Page 285 of The Curse Trilogy

It’s Hale. It’s always, always, always Hale.

Several miles down the road is the place I feel his presence the strongest, and I smile when I see his car. Found him.

I step out in front of the slinky strip club, and I smell sex oozing from the cracks made in the simple gray stone building holding the fun inside. My clothes feel so confining in a place like this. I wouldn’t have bothered changing, but I couldn’t let Hale see me in the tattered rags I was wearing after the last filthy bar I was in.

I peel out of my black leather pants, and my incredibly sexy, lacy, corseted ensemble underneath reveals itself once my shirt falls to the dirt.

I adjust the stockings which are clipped to my thighs, and my heels give me a couple more inches of seduction as I saunter into the back door. The smoke rolls out through the doors, and I can taste the ash of cigars as I stalk toward the tall man with a clipboard.

“I’m dancing next,” I murmur, my tone more insistent than questioning, and I hear him huff as if in frustration.

“Look, I’ve got at least-”

His sentence falls flat once he sees me, and his gaping mouth and widened eyes trail up and down my body as he stares me down.

“Yes you are,” he sizzles out. “Name your song.”

“Fucking Obsession,” I smolder out, and he smirks as he walks over to get my request ready.

I stare out over the hazy film tainting the air, and my smile grows when I see the object of my quest sitting front and center in one of the curled around booths. It’s a private setting where he can only be viewed from the front. No one behind him or beside him can see him, and he’s talking to another guy as the girl on stage does her best to lure in some attention.

I hear the music to my song start playing, and I start my slinky walk toward the stage to play the role of the temptress while pulling on a mask from the prop table. It’s a small, masquerade mask with bedazzled embellishments to offer a sexier appeal.

The music intro of the song is enough to draw out Hale’s attention. It’s our song. The first song we ever fucked to, and it’s loud, fast and hard just like I like it. His hands steeple the moment he sees me spin around the pole, and I can feel him wanting me from a distance. The mask doesn’t hide me from him, and I let the lyrics of the song seduce him.

“You’re like a fly in my web, like a mouse in my trap, like a big fat X on my treasure map. You know there’s no escaping me, so why do you fight so uselessly? We both know how this is gonna go… Neither one of us ever saying no.

“It’s not love, it’s not affection, it’s just a fucking obsession. It’s not a dream, it’s not reality, it’s just the taste of insanity. My body burning against your lips, while they play over me and build suspense. There’s no use in trying to fight, you’re gonna be mine tonight… cause’ it’s not love, it’s not affection, it’s just a fucking obsession.”

The music plays for a moment, and my eyes burn into his as he sits forward to fully revel in my little exhibition. The table in front of him holds his elbows, and the guy beside him leaves when he realizes he’s being ignored. I smirk as the lyrics pick back up, and I swing around the pole again as my body sways to the seductive melody.

“Why are we still talking when there’s nothing to say, and all we want to do is play? You don’t have to ask when the answer is yes, I’ll want you til’ my last breath. You can have me any way you please, I’ll crawl to you on my hands and knees.

“Cause, it’s not love…”

The chorus picks up again, and men drop to their knees in front of the stage. Their money is thrown at me along with their confessions of love, but I ignore them all as my eyes burn into the hybrid blues staring at me, waiting for me, wanting me.

“Baby wrap your hands around my neck, sink your teeth into my flesh. Make it exquisitely painful please, don’t you stop until I scream. Take me here, on the wall, on the bedroom floor, when I say stop, take me some more.

“Cause’… it’s not love, it’s not affection, it’s just a fucking obsession…”

The chorus continues playing as I hop of the stage. The whistles, screams, and pleads for more erupt as another girl swoops in to pick up the slack. Hale’s eyes are still burning into mine as I slowly stalk toward him.

He leans back just as I reach him, and I crawl across the top of the table until my lips meet his. His breath heaves out desire to pour into my mouth, and then he jerks me off the table to pull me into his lap while reaching into his pocket.

Sneaky, sneaky.

I use my gift to pin his hands against the tall back of the booth, and his breaths grow rasp as the bottle of olophine drops to the floor, shattering on impact.

“Not this time,” I seductively murmur, and my lips devour his willing ones as I release my hold on him.

He jerks me against his body harder as I feel his pants opening beneath me.

“Araya, stop, baby please,” he murmurs against my lips as my gift continues working to free his erection.

“No.”

He can’t take it any longer. He wants me too badly to deny me right now, and I need him. He rips my underwear to the side, and I feel erection surging into me with such a magnificent force. I don’t care who’s watching and neither does he as he pounds into me from underneath.