Page 16 of Dance for Me
“After Aaron and I split up, I kept coming. It really is an amazing sanctuary, Bodie. The friends you can make, the familial bond that binds a number of us together...even if you don’t want to play, the connection would enrich your life. Braun offered me club manager eighteen months after my first visit. I’d tended bar for him for a while, and it was the natural next step to take over the running of the club. Six months after that, he made me a Master. Best day of my life, and a title I hold with pride.”
Yes, she could see that. Liam was insanely proud of what he’d accomplished, even if she couldn’t understand it. After his junkie mom nearly ruined his life at such a young age, he was happy. “What kind of...Master are you?”
“I’d like to think I’m fair. I can be as much of a hardass as Atticus, as sweet as Connie, and my ears are always available for a chat with an uncertain subbie. Being bi, I’m extremely lucky to be able to top men and women, so I’m kept busy between running things and taking care of those who require my attention.”
Hmmm, sounded accurate. In true Liam style, he hadn’t embellished his achievements that she could tell, but told her the truth as he saw it. She had a feeling Jasper wouldn’t have been so modest if asked the same question.
“And...and Braun?”
As soon as she said his name, Liam’s eyes lit with consideration. He took a long moment before answering this time—was he weighing up his reply to make Braun seem more appealing, or was he figuring out how to spin his boss’s bad points more favorably? “Braun is one of the best men of my acquaintance in the lifestyle, Bo. He’s been my mentor for quite some time, especially after Aaron fucked off with his toyboy. Braun’s got the patience of a saint, he’s skilled in several areas, and he’s earned the respect of each and every member of the club.”
Bodie grunted quietly, mulling that over.
“Let yourself relax, Bo. Why don’t you go put some music on and take a spin on the stage before the horde starts piling in? The music system is to the left of the stage, you can’t miss it.”
Damn him for using his knowledge of her to settle her down. He knew the best way to calm her nerves was music. And dance...dance gave her an outlet for all her frantic energy and the emotion she sometimes couldn’t bottle up.
“Is there time?” There were no freaking clocks in the club that she’d seen.
“Yeah, you’ve got time. Go burn some stress off, get those endorphins pumping.”
Her feet headed in the direction of the stage of their own accord. Before she could talk herself out of this whole sorry mess, she’d travelled up the short set of five steps and surveyed the area with which she had to work.
A lot of space, which pleased her immensely. From below, the stage looked quite small and cramped but up here, she had more than enough room to play with choreography.
The floor was smooth, perfect for slides and splits, and shone under the warm lights illuminating her new territory. Marked here and there, but she wasn’t going to think about how the scars had gotten there.
Looking up, she was impressed by the amount of lights at her disposal. White lights, colored filters, spotlights...whatever her mood required, she could set it up easily. There was some sort of rigging above her head, but again, she ignored it. It wouldn’t get in her way, so she didn’t need to ponder the possibilities.
Her overtaxed brain switched from fretting over sex and big mean Doms to thinking of songs and routines she knew by heart. Tonight was not the night to start plotting out new choreography, not this close to her club debut. If she was going to make dancing at Avalon a biweekly event, she needed to be flawless, to stir the audience into a frenzy that had them begging for more.
Bodie wandered to the left and discovered a treasure trove of music hidden along the back wall. Four six-feet high bookcases crammed to the gills with CDs and, praise sweet baby Jesus cuddled up in his crib, organized alphabetically. Her fingers trailed across slim plastic spines as she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
Country and Western? Line dancing? No.
Pop music? Something down and dirty? Maybe that would be appealing.
Good old-fashioned rock? Nope.
She wished she had her phone. There’d been some really good, fast paced remixes on there that would have knocked the socks off Braun’s clientele. Never mind, she’d find something suitable, but for this moment in time...
Plucking an album from the shelf, she carried it to the sound system and studied the fancy contraption. It took her several moments to figure out what buttons controlled what, but eventually she got the CD in and let it play until she twiddled the volume dial high enough to have the bass pulsing through the room. Loud enough to drown out thoughts and nerves and everything beyond the edge of the stage.
With the volume where she wanted it, she lined up the track she required and paused the CD. Pocketing the remote, she went hunting for the lightboard, discovering it on the opposite side of the stage. Another ten minutes of her time was occupied with fiddling with colors and brightness.
When she stepped into the middle of the stage, she couldn’t see anything but the lights. If she couldn’t see what was going on when the club was in full swing, she couldn’t get distracted or spooked.
Bodie inhaled slowly and stripped off her hoody as the lights warmed up the stage. She’d have to rethink her costumes—collapsing due to dehydration and heat exhaustion was a definite no-no. But for now, she’d dance in jogging pants and a tank top; she’d just have to hope she didn’t sweat herself into a puddle on the floor.
Using the remote, she set the track playing and closed her eyes as the first notes of Kesha’s Woman thundered into the club. Her feet kicked off the party, the rhythm crawling up her legs into her knees, then her hips. Shoulders and arms next.
She surrendered herself to the music, eyes still tightly shut, and let her instincts take over. Blessed silence blanketed her thoughts, and the peace it brought her after a rough day was so much more than welcome.
It was vital.
Her body picked up speed, the beat flowing through her veins and guiding her movements. She opened her eyes as she flowed into a spin, her arms outstretched before rising above her head. But even as she lost herself in the rhythm, something didn’t feel quite right.
There was something missing.