Chapter 62 #2
“Alright, alright, alright! Shut the hell up for one second!” he yells over the crowd. “Let’s give it up for the birthday girl!”
The room explodes. Cheers. Screams. August yells “Queen shit!” from the bar.
I’ve still got Bella in my arms, one hand wrapped around her waist, the other resting low on her thigh. She looks up at the booth, lips parted, hair sticking to her neck like silk.
“Okay, Bells,” Knox grins into the mic. “So, here’s the deal. Your boys Drake, Sam, and Josh have a little birthday challenge for you. Straight from the Roman gods themselves.”
The crowd goes nuts.
“Each one of them picked a dance. A solo. A moment. A test, if you will. And you, goddess? You’re the fire they wanna survive.”
Bella’s shaking her head, but she’s laughing. Bright. Dangerous.
“So, what do you say, Nemesis?” Knox calls, leaning into the mic. “You in?”
She tips her head back, still in my arms, and flashes the kind of grin that gets men in trouble in every mythology. Then nods.
“Alright then bitch, get out there,” Knox yells, hyping the crowd. “Sam, you’re up first! Everybody clear the floor. ’Cause the God of Fire himself, Vulcan, commands it!” Knox hits a button and fire erupts from behind the DJ booth.
The dancers scatter. Cade grabs her hand and pulls her out of my grip, spinning her once before letting her go with a quiet whisper I can’t quite catch.
She walks straight into the center of the floor. All eyes on her. Sam steps out of the dark to meet her, grinning and carrying a pair of her boots in his hands.
The lights stay low, as Knox begins again. “Now we all know Sam is the softie of the group. Don’t lie, bro, we’ve seen the playlists. So, he went a little easy on you, Bells.”
The crowd laughs. Bella turns toward Sam with a curious smile, brows lifting when she notices the boots.
“He wanted to give you a little piece of Arkansas for your twenty-first,” Knox says, and his voice drops, real low.
“So brace yourselves, Wolves because the goddess of vengeance is about to go southern on our asses. Bella, switch those heels for your Luccheses real quick, and let’s show these people how y’all dance back in the country shall we? ”
Ellie shrieks next to Cade. “OH MY GOD YESSSS!”
“Dancin’ in the Country” by Tyler Hubbard, full country bass and boot-stomp rhythm hits over the speakers.
Haley’s screaming. Ellie’s jumping up and down, hands on Cade’s shoulders. Bella’s eyes go wide. Sam just smiles, takes her hand, and pulls her in like he’s been rehearsing this in secret for weeks.
They start with a tight two-step, left-right-left, hips swaying, boots sliding.
Bella grins full and open and blinding. He sweeps her off both feet.
She lets herself go. Spins. Drops. Laughs.
Sam twirls her once, then twice, then catches her by the waist and dips her like they’re the last couple on a honkytonk dancefloor at closing time.
Ellie leans in toward Cade, eyes misty, smile wild. “Look at our little country queen! Reminds me of Nashville,” she whispers, voice cracked with pride.
I can’t look away. The second the song ends, the crowd goes insane.
Bella’s cheeks are flushed, smile still lingering. She starts walking back toward me and Cade on instinct, but Knox’s voice cuts in sharp over the mic. “Whoa whoa whoa, Bella! You’re not done yet.”
She freezes mid-step.
“Drake! Get your ass out here!”
The crowd screams as Drake emerges from the shadows, grinning like a damn devil, dragging a fucking chair to the center of the floor.
My spine snaps straight. “Oh, hell no.”
Drake plops down in it, legs wide and full of confidence.
“Alright, goddess,” Knox says, trying not to laugh. “You know this song. I’ve seen you do it. Usually on a Row boy or two, but your boy Drake specifically requested this one for himself.”
Bella’s face lights up. Part surprise, part challenge.
“So let’s see that Booty Work!”
I step forward, rage crawling up my throat like a wildfire. Cade grabs me by the front of my harness and yanks me back into him, locking his arms around me. “Breathe, she comes home with us,” he says, calm but firm.
My fists clench as Bella walks to the chair like she’s walking into a confession booth. Her hips rolling and her eyes locked on Drake like he’s already been sentenced. She straddles the chair. Spins. Drops low.
Ellie and Haley burst out from the wings, shrieking like backup dancers summoned by Satan himself.
“Fucking Christ,” I mutter.
The Trifecta takes over. Bella center, the other two flanking her.
Hands on knees. Hips circling. Hair flying.
It’s not just sexy. It’s raw, choreographed sin.
And I hate how much I love it. Because it’s brilliant, because it’s perfect.
Because she looks like she’s made of fire and sweat and silk and ruin.
I just wish it was me in that goddamn chair.
“Woah! How about that?” Knox roars over the crowd, voice ragged with laughter. “Sam gave us heart, Drake gave us heat…”
He pauses, just enough to let the tension breathe. “Josh. You’re up, man.”
Josh strides out, smug grin and flexed confidence, dragging out not one, but two more chairs to the dancefloor.
Cade’s hand tightens on my arm like he already knows I’m about to launch myself into the center of the floor.
“What the actual fuck,” I mutter.
“Lex,” Cade warns.
“Goddesses,” Knox purrs into the mic, drawing the word out like silk. “Please… take a seat.”
The girls glance at each other, then laugh and strut toward the chairs like this is just another rehearsal. Bella sits center. Ellie and Haley beside her. The room practically combusts when the first beat of “Pony” hits the speakers.
“No fucking way. This is going to be some Magic Mike shit, Cade.”
The guys move slow like predators. It’s ridiculous. It’s obscene. It’s… working. Josh drops to his knees between Bella’s thighs and the crowd loses its mind.
She laughs, head thrown back. It’s the sound that tips me over the edge.
“Jesus,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair. “She’s gonna kill me.”
Then the chorus hits and the girls flip it. Bella shoves the chair back with her heel, stands, and pushes Josh down into it. Ellie and Haley doing the same to Sam and Drake. The crowd screams.
She swings a leg over his lap, grinding once before twisting off and ripping one of his gold chest straps free. She holds it up high, shimmering in the light, and smirks like a goddess collecting spoils.
The lights hit her, gold and sweat and vengeance. She looks right at me and smiles that wicked little smile.
“That little tease,” I hiss.
Cade laughs beside me quiet, breathless, and in awe. “Yeah,” he says, voice warm and wrecked. “God, I love her.”
Knox breathes into the mic, half-laughing, half-exhausted. “Somebody give it up for those performances. I mean damn, talk about divine intervention. That was some godly shit.”
The crowd screams again. “Alright Obsidian, you know what to do. Dim it down, turn it up, and find someone worth sinning with.”
The lights drop low. A new beat slides in, smooth, deep, and filthy slow. I cut across the floor before anyone else can even blink and grab Bella right out of Josh’s arms, dragging her into me like the past fifteen minutes didn’t just fry my entire nervous system.
Her breath catches as I press her full to my chest, my hand cupping the back of her neck, possessive and firm. “Baby,” I growl, leaning down, lips brushing hers. “You are in some serious trouble.”
She pulls back, grinning against my lips. “Jealousy looks good on you, God of War.”
“You haven’t seen how good it feels,” I murmur, voice low, dragging her into a sway with me as the music pulses around us.
She smiles, body loose between us. We dance like that for a few songs, dirty and sensual. I press against her from behind, fingers laced at her waist, letting my breath drag down the back of her neck.
The beat fades, the tempo slowing, dim lights shifting to a warm gold.
The next track is the kind of song you sway to with someone you don’t ever want to let go of.
Bella exhales, her body melting back into mine, and Cade slides in close, arms wrapping around her from the front.
All three of us dancing together. No theatrics, no grind.
Just the kind of closeness that makes the whole room disappear for a little while.
We’re still on the dance floor when Knox’s voice cuts through the music. “Hey yo Bella! Your boy Cade has a special request.”
She turns toward Cade, brow raised. “What?”
Cade doesn’t miss a beat. Just lifts her hand to his lips, “You remember Nashville, sweetheart?”