Page 44 of That: Taylor & Brooks

“Lord have mercy.”

When one of the dancers showed her how to make it clap, she didn’t miss a beat.

“Here, bae,” Brooks said, pressing a fat stack ofmoney into Taylor’s hand. “Make it tsunami in this bitch.”

Her eyes widened before her face split into a mischievous grin. “Oh, we got cash?” She turned toward the stage, shaking her ass before rapping David Banner loudly, “We got cash so we screaming out shake something bihhh!”

Brooks nearly choked on his drink. He threw his head back, laughing as she kept rapping. He loved code-switching, Taylor. It was his favorite. He watched her rap the lyrics with her chest out. She’d been waiting for this moment her entire life.

“Damn right,” he said, watching her with pure amusement. “So go have fun. Just don’t get nobody head knocked the fuck off, understood?”

She looked too good, someone was bound to try their luck.

“Understood,” she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck for a quick hug before sprinting off, high on adrenaline and excitement. She ran off, giddy, joy in motion.

Brooks leaned over the banister, shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. She was having the time of her life, and he knew he had to capture it. He snapped a picture just as she tossed a handful of bills into the air, her head thrown back in laughter, her joy so real it was damn near tangible.

Brooks took a slow sip of his drink, eyes locked on her. Wild. Free. Glowing. He hadn’t seen her like this. No worry. Just her.

When “Big Ole Freak” hit, she climbed on stage without a care in the world. She figured if she was here she might as well make the most of it.

She moved to the beat. Lights hit the curve of her body just right, and Brooks didn’t blink. Couldn’t. Blinking would’ve meant missing even a second of her giving him a show.

At the end of the day, he was still a nigga in a strip club. So, he did what came naturally.

With a blunt hanging in his mouth, he made it rain. That was his ‘Milk Marie’ down there. And they hadn’t officially gotten to “mine” territory… but in his head and in his chest. She was already spoken for. When he talked about his, Taylor was in that sentence. Every time.

She watched in awe as the dollar bills fell from the sky falling all over her. She laughed and looked up at him. They locked eyes until he gave her a panty dropping smile and a wink.

That wink alone sent her into a spiral. He was so damn sexy. She’d decided right then and there that she wasn’t going home.

“This her first time?” one of the dancers asked over the music, pulling Brooks from the trance he was in.

He just shook his head, grinning.

This was a whole different Taylor.

For a second, he considered going to grab her—calm her down, reel her in.

But he saidfuck that.

Let her live. She was grown. She wasn’t hurting anybody.

If someone had a problem, they could take it up with him.

He’d called ahead, made sure the spot wasn’t too crowded. They could only be so private in a place likethis.

But if he could hold her secrets a little longer, he would.

That was the thing about Taylor—she wasn’t just his to protect. She was his towitness.And right now? She was wild and free and smiling like she meant it.

“Damn, is it that obvious?”

“They all come in here wide eyed and curious. She got talent, though,” she joked, half-laughing, half-serious.

Brooks smirked, resting his eyes back on Taylor. Talent wasn’t the word for it.

As the DJ transitioned to “The Hills” by The Weekend, the bass vibrating through the floor, the entire club seemed to shift with it. The wild, playful energy from before melted into something slower, something deeper.

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