On my next pirouette, I stop with a pose center stage, and my eyes lock with a pair of dark and angry ones that I’ve been drowning in since they first met mine.
The show’s manager, Dan, only told us a couple of days ago about working this party. I’ve barely been able to talk to Alec this week with how busy he’s been, and telling him about working some party I was given no information on for privacy and anonymity reasons because of whoever is hosting it, was the last thing on my mind. I was only able to tell him in passing this morning before his hands on my body distracted me, and then he left me in my post orgasmic haze for work.
Alec’s eyes look like they could burn all of Atlantic City to the ground right now, and after what feels like forever, but is really only a second, I’m moving away from him, my body following the music as it carries me around the stage – controlling me, guiding me, embodying me.
Alec remains where he is. Under the burning rage, I can still see his desire for me like a flame in the distance of a black tunnel, and I go towards it until it’s front and center and I’m blinded by the blaze.
Something comes over me, and without consciously knowing it, I change my routine, my own desires fueling me to do as they please – enslaving me to their needs.
Before I know it, the song is over, and I’ve danced a routine I’ve never done before. I don’t even hear the audience’s response. I only see Alec. He’s the only one that matters. He’s above them all. He’s the reason I can do what I just did.
When the music morphs into something more upbeat, I blink out of my daze and fade back into the shadows so Daphne and Jen can take the stage.
“What was that?” Dan asks me.
“I…I don’t know. I’m sorry…I just…I don’t know what came over me. I saw him, and…”
“Who?” he asks, perplexed, his eyebrows coming together.
“No one,” I say quickly, and he looks even more confused, but he just shakes his head.
“I should be mad, but that was amazing, Tessa. Beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I say shyly, not even knowing what I did out there.
“Alright, go change for your dance with Jeremy. No changing anything there. You have a partner.”
“Of course,” I assure him, hurrying off to the makeshift dressing area that was made for us behind the DJ’s both with a few well-placed black curtains.
Shit. My dance with Jeremy.
Alec is not going to like that.
Dan has had us paired in practices for the past few weeks to see if we’d be a good addition to the show, and during rehearsals on Wednesday, he told us we’d be added to the lineup in next Friday’s show. But today when we arrived, he said tonight would be good practice in front of a crowd before we debuted. I hadn’t even given much thought to what Alec would think when we performed before this moment, but now I’m worried.
Our dance is definitely on the sexier side, but I’ve been okay with it since I know Jeremy isn’t at all interested in having sex with me. I think his boyfriend would have an issue with it if he were. But Alec doesn’t know Jeremy. He’s going to see us on stage and think that it’s all just foreplay and borderline cheating.
Fuck.
He’s going to kill Jeremy.
It’s too late now to do anything about it, or warn Alec somehow since we all had our phones confiscated when we arrived for privacy’s sake. This party is meant to stay in this room.
Changing into another new-to-me costume, I re-curl a few pieces of hair that have fallen flat and touch up my makeup to make it more sensual and smokey. Swiping on blood red lipstick, I stand in front of the mirror and make sure everything is in place.
Jeremy comes up next to me and catcall whistles. Laughing, I slap his chest and adjust my boobs. The black-on-black jewel encrusted bra I’m wearing has extended straps at the bottom that crisscross down and around my waistline with some good padding that pushes the girls up. The matching high-waisted cheeky briefs show quite a bit of ass as well, and as I turn this way and that in the mirror, my heart rate kicks up. I know Alec isn’t going to like this.
“You look hot. Don’t worry, Tessa,” Jeremy assures me.
“I’m not worried,” I lie, and he gives me a look. “Fine,” I sigh, “there’s someone here tonight that isn’t going to like seeing our performance.”
“What?” He smiles wide, his whole face lighting up. “A man? You have a man? How come you haven’t told me? And he’s here?” His eyes widen a fraction before he composes himself again. “The men here tonight…they’re all…” I know what he’s trying to say. They’re not regular people. They’re the men who rule over their empires us normal people have no idea even exist.
“I know,” I finish for him. “And he’s really not going to like us dancing together. I already saw his face when he realized I was even here.”
“He didn’t know?”
“No. All I knew was that we were booked for a special event, and he’s been really busy this week. Shit,” I groan, rolling my neck around to loosen my suddenly tight muscles.
“You need to relax, Tessa. We’re going to dance. He’s going to watch. What’s the worst that can happen? He can’t storm the stage and take you away,” Jeremy says, rolling his eyes. Little does he know, that’s exactly what I think Alec will do. Especially because Jeremy is only wearing loose black pants and that’s it. He has a lot of muscles and skin on display that I’m going to be all over in a few minutes.
“Yeah. You’re right,” I tell him, bending to tie my black pointe shoes. I don’t want to put my worries of a highly probable scenario onto him.
“I know,” he gloats. “Now, let’s get your fine ass over to the stage so we can make the audience wish they were us.” He blows me a kiss and I laugh, some of my worry fading for the moment.
I can’t let Alec make me doubt myself or make me doubt what I’m about to do. Jeremy and I have an amazing routine together, and I know the people watching us tonight really will wish they were us. Or wish they could join us on stage.
The lights over the stage go dark, and that’s our cue. Taking my hand, Jeremy walks us out to center stage, and we stand face-to-face with my back to the audience. He loops his arms around my hips, gripping my ass.
I really hope Alec doesn’t kill us.
We remain in the dark as the beginning of the song plays, the guitar’s bass low and vibrating, preparing the room for us. The volume steadily increases until the lights flash on and the lyrics start.
Jeremy grips me harder to support me as my body bends backward in a sweeping motion, my hair brushing the floor before I’m snapped back up against him, the guitar and drums thrumming through me.
Lifting my leg to hook around his hip, Jeremy drags me across the stage, spinning me around before I hook my other leg up so I’m straddling him and repeat the same back bending sweep. The audience starts yelling all sorts of dirty expletives at us, but I push them away as the electric guitar vibrates through my blood.
This song is perfect. It’s dirty rock and roll at its finest, adding a little energy to our performance to get everyone’s blood pumping.
Holding on tight around his shoulders, I swing my legs out and around and Jeremy catches them, swinging me around his body like I weigh nothing at all and then placing me down in front of him where he pushes me away and I spin out on my toes fast and tight.
I do a slow walk back to him up on pointe, circling him, assessing him like he’s my prey. Jeremy catches my hand after my first pass and twirls me, lifting me off my feet.
It’s a tease back and forth between us. I’m seducing him while he’s trying to resist, but ultimately can’t.
Even as the drums and guitar beat loudly at my system, I can still feel the rage rolling off of Alec from his place in front of the stage. I refuse to look out to him or any of the other people around us. I’m not supposed to anyway. It’s supposed to be just me and Jeremy in our own little bubble.
On the next chorus, this complete sense
of freedom comes over me, and I use the rage being directed at me to fuel the passion I’m meant to embody – my body moving that much more alluringly.
When the song ends, I’m down in a split at the feet of Jeremy facing the crowd, keeping my eyes up at him while he holds my hands.
But just before the lights fade out, I bring myself to look down in front of me, and my eyes lock with a pair that are cold and distant.
I’m in trouble.
Chapter 19
Alec
Red.
Black.
All I see is both of those colors as my vision blurs and clears in and out of consciousness.
What the fuck was Tessa thinking?
I’m going to kill that fucker who had his hands all over her. Slowly. Taking him apart piece by piece until he’s begging me to end it. But I won’t. Not until he thoroughly regrets ever touching what’s mine and then spends an eternity reliving the nightmare of his almost death as further punishment.
“You need to calm down, Alec. This is not the time or place.” Leo grips my arm, holding me back from shattering this whole fucking glass dome to end this party. “Not here. We’re leaving.” He says something to our guards, and the next thing I know, I’m being dragged away from my spot in front of the stage with everyone parting for us like the red sea.
Red. Blood. I need to see that motherfucker bleed.
“No. We’re not leaving.” I pull myself from his grip and stand my ground. “If you think I’m leaving her here with the people that are in this room, then you’re fucking crazy.”
“I’m not the crazy one here, Alec,” Leo says calmly as he fixes his tie, trying not to draw any more attention to us than I’ve already done.
“No, that would be Tessa for thinking she could do that shit without me knowing.” Sliding my hand down my sleeve where Leo grabbed me, I order another whiskey from the bar and toss it back in a single swig. Slamming the glass down, the bartender quickly pours me another.
When I toss that one back too, Leo just shakes his head, not bothering to say anything else. He knows I’m beyond the point of listening to reason.
“Fuck,” I growl, the images of her straddling that half-naked motherfucker as he gripped her ass –my ass– with his hands touching her everywhere. It was like sex with clothes on. Barely any clothes on.
Feeling my control snap, I turn back towards the stage and push my way through the perverted assholes who have their eyes glued to the stage, and my anger boils over.
Leo calls out behind me, but I escape the grip of him this time, and my men know better than to ever touch me or stop me, so I make it around the DJ’s booth and through the black curtains before Leo can stop me.
Eyes swing to me as I search around the makeshift dressing area until I find her.
I know she can sense me before seeing me because her back stiffens and her hands shake at her sides. Taking a breath, she slowly turns to face me. Her eyes are full of fear, anger, and defiance, but it’s the first one I’m going to use to my advantage so she remembers who I am and who she got involved with. She can’t act like that and think I won’t one, find out, and two, let it go quietly.
I keep my eyes on her as I take slow and deliberate steps forward, her eyes growing more fearful with every stride.
Tessa opens her mouth to say something, but then quickly closes it when I tilt my head to the side.
Blinking, she looks around the room and then past me where her eyes widen, no doubt at seeing Leo and the four bodyguards flanking me. But they’re not who she should be worried about. They’re here to make sure I don’t do something as crazy as actually kill someone in front of so many witnesses.
When my eyes slide to the man Tessa was dancing with who’s standing a few feet behind her, my nostrils flare as I suck in a deep breath and resist every urge I have to take my guard’s gun and blow his fucking pretty-boy head off. He at least has the decency to look afraid of me.
“Get your things. We’re leaving,” I direct at Tessa, and she flinches, my voice cutting her. She recovers quickly though, and pulls her shoulders back, leveling me with a look I’m sure is meant to show me she’s not going to come willingly. But all it does is make my lips curl up in a sardonic smile.
“You going to challenge me here?” I ask, and her chest starts to rise and fall in heated breaths. “Let’s go.” My voice drops even lower, and I can feel the fear of everyone in the room ricochet, filling me with a twisted sense of happiness.
Tessa’s eyes stay on mine for a beat longer until she blinks and looks away, turning to her dressing table to gather her things. That’s when dancer boy decides to lean in and whisper something in her ear.
“Step the fuck away from her,” I snarl, and I feel Leo and my men take a step towards me.
“Enough,” Tessa says sharply, her eyes swinging back to mine. “Just…enough, Alec. I’ll meet you out there in a minute.”
“I’ll wait.” I refuse to let her leave my sight for even a second in case she decides it’s a good idea to find another way out of here.
I’m not taking any chances with the men that are in attendance tonight and risk any of them taking her for themselves.
Sighing, she throws her makeup and hair things into her gym bag and then shoves her clothes on top of it all, not bothering to change.
“Tell Dan I’ll return the costume at practice and that I had to leave early,” Tessa says to dancer boy, and he just nods, knowing that words are dangerous for him to speak right now. Or ever again.
Hoisting her bag over her shoulder, she pushes past me and eyes my brother and bodyguards for a split second before slipping through the curtain.
“Tessa!” I yell after her. Throwing the curtain open, I stride after her, gripping her arm and spinning her to face me. “What the fuck are you doing? You can’t walk through a room like this alone.” My eyes dart down her body. “Dressed like that.”
“Like what, Alec? What am I dressed like? I always where outfits like this on stage.”
“Not here. Not with these men watching.”
“Who?”
“Men who won’t hesitate to take you and do whatever the fuck they want with you before either killing you or leaving you so broken, you’ll wish they had.”
Her gasp isn’t audible with the music blaring, but I see her sharp intake and bend so my face is right in front of hers.
“Would you like that, mia bella rosa? Should I leave you here to be picked apart by the wolves?”
“Fuck you,” she spits, her rage winning out over any fear she feels. “You have no right to treat me like this. You’ve known from the start that this is what I do, and if you don’t like it, then go fuck yourself, because I’m done.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” I seethe, my vision blurring with anger. Grabbing her chin, I force her head back. “Don’t throw threats around you know you can’t keep, Tessa. You’re mine, and I have every right to treat you like this. You were dancing like you were fucking. Why did you feel the need to hide this from me? It looked like that took some practice.”
Tessa tries to pull away from me, but I just grip her arm and chin harder.
“You can struggle all you want, but I’ll always win. You’re lucky I didn’t kill your little dance partner for touching you like that. And if you want it to stay that way, you won’t do that sex show ever again.”
She remains silent, but her hazel eyes are blazing with anger. Releasing her chin, I start to drag her through the crowd, feeling the eyes of everyone around us.
Our SUV is already waiting for us when we exit and I open the door, lifting Tessa up and all but throwing her inside, ignoring her grunts and huffs of protest.
Chapter 20
Tessa
Alec has no right to treat me like this. Crossing my arms over my chest, the man who was with Alec climbs in after him and closes the Range Rover’s door, the small space suddenly feeling like a tin box with barely any air for me to breathe.
I’m
beyond mortified that Alec just dragged me out of there like a petulant child he thinks he can control like a mindless doll. Like one of his men he barks orders at and expects obedience like a fucking well-trained dog.
I was humiliated.
Looking out the window as we fly down the streets, I shove my body as far away from Alec’s as I can. I don’t want a single part of him touching me right now.
The car air is swirling with a cloud of emotions so thick, I can barely decipher my own from the others.
The driver pulls directly into the underground garage of The Aces, and when the engine cuts, the sudden silence is like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head – pins and needles stabbing me without leaving any marks. But I can feel them just as I can feel Alec’s silent punishment he’s dishing out to me now.
I honestly can’t tell if he genuinely wants to hurt me or not.
Alec climbs out first and paces the cement a few feet away.
“So, you’re Tessa,” the mystery man says from the seat behind me. “I’m Leo, Alec’s older brother.”
Oh, shit.
If he’s his older brother, then that makes him head of the family…
I should have seen it sooner. They look so alike, but where Alec walks around like a bomb waiting to detonate, Leo seems to have a more silent, but still deadly, air to him. Like a poison waiting to be released into the air – properly contained until released, and then everyone in the vicinity is taken out. Quickly. Quietly.
Climbing from the back to sit next to me, he closes the door and tells the driver to lock the doors, shutting Alec out. He turns back abruptly at the sound of the door closing and tries to open it, but can’t.
“Open the fucking door, Leo!” Alec yells, pounding on the window.
“Give me a minute!” Leo yells back, making me flinch.
My hands shake on my lap, but I turn them to fists before he can notice, trying not to show him that I know exactly who he is and what that means.
Leo stares at me for a moment. “My brother hasn’t been acting like himself lately.”
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