his eyes back up to mine, and they are cold and hard as they bore into me.
“I came here to make sure you were safe. And it’s a damn good thing I did since your bodyguard is too busy with his hand on the ass of some slut up at the bar,” he growls.
I break eye contact and glance over to where he’s pointing with his thumb. Sure enough, Finn has his back to the dance floor while he chats up a redhead.
Looking back at Brady, I have to force myself to stand my ground as I stare at the anger rolling off of him. His legs are planted in a wide stance, and I can see a vein pulsing on the side of his neck. He really is pissed that Finn isn’t paying much attention to me.
“You know, I’m a big girl and I’m pretty sure I can handle dancing at a club without someone babysitting me,” I fire back, shoving against his chest until he releases me.
Standing that close to him just reminds me of what it felt like moments ago when I was dancing with him—how lost I was to the feel of his body moving in perfect sync with mine and his arms burning like a brand around my waist as they trapped me against him.
“How much have you had to drink tonight?” he throws back, narrowing his eyes at me in disgust as he looks at my pupils. “Do you even care that you were grinding your ass all over a stranger like a—”
My mouth drops open and a gasp escapes past my lips, the color draining from my face when he pauses with his assessment of me.
“No, please, continue. Grinding my ass all over like a what?”
I know exactly what he's about to say before he thinks better of it. Slut, whore, tramp… I just want to hear him say it.
He refuses to take the bait and continues to stand stock still in the middle of the dance floor, his hands clutched into fists at his side as the anger rolls off of him.
“For your information, I don’t drink. Ever. And you may run hot one minute and cold the next, and your moods change so fast you’re giving me a constant headache, but last time I checked, you weren’t a stranger. And what the hell WAS that anyway?” I demand, throwing my arm out to the side angrily and pointing to the spot where we had been dancing moments ago.
“It was my way of showing you how vulnerable you are. You had no idea who I was. I could have pulled a weapon on you at any point, and you would have been helpless against me,” he snaps back, taking another step towards me and invading my personal space once again.
I push down the pang of disappointment that his words bring, reminding me that he couldn't have cared less about being close to me; he just wanted to prove a point.
“Give me a break with this stalker bullshit! You and I both know there is nothing there. You’ve been here for a week and haven’t found anything, so save me the melodrama.”
A new song comes over the sound system, and I recognize it as one of my own. I’m not in the mood to listen to people screaming the lyrics, patting me on the back, or jumping up and down to the beat, not when I’m trying to cool down my libido and pretend like Brady’s close proximity isn’t tying me up in knots.
I shoulder past Brady, quickly shoving my way through all of the sweaty bodies that surround us, until I’m finally off of the dance floor. I can just make out Brady shouting at me, asking me where I’m going, but I ignore him and the crowd swallows me up as I angle my body and squeeze through the mass of partiers to get to the exit for some fresh air.
The bouncer standing by one of the side doors gives me a curt nod and holds open the door for me. I step out into the warm night air and take a deep breath, my ears ringing now that I’m out of the close confines of the club. The music beats are replaced with the distant sounds of traffic from the nearby highway as I hear the door click shut behind me. I close my eyes and tilt my head up to the sky, enjoying my first moment of peace all