The Promise

by River Laurent

  It must have been the atmosphere pulsing through the room that had me thinking that way, because I had never felt anything like it before as long as I’d lived. It was like a hen night turned up to twenty, to a thousand times more intense. All these women talking and giggling and occasionally bursting out into little shrieks of excited laughter, as though they could barely keep inside how badly they wanted this. I glanced over at Eleanor, smiling, hoping that she would give me some of that same connection, but she was sitting there staring at the stage with a slight frown on her face. She was probably coming up with a game plan inside her head that didn’t include me. I glanced around at the groups of friends laughing and talking and knocking back gulps of their cocktails, and wondered where I had gone wrong that I was missing out on that part of the evening right now.

  Suddenly, the house lights lowered, and Eleanor tapped excitedly on my knee, then cupped her hands around her mouth and let out a long whoop, one that blended in with all the rest of the noise coming out of the audience. The excitement in the air was palpable, and I found my heart start beating faster too. I was actually getting into it and couldn’t wait to see what this evening had to bring.

  “Ladies…” A loud, cheesy voice boomed from the speakers around the venue. “Welcome to…The Man Up Project!”

  The rest of what he was saying was drowned out in a series of shrieks of excitement, and I had to grin as the curtain ran up and revealed the men waiting for us behind it. There were at least a dozen of them. I didn’t have the time or inclination to count, but they were all moving as though they were in total and utter control of their bodies, totally calm, totally controlled, totally, totally, totally hot. And all of them were stripped to the waist, showing of their insane bodies, sculpted abs and strong arms and bulging pecs.

  I scanned the stage to see where the leading man was hiding himself, but I couldn’t make him out.

  Maybe they saved him for later. It was hard to focus, given the music pulsing out of the speakers and the noise of the crowd. Most of them were on their feet, but Eleanor was still sitting down, as though she hoped that being different might be what attracted the attention of the Subway fame, when he finally arrived, that was.

  Still, I wasn’t going to sit around having a miserable old time just because she wasn’t ready to have fun yet and, taking even myself by surprise, I got to my feet and began swaying my hips back and forth a little to the music. It felt good, really good. There was a whoop from right behind me and I turned around to find the woman in the seat behind ours giving me the thumbs-up. I grinned and flashed her the same sign back. Then I quickly turned my attention back to the stage where the men were dancing, in perfect harmony to the same pulsing beat of the retro dance track that was blasting out over the speakers.

  That song came to an end, and the stage was dipped into blackness once more; the audience quieted, as though sensing that something good was about to happen.

  At last, when the atmosphere in the room could be cut with a knife: he emerged.

  Madison

  There was no need for me to squint to second-guess who he was. Even without getting a proper look at him, I knew this had to be the main man. The lights were so low that I could barely make him out, but he had this presence about him. The way he strode onto that stage through the piles of men in front of him let everyone in that theatre know that he was the one in charge, that it was him they needed to watch out for.

  As he stood there on stage, I stared at him, taking him in, unable to tear my eyes away from him. He was fully-dressed but somehow, despite the gorgeous half-naked men around him, he was the only thing in the world that mattered to me and, for a split second, I was sure I saw him looking back at me.

  My heart jittered to a stop in my chest as our eyes met.

  Then he lowered his gaze once more, just as he did on the poster, and took his position at the center of the stage. The moment was broken, that moment that had passed between us, where I had been sure that there had been that flicker of something real and raw and divine in that look he gave me.

  The silence around the room continued for another long moment. Then, as the lights came up, so did the noise. I realized that I had been holding in a breath, and let it out with a long gasp.

  His head snapped up and he faced the crowd for the first time, and the women’s screams reached crescendo pitch. The atmosphere in the room was incredible, indescribable. Even Eleanor got to her feet. I supposed the sight of him here in real life in front of her was enough to get her to forget any games she might have had and just go for it.

  The way he moved was something different to the rest of the guys who had opened the show. Sure, they hit their marks alongside him, just the same way he did, but he oozed a kind of unique confidence and charisma, the kind of thing you couldn’t learn with practice. He moved his body like he knew how much everyone in that room wanted him, something that I couldn’t relate to. I had always felt a little out-of-place in my own body, and I longed for the kind of confidence that he seemed to own so effortlessly.

  Eleanor moved like she was starting the seduction right there and then, and I pressed my lips together and tried not to judge her too harshly for it. She had just been through a break-up, after all, and I shouldn’t take whatever she was going through too seriously. Everyone needed some space to relax and blow off some steam. Maybe even me.

  After the first song was done, the lights fell low again, the only spotlight was on him. I grinned up at him from where I was standing, and I was sure that he looked down at me once more. I felt myself flush a bright red as soon as his eyes were on me, and embarrassed I glanced away at once. There was just something unbelievably erotic about having him look at me like that.

  “Now…” he spoke into his mic. His voice was deep and sexy, and another series of shrieks went up from the audience around me. He seriously owned this place, and he had barely been on-stage for three minutes.

  “Put your hand up if you don’t want to come up on stage with me tonight,” he grinned, casting a look around the audience. I looked around and saw only about a dozen hands in the whole place that went up, from friends who looked as though they’d been dragged here by someone else. I bit my lip and returned my gaze to the stage, and there he was, looking down at me again.

  “Because I’m going to need someone to come up here and give me a hand.” He looked over the audience once more. Another cheer raised the roof.

  “Who’s going to help me?”

  Pretty much every single woman in that room seemed as though she would have been happy to volunteer, and I whooped right along with them, letting him know that I was very much in their midst. He lifted his finger, letting it rove over the crowd, and then, to my utter shock-

  It came to rest on me.

  I stood there and just stared at him for a moment. No. Out of all the women in this room, there was no way that he was pointing at me. I glanced over at Eleanor, and I instantly figured out from the foul look she was giving me that yes, he really was pointing at me.

  “In the blue dress down there,” he announced, smiling directly at me. “Get up here, Gorgeous.”

  Me gorgeous. Did he just call me gorgeous? I continued to just stand there, peering up at him as though I had no idea what he was asking me. And then, I felt a nudge in my side. The woman next to me, a big smile on her face, was pointing to the stage.

  “Go on you lucky thing, get up there!” she ordered me. I forgot about Eleanor glowering beside me. I beamed and grinned and blushed and finally did as I was told. The crowd whooped me along, and I felt as though my feet weren’t touching the ground.

  I blinked in the bright lights of the stage, feeling like I had been caught out in the light of a million searchlights, but then I felt his arm slip around my waist and everything else in the room dropped away.

  Madison

  “And what’s your name?” he asked. He looking out on to the crowd and engaging everyone in the room, but, at the same time, I felt as tho
ugh I was the only thing there that mattered to him. My toes curled in my heels as I inhaled his sweet scent; he was wearing an expensive aftershave, something deep and masculine and musky, and I wanted to bury myself in it and never come out.

  “Madison,” I replied softly, looking into his eyes. They were so blue and so bright, even more so than they’d seemed from my seat. The way they glinted at me made something light up deep in my stomach.

  “Madison,” he repeated, and the crowd hollered once more. “Good to meet you, Madison. You ready to help me out?”

  “Yeah,” I bit my lip, a bit embarrassed, and grinned at him, and I noticed that his thumb was tracing along my waist a little. Did he do this with everyone he brought up on stage?

  One of the men he’d been dancing with pulled out a chair from backstage, and placed it down in the spotlight. The light spread and softened as Chad guided me down into the seat, pushing me gently until I was sitting down and staring up at him. He was practically naked in only a pair of underwear, and I could see the shape of his very generous cock even through the fabric. Subway indeed. He leaned in close to my ear, his breath hot on my cheek, and I licked my suddenly dry lips, and tried to keep my cool.

  “Just let me know if anything gets too much for you, okay?” he murmured close to my ear, and I knew those words were just for me, and oddly it felt intimate. As we were about to do something sexual and not take part in a performance on stage.

  “I will,” I promised with a nod, and he drew away and turned back to the crowd, the moment between us dropping away as the music lifted once more.

  “Are you ready?” he yelled out to the crowd.

  They replied in the affirmative so he turned back to me, and straddled me.

  I felt as though my brain had dropped out the back of my head. I gulped as his hard thigh muscles brushed lightly against my body. Then he looked directly into my eyes and I thought I was going to die. Oh, god. This man was something else.

  The whole time that he was using me to dance. At first, I felt a little self-conscious, up there on stage, in front of all those people, and being the object of desire for the sexiest man I’d ever me, but then, as he began to use me to move, I forgot all of that and focused entirely on the way he made me feel.

  It was impossible not to.

  The way he touched me, going slow at first with the beat of the song, pushing a strand of hair back from my face, and leaning in close to my neck, his mouth so warm and so close and so tantalizing, I was finding it hard to keep my head straight.

  And then, as the music picked up, he began to really move. He flexed his hips and ground against me, his eyes boring into mine, a slight smile playing at the corner of his sensuous, full lips as though he knew precisely what he was doing to me, and had no intention of letting up. I knew he’d told me that I could stop this whenever I wanted, but no part of me wanted for it to end. No, I wanted more and more.

  The song spanned on, but I could barely hear the music any longer, or the screaming of the crowd. In fact, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else in the room, but the sound of his breath and mine mingling in the air between us. I could feel my pulse picking up, my body reacting to the way that he was moving on top of me, around me, behind me.

  Jesus Christ, I was getting wet!

  Standing behind the chair, he slipped his hands down my waist, and hooking his head over my shoulder. I closed my eyes and wondered how obvious it was that I was getting turned on, but I didn’t care who saw it. Part of what was getting me off was knowing how sexual he was being with me in front of all these people. I wondered how far he would take it. I wondered how far I would let him…

  Because I didn’t want to stop. Ever.

  The song came to an end, with him right up in my face, only a few inches away from me. He was breathing a little heavily and so was I. I could have sworn I saw his eyes flick down to my mouth for a moment like he was thinking about kissing me right there and then. I tilted my head up, letting him know that I wouldn’t have turned it down. He lingered for a moment longer before he seemed to reluctantly pull himself away.

  “How about that?” He raised his hands once more and the sound of the crowd began to filter into my brain once more.

  I blinked. For a second there when it looked like he was about to kiss me I had forgotten I was up on stage. God, the way he had looked at me. The audience cheered and whooped, and I wondered how many of them were sick with jealousy that I was the one up there and not them. I couldn’t see Eleanor’s face but I had a feeling she was going to be pretty fucking pissed that he had chosen me and not her.

  “How about another one?” Chad asked, and there was another wave of screaming agreement from the audience. He turned to me, with a grin on his face, and shrugged as though he couldn’t disappoint his fans. He raised his eyebrows at me, silently asking if this was okay, and I nodded at once. I realized my lips were a little parted, like I had been getting ready for the kiss that had never quite come.

  “Wait for me,” he said, and ducked backstage for a moment. He returned with something in his hand, and pulled me to my feet. My legs were still so wobbly that I found myself falling against him for support. Thank heavens he was there to prop me up because otherwise I swear, I would have crumpled to the ground in a heap in front of everyone. His body felt so good, so hard and strong next to mine. Without thinking I tentatively laid a hand on his chest. And I didn’t even feel slutty.

  Madison

  He took a seat in the chair, then guided me in close so I was standing between his legs. I bit my lip and looked down at him. Surely, he didn’t expect me to dance for him this time. Or did he? Because I had two left feet and no way was I going to humiliate myself in public.

  Thank God, dramatically, and in one strong motion, he pulled me on to his lap. The audience went crazy. I had to catch my breath as I fell on top of him. My arms slipped around his neck. I couldn’t quite believe that this was happening to me, but I felt his cock pressing into me through the thin fabric of my dress. Suddenly I was filled with a deep craving to slip my fingers beneath his boxers and just take him in my hand and then…

  “You want more?” He was addressing that question to the audience, but it was also a question for me.

  I nodded at once. There was no way I could have said no at that point. He could have suggested that the two of us have full sex up on that stage in front of everyone, and I would have gone for it. I just wanted to feel him, to feel every inch of him, to take as much of him as I could in one go.

  He lifted his hand and revealed that he was holding a can of whipped cream. Needless to say the crowd went crazy. My eyes widened as he handed it to me.

  “You want a taste?” he asked.

  It took me a moment to realize what it was he was suggesting. He closed his fingers around mine and guided the can to his broad chest. As I stared at him dumbfounded, he raised his eyebrows at me expectantly. Finally, it sunk in.

  I took the can and tentatively drew a line of cream down his chest; my eyes were drawn to the rippling muscles there, to the sheer strength of him. I wondered what he could do to me with that kind of power.

  And then, feeling bolder than I’d ever felt in my life, I leaned in and licked the cream off his chest. The crowd was hollering, perhaps imagining themselves in my position, or maybe just entertained by how bold I’d suddenly become.

  Underneath the cream, I could taste him.

  I had never thought about how a man tasted before this, but I could taste him right there, and something about his taste got me really hot all of a sudden. I had been turned-on before, but this was something else, something more.

  I placed my hand on his chest and felt the beat of his heart and realized that it was most probably going that fast for reasons other than the crazy dance routine he’d just performed. I looked up at him, my tongue still trailing over his chest, and widened my eyes at him playfully. His hand came to the back of my head as he looked down at me. If he had guided my head downwards
I would have gone with it. No complaints and no problems at all.

  Once I had taken care of that thin line of cream, I went to put another over his stomach, a little lower down, hungry for him now and uninterested in holding back my desires. I bit my lip as I drew the line down, closer to his underwear than before, and I might have been crazy, but I was sure I could see his cock stirring to life beneath the fabric. I wanted to touch him down there so badly, but I also didn’t want to do anything that might get in the way of me being up here. I had no idea what the rules were, but I had a feeling that straight-up getting down on my knees and licking his dick would probably be a little too far.

  The neckline of my dress had inched down a little, and I noticed his eyes straying down to my cleavage. Oh, he could have those babies any time he wanted. I leaned down, and let my tongue trail along that spot below his belly button, that sensitive part that made his chest jerk up suddenly. The crowd was screaming their encouragement, and I loved how in-control I was right then. He had been the one in charge at first, but he hadn’t counted on me being the one to go this far. It had been a long time since I had actually felt this kind of desire and there was no way in hell I was going to pass up the chance to act on it now that I had been given the opportunity.

  He stroked a strand of hair away from my face as I licked and kissed the sweetened cream from his body. I found myself running my hands across his arm, letting him know that I felt it too. But was this all an act? Did he make every woman he was with feel this good, this wanted, this desired? Did his cock stir at any woman or was it only for me?

  Once I was done, he pulled me back on to his lap, shooting a look backstage where I could see a few of the other dancers raising their eyebrows at him expectantly. Reluctantly, Chad got to his feet. He took a deep breath before he turned to the audience once more, like he was forcing himself back into the mindset to perform all over again.