My body instantly wants to move and my mind screams in excitement as I take in something I’ve never seen before. Everything around me is jumbled with smoke, music, lights and people yet I feel right at home.
We’re not at a club but people letting loose, dancing like it’s their last day on this planet, and in one second, I know I’ve found my heaven on Earth.
Alex turns and laughs when he sees the astonishment showing on my face.
“So you’re okay with this?” he asks, pulling me against his hard chest and moving to the music.
“Okay with it? I feel like I’ve found my favorite place in the world. Where are we?”
“It’s an underground rave,” he says nonchalantly.
“Wait, what?” I say, pushing him away and looking back to the door we came from.
I’d run toward it if I thought I could leave but it was a one-way door, and there’s no handle allowing me to open it from this side. I turn back to him. “But these are illegal, right? These are all about drugs? I can’t be here.”
“It’s fine. I’ll protect you. And no drugs, I promise. I can tell you won’t need it to have a good time, anyway.”
“No, you don’t understand. My job. I can’t get caught up with anything like this.”
“I get it. I can get in trouble too but fuck it. We have to live for more than our fucking jobs.”
“I don’t know what you do but mine is more than just a job. My entire life would be over.”
He looks around the room then back at me with a slight squint to his eyes and tilt to his lips. “But wouldn’t it be worth it?”
“Excuse me?”
He pulls me into him, moving slightly to the music. “Come on. You know you want to. Don’t you want a little excitement in your life?”
“How do you know my life isn’t exciting?” I ask, trying to seem offended.
“Because I can tell by the spark I saw in your eyes when we entered the room. And I watched how you moved to the music last night, like you didn’t have a care in the world yet every once in a while you’d tense up, looking around like you were making sure no one you knew was watching. You were holding back a tiny part of you—” he holds up his fingers to display his point with a shit-eating grin on his face “—and I want to see that last tiny part. I want to see you be you for the first time in, what I can only imagine being, your entire life.”
I look around the room, thinking about everything he said. He’s right, about all of it. I’ve never let everything go. I always feel like I have to put on this front, this image of what everyone thinks I should be.
“See. I’m right.” He leans his six-foot-two frame down so his gaze is even with mine. “The real you starts right now.”
We find a place on the dance floor and he’s right. The real me climbs free in a matter of moments and my body feels more alive than it ever has. I don’t worry about who’s around me, who could be watching, or really even caring.
For the first time I follow my favorite saying and I dance like no one’s watching.
The DJ spins the most eclectic mix of hard rock, nineties old-school music from my high school days, to songs I’ve never heard, but they’re all set to his unique electronic vibe.
It’s only been a few minutes and I can already tell this will be the best night I’ve ever had, even without a drop of alcohol.
As a song slows down, Alex grabs my hand and turns me toward him. We’re still a foot apart but the electricity bouncing between us feels like it could light this entire room.
We’re locked in another staring contest but this one I never want to end. When it does, I know reality will set in soon, but as of right now, reality can kiss my ass.
I feel him move closer as the bass beat drops, rumbling in my chest. The closer he gets the more my heart pounds until he yanks me toward him and his lips touch mine.
His kiss is demanding, taking from me what I have to offer just to make his point. And, damn it, I fall right into it.
Parting my mouth, I reach up to run my fingers through his hair and pull him in even closer.
Our tongues meet for the first time when the music slows down, building a deep, hard beat that starts at my toes and works its way up to my knees as his hands wrap around my waist. When I feel the bass hard in my chest, his hands wander down and grip my ass, matching the intensity.
Just as my head starts to spin from his touch, the music drops to a high-pressure electronic beat that fills my soul. Both Alex and I rip apart from each other and dance like it’s taken over every aspect of our nervous systems.
