Page 54 of Revenge At Raleigh High
Okay, that’s a flat-out lie. I’ve thought about it all right. I’ve imagined what it would be like with him, to descend the stairs and see what kind ofDante’s Infernotype madness takes place down there. The images I’ve conjured in my head have riled me up for sure, but the twinge of excitement I feel as I look down at the tickets in my hand are fueled by curiosity and nothing more. I don’t want to go down there to put myself on display with Alex. I’m not that desperate to see a bunch of other people naked and writhing on top of one another either. I just have no frame of reference. What the hell goes on in a sex club, for fuck’s sake? It’s the not knowing that making my cheeks feel warm.
“I’m gonna go serve a that guy at the end of the bar. If the tickets are on the bar when I come back, I’ll put them away and we’ll say nothing more about it. If they’re gone…well, then, I s’pose I might run into the two of you down there later.” He winks, and for the first time I wonder if Paul might be attracted to Alex. I don’t think he’s gay, per se, but the way his eyes are shining right now…his excitement doesn’t seem geared toward me in any way. Is he picturing my boyfriend sweating over me, grinding himself between my legs? Is his dick hard thinking about Alex fucking me? God, that’s such a weird—
“Hey!” Fingers dig playfully into my sides. Alex’s voice is hot in my ear. He’s standing behind me, his chest suddenly pressing up against my back. I nearly hit the roof, surprised that he snuck up on me. Why does it feel like I just got caught doing something wrong, I wonder? Alex sees the tickets still on the bar and his brow furrows. “Paul could probably make good money on those things. A drunk guy in the bathroom said he paid a hundred and fifty a pop for him and his wife to bag their passes. He says it’s nuts down there.”
“Ahhh, he’s just trying to cheer you up,” I say. “Who knows. Maybe he’s right. Maybe a little debauchery would make you feel better. I’ve never seen a burlesque show before.”
Alex throws back another shot of tequila. He doesn’t swallow, though. He holds the alcohol in his mouth, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I do a shot of my own, pretending that I don’t notice him staring at me. Alex eventually swallows, looking me up and down in a very odd way.
“What?” I laugh, because I can feel a flush creeping up my neck, and the way he’s studying me is making me feel a little self-conscious.
“You want to go fuck down there,” he says, blunt as ever.
“No! Oh my god!No. I just meant the burlesque—”
He steps into me, ducking down, bending his tall frame around me, taking me into his arms. His lips brush against my ear as he speaks. “I can see it on your face,Argento. You want to fuck down there, don’t you? You want to be naked. You want all those eyes on you while I make you feel good. You want hands on you, too?”
I try to wriggle free. “No. No, no, no, Jesus, juststop. You’re such a perv. I don’t ever want anyone to touch me but you.”
“Good. Because I won’t be held responsible for what would happen if another man tries to touch your bare skin. I’d break every single one of his fingers. Probably both arms, too.”
God, it’s so hot in here. My face feels like it’s on fire. I’m burning up. “Hah. But you’re okay with the idea of a bunch of peoplelookingat my naked body, though, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I’d probably glass anyone who looked at you, too. Fuck, I don’t know. I guess there is something hot about the idea. People looking at you. At me. Watching us fucking, getting off on it.Wantingus.”
“Butnothaving us,” I reaffirm.
“No. Definitely not. No fucking way.” Alex picks up the second shot Paul set out for him while he was in the bathroom. He holds the glass to his bottom lip, pausing there, waiting for me to pick up a shooter of my own. His gaze is heavy on my skin, loaded with curiosity. He looks like he can’t quite fathom what’s going on in my head and it’s driving him crazy.
The tequila burns like a motherfucker as it slides down my throat. Each shot I drink seems to burn less and less, though. It feels like my whole body is burning already, and the alcohol is barely making a difference.
“You want to go,” Alex says. Reaching out for me, he takes hold of my loose hair and slowly winds it around his fist. “Naughty littleArgento. If you want to go down there, just say so. Be brave and open your mouth.”
“I’m—I’m—”
He arches an eyebrow at me wickedly. “Stuttering all over the place and freaking out?”
Damn it, he’s so infuriating. Admitting something like this to him…fuck, first I’ll have to admit to myself. Yes, I want to go down there. I want to look. I want to see. I want to experience something new and crazy. Is that so bad? Alex’s tongue flicks out, wetting the swell of his lower lip, a lean, hungry look about him, and a curl of want weaves its way up my spine. “Fine. Have it your way.” I slap my hand down on the tickets, drawing them toward me across the bar. They go straight into the back pocket of my jeans. “I want to go.”
All of Alex’s pent up anger and frustration shifts on the turn of a dime. I witness it take place right before my very eyes. One second, his dark, bottomless eyes are still sparking with the powerful desire to burn down half of Raleigh. The next, they’re filled with excitement and intrigue, and for better or worse, his piercing attention is sharply focused on me.
He maneuvers himself so that I’m trapped between his body and the bar, the sticky, booze-soaked wood digging into my lower back; he braces himself, hands planted firmly on top of the bar, me captured securely within the circle of his arms. A nervous thrill of energy ripples from the top of my skull, down the back of my neck, dipping over my spine, making the skin on my thighs break out in goosebumps. Fuck, the way he’s looking at me right now… He wants to devour me. Consume every piece of me until there’s nothing left. The things he’s thinking about right now are already making me blush, and I have no idea what’s going on in that handsome, beautifully tormented head of his.
Leaning close, he whispers into my hair. “It’s a viper’s pit down there,Argento. We look. We don’t touch. We are not touched. Anyone tries to take liberties, I will fucking break them. If it looks like you’re getting overwhelmed or stressed, I pull the plug and we walk right back up those stairs. Lastly, anything I say goes. Those are the rules. Now finish your last shot. We’re leaving.”
* * *
ALEX
I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been down here over the past eighteen months; this will make for my fourth excursion down these stairs while the Rock’s ‘Wages of Sin’ court is in session. The first time, I had to feed the beast. I had to know what the fuck was going on down here. I was just as curious as Silver seems to be now, so I sat in one of the dark booths alone, absorbing everything that went on around me, cataloguing and filing away the writhing, naked, red-lit flesh to be assessed at a later date, when I was back in the trailer. I stayed for little over an hour, draining half a bottle of Jack in the process, but I was approached at least eight times during those sixty minutes. To my discomfort, it was mostly by guys—huge, jacked, ex-con type dudes who looked like they could eat me for fucking breakfast—asking if I would fuck their wives.
Suffice it to say, I politely declined their generous invitations. Their wives might have been hot, but even back then I wasn’t stupid enough to participate in an activity that was likely to get me fucking killed.
The second and third time I came down here, I was running cases of beer down to the club because the punters had drunk the bar dry. I can’t decide if coming down here with Silver tonight is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in the history of my life, or if it will be just another strange thing we can say we’ve experienced together, but I’ll admit there is a sense of anticipation relaying around my body like a train on a track, growing faster and faster as it careers down the lines.
I walk ahead of her, casting my eyes in every dark corner of the club’s main bar area—a habit I picked up in juvie, as well as every foster home I ever stepped foot inside. Once I’ve established that there’s nothing to be wary of, I look around again, forcing myself to see the place as Silver must be seeing it right now, for the very first time. The place is packed with half, and in some cases,fullynaked bodies. From the looks on people’s faces, there’s absolutely nothing untoward about this. Groups gather around high-top tables, sipping cocktails, laughing and joking with one another.
Naturally, there are no windows. The bar that runs along the left-hand side of the room is lit with subtle yellow lamps and candles dotted along the shelves, in between the polished bottles of liquor. The rest of the club is bathed in red light, casting sensual shadows across exposed flesh.
