Page 54 of Ashes
The man turns to face the pole, puts his hands on it, then levers himself up. He starts to move to the music, and I’m transfixed. His muscles undulate with each flip and turn. He’s upside down, then the right way up. His legs open wide, his hips chime a rhythm that makes my heart race. And the shapes he makes with his body…
Luther’s hand on my thigh makes me jump. He tweaks his finger under my chin and turns my head, so I scan the room. On every single couch, couples are starting to play with each other. Not fucking. Not yet, and not just couples. Threesomes. Groups. More bodies than I can count.
“This guy must be the warm-up act,” Luther whispers. Then he nudges my elbow. “Sit on my lap.”
I frown at him. He tugs me on top of him, my ass landing hard on his crotch. “The guard by the door is staring at us,” he says, running his hands over my arms. “We’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves. If we look like undercover cops, we’ll be tossed out. And we won’t be getting back in.”
I reach back and pull his mouth closer to my neck.
“Is he Sam?” Luther asks, so close that I feel his breath on my skin.
“I don’t know. He could be.” I look up at the stage, wriggling my hips so it looks like I’m enjoying the way Luther is nuzzling me.
A small grunt parts his mouth. He shifts beneath me. “Easy,” he says. “We’re pretending, remember?”
Across the room, the security guard has left his post and is now weaving in and out of the crowd. Shit. He’s coming toward us.
Spinning around, straddling Luther, I bend down and whisper, “Didyouremember that we’re pretending when you picked this outfit?”
Luther’s hands rest lightly on my waist. His fingers twitch on my skin. “It was the first one I saw.”
Watching the security guard pace along the row behind us, his eyes darting over to us as he moves, I sit up. Luther’s eye-level with my breasts.
Hooking my thumb in the waistband of my panties, I tweak my hips a little. “Did you know these were crotchless when you bought them?”
Luther’s mouth drops open. He looks down at my thighs. “Are you serious?” he hisses.
“Yes. I’m serious. Are you telling me you didn’t know?”
The guard is directly behind our couch now. He meets my eyes. Then I realize he has his dick in his hand. He smirks at me and looks purposefully down at it. He edges closer, but I quickly turn around and slide my back down Luther’s chest, slamming his hands onto my tits.
“Nova? What the—”
“He’s not suspicious of us,” I snarl. “He’s just a horny asshole who’s hoping to get in on the action.”
Luther glances over his shoulder, then chuckles. Realizing his hands are still on my corseted breasts, he shifts them to my hips instead.
On stage, the dancer is reaching the climax of his performance. The music crescendos. The vibrations intensify. Then the lights go out.
When they come on again, a chain is hanging from the pole with a leather collar attached to the end of it.
The dancer steps around the front of the pole, kneels, and locks the collar around his neck. As he snaps it shut, and his wrist turns, I grab Luther’s hand. “There. Can you see? The birthmark.” I squeeze his fingers with mine. “It’s him, Luther, we found him.”
But the jittery excitement in my chest soon fades. On stage, Sam turns his back to the audience and begins to remove his clothes.
“What are those marks?” I ask Luther, leaning forward in his lap. “I thought they were tattoos but they look more like—”
I hear a small intake of breath. “Fighting scars.”
“Fighting?”
“Nova.” He clutches my waist. “I don’t think you want to stay for this. We’ve found him. We know he’s here. We’ll come back tomorrow and—”
“Are you kidding? I’m not leaving.” I try to move off his knees, but Luther keeps me pinned in place.
“Nova. What’s about to happen… I’ve heard about it. It’s not—”
His words are cut off by a howl. A gut-wrenching, wall-shaking, howl. When I look back at the stage, Sam is standing stock-still. And a pack of wolves has surrounded him.