required, she could set it up easily. There was some sort of rigging above her head, but again, she ignored it. It wouldn’t get in her way, so she didn’t need to ponder the possibilities.
Her overtaxed brain switched from fretting over sex and big mean Doms to thinking of songs and routines she knew by heart. Tonight was not the night to start plotting out new choreography, not this close to her club debut. If she was going to make dancing at Avalon a biweekly event, she needed to be flawless, to stir the audience into a frenzy that had them begging for more.
Bodie wandered to the left and discovered a treasure trove of music hidden along the back wall. Four six-feet high bookcases crammed to the gills with CDs and, praise sweet baby Jesus cuddled up in his crib, organized alphabetically. Her fingers trailed across slim plastic spines as she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
Country and Western? Line dancing? No.
Pop music? Something down and dirty? Maybe that would be appealing.
Good old-fashioned rock? Nope.
She wished she had her phone. There’d been some really good, fast paced remixes on there that would have knocked the socks off Braun’s clientele. Never mind, she’d find something suitable, but for this moment in time...
Plucking an album from the shelf, she carried it to the sound system and studied the fancy contraption. It took her several moments to figure out what buttons controlled what, but eventually she got the CD in and let it play until she twiddled the volume dial high enough to have the bass pulsing through the room. Loud enough to drown out thoughts and nerves and everything beyond the edge of the stage.
With the volume where she wanted it, she lined up the track she required and paused the CD. Pocketing the remote, she went hunting for the lightboard, discovering it on the opposite side of the stage. Another ten minutes of her time was occupied with fiddling with colors and brightness.
When she stepped into the middle of the stage, she couldn’t see anything but the lights. If she couldn’t see what was going on when the club was in full swing, she couldn’t get distracted or spooked.
Bodie inhaled slowly and stripped off her hoody as the lights warmed up the stage. She’d have to rethink her costumes—collapsing due to dehydration and heat exhaustion was a definite no-no. But for now, she’d dance in jogging pants and a tank top; she’d just have to hope she didn’t sweat herself into a puddle on the floor.
Using the remote, she set the track playing and closed her eyes as the first notes of Kesha’s Woman thundered into the club. Her feet kicked off the party, the rhythm crawling up her legs into her knees, then her hips. Shoulders and arms next.
She surrendered herself to the music, eyes still tightly shut, and let her instincts take over. Blessed silence blanketed her thoughts, and the peace it brought her after a rough day was so much more than welcome.
It was vital.
Her body picked up speed, the beat flowing through her veins and guiding her movements. She opened her eyes as she flowed into a spin, her arms outstretched before rising above her head. But even as she lost herself in the rhythm, something didn’t feel quite right.
There was something missing.
Still, she kept dancing, let everything go but the music, and by the time the song ended, she was sweaty, breathless, and her mind was clearer than it had been for a while.
“Well hell,” someone called out from below her, “Braun went and hired us a sexy as fuck dancer for the evening’s entertainment. Think we can keep her? I’d sure like to watch her dance like that under me in bed.”
Her hands fisted. Her breath sucked in so hard, she made a growling noise in the back of her throat. Using the lights to blind herself was a mistake; if she could have seen where the asshole was, she’d have already launched herself off the edge of the stage at him.
No. Braun said not to.
As indignant fury filled her to the brim, Bodie trembled and remembered she’d promised the club owner she wouldn’t cause that kind of trouble. There was to be no mouthing off to anyone in Avalon and in return she wouldn’t have to suffer through a punishment.
“Shut the fuck up, Jacob. You’re already skating on thin ice with Braun after that stunt you pulled.” Liam’s voice was taut with disdain. “Leave the talent