The Promise

by River Laurent

  Women roared their approval as he approached the front of the stage once more, guiding me along with him, his arm still tucked around me tight as though he didn’t want to let me go.

  “Give it up for Madison!” he called out, and there was a huge round of applause.

  I leaned against him, not wanting this to be over. I knew there had to be more to the show that just turning me on, but I didn’t want there to be.

  He leaned down and scooped me up off the ground, making me squeal with surprise. Instinctively, I wound my arms around his neck and clung on tight, for dear life. He made his way off the stage and back down towards my seat. People moved out of the way quickly to let him through.

  I let my head rest on his strong shoulder, inhaling his scent one last time, wanting to commit as much of this to memory as I could. I wondered how obvious I was being, and swiftly decided that I didn’t give a shit. If I was the kind of person who got up on stage at a male strip show, then I was the kind of person who didn’t care what people thought of me when I did.

  He placed me back down in front of my seat, and I was sure that was it. It had just been a seriously good play on his part, a practiced performance. A testament to how good he was at his job. But, to my surprise, he produced a small scrap of paper from somewhere I didn’t want to think about and tucked it into my cleavage. His fingers just brushing across my breasts. It was enough to send shivers up my spine. He leaned in close, one last time, his mouth brushing for the briefest moment against my ear.

  “Call me,” he murmured.

  Madison

  With my jaw on the floor, I watch him head back on stage to join the rest of the dancers who had come out to pick up where they’d left off. I pulled the note from my chest and saw a series of numbers on it. Was this real? Was this part of the act? It felt real. He couldn’t fake that kind of chemistry. Could he?

  I turned to Eleanor, and as soon as I saw her face, I knew I was in trouble. Big trouble. She was seething, so much so that I was surprised steam wasn’t pouring out of her ears.

  “Come on,” she grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled me to my feet. “We need to go to the bathroom.”

  I followed her, stumbling along behind her as she strode out of the theatre. I looked up at Chad and saw him watching us. Defiantly, I flashed him another dizzy smile. As soon as Eleanor and I made it into the bathrooms she turned on me at once, face dark.

  “What the fuck was that about?” she snarled, waving her hand in the direction of the stage.

  “What do you mean?” I grinned, the paper still clutched tight in my hands.

  “You behaved like a bitch out there.”

  I gasp. “It was just a bit of fun. He picked me, that’s all.”

  “What kind of friend are you? You know that I came here to get with him and you go and take him for yourself,” she fumed, raising her eyebrows as though that was supposed to mean something to me.

  “I didn’t take him,” I protested. “And I can’t help that he picked me out of the crowd-”

  “You could have sent me up instead. You knew I needed this. You didn’t even want to come,” she pointed out.

  I frowned. “I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinking in that moment,” I apologized, even though I really felt I had nothing to apologize for. But I knew Eleanor, and I knew that if I didn’t concede my position to her the rest of the night was going to be a fucking nightmare.

  “Yeah, I bet you weren’t,” she snapped. “Just like you weren’t thinking when you put on that dress.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I ran my hands over my body. I liked the way the dress looked, doubly so now that it had gotten Chad’s attention.

  “You look cheap,” she spat. To my horror, she suddenly plucked the piece of paper from between my fingers.

  “Give it back to me,” I said, as she crumpled the scrap of paper in her hands. I fought to keep the dismay from my face. It’s not that I was expecting to start a relationship with Chad or anything, but I had wanted to at least see, to check if it had been his real number, and if he had actually wanted me.

  “All he wants from you is a one night stand.” She looked me up and down, her voice echoing cruelly through the room. It felt as if it was filling up my head making me feel quite sick. “I mean, look at you. That’s what you’re dressed for, isn’t it?”

  “El,” I protested, using the pet name that she had tried to stop me from calling her a few years before. “Please, come on, it was just a bit of fun—”

  “Yeah, well, I was pretty sure I was the one who was meant to be having the fun.” She cocked her head at me, and then, before I could stop her, she ducked into one of the stalls, dropped the piece of paper into the toilet bowl, and flushed.

  “No, Ellie, why would you do that?” I gasped as I watched my only chance at seeing Chad again spiral away into the toilet bowl.

  “Because this was meant to be about me,” she snapped. She walked to the door. “And I’m not going to forget that. I’m going to find him now. So you just enjoy the rest of your night.”

  She stormed out of the bathroom and left me standing there all alone, staring after her, wondering what in the hell had just happened and how responsible I actually was for it. I had never seen her that angry before in my life, or so I thought. And then it hit me.

  All the times that she had spoken to me like this seemed to rush up and overwhelm me all at once. There was a reason my sister hated her so much. Because this was her game, the way she’d always treated me. I always had to be less-than her, always had to be propping up her pathetic ego. And now, as the sound of the flushing toilet faded away, she had just blown my chances for a bit of fun with a hot guy because she couldn’t handle the fact that he had picked me over her.

  I retreated into one of the stalls and closed the door behind me. I wasn’t sure how long I was in there, trying to make sense of what had just hit me like a ton of bricks. Women came into the toilets, they laughed, they talking among themselves, they used the other stalls. They even tried my door. Then they left.

  I felt stupid for not guessing it sooner, but now, here I was, stuck on a night I had never wanted to come out on in the first place, and wondering why the hell I had let that kind of woman stay in my life for so long.

  Eventually, the music and the cheers and the chatter faded away outside the bathroom, and I got to my feet and went out. I washed my hands and automatically checked my make-up.

  She would probably already be out of here, and knowing her probably with Chad.? Would he fall for her game? My heart sank at the thought, and I pushed it out of my head as I made my way out of the bathroom. I tried not to cringe at how much the taxi was going to cost back to my place now that I wasn’t splitting it with anyone.

  My feet were killing me. Peeling my heels off my feet, I trudged out on the bathroom, and out into the lobby. The place was empty. Everyone else had headed home, likely at the end of a good night with their friends. I could still remember how it had felt to arrive here, how it had felt to be surrounded by the buzz of excitement that hung in the air as we waited for the show to begin. That felt like so long ago now.

  “Hey,” called a voice from behind me.

  Madison

  I turned around tiredly, thinking it would be an usher letting me know that the place was closed and telling me to go home already. But, to my utter shock, I found myself looking at the man who had caused all the commotion in the first place.

  “Oh!” I squeaked, blinking at him stupidly.

  “Sorry, did I sneak up on you?” He grinned. He was fully-dressed now, in a pair of dark jeans and a form-fitting black shirt that didn’t do justice to the muscles underneath that I had so recently had a front row seat to.

  “Yeah, a little,” I admitted. “But it’s okay.”

  “Are you alright?” he asked, frowning.

  I shook my head and lowered my gaze. I felt embarrassed that I was dragging him into this, but I knew it was written all over my face. I really was
upset about everything that had happened over the course of the evening. Well, not what had gone down with him, but all that had happened with Eleanor still felt like a damn kick to my teeth.

  “What happened?” He moved towards me, and placed a comforting hand on my arm. I felt that explosion of tingles once more, as soon as our bodies connected, but he was just being nice, that was it.

  “My friend and I had a falling out and she left without me.” I shrugged, trying to sound as though I didn’t give a shit, but my voice shook. I just cared too much about everything. That was what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. If I had just been able to turn Eleanor down for this evening none of this would have happened.

  “Man, that sucks.” He cocked his head at me, and I looked up into those bright eyes and reminded myself that this hadn’t been a complete write-off, after all. As long as I live I will never forgot what happened on stage. That one hot gorgeous man wanted by a theater full of women picked me, wanted me.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” he suggested. “The bar’s still open. Seems like you could use it.”

  “Seriously?” I raised my eyebrows at him. He must have taken my shock at him actually asking me out for a dink as some kind of reluctance, because he held his hands up at once.

  “Hey, if I’m overstepping—”

  “No, no, I’d love to,” I assured him, and to my astonishment I found myself fluttering my eyelashes at him even though I was still cut up about everything that had just gone down with Eleanor. But somehow, that hurt seemed to drop away when I looked into his sparkling blue eyes.

  A smile cracked over his face, and he held his hand out to me. “Come on, babe. I’m going to show you a good time.”

  Chad

  I had never had it happen like that before, not in my life.

  I had used so many women from the audiences of my shows before, so many women who anyone else might have thought of as hot, sexy, or desirable. And sure, I enjoyed the attention for as long as it lasted, but I never wanted anything more from them. But this woman?

  This woman was a whole other story.

  I watched her as she was dragged unceremonious by her jealous friend towards the bathroom. I knew she was about to get her ear chewed off, but all I could see was the way that dress clung to her. It was enough to get me hard again.

  I had noticed her the moment I stepped out onstage, the rest of the crowd vanishing from my line of vision as my surprised eyes took her in. In that blue dress, with that cleavage, the way her hair tumbled down around her shoulders like it was waiting for me to run my hands through it.

  No wonder her friend had been jealous.

  The bar was quiet, much to my relief. Sometimes the women who’d attended my shows would hang around after it was done in the hopes of catching me. A lot of them threw themselves at me. It was part of the job, I got it, but sometimes it was a little exhausting to always have to be on.

  But the way Madison looked at me, I knew that she felt that frisson too. She had felt the same connection that had rumbled deep inside me from the second I laid eyes on her. There was no way she could have missed it. From the moment I saw her I wanted her. Even from across the table I could still smell her perfume, something sweet and light and floral, and all I wanted was to bury my face in her neck and lose myself there for a while.

  “Hey,” she picked up the glass of wine she’d ordered. “So…”

  “So,” I grinned. I felt like the whole night was spread out in front of us, and there was so much I wanted to do with her, to her.

  “Just so you know,” she lowered her gaze as though she couldn’t believe she was saying this. “I totally would have called you if Eleanor hadn’t gotten rid of your number.”

  “Well, I’m only in town for one night.” I shrugged. “You’ve gotta take those chances, right?”

  “Right,” she agreed, and I noticed her gaze flicker down to my mouth for a moment. I grinned. I was used to having women attracted to me, but it had been a while since I had felt that attraction burning straight back at them.

  “So, what do you do in a town you’re only in for one night?” she asked, cocking her head at me, and taking another sip of her wine.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged again. “Usually I just have a drink and get some rest. Being up there all night is pretty exhausting.”

  She nodded. “Oh, yeah, I can imagine. I saw the way you were moving up there. It was…uh, pretty intense.” She lowered her gaze once more, as though she couldn’t believe she was actually talking with me. I saw her force herself to look back up and into my eyes.

  “You know I wasn’t even going to come to this thing tonight?” she admitted, leaning a little closer.

  I leaned in to meet her and caught the sweet scent of her perfume once more. “Oh yeah?” I grinned.

  “Yeah, if it hadn’t have been for my friend, or rather ex-friend, I wouldn’t have met you.” She bit her lip. She kept doing that, as though she was trying to keep from blurting out something she didn’t intend to. I knew exactly how she felt.

  “Well, I guess we have something to thank her for,” I remarked, letting my hand stray onto her thigh. She inhaled sharply when I touched her. The warmth of her skin, even through the fabric of her dress, had my cock stirring in my pants once more. I could still remember the way her tongue had felt on my skin, the warmth of her breath. Fuck, it was incredible, but I wanted to just grab her by the hips and fuck her right there on stage.

  Slowly, she lifted her gaze to meet mine. I had seen desire enough times to know it, and I could see it in her eyes now what was no doubt reflected in mine. I had to do something. I was in this country for twelve more hours and I was sure as hell going to make the most of my time by spending all of it with her.

  I leaned in, breathing deeply, filling my head with the scent of her, and she closed her eyes.

  “Chad…” she murmured my name. I could see this tiny drop of wine on the edge of her mouth, and I finally touched my lips to hers and tasted her at last.

  Her body trembled as I ran my hand up her leg and let it come to rest on her waist. I wondered how deep her desire went, if she was just testing herself to see how far she could go, or if this was really going to happen. I pulled back, and she leaned her head against mine for a moment, eyes still closed, and flicked her tongue across her full bottom lip.

  “Where are you staying?” she asked, her eyes open again.

  I realized I had sunk my fingers into her waist, like I was trying to leave an imprint on her. “In the rooms upstairs.” I flicked my eyes upwards. I could feel the gaze of the bartender on me, the few other patrons in this bar sense the chemistry between us. I didn’t care.

  “Take me there,” she demanded, her lips parting slightly.

  Chad

  I needed no more encouragement. It took everything I had not to scoop her up, flip her over my shoulder, and carry her luscious curves up there like the caveman I felt like right now, but patience won the day.

  She tossed back the last of her wine and I held out my hand to her. She slipped her hand into mine, glancing around at everyone we were leaving behind, and letting out this adorable little giggle that made me want to bite her lip.

  We made our way up a set of stairs to the rooms that the theatre left open for the performers to take advantage of. Mine wasn’t much, but it was plenty enough for us for the rest of the night. I pulled my key out of my pocket as we turned onto the carpeted corridor that led to the bed where I thought I’d be sleeping alone tonight. She squeezed my hand and fuck, there is no way to stop myself.

  I swung her around, pushed her up against the door in one motion, running my hand up her thigh, over her waist, and letting it come to a stop on her face. Her breath was fast, those gorgeous tits rising and falling so quickly it was hard not to stare, but instead, I lifted my gaze to meet hers, and kissed her once more.

  This time there was no messing around, no holding back, no having to remind myself over and over again tha
t there was not just an audience watching us but my friends and manager, who would likely be shocked. Now, it was just us, our bodies pressed together as I parted her lips with my tongue and kissed her properly.

  She let out the softest little moan, somewhere between satisfaction and frustration for more, as I kissed her and I realized that I was already getting hard just touching her like this. How could one person turn me on this much?

  All those women out there, all of them screaming and cheering and throwing themselves at me, and not one of them had done anything for me. Yes, she could effortlessly turn me into a raging bull. She moved her hips slightly, on instinct more than anything else, and I pushed my tongue roughly into her mouth and gripped her hair in my balled fist.

  I was going to make damn sure that she never forgot me.

  “Take me inside,” she breathed, running one hand tentatively over my back and drawing me in close. I didn’t need told again. I unlocked the door and the two of us tumbled into the room, practically falling over each other in our desperation to finally do this. I could still remember the weight of her in my lap as she tantalizingly and knowingly pressed herself against my cock while she played the innocent volunteer.

  I intended to make her pay for that ten times over.

  I picked her up, winding my arms around her and kissing her hard as I walked back towards the dresser. I dropped her down on top of it. She hooked her ankles around me. Only the thin fabric of her panties was between me and having all of her. It hit me that I could have just reached down and ripped them off and fucked her raw right there and then, but I had other plans, other things I wanted to get to first.

  I kissed down her neck, slowing my pace a little. She let her hand rest on my chest, feeling my heartbeat. The sweetness of her skin was everything I’d thought it would be. Her mouth had tasted of a rich, deep wine, but her neck was all her, delicate and feminine. I grazed my teeth over her throat before I moved up to nuzzle at that spot where her neck met her ears. It made her squirm frantically and drew another one of those desperate little moans from her mouth. I decided right then and there that it was going to be my goal to get her to make as much noise as I possibly could. I didn’t care if she made more noise than that entire audience out there had tonight. I wanted to hear her scream. I wanted to know she was as lost to me as I already found myself lost to her.