“Oh…really? So…you come here often?” she tried again, hoping to figure out what her deal was.
“This is my first time.”
“Oh, cool!” Alex replied, feigning excitement. “How’d you hear about it?”
“I am the last of my family. So far, he has refused all of us.”
“He doesn’t like you huh?” Alex felt a familiar arm over her shoulder. “Must be a really exclusive club, huh babe?” Matt had finally noticed the old lady, and smothered a sceptical laugh. “Wow, really? Must be a groovy place then. Far out and outta sight even.”
“You should all leave.”
The response was quiet and non-threatening, but its simplicity struck a chord with Alex and remained so even after the old woman had turned back.
The line slowly moved forward. Matt tapped Alex on the shoulder and all three moved quite a significant distance before stopping again.
“So who’s the hottest footballer, in your opinion?” Lauren asked Alex, who in turn, asked Matt.
Matt laughed.
“Oh come on…please?” Alex asked, trying to get some humour into the evening. “Do your impersonation.”
Matt obliged. The stereotypically high-pitched voice and over-the-top gestures quickly made Alex forget about the old lady. The line began to move quite quickly, when a whole horde of people walked past the three friends and continued on. Strange, Alex thought. They must have been turned away at the door.
They finally reached the bouncers who gave them a quick glance and let them in. The old lady in front of them had been told to leave, Alex noticed, but she wasn’t going without a fight. Lauren gave the bouncers the finger as she walked in. The last thing Alex heard as she crossed the threshold was the old woman shouting, “I need to see him!”
“Sorry, Taya. Not tonight.”
Sad that a woman her age is still a junkie. Alex grabbed Matt’s hand and led him into the pitch-black darkness of T. The ground sloped severely and the faint sounds of a thudding dance beat steadily increased as they neared the source. Lights flashed below them as they entered another tunnel. Lauren had eagerly disappeared through a curtain, before Matt and Alex followed through behind her.
“Welcome to T, baby,” Alex said.
From out of the darkness, Alex and Matt were suddenly awash with colour. Lights, music and people filled the air and his senses. Alex and he stood at the top of a staircase that overlooked the entire place while Lauren made her way down into the club. It was a huge round room, booths and mirrors lining the perimeter. All the reflections gave the impression of hundreds more people inside. The centre of the ceiling housed gigantic stereo speakers lined up beside equally big plasma screens. Directly under the mass of sound and visual equipment was the dance floor, packed with people, circling and gyrating along to the beats and laser-light show.
Matt gave an impressed whistle that Alex could barely hear, and then her eyes were searching past the crowd of dancers to the semicircular bar at the opposite end of the room.
“There she is. Come on,” Alex said.
They descended the stairs to where Lauren had found an unoccupied booth for them. Alex scooted in first and Matt said, “So what are we having? My shout.”
“He’s not here,” Lauren lamented.
“What’s in that? Need to know in case the bartender asks…”
Lauren groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, giving a quick burst of frustrated breath out her nose.
“Just get us some of those sour apple martinis or something,” Alex shrugged. Then she leant over to Matt and mouthed, “Girl time.”
Matt rolled his eyes as he turned towards the bar. When he returned with the drinks, he wasn’t alone.
“Girls, this handsome devil is Ryan.” Matt introduced the surfie they’d taunted in the queue outside, and slinked into the booth beside Alex with a feral grin. Alex looked from Lauren to Ryan. Lauren was looking murderous, but made her face neutral as she looked at Ryan. Ryan’s eyes however, never strayed from Lauren.
“Hey,” he said.
“Can I help you?” Lauren asked.
“I’d hope so. How’s your detective skills? I have apparently lost something. But let’s talk about a dance first.”
Matt barked an appreciative laugh. “Nice.”
Lauren gave the slightest hint of a smirk but it disappeared quickly. “Let’s not. I’m waiting for someone. He gets real jealous.”
“Shame. Well, if you change your mind, we will be over there,” he replied, gesturing behind him. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a thick wad of green one-hundred-dollar notes and placed one on the table. “Next round’s on me.” He gave Matt a thank you nod and left.
Lauren slowly turned her head back and stared at Matt.
“What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. You?” She had mouthed the question, pausing after every word, accentuating the direness of his actions.
“You said he was hot.”
“What if Dante had seen him come over?”
“You said Dante wasn’t here.”
Lauren huffed and went off to the bathroom, but not before giving Alex an explain-before-I-kill-him look. As she left, she punched Matt on the shoulder.
Once alone, Alex snuggled up to Matt and ruffled his hair. She realised it was sort of a gesture one would give to a smiling dog that had trashed a pillow because it didn’t know any better, and she felt a twinge of guilt. Didn’t Matt deserve more? Alex gave him a soft, lingering kiss. “Love you.”
Lauren soon returned and the songs continued on. Massive dance hits from every decade from the 70’s and onwards. Every single was a hit with the crowd, bringing roars of appreciation as they started. The three of them danced together, the girls dancing against each other, putting on a show. Alex put her arms around Lauren’s neck as Lauren wrapped hers around Alex’s waist, grinding together, shouting the lyrics along with the artists on the big screen. Matt and a few others cheered them on vigorously.
Breathless, they retreated to the booth, the girls talking about the hottest guys at the club, which Matt joined in, picking out the dodgiest looking blokes he could find, caused the three of them screaming with laughter.
“God, look at the time,” Alex said, looking at her watch. “It’s almost two! This has been awesome. I hereby put forward,” she raised her drink and looked at Matt, “that T is the official hot spot for the Musketeers!”
“Seconded!” Matt grinned, pouring more into the shot glasses that lined the table. “All for one,” he said, placing one in front of each girl, before taking them back and skolling them. “But more for me.”
Alex squealed playfully and smacked him. “No more for you! What do you reckon, Loz? Loz?”
Lauren didn’t appear to have heard her. Alex saw Lauren looking past both of them. She followed her gaze to the entrance at the top of the stairs where they’d all come in earlier. A handful of people were still coming through, but Alex saw what Lauren saw.
“Oh, look, Loz! He came after all.”
“That’s Dante? Well, I can’t deny I’ve seen worse looking dudes.” Matt grinned.
Before long, the bronzed, green-eyed, square-jawed Adonis was standing beside their table.
“Good evening.” His voice was deep, smooth. Warm and commanding. His shapely shoulders and V-shaped torso were even more prominent under his slim-fitting charcoal suit, not to mention his closer proximity.
“Dante!” Alex screamed, raising her hands in tipsy delight, tripping over Matt to crawl over him and wrap her arms around Dante’s neck, giving him a huge squeeze. In turn, his large arms moved around her, but kept his hands on her back and sides. Far too gentlemanly, she thought.
“Hello, beautiful. It’s good to see you.”
Just when Alex thought Matt couldn’t take anymore, the hands that held her were removed and Dante presented one to Matt.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Dante, this is my Matt, boyfriend.”
“Dante Delavega.”
; Matt took Dante’s hand in a single quick shake. “How ya goin’?”
“Fine, thank you,” Dante replied.
“And of course, you know Lauren,” Alex said, gesturing to the statue that once was her best friend. Dante looked over and gave Lauren a small nod and smile. Perfectly friendly, thought Alex, but she couldn’t help but sense an air of indifference.
“Is this really the same guy Lauren is convinced will be her next conquest?” Matt whispered into Alex’s ear.
Before she could answer, people started coming over to the booth, greeting Dante. Women kissed him on the cheek. They blushed and fluffed their words, and asked him to join their table, or hinted at him to buy them a drink, and offered to buy him one. Dante greeted everyone warmly, and although he denied the requests for a drink, he promised to buy a round and catch up with them all.
Instead, however, he sat down at the booth beside Alex and they began to chat like they’d known each other forever.
*
Lauren had been patient, well, patient by her usual standards. She’d noticed Dante had brushed every single person off, but made it a point to come over and sit down. She kept trying to catch his attention, running her finger slowly across her bottom lip, but he kept his face turned towards Alex.
Lauren loved Alex like a sister. And like a sister, Lauren was annoyed at the fact that Alex had never managed to draw attention from the same guys she liked, until now. Tonight of all nights, the guy of all guys. Lauren had been trying to get the message across to Dante for weeks. Now it seemed like he wanted her to know he got it, but was playing a game with her. The indifferent way he greeted her, saying he would get to the other chicks soon but sitting down immediately and then making a point of not looking at her. Normally, that would’ve been fine, him testing the waters or whatever he was doing, but tonight she wasn’t in the mood to play around. Her waters were boiling.
She slipped a hand into her bag and pulled out her lip-gloss and mirror. Once done touching up, she reached under her top and made her ‘girls’ sit higher in her bra, puffing out her cleavage even more. Finally, not caring who saw, her hands disappeared under the table and she began to wriggle in her seat. Leaning forward, still not shifting her look from the only thing she wanted to see, she sat back and calmly dropped her black, lacy, and rather skimpy underwear in her bag. She spotted Matt looking and gave him a wink.
“You go, girl,” he encouraged.
Lauren stood and stepped over to Dante, still engrossed in “conversation” with Alex.
“Hey, Dante,” Lauren placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder and stroked his earlobe with her fingertip. “Wanna dance?”
Dante excused himself from Alex and faced Lauren. “Isn’t it customary for the gentlemen to ask the lady?”
“So ask me then,” she purred.
“I’m waiting for a particular song,” he replied just as smoothly.
“Oh, really…” she mumbled, leaning in closer to him, her nails clawing into his shoulder. She had an insatiable desire to put her mouth on him, anywhere on his skin. Her nose was close enough that she could breathe in his amazing scent, like zesty citrus combined with something older, mustier. It wasn’t overpowering, and it didn’t register like an aftershave. “Which one?”
“When it comes on…” Dante paused and looked her up and down, appraising, judging, and Lauren thought, finding fault, “I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Lauren shook off her bewilderment and was about to try again, thinking probably a full-on pash, when her hand was grabbed and pulled away from behind by a familiar face. “Come on, let’s dance.”
Without time to say no, Ryan pulled her over to the dance floor. Lauren stood still among the crowd of dancers, raising her voice to a level just under shouting, so she was sure he could hear her over the heavy dance music.
“Okay, seriously dude. What do I have to say to get you to leave me alone?”
“Try ‘thank you’ for a start,” Ryan replied.
“For what?” Lauren asked.
“For saving your reputation, maybe? He was blowing you off.”
“Bullshit, how do you know anyway?”
“Look at you…” he answered admiringly. “And do you see him coming over to pry the hottest chick here from me?”
“He said he was waiting for a special song.”
“He didn’t mention which one, though, did he?”
“He said he—”
“Would let you know? Yeah, that’s a classic.”
“You don’t know jack shit!”
She knew he was right. Lauren turned away, about to walk off when Ryan grabbed her hand, halting her. She wrenched her hand free. “I SWEAR—”
“You wanna go back over there and keep getting embarrassed? Fine. But humour me first, ok? Stay here for a few minutes and see if he looks over here at all. At all. If he does, then I am wrong and you may have a shot.”
“Why should I?”
Ryan smiled. “Put on a show for him. Show him what he is missing. Use me if you have to, and then leave with him. I don’t care. What have you got to lose?”
Lauren was wary even though he had a point. “What have you got to gain?”
“If he doesn’t look over, then you quit being such a bitch and hang out with someone who actually wants you.”
Surprised and maybe even a little impressed by his confidence, Lauren relented.
Ryan grinned again, saying happily, “Well it’s about fucking time. Now get over here.” He pulled Lauren towards him and placed his knee between her legs as she put her hands on his neck and they began to move to the beat. To give him due credit, he could dance. He moved his face in closer to her cheek. “I forgot,” he whispered. “You probably wanted to keep your eyes on your prize.”
He spun her around so she was facing the three occupants of her table. To her dismay, Dante was still completely engrossed with Alex, and even Matt was joining in. Ryan was right, Dante hadn’t even noticed she was gone. She felt his face next to hers again.
“Don’t give up. You haven’t even tried yet.” He gave her a swift kiss on the cheek.
To hell with it, Lauren thought as she bent over, presenting her rear to him as she moved. Ryan grabbed her hips and brought her into him. She faced him and ran her hands down his chest and to his stomach, trailing her body as she lowered herself and then rose again.
The dance beat shifted to a slow number. “Now that’s more like it,” Ryan said, his voice much calmer as he took her hands and attached them around his neck again.
“I like this better,” he said.
“You know, I am only doing this for him,” Lauren whispered, barely noticing her fingers playing with his skin.
“I don’t care. You can think about whoever you like, and you can try and impress whoever you like. It doesn’t matter. You’ve already impressed me, and anyway I’m the one who gets to do this—” he said as he trailed his fingers up her outer thigh, “and this—” He reached under her skirt and massaged her round, smooth rear. She gave a sharp intake of breath but didn’t move away, and Ryan smiled.
He must have seen me take my undies off, thought Lauren. Finally, she caved and brought him in to meet her lips.
*
Alex shook Matt, waking him from dozing at the table.
“Huh?”
“I said, ‘Are you ready?’ We better be going. We’ve both had enough and Dante’s gonna do owner stuff he said. Loz looks like she’s got her ride.”
“Right. Of course. Dante has left, so now there is no point in staying.” Matt grumbled.
Alex giggled as she slowly got to her feet and swayed a little. “You’re so cute when you’re jealous.”
Matt stumbled out of the booth and Alex held his arm as they both made their way up the stairs along with many others. “Jealous? Please! Why would I be jealous of Dante? Did you see his hands? Girly. His ears are too small. Where did he get that suit, the boy’s department? And what sort of fag name is Dante, anyway?”
/>
Alex was in complete desperate earnest as she said, “I love his name! It’s so cool. Dante. So awesome.”
Matt sneered but said nothing.
As they tripped on their way out the door to the street, Alex saw the majority of people that had been in the club were now huddled in groups of two or more on the street, having no luck flagging down taxis. On the other side of the street, Alex saw Lauren with Ryan’s arm around her getting into a two-seater sports car. Ryan climbed in the driver’s side.
“My kingdom for a cab,” Matt groaned.
“I think the night ride bus will have to do, babe.”
The sports car roared past them and the horn tooted. “You’re a legend, Matt!” Lauren screamed with laughter as she gave him the finger out the window.
“Your friend should be more careful how she presents herself.”
Alex jumped a little as Dante appeared beside her, as if from out of thin air.
“Don’t we know,” Matt sighed.
“Thanks, Dante,” Alex said. “But we know what she is like. She’s no trouble really. She’s just…Lauren.”
Dante looked in the direction the car drove and said, “People like that will always find trouble for themselves. They will bring the same to those around them that care.”
There was a long pause after that sentence. Neither Alex nor Matt were sure what Dante was getting at.
Finally, Matt spoke. “Yeah, well, that’s great. Thanks for everything, but we gotta find a cab or bus or something.”
“As adventurous as that sounds, might I suggest a different tactic?”
“What do you mean?” Matt asked warily.
“My car,” Dante replied, as a bright pair of headlights flashed in the alleyway behind him.
“You’re going to drive us home?”
“Unfortunately, I have pressing matters. Owner stuff as Alex so succinctly put it but Michelle will be glad to take you.”
“Who’s…”
The engine roared to life and a glinting red Maserati streamed out to meet them. The people still crowded on the street cheered and whistled at the sight of the shining machine. Alex had to glance away from the flashes of camera phones. The driver’s window dropped down to reveal a young, brunette-haired woman. “Hi,” she said pleasantly with a wave. “Where are we off to, folks?”
Night Walker (Undeadly Secrets Book 1) Page 3