He wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t already guessed about the boy, but hearing the words sorely tempted me to start a quarrel with the bouncer. To wipe the smirk off his face as he thought about Ashton.
Just like old times.
But this was different, and I knew better. No fists involved this time. No harsh words exchanged. Definitely no boy of mine with a tarnished reputation that I needed to defend.
“Just another night out on the town,” I lied under my breath as I stepped inside the club, following the movement of people ahead. It felt as if the sharp swinging lights flashing in various colors sucked me in from the darkness. I located the bar and made a beeline for it.
In disbelief, I looked around the club. There was no way Ashton could know all these people. I’d have thought it was a regular night at the club. Instead, a neon sign just above the DJ’s head spelled out that this event was Ashton Keyes’s twenty-first birthday celebration.
“Can I have a whiskey sour?” I ordered from the bartender, a bright-eyed guy wearing a vest over his otherwise naked torso. The same glitter on his face adorned his nipples, and I frowned. Didn’t that stuff get into the drinks?
When he passed me my drink, I peered into my glass. Not a speck. The glitter must’ve been superglued onto his body.
“How much?” I asked, not intending to have more than one drink before I hit the road again. I wouldn’t go looking for Ashton, but the next time he popped up at the café, I’d be able to tell him that I’d come but that I couldn’t find him.
“Oh, the bar is completely free,” the bartender answered.
“It is? Really?”
He nodded with a grin. “Crazy, right? But this party is being held by some filthy-rich college kid with nothing better to spend his money on, so don’t feel guilty. He has more money than god, or so they say. Just call if you need anything, handsome, and I’ll be right here.”
I turned away from the bartender and checked out the club again. I estimated over a hundred partygoers. The upper floor was crammed with people, and the downstairs didn’t fare any better. The dance floor was a crush of people who were intent on having a good time. The majority was closer to Ashton’s age than mine. What was I doing here?
I wasn’t exactly sure what on the dance floor caught my eye, but suddenly he was there. Completely carried away by the music, Ashton swayed, his eyes closed, arms above his head, dancing in a sea of people who couldn’t compare to him.
Oblivious to his surroundings, he was breathtaking. His teeth bit into his bottom lip, and his face mirrored a kaleidoscope of emotions that made me want to know what was going through his mind.
He held a cup in his hand and, without breaking his concentration on the music, tipped the rim to his mouth. I watched his throat work as he drank greedily.
My mouth watered for a taste of him. With the way he moved and how late I was to the party, he must’ve been dancing a while. He’d taste salty, his skin smooth under my tongue.
I just knew it.
The lights shifted from his frame, and I lost sight of him. I rose to my feet, desperate to catch another glimpse of him. I hadn’t gotten enough of staring at him yet. Then the light returned to him, and I sank back onto the barstool with a sigh of relief.
This time a young guy his age danced behind Ashton, whose eyes widened in surprise at the contact. He glanced over his shoulder to his dance partner. The guy must’ve been someone he was familiar with because he just grinned and went back to his bump and grind with those hypnotic hips.
The crowd parted temporarily, and I saw him fully. I swallowed hard at his outfit. Denim short shorts graced his slender legs, hugged by fishnet stockings and boots. He was bare-chested except for a leather tuxedo shirt harness that clung to his torso. I was pleased he wasn’t simply slender, although he was definitely that, but he was well toned, and his flat stomach carved out in the cutest abs.
I lost track of time watching Ashton. Sometimes he’d disappear from my view, but it was never for long. Partners came and went, but he paid no attention to who danced with him. It appeared that none meant a thing but a good time on the dance floor.
Whatever you don’t accept, I’m sure another man somewhere out there will appreciate. His words left a pungent taste in my mouth. Seeing him dancing with all these guys triggered a protective and territorial instinct I’d long buried.
Did I dare?
Chapter Four
Ashton
After a night of having my body groped on the dance floor, the gentle hands resting on my hips were a not-so-unpleasant surprise.
My ass had been kneaded, pinched, and slapped. My cock had been fondled, and once both happened at the same time when two guys sandwiched me between them for a dance. With Callum being a no-show, I found no reason to demonstrate restraint. I’d had every intention of being good and show him I knew how to behave, but it had been for nothing.
The music and the strange hands on my body pulled me out of my feelings. How hurt I was that Callum had blown me off. Again. A month of rejection from him. It was time I smelled the fucking coffee and admitted it was nothing but a bitter brew.
I kept my back to my new dance partner, my eyes closed as I allowed the music to become an extension of me. I enjoyed dancing, loved having a good time, and damn Callum—he wasn’t going to take that away from me on my birthday.
He didn’t care to spend my birthday with me, so I’d spend it with whomever I damn well pleased. He thought he could judge me? Well, he knew nothing about me.
My dance partner’s hands slid over my waist and down to the tops of my thighs, settling me firmly back against him. I leaned into the touch eagerly, fascinated by how gently his hands moved over me.
Before, I’d been groped for the couple of minutes I’d dance with someone. Yet this man touched me like we had all the time in the world and not just this song.
He pulled me flush against his chest. I kept my eyes closed, gasping at the feel of his impressive cock digging into the tender flesh at my back just above the swell of my ass.
I growled in frustration and pushed my ass back into him, wishing I was taller so we could align better. I wanted to feel the thickness of that cock rubbing against my ass. Just the thought had me groaning as I pictured the man behind me was the one I’d been waiting for all night. The man who never showed.
His lips brushed my ear. I wasn’t the only one affected by our closeness, judging by the heaviness of his breathing. I imagined the hotness of the air rushing from his lips and scrambling over the skin of my neck was all Callum. Daddy Callum.
If only he’d let me be his boy.
I’d make the effort. I really would. I shook my head as if chasing away thoughts of him at a crucial time like this.
Lips touched the side of my neck, and I startled and opened my eyes. Dancing and rubbing up on me was one thing, but his lips on me was not what I wanted right now. I tried to pull away, but the stranger’s hands tightened on my hips.
“I thought this was what you wanted,” he spoke in my ear.
My heart took a flying leap at the familiar voice. He was here. He’d come to my party after all, and better yet, he was dancing with me, touching me, seducing me.
Instead of responding to Callum with words, I reached behind me and hooked an arm around his neck. His lips returned to the spot he’d been trying to kiss when I pulled away. A shiver ran down my spine at the slow, deliberate drag of his lips over my skin. His right hand came around my front and sprawled over my abs, stroking me.