Page 66 of Loup Garou

His band mates and half of the dancers started snickering. Hyde’s mouth dropped. She glared at him as though she was trying to burn a hole through the back of his head. “I will walk out on this project. Don’t think I won’t. I’m one of the highest paid models in the world. I agreed to do this because—”

“Agreed?” the man on the keyboards asked. “I heard you begged to get close to Exavier.”

“Children, we have a video to shoot and a schedule to keep.” Pat had lost control of the situation. “The studio will not be happy if we go over budget.”

All of them stared at the director like he was a moron. I agreed with their unspoken assessment. They nodded and the guys started to play again. The director mumbled something about lip syncing and Exavier flipped him off as he sang. I just stood in my spot watching the events unfold, doing my best not to laugh when Exavier growled as Hyde neared him again.

As if things weren’t bad enough, two female dancers grabbed their stomachs and ran off the set. A few seconds later another ran off. Exavier glanced at me, clearly puzzled. I shrugged. The minutes ticked on as the director and his assistants spoke quietly amongst themselves. The second I saw the director throw his clipboard, I knew it was bad.

Storming out, Pat put his hands in the air and shook his head. “Apparently, some of these women were out late last night and decided to eat and come straight in. Too bad they ended up at an all-night dive. It looks as though they have food poisoning. I’m going to need two hours to get the other set prepared to do stills. I’ve got crew members over there now. I need the two of you,” he pointed at Exavier and Hyde, “to act like you are in love. I can’t have you clawing one another’s eyes out while you’re naked on the top of a crypt.”

Exavier’s eyes widened. “I never okayed naked on her with anything!”

“The rest of the band did it for you when you were late for the last meeting.”

His band mates laughed. He looked livid. Shaking his head, Exavier backed up from the microphone. “No. Forget it. I’m done. Call the label and bitch. I don’t care. Tell them to kiss my ass while they’re at it.”

“Exavier,” Pat said in a tone one would use with a child. “Your fans can’t get enough of you. You ooze sex appeal. Give them this. Wecan’t show any full frontals and to keep this playable prior to nine at night, we won’t show more than your upper body, hips, back, a profile of you from an angle that we won’t catch a glimpse of anything we shouldn’t.”

Exavier gave Pat a rather nasty look and smiled. “Well, Pat. I’m still going to have to go withno.”

“If it’s about your body, I have it on good authority from the dancers and crew that it is more than acceptable.”

For a minute I thought Exavier was going to catapult the guy to Mars with his power from the look he gave him. Thankfully, he didn’t. “This has nothing to do with me. I’m fine with the way I am. I’m not lying on Hyde in a fucking snowsuit, let alone naked.”

Hyde marched towards him. The long-haired bass player caught her around the waist, stopping her in mid-motion. “Let me go! I’ll have you know, Exavier, that men all over the world would die for two seconds with me. They—”

Turning his head, Exavier glared at her. “They can have you. I heard the shit you said to Linds and I don’t appreciate you putting your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Linds is just another flavor of the week for you and she knows it. I’ve known you a long time. You are aroyalpain in the ass, and you’ve made using women an art form.”

“Are you pissed that I’ve had whoever I’ve wanted or are you pissed that I’ve never wanted you?” Exavier snapped back.

My gut clenched tight as I listened to them go back and forth. As I listened to him acknowledge all the women he’d had in his life. I couldn’t deal with this. Not after spending a night dreaming that I’d not only taken him into me but had claimed him as my own. I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I moved quickly through the set, down the hall. I didn’t bother with the exit. It would only draw attention to me leaving and I wanted to be alone.

After running past several studio doors, I gave in and slowly opened one. Instantly, I was hit with the sound of hip-hop music. I knew the artist and couldn’t help but smile. I needed to see a friendly face.Slinking along the back of the set, I watched many of the dancers I used to work with move in unison behind Ruland.

Gina is going to be pissed she missed this.

With no shirt on, his cocoa-colored chest glistened, no doubt squirted with enough water that it itched. They had a tendency to want him to glisten. I knew why. Ruland kept his head shaved and treated his body like a temple. The man could move as good, if not better, than any male dancer I’d ever worked with.

The baggy, light-colored jeans they had him wearing rode low on his hips as he did his portion of the dance. I covered my mouth to keep in the squeal that wanted to come out. I knew that dance. When he’d been the opening act with a group I’d toured with, he and I would spend endless hours dancing and talking. Ruland was amazing. His voice could go from hardcore rapper to angelic in seconds. We’d gotten along instantly. When I discovered his father was a were-jaguar, I knew then that supernatural attracted supernatural.

He looked directly at me and stopped moving. The director stopped everything and called for a break. Ruland smiled wide, making joy surge through me. I raced towards him as he held his arms out. Bear-hugging him, I laughed. “How are you? I can’t believe you’re here.”

He chuckled, holding me tight. “You can’t believeI’mhere? You drop off the face of the earth three years ago and reappear in the middle of a torturous shoot andyoucan’t believeI’mhere.”

Dancers instantly flooded us. After the first hug and freak out for me being there, I lost myself in the rest. Ruland just laughed as he kept his hand on my shoulder protectively. A barrage of questions from the dancers followed.

Putting my hands up, I silenced them. “No, I am not here to take over. I’m here to say hi to everyone.”

Ruland’s music continued to pump all around us. It had his lyrics still in it. He, like most artists, gave in to the demand of letting the studios and the labels have their way by making him lip sync while he danced for the video. Taking hold of my hips, he pressed his body to mine and began to move. “I say we break her back in.”

The dancers all started laughing and agreeing. I took my blazer off and tossed it aside. “Mmm, trust you to have a song all about sex.”

“Hey, it’s one of my favorite things to do. Is it still one of yours?” Ruland asked, rotating his hips as if he was taking me from behind.

Countering his moves, I leaned forward for him. “I have to admit that I still love it.”

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