3
Orion
What the hell is going on?
I couldn’t turn my eyes away from the man who had swayed his tiny little hips on that stage, then made his way into the crowd. He was delicate in a way I never thought I’d call a man delicate. The little shorts he wore did nothing to hide his pale body as he gyrated to the music.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head when Jayden spoke to me because for a moment I’d almost forgotten that he was there.
“Yeah, I’m good. What’s up?”
He smirked at me before he picked up his beer, taking a long swig. Once he set his glass back on the bar top, examining me, raising his eyebrows like he wanted me to say more.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “It’s nothing. You know that I haven’t been out like this since the big bachelor party scandal.”
That made Jayden laugh as well. “Who could forget that mess? I bet Whitney still wants to chop my balls off for that. She should have known that I wouldn’t have let my boy go without a stripper. It’s like a rite of passage or some shit.”
Movement in my periphery caught my attention—that gorgeous little creature from the stage was leaning over the bar talking to the bartender.
I wanted to know what he was saying. More like I wanted to know what it felt like to run my fingers along the smooth skin of his back, but that thought was quickly squashed when a slimy man approached him after he was handed his drink.
My gut churned. I knew what it was. I hadn’t felt it in years. The last time that feeling had rushed over me was when Jayden had tried to hit on Whitney back in high school. She'd had to get me to tell him to leave her alone.
Why the fuck was I jealous of a man I’d never seen before tonight. I’m married, I shouldn’t have these thoughts, especially about someone I don’t even know.
Seeing that man’s hands on him had me seeing red. It took everything in me to stay in my seat. It wasn’t my place to step in, and it looked like the club had it handled when the music cut out—all the attention transferred to the dancer in distress.
It didn’t take long for the bartender and a large bouncer to come in escorting the creep out of the club.
What caught my attention was the way the dancer didn’t relax once the goon was gone.
He looked as if he’d seen a ghost and was on the verge of passing out.
It was the start of another game of trying to stay in my seat when the dancer I hadn’t even been paying attention to jumped off stage, pulling him into a hug and disappeared with him backstage.
“You like him or something?”
My gaze snapped to Jayden. He knew I was bi, and I wonder if that was why he picked this particular location. I hadn’t ever heard of a place that had both male and female performers before, much less that Jayden would be caught dead in one.
As much of an asshole as he could be sometimes, he was very clear that he was straight. He never went out of his way to make anyone but himself comfortable, so for him to bring me here... he was up to something. He had to be.
Instead of giving him a straight answer, I tried to play off my interest, rolling my eyes, picking up my own beer to take another drink, but only I found my glass was empty.
I frowned at it because I hadn’t even remembered drinking much of it, but then again, I’d been so preoccupied with the gorgeous man who had been walking around the club with his martini in hand.
You’d think I’d be able to snap out of whatever spell I’d been under the second that beautiful creature was out of my sight, but that wasn’t the case.
Even when the bartender came back to clean up the spilled drink, broken glass on the floor, all I could think about was what was happening to him backstage and if he was okay.
“So you never mentioned what it was that had you in such a mood tonight,” Jayden said as he ordered us another round.
It wasn’t like I really wanted to tell him about it.
He’d been rooting for my relationship to fail from the beginning, and yeah, okay, that made him a really shitty friend, but it wasn’t like I had a lot of people I was close with.
He knew all my secrets, and it meant something that he stuck around.
Okay, so he didn’t know all of my secrets. I’d take what I was doing to Whitney to my grave.
“And I don’t think I will tell you either.”
The bartender set our fresh beers in front of us.
I grabbed mine, taking a drink of it before turning my glare on my friend.
He didn’t look amused. He’d have to get over it because he’d gotten me into one of the places I shouldn’t be.
Especially when my wife was at home crying over yet another negative pregnancy test.
Jayden scoffed, chugging his drink before waving down the bartender for another. He was always like this when we went out. It didn’t seem to matter what the occasion was. He’d drink until he was sloppy, and it was my responsibility to make sure he got home okay.
Maybe it wasn’t completely my responsibility, but I’d never be able to live with myself if someone got hurt because I hadn’t taken care of them.
I was such a fucking hypocrite. There were times that I watched Jayden get stupid and I wanted him to learn his lesson, to let him fall on his face dealing with the fallout, but I was the glutton for punishment that gave in every time letting him do what he wanted.
The third beer slid in front of him, and before he picked it up, he scowled at me.
“I can feel your judgment from a mile away.”
“I didn’t even say anything.”
He shrugged before only taking a small sip and setting his glass back down. “You didn’t have to. It’s like Whitney finally got in that head of yours. What’s she saying now? Get away from Jay. He’ll only drag you down? Is that what your fight was over?”
Now it was my turn to laugh as I picked up my beer, taking a small drink. “Don’t be so full of yourself. Not everything is about you.”
He was digging, and would continue to dig if I didn’t find a way to distract him.
My pocket vibrated, making me cringe. It meant that Whitney had finally made her way out of the bathroom and was now trying to call me to come home.
As much as my fingers itched to reach into my pocket and pull out the device, to answer it and tell her that everything would be okay, that I’d be right home, it would all be a lie.
I wasn’t in the right mindset to continue with the lie for the evening, and I definitely wouldn’t be right home.
Instead, I turned to the stage where a gorgeous brunette woman in red lingerie swayed to another hypnotic song. Her build almost reminded me of Whitney in a way, and maybe this wasn’t the best distraction for me. But it worked to get Jayden to change the subject.
“Now that’s what I’m fucking talking about. Look at the tits on that one. She’s fucking stunning. What I wouldn’t give to bury my face between those things, motorboating them. You know what I’m saying?”
I could only roll my eyes because the woman was doing nothing for me.
Not like the pretty little thing that had been up there earlier.
Even when she removed her bra and let her breasts fall free, I didn’t feel even the slightest bit of desire for her.
But maybe that’s why places like this had never appealed to me like they’d appealed to so many others.
Jayden was sufficiently transfixed on the woman dancing, so I turned back to the bar and continued to drink my beer until the music faded.
“Did you know that you can pay the dancers here for a private show, if you know what I mean?”
I raised an eyebrow at him because that was the last thing I should have done.
While I may not have wanted to impregnate my wife, that didn’t mean that I wanted to be unfaithful to her.
Though wasn’t I already doing that by being in this club?
I’d sworn to her that I’d never step foot in one again after the bachelor party, yet I was doing it, anyway.
“That’s—”
I didn’t even get to finish what I was saying before Jayden jumped in again.
“I think I’m going to pay for that girl. She was fuck hot, right?”
Jayden was a fuckup on the best of days. A private ‘dance’ couldn’t be cheap, and he wasn’t rolling in a lot of money. Then again, maybe this was the opportunity to let him fall on his face a little.
When the dancer made her way into the room, Jayden waved her down. She approached slowly, her hips giving an exaggerated sway with each step. I wanted to roll my eyes again. She was trying way too hard, but if that was what people were into, more power to them.
“Good evening, gentlemen. I’m Pixie. What can I do for you?”
It was gross watching Jayden drag his eyes up and down her exposed body.
While she may have been a dancer in the club, it didn’t mean she was begging to be eye-fucked by my best friend the moment she approached him.
She was a lot prettier up close than she’d been on stage, but still didn’t do anything for me.
Jayden put a hand on her waist, pulling her in close—he whispered in her ear.
She giggled at whatever he said before nodding and grabbing his hand.
The pair of them walked off, leaving me uncomfortably alone at the bar.
I didn’t know what to do in places like this when I didn’t have anyone to talk to.
I watched as another male dancer took the stage, but all it made me do was think of the one from earlier. Was he okay? Everything itched in me to turn and ask the bartender about him.
Said bartender ended up making his way over to me, picking up Jayden’s discarded glass of beer looking at me because all I was doing was sitting there staring at the swirling bubbles in my cup.
“You okay there, buddy?”
I looked up at him, wanting to laugh. I was fine. If anything, I needed to just leave while Jayden was off being an idiot. Being fine was the last thing I wanted anymore. Everything felt sort of numb, and I would have given anything to feel something real.
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. I didn’t even want to give him the smile that uncomfortably stretched across my face under its own accord. It was all forced—he picked up on it with the look of pure pity that he gave me.
“Why are you here?”
I grimaced at his question. It somehow burrowed right into the root of all the questions I currently couldn’t answer. But I answered him anyway.
“Friend dragged me in. Thought it would help distract me.”
The bartender nodded. “This isn’t your scene. I can tell. You look so damn uncomfortable.”
That made me laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
The bartender stared at me for another moment before nodding at my hand. “Some friend, bringing a married man to come look at other people.”
I laughed again before I picked up my beer, downing the rest of the glass. “I had a bad night at home. This was already his plan, and I was dumb enough to tag along.”
The bartender only nodded. It seemed like he was just placating my stupidity.
He didn’t seem like he was judging, especially because I wasn’t paying too much attention to the entertainment.
Some people were really open in their relationships and didn’t mind a wandering eye as long as those gazes didn’t turn into action or touches.
Why put the temptation there in the first place?
“I wouldn’t call you dumb.”
I only shrugged and handed him my empty glass. Now would be the perfect time to ask about the dancer from earlier. It wasn’t like I’d called him over just to do it, and the place was pretty dead.
“What happened to that guy earlier?” The words were out of my mouth before I could think better of stopping them.
The bartender raised an eyebrow at me as he set a fresh beer in front of me.
“What guy? Sable? We don’t tolerate people touching our dancers around here if they don’t want to be touched. We see trouble and we react.”
Sable. The name rolled in my head, making me close my eyes to commit it to memory.
I wanted to see the pretty dancer again.
To see his smooth skin as he gyrated to the music, running his hands along his exposed flesh.
Just thinking about him was enough to send blood rushing south.
I needed to stop because it was wrong in so many ways.
Instead, I opened my eyes to see that the bartender was now watching me curiously, his head tilted to the side as if he were studying me.
“I’m Victor, by the way,” he said as he extended his hand. “If you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask.”
I gave him another forced smile and nodded while shaking his hand. “Thank you, Victor. I might just finish this and close my tab to head out.” There wasn’t a need to wait for Jayden to finish getting off with his dancer. I had better things to do with my night.
“No problem, man.”
I handed him my card, paid for my drinks, and walked back out into the cool night.
Using the card was stupid because Whitney would see the transaction and question it.
I’d tell her the truth. Jayden had brought me there—I hadn’t done anything more than have a few drinks.
And that was why I was leaving when I was, because if I stayed any longer, that story wouldn’t be as plausible.
Even though I was headed back to my wife, all I could think about was the dark-haired dancer who had caught my attention.