She ends the call.
* * *
Ifollow Williams inside the industrial-looking space with peeling walls and its uniquely grotesque, overbearing green ceiling. The space is already full, and we push by young, half-drunk bodies to get to the booth the rest of the team has acquired.
I leave Williams behind and make my way to the bar to order us a few pints. Around me are hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all competing with background music that soon will get louder when the DJ begins his set. I can only hope most punters will snake their way to the upstairs rooms for the night.
We toss back drinks and shots, and for the first time in a while I’m laughing, smiling, listening to their crude jokes and following their leery gazes as they eye girls younger than us, barely dressed and baring all. It’s a good night. The alcohol makes my head buzz and the conversation keeps my mind off things, dark things, things that should stay buried and lost. For the first time in days, I feel like I can breathe.
Until a streak of pink catches my eye.
There are hundreds of people here, bodies brushing one another as they pass in the cramped space. Ultra-bright tops and too much makeup, which is why her pink stood out; too bright, too unnatural in all that colour and movement. But I saw it and found her.
Her long hair braided in two pigtails secured by neon pink ribbons, her too-short crudely cut black crop top that shows off her cleavage and tight slim belly, a tiny fucking black skirt and hot pink fishnets tucked into her knee-high boots. My gaze follows her to the bar where she bends over slightly as she shouts her order over the music, showing just a hint of her plump, perfect fucking ass. I tear my gaze away and gulp the rest of my drink down, my cock pushing hard against my jeans, wanting to be between those perfectly round cheeks.
I stand up and push my way to the bar, the crowd separates for me like a bewitched ocean. I come to stand directly behind her, her body so close I can see the hint of a freckle on her back as her shirt rides up with her movements.
She turns with her drinks and her face lights up as she sees me. “Joe,” she shouts over the music.
“Hi.” I return her smile, but my gaze can’t hold her eyes. I’m too busy taking the rest of her in. From close up, I take in so many more details, details I want to burn into my retinas, details that will live inside my memories when I fuck my hand or my wife, if she lets me near her again. Even the brief thought of Annie does nothing to cool my burning insides.
“What are you doing here?” she asks and takes a sip of her cranberry vodka.
“We closed a case. We’re celebrating.”
“Congrats.” She tips her glass towards me. “It was nice to see you again, Joe,” she says and slides away, making her way to a group of people her age.
She sets the drinks on a table littered with half-drunk drinks, then pushes her way to the middle of the dance floor already swarming with bodies in motion, twisting, turning, fused together like a multi-headed beast. She stops in front of a boy. He’s shorter than me and his unbuttoned white shirt shows off some of his chest. He’s in that stage between still being young and athletic and filling out into his masculine self. But I don’t care about the way he looks. It’s the way he looks atherthat has my nerves standing on edge and my fists clenching by my side. He’s looking at her like she is already his, like he intends to feast on her. I know I should walk away. They are right for each other; young, attractive, single, but I can’t take my eyes off her.
She smiles up at him, and he winks at her as she wraps her arms around him, forcing their bodies to move as one, entangled limbs and fluid motion. Bodies crash against them, pushing them against one another, their sweat-clad bodies slippery, her hand around his neck, his latching on to her ass grinding his cock into her as they roll their hips and dance. My nails dig into my palm and my head throbs with the beating of the music.
He drops his forehead to hers, his mouth inches from hers. Inches from those soft, full lips that taste of cranberry and sin. He looks into her eyes, and I know what he sees there. My teeth clench and I fear I will grind them to dust. The secrets in her green eyes should belong only to me. A corner of his mouth lifts in a half-grin, and that’s when it happens. Her eyes find mine as his lips brush hers. She holds my gaze for a second before she pulls her mouth away and turns, giving him her back. Her ass slides up and down his cock as she dances against him, and his hands dig into her hips, pulling her in, dipping his mouth onto her sweaty neck, peppering her with kisses as her eyes stay with me.
The more he touches her, the angrier I become. I want to break every finger on his hand. I want to be the one that feels her wet skin glide over mine. I want her in all the ways I shouldn’t, in all the ways I can’t have her. I hold my breath behind pursed lips to steel myself, let out a frustrated growl and down my beer, all the while watching her watching me while she plays with that idiot.
Two songs later and she turns back to him, whispers in his ear and unglues herself from him. He nods and releases her before his friends close in on him with knowing grins. But I don’t spend any time looking at him. I track her movements and prowl around the darker edges of the pub, following. She goes up the stairs and disappears into the bathrooms.
I wait.
Amy walks out, pulling on her short skirt and biting her lower lip, lost in some thought, probably about the idiot downstairs. I sweep the dark narrow corridor once more before I move, launching myself at her. I grab her shoulder, spin her and push her against the wall, pinning her body with mine. A surprised yelp bleeds from her lips and her eyes grow wide for a second, till she recognises me.
“Joe?”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you mean?” She plays all coy, her head dropping slightly, her eyes finding mine through thick lashes as her chest finds its normal rhythm again. “I was dancing.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I growl through my iron-clad jaw as I grind myself into her and let her feel my hard cock. She gasps as I push it right between her legs. And I let out a long slow hiss, feeling her body against mine.
Her head falls away and to the side, her cheek kissing the cold wall. “You said we couldn’t be together.”
I suck in a sharp breath. “Well, you can’t be with that guy either,” I snarl into her ear.
“Why not?”
“Cause you can do better.”
She licks her lips and turns to face me, her eyes burning into mine. “Can I?”