Chapter 3 In which I shake my groove thang

I’m in line when I spot Vee coming toward me, hazel eyes scanning the crowds of clubbers, the girls in their barely there dresses and the guys with their shirts unbuttoned too low. I watch as she hesitates, teeth sunk into her bottom lip, and then she twists like she’s going to flee. “Vee!” I yell at her. “Sylvie Grace, don’t you dare!”

She pauses and finds me in the line, a reluctant smile curling over her lips as she walks toward me, hips swaying. Anyone who looks at her has to know she’s an omega. She’s got that cute little omega frame, with all the generous curves. Even after years of being sick, it shines through. She looks as beautiful as ever, even dressed down in faux leather leggings and a cropped band tee. She looks better too. Healthier. I know she doesn’t want to admit it, and she probably never will, but being here near the pack that claimed and then rejected her is helping.

“You look gorgeous, babe!” I pull her into my side, locking her against me so she can’t run away, even though I know she wants to. The faintest whiff of sugared nectarines hits my nose, more of her scent than I’ve ever encountered before. “Don’t look at me like that, Vee! You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to come out with me.”

She gnaws on her lower lip again and shakes her head. “I thought maybe just this once we’d go somewhere, you know, quiet. So we could talk.”

I ignore her pointed comment and tip my head until it rests on her shoulder. She’s not too much shorter than me, but I have to slouch the littlest bit to reach her. A faint whiff of cherries hits my nose, making my nostrils flare, and I look around, trying to see where the scent came from, but it’s stupid because we’re surrounded by people. Anyone of them could smell like cherry pie.

The line in front of us moves and I tug Sylvie forward, with an arm around her waist coming to a stop in front of the huge alpha door man. He runs a critical eye over both of us, lingering over Sylvie in a way that has me wanting to shove him back and snarl at him that she has a pack already. My best friend won’t appreciate that, and she’s already shifting uncomfortably under his gaze, so I beam my best beta smile up at him.

“Hey, there.” I reach into the gap between my boobs and pull out the invitation I got earlier. Excitement zips down my spine as I hand it over. I’ve never been invited to a club before, not like this.

“You know you could have come right up to the front with this, right? You didn’t need to wait in line.”

I beam up at him even wider. “I know.” Lies . “But I was waiting for my friend.” I squeeze Sylvie closer to my side. “That will get us both in, right?”

He nods. “Sure, will. You could invite the entire line if you wanted with this card.” That takes me by surprise. He pulls two wrist bands out of his pocket and attaches them. They aren’t the normal papery ones. No, these seem to be very thin metal wristbands. I’m honestly not sure how we’re going to get them off, since I have to cut the paper ones every time. “These will get you into the VIP area, up the stairs at the back, and they’ll grant you access to the private rooms if you need them. All your drinks are on the house tonight, ladies. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Oh, fancy.” I tilt my wrist this way and that as the bouncer unhooks the velvet rope and steps to the side to let us through.

“Sade.” I can just barely hear Sylvie over the thrum of the music, but I pretend like I can’t.

“Where do you want to go first? The VIP area? Or should we just get right to dancing? Is it weird I want to check out the private rooms?” I can only imagine what goes on in there, and I want to see if my filthy mind is right.

Probably not. It’s probably more like meeting rooms, where boring business men go to do boring business things. They can’t be rooms to have sex, right? That’s like… not legal or something.

“Sadie Marie.” Sylvie shouts at me, digging in her heels, and yanking back on her arm so I’m forced to stop and face her. “Tell me what that is about!”

I take a moment to look at my friend. One of the best I’ve ever had, one of the only I’ve ever had, If I’m honest, along with Sorrel. She looks stubborn and fiery and I’m once again struck by how much better she seems, not just in terms of her health, but mentally. In the past, she would have just let me drag her wherever I wanted to go. Sighing, I lace my fingers with hers and squeeze. “Let’s get a drink first.”

She lets me pull her through the club to the back, where I can just make out another hulking figure standing at the base of a set of stairs. I’m gambling that it’s the VIP area, so I beeline for it and, just like I’d hoped, he lets us up with hardly a glance at the shimmery bracelets on our wrists.

Upstairs the music is still loud, but decidedly less so from the scene downstairs. We’ll be able to have a conversation up here for sure. The lighting is dark, only small lamps on the tables and behind the bar offer any illumination. But I can make out some low couches with tables between them and then some high top tables.

There’s a railing that overlooks the rest of the club, the writhing mass of bodies below.

I’m itching to get down there, to grind on some strangers, to get sweaty. To lose myself to the music and just fucking let go. The urge is skittering over my skin, but I need to be a good friend first.

Sylvie has had to deal with more bullshit in her life than most, and it’s important that she knows I’m here for her.

With that thought in mind, I pull my attention away from the surroundings and move to the bar, pulling my friend along behind me.

A pretty beta with silky dark gray hair and shimmering blue eyes comes up right away, giving us her best customer service smile. “What can I get ya?”

“Unblended Margarita,” I say, feeling like this is a tequila night.

“Paloma,” Sylvie orders with a tight smile. I can already tell she’s planning to have just the one drink and that won’t do. Whether or not she wants to admit it, she needs this as much as I do. She needs to let everything fucking go for a few hours. She so rarely does it. Usually only after I push her to it, and she always thanks me after, leaning into my side as she smiles drunkenly up at me.

“Oh!” I say, like it just occurred to me. “Let’s each do a shot of tequila, too.”

Before Vee can argue, the shots are in front of us, along with a salt shaker and slices of lime. She shakes her head, but I’m already picking up her hand, licking the skin between her thumb and pointer finger, and then doing the same to mine.

“You’re not going to overthink this, Vee,” I say, sprinkling a liberal amount of salt over the wet spot on her hand and then mine. “You’re going to take this shot, and then we’ll take our drinks down the bar and talk, just like you want to.” I flutter my lashes at her, in the way that makes most men do whatever I want. “Pretty please?”

She folds with a rueful look. “Fine.”

“Cheers.”

“ Sláinte .” I keep my eyes on her as she licks the salt and throws back the drink before I do the same.

“Atta girl.”

“Here you go.” The bartender slides our drinks over to us. “My name is Glory. If you ladies need anything else, just let me know, okay?”

“Thank you so much.” I say, grabbing my drink and heading down the bar, commandeering two stools and then taking a surreptitious look around, hoping for a glimpse of pale hair and gold eyes. No such luck, but I do find two gazes locked on me from a low couch across the way.

My mouth goes dry at the sight of the two men cuddled up together. They’re sitting so I can’t tell how tall they are, but from the long legs splayed in front of them and the broad shoulders, I can tell they’re big. Alphas? One is bigger than the other. Their dark clothes blend in with the dark lighting, and I can’t really see much of them, the lamp on their table making their faces all shadows. But I can feel their intent perusal of my body. I can see the corner of one of their mouths tip up, while the other’s tongue darts out salaciously, dragging along his lower lip.

The big one slides his hand onto the other’s thigh and then farther up, while the smaller one leans up to say something in his ear, lips brushing against in a way that has my pussy clenching and I couldn’t even tell you why.

A shiver runs down my spine that ends with my panties being soaked. Just as easily as that.

Sylvie joins me after tipping the bartender, and I have to drag my gaze away from their heated stares and focus on my friend. I take a sip of my drink and then slide it onto the bar, painfully aware of the angles of my body, wanting to display it to the best of my ability for the men whose gazes I can still feel on my body.

“Okay,” I say, keeping my eyes on Vee. “I’m ready. Tell me everything.”

She arches her brows at me and glances around. “I’m more interested in why we’re here, when you promised me a quiet dinner where we could talk. I mean, really? How the hell did you pull this off? VIP section? Free booze?”

I sigh and lean forward. “Okay, full disclosure. I totally intended to take you to dinner, just like I promised. But then I was at that coffee shop that you like-”

“ Bonheur.”

“Eating the most delicious kouign-amann —which, by the way, I’m totally going to try making one of these days—and this guy comes up to me, slides that card across the table and tells me it’s a pass to free booze and the VIP section in the most exclusive club in the city. But it’s only good for one night. I figured my bestie needed gallons of booze, and if we don’t have to pay for it, all the better.”

Vee stares at me. “Let me get this straight. Some guy comes up to you out of nowhere and offers to treat you to a night on the town? Is he here? Do you see him? Jesus, Sadie, what if these drinks are drugged?”

I know they aren’t. Not sure how I know, but I do. It won’t do any good to tell her that I know the guy who gave me the card wouldn’t hurt me. I felt… safe while under his watchful gaze, in a way that I haven’t before. It’s too weird for me to even think about, so I just smile at her wickedly. “Then we’ll have a really, really interesting night. And no, I don’t see him. He was so, so fucking hot, Vee. Like,” I wave a hand in front of my face and pretend to pant. “I was melting right where I sat. My panties spontaneously combusted.”

Vee’s lips twitch into a half smile as she nods sagely. “Ah, so we’re here so you can hopefully see him again and get laid.”

“Yes, exactly that. And in the meantime, we can still have our talk like I promised, and partake in free booze, and I’m assuming they have some kind of snackies we can eat.”

Vee chuckles and shakes her head, and I can tell that all is forgiven. Better than forgiven. I know if I see the guy who got us into this club, she’ll do everything in her power to get me into bed with him. That’s just how Vee is. The ultimate wing woman. “Let’s just hope he shows up.”

I shrug, feigning nonchalance, because I really want to see him again. “If he doesn’t, I’ve got my eye on that fucking snack of a couple over there.” Normal girls might try to play it coy and cast a furtive glance toward the men they have their eyes on for the evening, but I’m not your average girl and so I boldly lift my eyes to meet the gazes of the men still watching us.

A skitter of anticipation shivers over me again. The same as it did this afternoon, and I wonder if the white-haired guy shows up, if he’d be down to sharing with the couple.

“Holy shit, Vee? Sylvie Benson?”

I blink and flick my gaze back to my best friend, who rolls her eyes but suddenly looks uncomfortable. “Its you, isn’t it?”

I’m moving before I can fully process what’s happening. The man I don’t recognize clamps a hand on my best friend’s shoulder and spins her toward him, only to blink when he finds me between their bodies, glaring up at him, with a hand on his chest to make him keep his fucking distance.

“You wanna let her go, my guy?” I snarl up at him, pressing against him even harder, when he doesn’t let go of Vee’s shoulder. “Its not fucking polite to just grab people.” I glance at Vee over my shoulder. “Is this one of them?”

She blinks at me, dazed, before she looks up at the alpha still holding her shoulder. Blond hair, golden boy smile, handsome I suppose, but there’s something about him that makes me uncomfortable, and that only grows when his blue eyes scrape over Vee’s neck, taking in the lack of a mating bite there.

Gross.

I mean, I know it’s a pretty common practice, but come on. Really?

“Connor, hey,” Vee says, sounding tepid as hell. She might know this guy, but she doesn’t like him. It makes my hackles stand on end even more. So I press more solidly against her, offering what support I can and keeping my body between theirs.

“Seriously,” I grit out, pushing against him again. “Back off, dude.”

Connor blinks, then hurriedly releases Vee, a sheepish smile on his face. “Sorry. I just- I’m so surprised to see you here. Seven years is a long time.” His gaze flickers over me, like he thinks it’s weird that I’m still between them.

I don’t move.

I won’t move, not unless Vee shows she wants me to.

My ass is staying right fucking here, buddy. Get used to it.

“Not long enough, apparently,” Vee mutters low enough that I can hear it, but not the douche canoe in front of us. “No worries,” she says louder. “I get it. It’s kind of like seeing a ghost, huh?”

I stay where I am through Connor awkwardly asking if he can buy us drinks, and when we inform him our drinks are on the house, he moves on to asking Vee if she wants to grab coffee or lunch with him. She doesn’t. I can tell she doesn’t, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell this asshole so, but Vee is also an adult and she can stand up for herself. I still don’t move from between them, though.

So I bite my tongue while she gives him her number, and instead run my eyes over the VIP area, halfway hoping for a glimpse of pale hair. Instead, I find the men I’d been eyeing earlier, standing and much, much closer. They’re tall, both of them. Towering over me, over even Connor. And fuck, they are so handsome. The bigger one has dark brown hair a little longer than is really fashionable, styled back from his face covered in a five o’clock shadow. Thick slashes from brows over a hooded gaze, firm jaw, soft lips. Tattoos over his neck. He’s obviously an alpha.

The other is maybe four inches shorter, slimmer build with what looks like dirty blond hair cropped close on the sides and longer on the top. Just long enough for me to grip while I ride his face. He’s clean shaven, showing off his excellent cheek bones and fine bone structure. I suspect he’s a beta. A fucking beautiful one, for sure.

The bigger one runs his eyes over me, like he’s checking for injury, which makes my chest warm even though it’s ridiculous. He tilts his head and arches a brow in question. I can’t tell if it’s are you good? Or what the hell are you thinking, putting yourself in front of an alpha like that?

Either way, I just shrug and smirk and let him read whatever he wants into it.

When Connor walks away, I finally shift away from Vee and arch a brow at her. “What the hell was that?”

She sighs and gulps down half her drink before answering. “That was Connor Bilkes. He, uh… he hung around us when we were teenagers.”

My eyes are drawn back to the men as they return to their table, apparently settled now that the unwanted alpha has left us alone. Vee notices me looking and follows my gaze too.

A jolt of jealousy hits when the smaller of the two catches my best friend’s eye and smirks.

What the fuck is that? I shouldn’t be jealous. I know Vee won’t do anything, literally can’t do anything. Her RMD won’t let her get close to any alphas, but the ones that rejected her. But beyond that, I don’t have any sort of claim on those men.

It doesn’t stop me from snapping my fingers in front of her face to break their eye contact, though. “Nuh-uh. Those two are mine. You have enough dicks keeping you company. Don’t take mine.”

Vee laughs. “Yeah, too bad none of said dicks are actually dicking me down.”

I chuckle too, swirling my straw in my drink, before I switch to the serious part of the night. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She doesn’t want to. I already know that. She never does. Getting her to tell me and Sorrel anything is like pulling teeth, but we’re persistent and nearly a year after she moved into the little cabin next to mine, we finally got her to spill everything. Well, not everything. We still don’t know the name of the pack that rejected her and bonded with a different omega. She didn’t tell us because she is smart enough to know I would look them up and then ruin them in any way that I could.

I’m vindictive that way.

Finally Vee sighs. “Long story short, I’m stuck in town until my grandmother’s house is renovated if I want to get anything from the sale of the property. The pack that rejected me knows I’m here and, for some reason, they won’t leave me alone.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know if… Maybe they think they owe me something, or they want to have me as a mistress.”

Anger on her behalf flows in my stomach. How dare they even put that thought into her head? There’s more that she’s not saying. I can tell. But I’ll take what I can get. “First, you deserve better than to be someone’s dirty secret. You are amazing and beautiful and you deserve to live in the fucking light. Second, do you need the money, Vee? Maybe it would be better to just cut your losses.”

“Maybe I’m being stupid or stubborn, but after all the bullshit she put me through, I deserve something from her.”

I nod. Her grandmother was a grade A abusive bitch. “You’re not wrong.” Still, I can’t help but wonder if maybe there’s something more here. More than what she’s letting herself see and believe. I can’t blame her. I’ve seen how hard it’s been for her to just exist over the last few years.

But maybe it makes me a sap, but I want her to be happy. I want her to move on from this one way or the other. Either with the pack that left her in the rearview mirror, never to be thought of again, or with them making it up to her and worshipping the ground she walks on.

I’d prefer for it to be the latter. She fucking deserves it.

“Just say it, Sade,” Vee prompts when I hesitate too long.

I set down my drink. “Okay, you can’t get mad at me, because you’re making me say this… but. Maybe you want to stay in town because they’re here. Maybe some little part of you is still hoping that they’ll come to their senses and break their bond with the she-devil we never mention and maybe, just maybe, you’re sticking around to finally get your happy ending.”

Sadie pauses, her face flushing a deep red.

“You absolute bitch.” She accuses, looking shaken and embarrassed, but not hurt. Thank god. “How dare you call me on my bullshit like that? I thought we were friends.”

I pat her hand and give her a look that tells her I can see through her bullshit. “Sorry. I just had to say it like it is. You know, that’s the only way I roll.” I swallow the rest of my drink in one gulp and then hop off the stool, dragging her with me. “Come on. I did my duty as your friend to point out your flaws. Let’s go dance.”

She lets me pull her through the VIP area, and I cast one more glance over my shoulder at the men I’d been eyeing before. They keep their eyes on me as I descend the stairs, but they don’t follow. Disappointment swirls in my stomach, but I push it away.

There are plenty of fish in the sea, or cocks on the walk, or whatever you want to say. Fixing a smile to my cherry red lips, I tug Vee into the center of the writhing mass of bodies. Scents hit me. Not the typical pheromone scents, because the club is undoubtedly using scent blockers pumped into the AC system, muting omega perfume and alpha scents, but just normal ones. Sweat and alcohol, bottled perfume, soap and shampoo.

The scents I notice as a beta.

The ones alphas and omegas take for granted most of the time.

As the music thumps, energy hits me hard and fast. I love this. I love the crash of the bodies, the inhibitions dropping, the slide of skin against my own. I love the heavy beat of the bass, so loud it thunders over my own pulse, until I feel one with it, my body nothing more than a line in a song.

When we’re dead center, in the crush of bodies, I spin to face Vee, grabbing her hips and making her shimmy with me, before pulling her in and forcing her to move to the beat. She laughs and relaxes in increments, her body going more fluid, her eyes closing as she lifts her hands above her head and tosses her wavy hair in time to the music.

When I’m sure she’s fully immersed in the song, I back up a little, not too far, but no longer guiding her with my body and grin, just watching her let go.

No matter what she says, she needed this.

And fuck I do too.

With one more beaming smile at my friend, my eyes slip closed and I lose myself in the beat.