"You okay?" Dane asks, keeping his arm around me and tipping my chin up with his other hand.
"I'm fine. But I don't think Vanessa likes me very much."
His laughter is expected. Why did I say that?
"She doesn't like any woman very much. Don't worry about her. Want to dance?"
That makes my grin return. Dancing with Dane Sterling. It'll be just as tormenting as having him wrapped around me at home, but maybe the seduction of the dance floor can help me out a little.
Sex may be off the table for now, but nothing else is.
The shots return just before I answer, and Vanessa scowls at me as she hands me my martini. I half expect a wad of spit to be floating on the surface, so I elect to skip the martini and go with the shots.
Tequila. Why does he always get tequila? Damn it.
I chug the shot, and the guys all cheer me on. Dale, surprisingly, grabs another shot and chugs it rapidly before standing.
"I'm going to do it."
While I'm trying to figure out what he's talking about it, Maverick and Corbin roar out in celebration, toasting with new shot glasses and downing the tequila like it isn't an amber devil.
Dale snickers while hopping down from the elevated area, and lands on his feet near the dance floor. He walks away, his sights set on a pretty redhead with a lot of leg. Well I'll be damned. Dale's back.
Vanessa returns with another tray of shot glasses, and Corbin eyes her very abundant cleavage. She ignores the rest of the table as she leans in too close to Dane, giving him a full view down her shirt even though his arm is clearly wrapped around me.
This is why I have so many guy friends. Women can be bitches.
Right now is one of those moments where you really want a pie to shove in someone's face. It'd be the perfect pie moment.
"You staying until closing tonight? My car is messing up again, and I could use a ride," she says very suggestively, letting her voice carry over the music.
Two pies.
I start to slide away from him, before I stupidly climb over the table and break out my badass, but Dane keeps me close to him.
"I'm staying with Rain tonight, so I won't be going that way. But you could get Ember to give you a ride. She lives close to you."
Demonically possessed people probably look less frightening than she does right now. After a quick death-glare, she walks away, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Damn, Dane. Piss off the ones that don't look that good," Corbin chides, teasing Dane, who laughs.
"We were going to dance," Dane says, tugging at my elbow.
He normally takes her home? He knows where she lives?
This shouldn't piss me off so much, but it does. Dane Sterling destroyed me once. I thought I was ready to put it all behind me, but I can't. I still love the bastard, and... I have to stop this.
I'm not eighteen anymore, so I can't keep pretend as well as I once could. I dealt with all the heartbreaking tales of Dane's conquests back then—because the whole school talked about their prince and his wicked ways—but I can't do that now. Maybe I'm not as strong as I used to be.
"Actually, Mav gets the first dance," I say with a smile, glancing toward Maverick whose eyebrows go up.
"Me? Hell yeah. Every time we dance I get girls flogging me afterwards."
Maverick hops out, and Dane tilts his head in confusion as he slides around for me to get free. He holds his hand out for me to take in a gentlemanly gesture, and I do so, never meeting his eyes.
"Something happen that I missed?" he asks as I stand up, keeping my hand locked in his.
I force a smile while looking up into his eyes. "Nothing. Mav usually gets the first dance. It's just our thing. We'll dance later."