Chapter 79
CADE
The Catacombs – Carrington Row
Bella turns to me and Lex, cheeks flushed, hair a wild, sweaty mess, and grins. “Don’t miss me too much.”
Lex tugs her in, kissing her hard. “Go kill it, baby.”
She turns to me, softer. “You good?”
I nod, brushing hair from her face. “I love you, sweetheart.”
She kisses me quick and then disappears to the changing room with Ellie and Haley.
The floor’s still packed, but it’s different now. Softer. Lit with a blue glow and dripping with anticipation. Lex pulls me toward the center, music still thumping under the buzz of the crowd.
It’s just the two of us now, moving to the beat, swaying in sync. His hands slide to my hips. My fingers knot in his shirt. We dance together for awhile, his forehead presses against mine.
“I love you, babe,” he says, voice low, raw.
I smile. “Yeah, I know. I love you too.”
“This reminds me of the first time we danced together,” he says quietly.
“At Northvale?”
He shakes his head, faint grin tugging at his mouth. “Nah. Your artist showcase a few days after we met at The Pit Freshman year. You had charcoal on your hands, and pretending you weren’t nervous, but you were. They played some indie song about hurricanes and heartbreak.”
I laugh under my breath. “You remember the song?”
“I remember every second of that night,” he says, eyes dark and soft all at once. “You wouldn’t look at me at first. Then the lights hit and you finally did. You smiled—like I hadn’t already fallen for you three songs ago.”
“I thought you said you fell for me at The Pit.”
“Yeah, I did. Lost the fucking fight because of your sexy ass remember?” he shakes his head and smiles. “But that dance was when it sealed the deal for me, Cade. That dance was when I knew I wasn’t ever going to let you go.”
My throat tightens. “You said something that night.”
He nods slowly. “Yeah. I told you that you were gonna ruin me.” His grin fades, voice dropping lower. “Guess I was right.”
“Lex…”
He brushes his thumb over my jaw, a quiet sigh slipping out. “You’ve always been the calm after my fights, Cade. My first good thing.”
I press my forehead against his. “And you’re the chaos that makes me feel alive.”
He lets out a soft laugh, small and real. “Guess we’re still the same.”
“Guess we are.”
He kisses me, slow and steady, like he’s trying to memorize the taste of the past and the present at the same time. The noise around us fades until it’s just this. His heartbeat. Mine. The pulse of the bass keeping time with both.
Over the speakers, Knox’s voice crackles back to life.
“Alright Javi, it’s time, baby! The girls have cooked up a little something for you. Millennial fusion dances, their way of saying happy birthday to the best dance coach in the world.”
The crowd cheers. Lex throws an arm around my neck, head leaning on my shoulder like a lazy drunk lion.
“Rico made their costumes,” Knox adds, “I mixed the music and trust me, it’s a whole production, man. But first, you know what time it is. Sit your little Latin birthday ass in this chair right here.”
Javi appears from the shadows, dragged into the spotlight by two football players, laughing and protesting the whole way.
“Get back out here, girls!” Knox yells.
Ellie struts out first, bouncing in skirt that’s a flirty swirl of bright yellow, glitter catching the lights with every step. Her top is a tiny yellow and orange sparkling crop that makes the crowd whistle and holler like they’ve already lost their minds.
Haley follows, hips swinging, skirt lime green, top hugging her in all the dangerous ways. Her smirk screams trouble. The green makes her red hair look even more unruly, like someone lit a match and dared the room not to stare.
Bella’s in hot pink and purple, Rico’s twisted idea of a birthday gift to every man in this room.
Glittery mini so short it’s criminal, a tiny top that clings to every inch of her abs like it was sculpted there.
Her long black hair is curled and wild, bouncing with each step like it knows how lethal she is.
She’s color, mayhem, and sex appeal wrapped in sugar and steel. And she knows it. Hell, she owns it.
Lex groans beside me. “What the hell, she looks like the sexiest Barbie I’ve ever fucking seen.”
Knox grins like a game show host. “Ok Javi, this one’s from Ellie.”
The beat kicks in. Backstreet Boys mixed with some Britney Spears hits. It’s pure early 2000s fun. All bouncy, playful, and iconic. Ellie eats it up, flirty and sassy. Javi is singing along with an enormous grin on his face.
Rez walks off and cuts through the crowd. He walks right up to Knox, mid-performance. I squint.
“What’s he doing?”
Lex, arms still slung around my shoulders, snorts. “Who the fuck knows.”
The guys talk for a second. Rez says something low, Knox raises a brow and then lets out this laugh that practically screams bad idea accepted. They do one of those bro handshake-high-five–pull-you-in things that’s way too choreographed for comfort.
Knox runs a hand through his hair, already hyped, muttering, “You’re a fucking menace, man,” like that’s a compliment. Rez just walks back toward us, smug as hell.
Lex stares at him. “What was that all about?”
Rez grins. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Lex’s jaw tightens. I feel it in the way his arm locks just a little tighter across my chest. The song ends. The crowd loses it. Javi is beaming, chest puffed like he just won coach of the millennium.
Knox grabs the mic again. “Alright, Javi! Happy damn birthday, you little legend. Now Bella, sweetheart, don’t go too far…”
Bella freezes mid-step, caught on her way backstage. She turns slowly, eyes narrowing.
Knox keeps going. “You’ve got a request. One of our guests wants a dance and I couldn’t say no.”
Lex’s whole body tenses beside me. “No the fuck he didn’t.”
Rez steps back into the light, all swagger and smug satisfaction. Bella blinks, caught off guard. He leans in, mouth close to her ear, and whispers something to her. Whatever he says pulls a real laugh from her, bright and unguarded.
Knox waves them into place. “Alright you two, don’t make me regret this… Danza Kuduro, let’s go!”
The beat slams through the Catacombs. Bella and Rez move like they’ve done this a thousand times. All hips, hands, tight turns and locked eyes. Latin dance with a street edge. She dips, he spins her. She rolls her hips, he mirrors it move for move.
“He can dance?” I ask, stunned.
Lex groans. “Yeah. His mom was big in ballroom back in Moscow. Fucking unfair.”
I nod slowly, watching Bella absolutely own it. “Yeah, but that? That’s not rehearsed.”
“Nope. That’s pure improv. Fucking Rez and our girl, damn.”
Rez drags his hands down her arms, their bodies brushing too close.
She’s grinning, flushed, and glowing. That kind of happy that only happens when she’s in her element.
The music pulses into a rapid cha-cha, hips locking and snapping, feet moving in sharp, flirtatious sync.
It’s fast, hot, full of turns and playful tension, every beat matched with a flick of her wrist or a dip that nearly sends her to the floor.
Knox is cracking up. “Holy Russian shit, Rez! Bestie, your boy’s got moves!”
Lex groans again. “I’m gonna kill him.”
Knox leans into the mic. “Ladies, time to go get ready for Haley’s birthday surprise.”
“You good?” I ask, passing him a beer.
He chugs half, wipes his mouth, and growls, “I swear to God, if Haley’s present is anything like what I’m imagining, I’m gonna need ice packs. Plural.”
After a song or two, Knox’s voice cuts through the beat. “Okay, Wexley, I hope y’all are ready, because this next performance is a personal request from our resident redheaded heart breaker. And my baby said go big or go the fuck home.”
The lights dim. The bass hits right as the girls step back out.
Bella and Ellie in plunging black one-pieces cut so deep they flirt with scandal.
Slits down to their damn belly buttons, torn fishnets painted across long, toned legs, and knee-high boots that strike the ground like a fucking drumbeat.
Their eyes are smoky, hair wild. Untamed halos of heat and hunger.
They don’t just look like sin… they wear it like armor.
Haley? Same cut, but hers is blood red, criminally bold, the kind of color that doesn’t just turn heads but instead owns the room. She’s pure disruption, grinning like she lit the match and dares you to ask what’s burning.
Lex chokes beside me. “I called it. Go get the ice packs.”
I grin. “They do look good.”
“Good?” he barks. “The girls look like every filthy thought I’ve ever had and I’ve had more than my share.”
Javi’s already laughing and shaking his head when the girls drag him out to the chair center stage. He tries to protest, but it’s no use. Haley plants a kiss on his cheek and he goes red.
“Ok Javi, here’s a special fusion straight from Haley’s brain to your bloodstream”
It’s filthy. A hurricane of hips and legs and hair and attitude. They surround Javi like he’s prey and they’re the wolves. Bella runs her hand down her own thigh. Ellie licks her lips. Haley spins, drops low, and then pops up with a wink that sends the whole place into a meltdown.
Chase saunters over with DeShawn, both whistling low.
“Yo,” Chase says, eyes locked on Ellie. “The fuck y’all feeding these girls?”
“Violence and glitter,” I tell him.
DeShawn elbows Lex. “Damn, Barinov. That’s your wifey up there? Shit.”
Lex doesn’t even blink. “Yeah. Keep your paws off or I’ll break your fingers.”
DeShawn laughs. “Heard.”
Lex exhales like he’s being tortured. “I swear on every Black Book in this world, I’m not making it to the end of the night. You better hold me back if she comes off that stage looking at me like that.”
“You want me to hold you back or hold you down, babe?”
Lex shrugs, eyes never leaving her. “Both.”
The lights flash. The song ends. Javi is blushing so hard I think he might pass out.