Chapter 8 Selene #5
“Me. You’re staying until tomorrow,” he said as though this had been decided upon, despite the fact that he’d never even asked me and I was visibly unhappy.
“You’ve got some nerve…” I answered with a shake of my head, and he grinned at me.
What the hell did he have to smile about?
“Maybe so, but you like my nerve.” He tightened his hold around my arms, pulling me closer to him until his hard chest pressed against mine.
My body reacted immediately to his touch.
“Do you deny it?” he asked softly as he pressed his erection, stiff and ready, into my pelvis.
He was showing me that he wanted a different sort of attention and that his mind had gone off in a completely different direction than mine.
But I ignored his question; I had no desire to confirm just how much I liked him, even when he was being all rude and outlandish like that.
“I thought you didn’t like my dress,” I said in a spiteful mutter. He had insulted me. I hadn’t hallucinated it.
“I told you I thought you were hot. Don’t you know what that means in man language? Or should I show you?” He talked to me like I was immature, fickle, and inexperienced and couldn’t hope to get the better of someone like him.
“I get it; it’s not subtle,” I answered pertly, feeling the tense way he held his body and how his hard member still pressed into me. “You should apologize to me,” I continued.
“I’m never going to do that. You knew what I was like from the start.
” He released me and passed a hand through his hair in frustration.
He looked like he wanted to jump me but was restraining the impulse.
And a thought occurred to me. Maybe this is all a test?
Maybe he is trying to see what I will endure for him?
“We’d better go.” I pushed past it and ended the conversation, knowing that it wouldn’t have changed anything anyway.
* * *
About a quarter of an hour later, we arrived at Chandelier, the club where we were meeting the Krew.
On the trip over, Neil and I had completely ignored each other.
I was still mad about what he’d said, while he, on the other hand, seemed lost in his own twisted thoughts.
He’d smoked in the car again without the least consideration for my presence, and when he turned on the radio, it was to play a song by his favorite band.
The first notes of “Nervous” had floated out into the interior of the car, the lyrics seeming to mock me.
After Neil parked, we got out and went straight to the entrance of the club, bypassing the long line of people waiting to get inside.
Apparently, Neil was familiar with the musclebound bouncer.
All he had to do was say hello, and the guy let us in without any problem.
Inside, the music was so loud it rendered me stunned, while the colored lights dazzled my eyes and the crush of people made it hard to breathe.
Someone bumped into me out of nowhere, and I stumbled, but the walking Disaster I was with just kept going, not even bothering to check if I was following along behind him.
“Try not to get lost,” he yelled over the music when he finally turned around to check on me.
I automatically reached out for his hand, and the gesture made him glare at me.
I could see right away from the look on his face that he wasn’t pleased with my taking the initiative like that, and he stared at me in confusion.
“I can keep track of you better this way,” I said into his ear, and after a brief hesitation, he sighed and entwined his fingers with mine.
He gave them a firm squeeze before continuing to walk, pulling me along with him.
My heart rate accelerated at the heat of his palm on mine, and I began to sweat.
I thought about how anyone watching us probably thought we were some happy couple holding hands, but in reality, we were nothing of the sort.
However, I didn’t want to ruin the mood with my paranoia, so instead of turning myself inside out over how I was being perceived, I decided to take a look around and get a better sense for what kind of club I’d wound up in.
There was a DJ spinning a series of earth-shaking electronica tracks, numerous tall tables occupied by groups of men and women of all ages, and a series of black sofas arranged around the edge of the room.
The dominating color scheme was black and deep scarlet, real hellfire vibes. A perfect place for the Krew.
I jolted when I felt the sudden absence of Neil’s hand. I frowned, seeing that he’d stopped but not immediately realizing why. Then it became clear to me when I spotted his friends.
“Oh, there you are. We’ve been waiting for you.” Xavier raised a glass in our direction with his usual devil-may-care attitude. He chuckled as he lay splayed out on a couch amongst the others.
“We thought you weren’t coming,” Luke, sitting next to him, put in.
“And apparently you brought your little brat with you too.” It was Jennifer who spoke that time, in tones of the utmost bitchery.
I stood back and looked at her challengingly.
I could have shot something back at her, but I decided to ignore her instead.
She wasn’t worth my attention. Instead, I evaluated her outfit and that of her friend Alexia.
Both were dressed boldly to catch the eye.
But Jennifer was the clear winner.
She wore a white dress that, along with her long blond hair, gave her an almost angelic appearance.
She was as beautiful as she was evil.
“Holy fuck! Babydoll, I didn’t even recognize you. How are you doing?” Xavier checked me out and lingered on my legs, exposed as they were in my short dress. Meanwhile, Neil sat down between Alexia and Jennifer, who immediately made space for him, and jealousy gnawed at my stomach.
“Well? Xavier asked you a question, princess,” Jennifer prompted me nastily.
All at once she gave me a sly grin and got up only to sit down on Neil’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
I went rigid as she crossed her legs, allowing her dress to rise up so high that I almost got an eyeful of her panties.
I twisted my lips into a hard expression while Neil did nothing whatsoever to remove her, despite my obvious displeasure.
“Who told you that you could sit on me?” he asked her instead in a placid tone, not quite stern enough to get her moving. Had he wanted to, he could have pushed her away easily. We all knew what he was like.
But he didn’t seem to mind having her on top of him. Far from it, apparently, because he rested a hand on her bare thigh.
My jealousy only increased. It coiled around me like a venomous snake, and I felt an awful emptiness in my chest, but I forced myself not to lash out.
“Sit here, Selene.” Luke gestured to the place next to him, and I accepted his invitation.
It wasn’t like me to do things out of spite, but if Neil didn’t mind Jennifer coming onto him right in front of me, then I didn’t mind sitting next to a guy I’d once kissed in Neil’s pool house.
The Disaster, who had upended my entire life, noticed this and narrowed his eyes slightly at me in challenge.
I grinned cheekily at him and took off my coat to give his buddies a better view of my seductive dress.
“So, where are you living now?” Jennifer continued to needle me as she stroked the back of Neil’s neck with her sharp claws. She feigned interest in my answer, but the fight in her eyes left no room for doubt: She hated me.
“Detroit,” I answered coldly, rubbing a hand over my knee. I forced myself to look into her bright eyes and tried to hide how much it hurt to watch her drape herself all over a man I considered…mine.
“Oh yeah, of course. And why’d you come back? A little vacation?” she asked arrogantly.
“Well, it certainly wasn’t to see your whore face,” I burst out.
Xavier burst into laughter. “Whore face? How classy, Babydoll,” he commented, bringing his cocktail to his lips.
Jennifer just took the hit and dug her heels in, casting a glance at Neil, who had been watching our spat in silence.
She moved closer to him until her breasts were pressed to his chest, then tossed her golden hair back to expose the generous cleavage that made it so obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra.
The message was clear: She was marking her territory.
“And yet…men still prefer someone like me to someone like you,” she said with a superior air, as though she were up to the challenge of being with someone like Neil and I was not.
“Only the ones with a negative IQ,” I snapped back, determined not to let her bitchiness get the better of me. She smiled and exchanged knowing looks with Alexia before giving me her undivided attention once again.
“But your man is no exception; just the other night he was hanging out with me and Alexia. He wanted to play heads or tails… Do you know what that means?” she asked insolently.
I didn’t know, but I could take a guess.
Just the thought of Neil continuing to have sex with other people—even worse, with the two of them—disgusted me.
I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.
“He wanted head from me and Alexia’s tail.” She gave me a sneering little wink, and that was the coup de grace for me.
Suddenly, Neil sprang into action. He shoved her off him and slid her over onto the sofa before leaping to his feet.
“Why the fuck are you telling her that?” he barked reprovingly. My eyes sought out his; I wanted him to see just how hurt I was, but his gaze was locked on the blond.