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."
He doesn't look convinced, and it makes me wonder if my eye did its twitchy thingy. "Yeah. Sure," he says tightly.
I walk around him, and Maverick hops down from the elevated area and reaches up for me. I drop into his arms, laughing lightly when he refuses to put me down. He carries me all the way to the dance floor, and then he proceeds to make an absolute fool out of the both of us.
I just dance, not caring about rhythm, style, or even my dignity. I have to clear my head, and my boys are always good for that.
"I'm cutting in," Corbin says from behind me, twirling me around and jerking me to him.
I giggle as he swings me around, and we dance like kids on the playground for at least two songs. That's when Dale abandons his candy and swoops in to fill the third slot of my dance card.
He dances a little more normal, but still nothing serious. I can't help but burst out laughing when he does a jumping fist-pump thing, because it's so unlike him.
As we all act like idiots without a care, my eyes stray up toward the booth to see Vanessa sitting on the table, her legs close to Dane's lap, as she capitalizes on my absence. I pretend not to be watching, but my eyes never leave that booth.
Dane doesn't look happy or flirty. In fact, he looks a little pissed. Whatever he says to her makes her back up with a frown. She quickly removes herself from the table and practically runs away.
When Dane looks down to me, I quickly jerk my head away, pretending as though I haven't been watching. Shit. What just happened?