Page 32 of The Bad Boy Prince in Love
Chapter 15: Just a Good Time with the Boys
Luke tried to improvisea few moves of his own, adding an extra kick or spin here and there.The basic steps of the dance were pretty easy to him since he had been trained in ballroom and other dances from an early age.
He caught a glimpse of Hallie looking rather peeved.Trying to suppress a proud smile, he focused on enjoying the dance.It was sort of a dream come true for him, being here among the unpretentious country folk.
Everyone applauded at the end of the dance, and they seemed to be especially excited that he was able to follow the steps.
“Hey Luke, line dancing is for women!”a guy shouted.It was that skinny DJ, who had just stepped off his platform.
“That’s fine,” Luke said casually, “I need to take a break from being manly all the time.”
“I’m just teasing.Come on, let’s have a drink.”
Luke looked over at Hallie, playing the perfect boyfriend just to confuse her.“Excuse me, honey, I hope you don’t mind.”
He had to give her credit for responding in an unruffled way.“No, go do your own thing.”
They were joined by Rob, the guy who seemed to carry a torch for Hallie.Then two more guys came over, and he recognized them as the ones who had nearly gotten in a fight earlier, which Rob had prevented.
“This is Travis,” Rob said, introducing the taller, stocky guy, “he’s our star bull rider.”
“Hey.”Luke shook his hand, and for some reason Travis squeezed with a painful grip.
“I’m Ken,” said the guy who was shorter and flabbier, though he was probably packing some muscle underneath his layers of fat.
Luke shook his hand too, but this time he applied equally strong pressure.Ken raised his eyebrows, looking impressed.He still squeezed so hard that Luke felt nearly bruised.
“I’m glad you two sorted out your differences,” Luke said, rubbing his sore hand.
“Yeah, I thought he was trying to flirt with my girlfriend,” Travis said, “but it was a misunderstanding.”
“Yep, it definitely was,” Ken agreed.
“We don’t like to fight,” Travis added, “but sometimes we’ve got to.”
Luke didn’t quite understand where they were going with this, but he sensed a slightly threatening atmosphere as the group of men clustered around him.
“We just want you to understand that Hallie is a great girl,” Rob said, “and if anyone hurts her in any way, we’ll feel obligated to kick that person’s ass.”
