27
Orion
Was that a challenge?
Fuck.
I couldn’t make sense of what I’d just watched Sable do on that stage. My head was still a giant mess from the last few days. First it was staying over at his place, then finally learning a little more about him, to spending time with Whitney like we were back in high school again.
My hands itched to grab him from the stage, grapple him into my lap, claiming him right there in front of the entire club.
And fuck me. That song? I scrubbed a hand over my face as Victor approached to change out my empty beer bottle for a fresh one.
It wasn’t like I always drank a lot, but since I started coming to the club, it became a sort of ritual.
I needed a beer or two in order to calm my nerves and soothe my guilt.
And then there was Sable.
That tempting little body in his sinful tiny blue shorts rolled from the stage, making his way over to me. I could hear Victor laughing at me as I tried to quench my dry throat with a swig of my beer.
“Calm down, cowboy, don’t want a drunk dick, now do you?”
I turned to glare.
“Good evening,” Sable purred, sending a shiver down my spine. I ached to touch him—it was like he was reading my mind. He leaned into my body, resting his hip against my inner thigh as my legs were spread on the bar stool.
“Your usual?” Victor asked.
Sable only nodded before turning a cheeky smile on me.
“Enjoying the show?”
I swallowed thickly. “Always.”
He laughed as a bright yellow martini glass slid across the counter to him. He lifted the drink to his perfectly pink lips, taking a sip. The drink, a perfect juxtaposition to Sable the person. The mix of sweet and sour coming together to form a perfect personification of sin.
“Now I need a favor. Who do you think my next victim is tonight?”
Sable’s words sent ice through my veins.
So we're back to sour already. We’ve been here before.
He must be testing me to see if I could really handle seeing him do his job?
I’d been in the club so often that it shouldn’t bother me at that point.
The fact that he was leaning on me, touching me, he could have me…
But he was asking about finding someone else.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. That wasn’t me at all. I’d told him that I was okay with his job—this was my chance to prove it. It didn’t matter that I was there, right in front of him. He still needed to make a living. Selling his body was how he did that.
Without thinking, I grabbed his hips tight enough to bruise. Maybe he would pick up on how uncomfortable I was with the entire conversation, but that didn’t seem to be the case. My pretty little dancer kept his head on a swivel, scanning the crowd as he sipped his tart cocktail.
“What about this guy over here,” he said, nodding in the direction of a man who was watching us with a little too much interest.
Two could play at that game.
“Only if he doesn’t mind the extra company.”
Sable tensed under my hold. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you go to him, I’m coming with you. He screams of trouble. I want to make sure nothing happens to you.”
The concern didn’t seem to put him at ease. “I’ve been with more questionable men. I’m still here.”
Nope. I didn’t like that at all. In the months I’d been sitting my ass in Faded Sins, I’d also watched him have a few mental breakdowns because of men who couldn’t take no for an answer.
Shit.
Was I becoming one of those men?
My hands fell from his hips. Sable spun in my grasp. He draped the arm that didn’t have his drink over my shoulder before leaning in to place a quick peck against my lips.
“Try not to worry so much. I know how to take care of myself. If he does something I don’t like, there’s plenty of people around to help.”
It didn’t make me feel any better, watching as Sable sauntered off in the direction of the other man had something gross settling in my gut.
I wanted him all to myself. That was a terrible thought.
How could I go back on my word so quickly?
He was right; he’d been doing this for years before I’d come into the picture.
It didn’t matter that I’d seen the panic attacks.
That I’d seen him shatter in the face of uncertainty.
This was how I proved that I supported his right to choose.
Except that I didn’t, or I didn’t want to.
The idea of someone else laying a hand on what was mine made me irrational. I wanted to smash my beer bottle using the shards of glass to cut the man for even looking at what was mine. Rich coming from a man who belonged to someone else. That thought alone kept me in my seat.
Watching Sable place his hands on the man’s chest, leaning in close, made me sick.
I had to look away before I did something stupid.
There was no way he was going into a private room by himself.
I needed to make sure he was okay, keeping my eye on him at all times.
It was crossing a line. It would piss him off…
A hand on my arm was the only thing that kept me from moving across the bar before I even realized I was out of my seat.
“Don’t do it.” Victor’s eyes bore holes all the way to my soul.
“How?”
He seemed to understand the open-ended question, motioning for me to sit back down. Everything in my body screamed not to listen. I wanted to follow Sable into the back room with that man. I’d let him do his job. Maybe.
“I don’t know what’s going on with the two of you, but trust me. If you follow him, it will end.”
My mouth ran dry at the warning. Had Victor had deeper feelings for his friend at one point, or were friends with benefits all they ever were? Why did that suddenly bother me? Victor was a great guy, until now I hadn’t really cared that he’d slept with Sable.
Okay. I cared, but it didn’t make me as angry as it did at that moment. I wanted to punch the man erasing all memories of the pretty little dancer from his system. My pretty little dancer.
The moment I went to stand up again, Victor was back to grabbing my arm. His eyes swirled with some sort of emotion that I didn’t recognize. He was protective of his friend. There I was, being a goddamn caveman. This was so damn stupid.
“Look, Orion. I like you for him. Even if you started off coming in here for other reasons, you seem to care about him more than most. Don’t fuck it up by doing something so stupid like this.”
People had open relationships. Having any type of relationship with Sable meant that I had to be okay with something similar.
Relationships like that worked as long as the people involved knew how to communicate properly.
If I were learning anything about my relationship with Whitney, I sucked at talking to anyone.
So much hurt and heartache could have been avoided had I only spoken up the moment Whitney wanted to push for children. Children, I still didn’t want.
I couldn’t focus on things for very long when Raven came out of the back.
She wasn’t dressed for the stage, but still had a lot of skin on display.
She wore a top with a deep plunging neckline tucked into one of the tightest mini-skirts I’d ever seen.
It wasn’t like I paid all that much attention to her, but she made her way directly to me, which had me on high alert.
“Where’s your friend?” she asked with a purr, trailing a long black painted fingernail along my collarbone. All I wanted to do was flinch away from the touch. Something about the woman screamed trouble.
“Which friend?” The question was valid. I’d been in the club often enough that I knew a lot of people.
She only smirked at me before removing her hands from me, leaning against the bar to talk to Victor. “Can I get a gin and tonic, please?”
The bartender raised an eyebrow at her, but moved to make her drink, regardless.
“The one who sits in here with you from time to time. The one with the sexy as fuck dark hair and the facial expression that says trouble.”
I wanted to laugh. I’d never heard Jayden described as having a resting bitch face before, but it worked.
He never actually looked happy. Some of that had to do with the shit he’d been through, but why the hell was Raven out there asking about him.
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days. ”
Ever since the incident at the garage, we haven’t talked to each other unless we were at the same place at the same time.
Though it felt like Jayden was making an appearance at the club a little more often.
Maybe that should have been a cause for concern, knowing what he was up to.
Then again, there was no telling if he was selling on the premises.
He could have been there for the same reasons as me. Just needing to unwind.
Raven seemed to accept that answer, although she looked a little disappointed, pouting out her bottom lip before something wicked crossed her features. Her hands were back on me, planted on my shoulders as she leaned in closer. “You look like you could use some company. What do you say, big guy?”
I had no desire to touch this woman. The only person I was ever there to see was Sable. The fact that Raven was trying to get me to pick her up completely turned me off. She was exactly the type of girl Jayden likes—that put me off the most. I had no interest in his left overs..
Her touch made me feel sick. I needed her hands off me. As delicately as possible, I lifted her hands from my shoulders.
“I think I’m okay. Just here to enjoy the entertainment tonight.”
That earned me another pout. She seemed like she was on a mission to get me to pay her, but then someone moved in behind her, slinging his arm around her waist, pulling her close. She let out a little squeal before turning and laughing. “Speak of the devil. I was just over here asking about you.”