Chapter 36
C H A P T E R
AS THE MUSIC PLAYED, HONEY DANCED UNDER THE LIGHTS ON STAGE.
She rolled her hips to the music seductively, letting the music be her guide so she could seduce the crowd, and when money fell on the stage, it motivated her to move her hips harder.
She had been doing this for years now, and whenever she danced, she never bothered to make eye contact with anyone in the crowd.
People said it gave her the aura of looking untouchable, thinking that she did it on purpose, but in actuality, she just didn’t care about anyone below the stage.
When she performed, it was about putting on a show to make money.
Nothing more, nothing less. None of the people in the audience mattered to her, and though she knew they were fantasizing about her, wishing they could be with her and imagining that she wanted to be with them, whenever she was up on stage, none of them existed as a thought in her mind.
But tonight, as she strutted across the floor with her hips taut teasingly, she let her eyes rove over the crowd, searching for a familiar blue pair. But to her surprise and disappointment, those striking blue eyes that belonged to Nikos Drakos weren’t out there.
Now that she thought about it, though she had been seeing Nikos for close to a month now, whenever she performed on stage now, she never saw him in the crowd anymore, and it was odd.
Before, he had always been out there to see her perform.
It had annoyed her at first if she even caught a glance of him, but that was then when Nikos was just Nikos to her, when he was the same as every other man in the crowd.
But now, he was the man she was dating, the man she was spending all of her time with, the man she had been going out on countless dates with, the man who had just been inside her last night.
She knew Nikos was at the club. She had just been with him earlier, making out with him in his office like hormone-ridden teenagers.
And though he could have been busy, for some reason, she felt like he hadn’t come out to see her perform on purpose, and that thought disappointed her even more.
It was not as if she had come out here tonight to perform for Nikos.
She had already given him enough private dances whenever they were at his home, but still, it would have been nice for him to see her like this, dressed in a black see-through body suit with fringe tassels on the edges and a fringe cowgirl hat to match.
She liked her outfit tonight and thought he would appreciate it too.
Clearing her head, Honey decided to focus on the performance for now.
She couldn’t let her thoughts cause her to screw up, which was something that she did not do.
There was a reason she was the top performer here, and she wasn’t going to lose her spot thinking about these things.
She would talk about it later with Nikos when she got the chance.
She grabbed the pole and swirled around.
She shook her ass and the whistles followed.
The whistles and catcalls were normal, so it had always been easy to ignore them, but this time, someone whistled louder than others, nearly sounding like a wolf.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a white man who looked like a young frat boy, hooting and hollering like he was at a frat party.
“Woo Hoo! Give me some of that honey, Honey!”
She nearly rolled her eyes from how obnoxious and loud he was and made her way to the other side of the stage.
She could always tell who the newcomers were because they would act like they had never seen a woman naked before.
He was clearly still wet behind the ears, and she would make sure to avoid him later on while doing her floor performances.
Honey got to her knees, popping her ass, and more bills fluttered on stage, but to her surprise, she heard the same loud whistle again, and when she looked out the corner of her eye, she saw the man had followed her to the other side of the stage.
Honey withheld her sigh, reminding herself that her performance would be over soon.
After popping her ass one more time, she walked to the middle of the stage and got on the pole again.
She would perform her signature move and then drop down into a split because the men in the crowd loved that.
She swirled around a few times, preparing herself for the drop, but to her surprise when she looked down, she saw that same frat guy clamoring on the stage.
Her eyes widened because everyone knew not to get on the stage, but clearly, this asshole hadn’t gotten the memo.
She tried to be professional and continue with her performance, hoping that James and Roland would come and get him off the stage soon, but when the white frat guy got close to the pole, she paused, locking her ankles together on the pole so she could remain upright.
“Let me dance with you,” the guy said. He looked drunk, his face flushed red, and she could practically smell the liquor coming off of him.
The music continued, and Honey glanced into the crowd until she spotted James coming from the main entrance, bustling his way through the crowd so he could get to the guy, but before she knew it, the man had taken it upon himself to get that dance.
“Come on,” the guy said, grabbing her ankle and tugging her.
Finally, their DJ stopped the music, and Honey could hear the crowd booing him, telling him to get off stage.
Honey knew she should remain professional, but there was nothing she hated more than men touching her without her permission.
She didn’t care if she took her clothes off for a living, touching her without permission was off-limits, and all the guests here knew that which was why none of them ever tried to grope her while she was walking through the crowd.
It was no wonder that they seemed just as angry as herself.
“Get your hands off of me,” Honey said loud enough so she could be heard over the crowd.
“I just want a dance,” he said as he yanked on her ankle hard enough that she nearly fell. She winced from the pain. At the same time, James rushed on stage and grabbed the guy, but unfortunately, the white guy had a vise grip on her ankle.
“Sorry, Honey,” James said as he tried to yank the man away.
Honey was angry and frustrated, but most of all, she was scared because of how she was positioned on this pole.
If James yanked him the wrong way and this guy kept a grip on her, she might fall too.
Honey was ready to scream when she heard the crowd go quiet, and when she looked to her left, her eyes popped open when she saw a dark, menacing figure stalk onto the stage, and to her surprise, it was Nikos.
She had never seen him this angry before.
“Hey,” Nikos called as he walked over to the man, loosening his tie. His suit jacket was gone, and his sleeves were rolled up.
“What?” the white frat guy snapped, looking annoyed himself, but that annoyance disappeared and a look of surprise replaced it when Nikos cocked his fist back before driving it directly into his gut.
A hush fell over the crowd as the white frat guy dropped, finally releasing her ankle, but unfortunately, on his way down, he tugged her with enough force that she lost her grip.
Her heart dropped as she felt herself fall.
She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the fall, but instead of feeling hard marble, she felt strong arms beneath her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Nikos, who had caught her.
Honey sighed with relief, ready to thank him, but that dark look on his face hadn’t disappeared, making her hesitate.
“Nikos,” she called, but he didn’t respond as he continued to glare darkly at the white frat boy, who was on the floor, coughing loudly while holding his stomach in pain.
“Nik,” she called again, using her son’s nickname for him, the one she had started to occasionally call him, which would make Nikos grin every time.
It seemed to have done the trick because he finally looked at her before he carried her behind the curtains.
He didn’t say anything as he carried her to the backroom and sat her down on the couch.
A moment later, Georgios came inside, and if this were in the past, he probably would have badgered her about how she needed to be more professional and control the situation better even if a man were touching her inappropriately, but instead, he spoke to Nikos.
“What do you want me to do?” Georgios asked like a soldier waiting for his general’s command, and sometimes she forgot that Nikos was in charge now, and Georgios answered to him.
At moments like these, Nikos seemed like one of the most powerful men in the world.
It was a daunting thought because it was so different from how she usually saw him.
Nikos didn’t immediately respond. His jaw was clenched tight enough that she could see his veins and that dark look had still not faded in his eyes.
A tense air hung in the room as they waited for his response.
Suddenly, his heavy gaze turned to her as if he would find the answer in her eyes.
They stared at each other for a beat, and though it seemed that Nikos had finally found his answer as his jaw loosened enough for him to speak, it didn’t seem to be an answer he was happy with.
“Toss him out, and make sure he never steps inside this establishment again,” Nikos said, his voice tight as if he were forcing out words he didn’t mean before he stiffly left the room and Georgios followed him.
Honey sat alone in disbelief, trying to process his actions, but before she could even question what happened, Allison, Amber, Rachel, Sweetie, and Rita burst into the room.
“Are you okay?” Allison cried out, dropping beside her and pulling her into a hug.