Chapter 34
KADENCE
Iwoke up around seven in the evening after everything that happened last night.
After the man grabbed me and I ran outside like a coward, Annika brought me home and I cried in the shower.
Even after I took my medicine, I couldn’t sleep because of how loud my mind was.
If I was being honest, my body was alive because of how close Blaize was to me.
I didn’t like how she made me feel, especially when she stated time and time again that she didn’t trust me. The push and pull with her was insane.
I sighed, pushing the covers off my body and walking into my bathroom.
Once I finished brushing my teeth, I made my way into the living room.
Annika and the guys were all snuggled together on the couch, watching reruns of Supernatural.
I glanced at them, and then checked the clock by the front door to confirm my phone wasn’t wrong.
“Hiya,” Annika greeted. “You slept a long time.”
I nodded. “I was exhausted and actually slept. Aren’t you going to get ready? Don’t we have to be at the club in an hour?”
Annika lifted herself up and ended up straddling Theo’s lap, which caused him to shift and grip her hips. She moaned softly before directing her eye contact back to me. “Sorry. The strip club is closed Friday and Saturday. I don’t know why Blaize or Hunter didn’t tell you.”
“Why? Wouldn’t the weekends be the busiest time of the week?”
“She doesn’t know?” Drew asked.
Annika shrugged before realization flashes through her eyes. “Oh, the NDA. I guess even working there you don’t know, but mostly everyone who works normal shifts works Friday and Saturday, too.”
“Okay?” I arched my brow.
“Do you wanna go?” Noah asked. “We can’t tell you what it is until you get there.”
“Is it a sacrificial cult kinda thing?”
“Uhh no, but you can live your darkest desires tonight,” Drew offered.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Annika smiled and ran up to me. “You’ll find out tonight. You’ll be our invite, it’s the only way you can get in. Hunter and Blaize know you, so I don’t think we need to tell them. Normally, if a member gives a name, Hunter has to do a background check to make sure they’re safe.”
“I’m gonna die.”
“Not the way you're thinking of, no.” Annika still wasn’t answering my question and this cryptic shit didn’t help, but I was intrigued.
“Do I have to be naked or something?”
“If you feel confident, go ahead, but you can wear what you’d normally wear at the club or something more revealing. I wear my sexiest lingerie, and the guys just have their jeans. By the end of the night, we’ll all be naked.”
“Okay. I’m gonna shower then.”
Forty-five minutes later, I walked out of the shower in a cloud of steam, freshly shaved and exfoliated. My hair was wrapped in my old t-shirt, and I had my towel tightly wrapped around my body. I walked out of my bathroom to see Annika sitting on my bed with a selection of lingerie and dresses.
“How’d you know?”
“Because I’m making you look hot tonight. You’re going to make heads roll, and maybe you’ll get lucky tonight.”
I arched my brow, folding my arms across my chest. “What makes you think I want to get laid?”
“Please. Blaize is waiting for an excuse to rip your clothes off and rail you five ways to Sunday. Maybe this will be the push both of you need.”
My mouth dropped. I knew drunken confessions would bite me in the ass.
She should’ve been hungover from her blackout and five-hour fuck fest, not remembering my drunk confessions.
I was far from an innocent virgin having a body count as long as my arm, but I felt like a school girl with a stupid crush on a bad girl.
“If you forgot, that woman hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you, she just doesn't process her emotions and lets them build and build until she explodes.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, sure. I’m not getting my heart broken.”
“Blaize is still dealing with loss, babe, but I know from working at her club and knowing her, she hasn’t acted like this with anyone else.
” She sorted through the different outfits before picking up a tiny black piece of fabric that looked like it would barely fit my thigh. “Here, you should wear this.”
I grabbed the tiny fabric and held it to my body, looking at her and the Barbie dress. “This won’t cover my ass. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have thick thighs and a belly; this isn’t going to look good on me.”
“Babe, you have luscious curves, killer tits, and fuck me thighs.” This was a new side of Annika. “You will look hot and it will hug you in all the right places. Besides, if what I think will happen happens, it’ll be perfect access for a certain boss of ours.”
I slipped the fabric over my head and pulled it down my body, adjusting it over my chest and hips.
It stopped a few inches above my upper thigh.
Turning to check my reflection, I realized one wrong move could expose everything.
Annika was right—the fit accentuated my figure without making me look like a busted can of biscuits. I looked hot.
“God, you look good enough to eat,” Annika praised, and I felt my cheeks burn. “Does that make you uncomfortable?” she babbled. “I guess I should’ve asked before. I’m just a flirty person with all my girlfriends. Like I know I have my guys, but I am a girl’s girl in all ways.”
I laughed lightheartedly, giving her a cheerful look. “No. It’s okay. I’m just not used to having someone that actually thinks I look hot. I didn’t have friends like you growing up.”
“Pfft. I’ll be your hype girl all the time.”
“Thank you.”