His forehead creased with annoyance. I found myself nervously playing with my hair, caught behind the elastic of my sparkly mask.
“Maybe not as much as you though,” I added for good measure, not meeting his eyes.
His head tipped backward and he let loose a burst of laughter. “What’s wrong? Don’t like me spending time with other women?” he teased.
“No, of course not! You can do what you like.” I sputtered, barely in control of my own words.
There was a minute’s pause between us.
Jonah finally spoke. “You look, well, delicious tonight.”
I glanced coyly in his direction and, as always, had to stifle a small gasp as I watched his eyes sparkle for my benefit.
“But it doesn’t matter what I think, does it? Your interests lay elsewhere.”
He was testing me. It took me a moment too long, but I nodded.
As his fingers skimmed down the soft skin of my arm to my wrist, circling around and around, he said, “There’s nothing I can say, or do…” His voice lowered to a deep murmur as he ran the tip of his nose softly to my earlobe. “… to change your mind.…”
His lips were now pressing against my neck, leaving only the smallest gap to allow his words to travel to my ear. I began melting quicker than an ice cream left out in the sun. But just before I fell completely out of my cone my phone vibrated. I raced for it, a perfectly timed interruption. Shuffling around in the clutch, I lifted the phone out to see Gabriel’s name appear on the screen. Jonah placed his hand on mine, pushing the phone down.
“He’s not right for you, Cessie.”
Despite the feeling in the pit of my stomach that yearned, it irritated me that he would make such an assumption.
I shot him a displeased look, and he seemed offended. “Have fun,” he said abruptly.
I grabbed for his arm as he glided away from me and he turned back with a quizzical expression.
“Don’t. Well, please, don’t drink from her.” I pretended it was because I was a good person, saving her from him, but it was hard to convince myself of this lie. The very thought of him drinking from a girl that attractive made me ache deep inside, somewhere I couldn’t identify. And it was a sensation that screamed to me that I was jealous, even though I didn’t want to hear it.
He thought on my request before replying. “What does it matter to you?”
“Just please, promise me.”
He considered me a while before nodding firmly. Striding back to his seat, he gestured to the girl, who had been drifting nearby, watching our exchange over by the piano.
She swiftly took up her position on his lap, but not before sending a look of triumph in my direction.
I read the message from Gabriel: CALL ME.
I flicked the text away. I would call him later. I wasn’t a puppet he could pick up and put down when he felt like it, tugging my strings however he so desired.
I was about to make my way back upstairs to find Brooke when a man took up the barstool next to me.
“What are you drinking?” he asked.
I looked at him, startled. He was a good-looking guy, maybe in his early twenties, with gelled blond hair swept from his face and large green eyes and a wide smile. His shirt had a patterned lining of swirling blues and whites, nearly as white as his bleached teeth.
“Vodka,” I answered, throwing a quick glance back over my shoulder. Jonah was now receiving a lap dance; I was slightly disappointed that he hadn’t seen.
“Are you here alone?” the stranger inquired, an uneven smile forming across his lips.
I thought about it for a second before replying. “I’m here with a girlfriend, but I think she’s abandoned me for the evening.”
“Well, that’s just my good luck. I’m Bradley. Judging by the accent, am I safe in assuming you’re a Londoner?”
“Yes,” I answered, recognizing that his accent was similar to my own.
“I’m only passing … a fleeting visit; my dad owns this place. I wasn’t going to come tonight, but now I’m rather glad I did. What brings you down here? Not many women choose to spend their evening in this part of the club, unless they’re working of course.”
At first I thought his eyes were wandering to my cleavage, but I realized he was staring at my ring.
Before I had a chance to answer, he continued.
“That’s a remarkable crystal you have there,” he pondered. “May I?”
Without waiting for my agreement, he lifted it from my skin and, squinting, he rubbed it in between his fingers. I was taken aback; he was far too close for my liking. As he grazed the perfect edges of my crystal, everything felt all wrong inside.
Over Bradley’s shoulder, I glimpsed Jonah’s blank expression. He inclined his head, observing this little exchange, now ignoring the dancing girl’s efforts. So despite the sickening sensation that was rising to my throat as Bradley leaned in for a closer inspection, I placed my hand on his back and let a little laugh slip through my lips. “Sorry, I’m ticklish.…” I lied, grinning.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, returning back to my eyes.
“An old fiancé, apparently,” I said, relieved he had released it.
Losing interest in my gem, his interest pricked instead at the mention of my seemingly single status.
“Well, I’m rather glad the fiancé is past tense. Let’s dance.” He wasn’t asking.
With a wave of his hand the brunette swinging energetically around the pole stopped, and a middle-aged man took up the piano stool and started to play.
Grabbing my hand, Bradley hauled me onto the parquet floor. The light fabric of my skirt swirled and floated as he spun me away from him before pulling me back in. An incredibly beautiful rendition of Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love” sang its way through the keys of the grand piano.
Bradley twirled and dipped me like a pro. But his controlling grasp on my body felt anything but gentleman-like.
“You are certainly something,” he said, his eyes making their way unashamedly down the length of my exposed skin.
I gave him a disinterested half smile out of politeness; I didn’t want to be dancing with him. He felt cold, confident, and certain: arrogantly convinced, and wrongly so, of me tonight. I noticed a gold wedding band on his ring finger, greeting me with its chill as, uninvited, he pressed his hand down my neck.