I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to talk about Margot. “She’s…nice.”
“Nice?” he repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. “You watch her like she’s the only person in the room.”
I spat my beer out and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “Wait…who are we talking about?”
“Skye,” he replied. “Who did you think I was talking about?” I tried to protest, opened my mouth and closed it again. Words didn’t come because I was sick and tired of lying to myself. “Remember, I’m an outsider looking in on this,” Matt continued. “From the moment I met you both I knew there was…something.”
“It’s complicated.” It was. Where would I start explaining what that something was?
“I know a lot about complicated,” he replied, tapping my beer bottle with his.
“It was different for you and Stacey. You don’t have history like we do.” I laughed. “And Stacey didn’t hate you at first sight.”
“She doesn’t hate you, man.” He cocked his head to where she was dancing. Skye was watching me but looked away quickly when we caught each other’s eyes.
“She’s with Jesus,” I replied, making the sign of the cross. Matt laughed.
“He’s an interesting character. Stace said they went out for about a month. It’s funny how he’s here tonight, you know, after Skye found out you were bringing Margot.” He slapped me on the back as he made his way to Stacey. She was mouthing the words to South of the Border something along the lines of pushing up and sweating on her. You couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. For a second I envied him. As his hands reached her waist and they moved in sync together, I felt jealous that he could so freely show his infatuation for her and I was holding back in the shadows, like I’d done for years.
I watched my girl. She was dancing, but something was off. Skye started edging away from Karma who was trying to get her to dance with him. He pulled at her arm, tried to take her hand and she brushed him off politely, smiling as she removed her hand from his and tried to dance away without making a big show of it. He laughed, but I could sense the frustration in his face. I stepped closer, ready to catch her. She shook her head and carried on dancing, but he wouldn’t take that certain shake of no as an answer. I leaned against the railings, put my hand across my face and counted to five. If I made it, I’d hold back, let her handle this but as I started the count, she put her hand on his chest and pushed him away.
“Leave her the fuck alone,” I shouted finding myself on the dance floor with a fist full of his shirt.
“Woah, man! What’s going on?”
“From where I was standing, she said ‘no,’ so back off.”
“Just a bit of fun,” he replied, holding up his hands. He carried on dancing, making his way towards Margot and Stace. Skye breezed past me, arms folded, scowling and I followed her, wondering what I was going to say, how I was going to explain myself and if we’d finally hit a crossroads where I needed to be honest with her. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff with no idea if she was going push me over or pull me back.
“Skye, wait up.” I shouted as she disappeared in a haze of sweet Love Hearts and strawberry lip balm.
“What are you doing?” she said, turning. The scowl had gone but was replaced with frustration.
“Stepping in,” I replied. “It was obvious you didn’t want him near you.”
“I don’t want anyone near me,” she said, “why did I come here? This is so fucking stupid.”
“What is?” I asked, trying to take her hand. She snapped it back and held onto her wrist like it was burning.
“Just leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that,” I said honestly, spinning as she launched past me, and as I watched her disappear onto another dance floor, I knew I’d never spoken truer words.
She wasn’t hard to find. Her pink hair stood out amongst the others, the ones I didn’t even notice. She swayed and twirled and moved her hips and I was there. A man who only danced when he’d sank a few shots or at the end of a beer-fuelled night. We’d danced before, me like a demented chimp and her laughing at my dysfunction. Which was why she raised her eyebrow as I stepped closer to the dance floor, not quite there, but on the edge. She cocked her head, bit her lip, continued swaying to the music…and turned. She had her back to me now. Her defined shoulders and back rippling to the music…slowly. Her hips followed, her ass a glorious sway. She was all beauty and sexuality and if I continued looking at her, I would ache. I closed my eyes, pained to watch, but curious to see.
Couldn’t she see what she did to me?
How wound up I was?
Coiled like a spring, ready to set off like a firework.
Her hands, goddamn her hands. They were skimming her body, tracing the bump of her breasts through the cups of her top until her fingers teased her sparkly gold flesh. My feet moved on their own. I wasn’t in charge of basic functions. A step closer, two and I was there behind her, close enough to feel her against my chest. She went still, just a gasp of breath until she started swaying again, circling and moving and fuck. My. Life.
“We need to talk,” I said, my mouth against her ear. She shook her head. “We do,” I mumbled as she circled into my cock.
“There’s nothing to say,” she replied on another circle.
“We keep ending up in these situations, Skye.”
“What situations?”
“Where your ass presses against my cock.”
Her head snapped back and she stared, maybe even saw me for the first time.
“What?” she shot back, face scrunched.
