Chapter 1
I was so damn tired.
Eight hours working in the hollow, my little corner of hell. A hole in the wall pub on the edge of Ardanthia. Pouring flat beer for men who do not tip, and wiping down sticky tables whilst my phone buzzed in my pocket with more family problems. All I wanted was a shower, a shitty microwave meal and to curl up in bed with my cracked old kindle.
But my best friend, Laurel, had other plans.
"Come on Elayna!" she squealed, practically dragging me through the crush of bodies towards the pulsing heart of the club. Neon lights fractured across her freckled face, making her red hair glow like molten copper. She looked alive here, in this throbbing chaos of music and sweat. Her long tanned legs swaying to the music as her skirt rose dangerously.
We had been in the club for two hours already, cocktails had blurred into shots and cheep liquor buzzing hot and sharp within my veins. It loosened something in me, my shoulders and hips moved freely, but in the back of my mind worry loomed.
I tried to smile for her sake, even as my feet screamed in the heels she had told me I had no option but to put on. Laurel always made going out an occasion, dressing up to the nines, tonight she had me in a midnight blue dress, with cut outs in the centre, exposing the pale flesh of my hips and most of my midriff. The heels were hers too, stilettos that added at least four inches to my five ft 3 frame. I looked good, I knew that. My blonde hair down and curled, free from the pony tail that had been so tight it threatened me with a migraine.
"Laurel I am tired"
"No! you are not going home. You are twenty-one years old and deserve a break. Family drama can wait, now shake that booty so I don't look like a weirdo dancing alone"
So I did, letting her pull me once more deeper into the crowd. The pounding base crawling over my skin like hot breath, the flashing lights turning everything into a fever dream.
Maybe if I tried hard enough I could forget for a few hours that my dad hadn't worked in years, and it was down to me and my brother. Both drowning just trying to keep us afloat. On top of fund my father's increasingly expensive alcohol habit.
Laurel turned away from me, swaying her hips seductively, her eyes closed, and a hand knotted in her hair as she gyrated to the music. I tried to be the same, sexy, confident, closing my eyes. Giving in to the music just this once. I would work extra hours tomorrow to make up for tonight. Laurel's words staying in my head. I deserved to have fun. Just one night.
"Let's go to the bar" Laurel shouted over the pudding base, grabbing my wrist in her hand pulling me through gyrating bodies.
It was only once we cleared the crowd of people that I felt how damp I was with sweat. It coated my body all over.
"What can I get you ladies?" The handsome man behind the bar asked, his dyed black hair styled in a way that made him look like he would be much more comfortable I a bar that played pop punk rather than house and techno.
Laurel leaned over the bar, her copper hair spilling over her shoulders, the tiny sequins on her black top catching the neon, spreading tiny lights all over the black marble surface.
"Two double rum and Cokes, extra lime and two tequila shots" she called, having to shout over the music as it reached its peak. The barman smiled, his tattooed hands getting to work, pouring our drinks as his smile revealed a piercing above his two front teeth. As he poured the cheap, honey coloured rum, his hand raised to the earpiece in his ear. Listening to something broadcast over the radio attached to his dark skinny jeans at his hip.
"Laurel" I warned, drinks weren't cheap, and in the back of my mind the bills piling up on the coffee table stood out like a flashing warning sign.
"I've got these, don't panic. Besides, it's not like you join me in the club that often" my best friend shrugged. She knew my situation, had done since we were kids, so she covered me a lot. Any event, night out or meal she would pay. With my silent promise to pay her back just as soon as things got easier.
Not that easier ever came.
I pressed closer to her side, enjoying the feeling of the cool marble bar. The heat from the bodies around us was enough to make anyone dizzy. Even without alcohol.
The drinks were placed in front of us, followed by the shots. Some of the liquid splashing on to the bar as the plastic shot glasses were placed in front of us.
"On the house ladies" the barman shouted as he wiped his hands on a piece of blue roll. Laurel looked at me a flirtatious look in her eyes. Free drinks happened to her. She was beautiful and it would not be the last time an anonymous suitor paid for what she wanted.
"From who?" she asked, slyly.
"VIP Balcony" the bartender muttered, his cheerful smile vanished as he moved on to the next person stood waiting for a drink. Odd, but clearly he had lost interest when he thought we were taken.
I moved my eyes, looking for the VIP balcony and its inhabitants. In clubs like this, VIP was a big deal. Big spenders would come to sit there and watch the revellers on the dance floor, usually DJ's or Z list celebrities, wanting to flex some cash and show off for women they deemed worthy of their attention.
Although the man who stood there was not anything that matched that description. He stood leaning against the black railing, half shrouded in shadows. Tall, at least six ft tall. Broad shoulders filled out a black dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, top two buttons undone. Golden skin, with the curling edges of dark tattoos crawling up a thick throat. His eyes, god they looked like they would kill someone on sight. Silver, pale, bright and sharp catching on the flashing lights, pinning me to the spot.
"Shot time!" Laurel yelled, her smile gleeful as she handed me the overflowing tequila. I counted to three in my head before throwing the liquid down my throat, my face scrunched as the cheap liquor burnt its way down my throat, leaving behind the bitter aftertaste. Laurel laughed at me, the sound twinkling along with the music before she grabbed our drinks and moved once more.
They mystery man forgotten, it was time to dance.
The shot had worked its magic, buzzing warm within my veins. My worries fading with ever sip of the cheap rum and coke that sat in my hand. The condensation from the glass running down my fingers, combining with the sweat soaking my skin.
It was not even ten minutes later that I felt eyes on me, a shiver raking over my skin as I turned to see him. No longer on the balcony, but stood at the edge of the dance floor those eyes looking at me, not blinking.
His dark hair was pushed back messily, shadows hugging the sharp angle of his jaw. Even across the room I could see the corded muscles of his arms, the way his black shirt clung to his chest, like it could burst at the seems.
"Looks like someone has caught your eye . If he keeps looking at you like that I'm gonna need a priest" Laurel teased, turning my attention back to her. I shook my head, men like that didnt go for me. So instead I turned away, ignoring his glances continuing to dance, swaying my hips, as I finished the last of my drink. Discarding my empty cup at the edge of the dance floor.
I had just made it back to Laurel when I felt a hand snake across my waist. Cologne filling my senses, pine and frost. An odd combination but not unlikable. I turned my head, to see familiar eyes looking down at me. A smirk playing on full lips.
A soft gasp escaped me as I readied myself to tell him to back off, when he dipped his head, lips brushing my ear.
"Dance with me" not a question. A rough dark command wrapping around me tighter than the thumping base. My common sense screamed at me to shove him away, but instead I found my hands sliding up his chest, fingers curling into the soft fabric of his shirt.
He moved us to the music, our bodies fitting together like we had done this a thousand times. His large, muscular hand gripped my hips, completely in control, steering me to sway and roll with him. The other slid up my side, curling around the side of my throat. His thumb brushing under my jaw. In a way that felt too intimate for someone you just met.
I could barely breathe.
I looked over to Laurel, silently checking on my best friend, to see her in the arms of a man with a roguish grin and sun bright hair. Her smile wide as she ground against him.
"Your friend is fine little one, I want your focus on me" his words pulling my eyes from Laurel, his voice low and dark. A growl beneath velvet.
"I don't even know who you are" I forced myself to meet those predatory eyes.
"You will." A hint of a smile. Dangerous. My breath shivered out of me as he leant down, the ghost of his breath warm against my ear. But he didnt try to kiss me, he just kept moving to the beat, his hands continuing to hold me close.
He held me there, pressed so close I could feel ever line of muscle, the heat of his body sinking through my skin. His hands and legs never stopped guiding me. Rolling my hips dangerously, pulling me against him in a way that should have been reserved for the bedroom.
It was dizzying and in my sober state I would have known better. Or would I?
I tried to speak, to ask his name, but the words caught in my throat with every tightening of his hand or move of his hips. His hands like a brand burning my skin, making sure I would never dance with another this way again without thinking of his face.
"I have to go little one. Don't forget me" his breath ran against my ear once more and just as abruptly as he had pulled me against him he let go. Disappearing into the throng of people out of my eye line, leaving me breathless, almost desperate for more.
"That was hot" Laurel's voice, breathless, hit me and I turned to find her moving towards me. Her hair a mess and lipstick smudged slightly at the edges. The stranger who had pulled her away had, too, vanished.
"It was something" I breathed, placing my hand in hers. Now without the feeling of his hands on my waist I felt cold, and sober, like someone had dropped me into icy water.
"Did you get his name?" Laurel asked as we moved away from the dance floor, we both knew it was time to go home, before our state reached the point of no return.
"No" I sighed as we reached the exit.
Cold air pushed against my flushed skin as we reached outside. The city still buzzed with life. Sounds of cars and laughter filled the air, the smell of street food drifting past me.
My phone buzzed in my pocket another message from my brother, a sign I needed to get home. However, the only thought in my head was of the strangers hands, how he had held me. His voice and those eyes that had threatened to burn straight through me.
A reckless part of me wanted to see him again.
