige looked around. “Is he a musician?”

I gulped.

“No!” Ria laughed.

“He’s a…he’s a…he’s a…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence.

“A dancer!” Ria finished for me. “Prolly a good one too, he’s probably raking in the money. Make sure he takes you to a nice steak dinner, got it?”

Paige started mingling with girls from the bachelorette party, and Ria went to the bar to order fruity-looking drinks for us, meanwhile, I was having a mental fucking breakdown . Because Richard, my Richard, was dancing for other women.

Wait . I clenched my eyes shut.

No, no, no.

He wasn’t my anything. I was the one making sure of that. He wanted to kiss me the other day, I could tell. I was the one who put a stop to it. But it was easier to have my boundaries and guard my heart when it was just me and him. Now that jealousy was creeping in, I wanted to claim him as mine.

Shit.

Why was I like this? I desperately whined to myself.

As soon as the drinks were delivered, I snatched one of them and basically gulped a bunch of it.

Ria just laughed while the lights started dimming.

“It’s starting,” Paige quietly screeched.

A minute later, a remix of a Backstreet Boys song blasted through the room and spotlights came down to illuminate three guys. Kappy, of course, stood tall in the middle, shirtless, with jeans riding low on his hips.

The girls hooted and hollered as the guys danced.

“He’s got great rhythm. He’s a natural dancer. Goes with the flow of the music and everything,” Paige said, absolutely mesmerized by him and the two guys dancing next to him.

“He’s a hottie with a body,” Ria said, wagging her eyebrows and fanning herself. “Look at those abs.”

“No, don’t look,” I snapped.

Ria rolled her lips, trying to stifle a laugh. “You got it bad, girl,” she said, patting me on the shoulder.

As soon as Richard started dancing low, moving his hips in a sexual way toward the bachelorette, I lost it.

I slammed my drink down, making it slosh over the side, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

When Kappy found me in the crowd, there was no surprise in his eyes. My frown deepened, but he just grinned, like he knew that we’d been following him all along.

And then he didn’t pay a single second of attention to me.

Even after he left the stage, I couldn’t pay attention to what my friends were saying. I was lost in my own world of shock and jealousy, wondering if I should confide in Mer or Ali, or wondering if I should—

Strong arms wrapped around me from behind. “The Viper came out to play, eh?” his deep voice rumbled.

Whirling around, I smacked his chest. “I cannot believe you’re doing this!”

“You can’t?” He laughed. He was shirtless and a little sweaty, and I had a hard time not blushing.

“Put a shirt on,” I fumed.

“Why?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “I don’t look good?” He pouted out bottom lip to resemble a sad little kid, but there was absolutely no innocence in the way he was just dancing. He looked over my head to my friends for reassurance.

“You look great!” Ria gushed.

“You did excellent.” Paige nodded eagerly, taking another long sip from her fruity drink. “Really excellent work, Kappy.”

I glared at my friends. “Do not encourage him!”

He just laughed as he produced a plain black t-shirt from his back pocket and shrugged it on, making his muscles stretch and bulge in different places. “I have you to thank actually.”

I gaped at him. “Me?” I threw my arms wide. “For this?”

He chuckled as he leaned forward, right into my personal space. “All those Dance Dance Revolution games really inspired me,” he whispered, his breath tickling my cheek.

My nose flared with an angry breath. There’s no way he was putting this on me. I shoved him away. “What would your mom think? Does she know about this?”

He barked out a laugh. “Ya know, I think she’d be okay with it,” he mused. “Her favorite movie is Magic Mike .”

“Oh my God,” I muttered, holding my temples. “You need to bathe in like…in like…holy water. You are objectifying yourself, Richard.”

His whole body shuddered with a laugh.

“Stop laughing!” I demanded.

He held his jaw, but he couldn’t stop. “Your brain is frying itself, P. It’s just dancing, you do it all the time. Dancing is good for the soul, and it’s better for the body than SSRI’s. Now c’mon, let’s get out of here.”

“No! I do not do this. ” I pointed to the stage. “You were all up on that bachelorette. I do not grind on other men!”

“Nah,” he agreed, settling me a bit. “Just Patrick.”

I gasped. “That’s different! You just…you…” A strangled noise erupted out of me. I was too angry to come up with an insult.

“I?” He grinned wickedly, waiting. He smoothed his hand down and interlocked it with mine. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

I glared at him, but I didn’t pull my hand away. I couldn’t. Not when it was the only thing that eased my jealousy by a tiny fraction. “And go where?” I ground out.

“I recall I promised you a dance a while ago,” he whispered, making goosebumps skitter up and down my arms.

My mouth went dry. “You remember that?”

“I remember everything you say, Piper,” he dropped in a deep voice, making my heart hammer against my chest.

“Oh my God, I am positively swooning!” Ria burst out, making me flinch. Richard had a way of making me forget about everyone else around me.

“You have to go with him,” Paige said, elbowing me in the side.

His wolfish grin was back. “What do you say, Piper?” He backed up, still holding my hand. His brown eyes softened. “Dance with me?” he pleaded, and I was transported back to Centre Ice, back to his teen self waiting for me at the arcade game.

I knew I shouldn’t. I knew I was crossing all the lines I drew up for myself. But I followed after him anyway.

My friends started clapping, and soon the bachelorette party joined in, making me shake my head.

He was still holding my hand when we made it to the main floor. Leading me to the door, he paused. “Shit, it’s pouring out.” His eyes dipped to my shins. “You okay to run or should I call a cab?”

My heart stuttered. “Oh, I can run, we can run,” I stammered out.

“Good, I’m glad,” he said warmly, making any of my remaining anger and jealousy melt away. “Oh, shit, wait here one second, yeah?”

As soon as he dropped my hand, I missed his.

He dipped down the hallway for a minute, then came back proudly holding the zip-up hoodie he’d been wearing earlier.

He held it up for me to slouch on, then carefully pulled the hood up over my hair.

“Okay, keep close.” He pushed the door open and grabbed my hand again, and together, we dashed through the dark, rainy night.

By the time we pushed into a club, we were laughing and absolutely soaked.

He shook his wet hair out like a dog, making me laugh more. When he noticed me shiver, he gave me an apologetic glance. “Sorry I didn’t have a better coat for you.”

“No, this was perfect. Besides, we’ll dance to get warm, right?”

Challenge danced in his eyes as he grinned. “You bet your ass we will.”

He held a hand to my lower back as he led me through the dark bar, decorated with neon graffiti. A few people called out his name as we moved through the packed bar, which only populated more questions in my brain about his secret life.

When the busy dance floor came into sight, a jittery excitement rose in my chest.

With a grin, he lifted my hand and twirled me into the fray right as the first few cords of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” blasted through the air.

Pretty soon the two of us were jumping up and down in the strobe lights, screaming the words to the song along with the rest of the bar.

The DJ played banger after banger. “Low” by Flo Rida and T-Pain, which had the two of us competing to see who could get lower, “Right Round” by Flo Rida and Kesha, which made us twist and turn as we sang the words to each other, and “Bon Bon” by Pitbull had him grinding behind me.