And Honey found herself speechless again, but this time, it wasn’t because of disbelief. It was because her heart was racing at such an abnormal pace that it was making it hard for her to speak. She had never heard such words in her life before, especially ones that sounded sincere. It was as if her worries about Nikos being in Kai’s life instantly faded away. With other men, she always had to walk on eggshells to protect Kai while also not offending them. It was always tiring, and ultimately, if Antonis didn’t get to them first, the fact that she always kept a wall up when it came down to her son was enough for them to leave on their own. But with Nikos, it felt like there was no need for a wall at all.
“Are there any more rules?” Nikos asked.
And though maybe the first rule wasn’t necessary, the second rule definitely was.
“Yes,” she said, and Nikos laughed, not seeming offended at all. He might have been able to worm his way out of the first rule, but he definitely wouldn’t be able to do it this time.
“Really this should go without saying, but I don’t want anyone at work to know about us,” Honey said firmly. It was already a tough pill to swallow that she had become another notch on his belt. Telling the other girls at work was definitely not an option.
“Okay,” Nikos said, and Honey was shocked that he agreed to it so easily. “It would be bad if the other ladies knew how I felt about you.”
If this were the past, she would have rolled her eyes at his flirtatious words, but now, even if she did, the beat of her heart would only go against her.
“Let’s have fun, Honey,” Nikos told her as he grabbed her again, and Honey had to admit that she liked the feeling of being in his arms. Sighing, Honey decided to relax and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him back. It was time to let her walls down and give in to fun too. She would no longer let fear dictate her relationship with Nikos. She would have fun with him for however long this feeling lasted between them.
C H A P T E R
36
AS THE MUSIC PLAYED, HONEY DANCED UNDER THE LIGHTS ON STAGE. She rolled her hips to the music seductively, letting the music be her guide so she could seduce the crowd, and when money fell on the stage, it motivated her to move her hips harder. She had been doing this for years now, and whenever she danced, she never bothered to make eye contact with anyone in the crowd.
People said it gave her the aura of looking untouchable, thinking that she did it on purpose, but in actuality, she just didn’t care about anyone below the stage. When she performed, it was about putting on a show to make money. Nothing more, nothing less. None of the people in the audience mattered to her,and though she knew they were fantasizing about her, wishing they could be with her and imagining that she wanted to be with them, whenever she was up on stage, none of them existed as a thought in her mind.
But tonight, as she strutted across the floor with her hips taut teasingly, she let her eyes rove over the crowd, searching for a familiar blue pair. But to her surprise and disappointment, those striking blue eyes that belonged to Nikos Drakos weren’t out there.
Now that she thought about it, though she had been seeing Nikos for close to a month now, whenever she performed on stage now, she never saw him in the crowd anymore, and it was odd. Before, he had always been out there to see her perform. It had annoyed her at first if she even caught a glance of him, but that was then when Nikos was just Nikos to her, when he was the same as every other man in the crowd. But now, he was the man she was dating, the man she was spending all of her time with, the man she had been going out on countless dates with, the man who had just been inside her last night.
She knew Nikos was at the club. She had just been with him earlier, making out with him in his office like hormone-ridden teenagers. And though he could have been busy, for some reason, she felt like he hadn’t come out to see her perform on purpose, and that thought disappointed her even more. It was not as if she had come out here tonight to perform for Nikos. She had already given him enough private dances whenever they were at his home, but still, it would have been nice for him to see her like this, dressed in a black see-through body suit with fringe tassels on the edges and a fringe cowgirl hat to match. She liked her outfit tonight and thought he would appreciate it too.
Clearing her head, Honey decided to focus on the performance for now. She couldn’t let her thoughts cause her toscrew up, which was something that she did not do. There was a reason she was the top performer here, and she wasn’t going to lose her spot thinking about these things. She would talk about it later with Nikos when she got the chance.
She grabbed the pole and swirled around. She shook her ass and the whistles followed. The whistles and catcalls were normal, so it had always been easy to ignore them, but this time, someone whistled louder than others, nearly sounding like a wolf. From the corner of her eye, she saw a white man who looked like a young frat boy, hooting and hollering like he was at a frat party.
“Woo Hoo! Give me some of that honey, Honey!”
She nearly rolled her eyes from how obnoxious and loud he was and made her way to the other side of the stage. She could always tell who the newcomers were because they would act like they had never seen a woman naked before. He was clearly still wet behind the ears, and she would make sure to avoid him later on while doing her floor performances.
Honey got to her knees, popping her ass, and more bills fluttered on stage, but to her surprise, she heard the same loud whistle again, and when she looked out the corner of her eye, she saw the man had followed her to the other side of the stage. Honey withheld her sigh, reminding herself that her performance would be over soon.
After popping her ass one more time, she walked to the middle of the stage and got on the pole again. She would perform her signature move and then drop down into a split because the men in the crowd loved that. She swirled around a few times, preparing herself for the drop, but to her surprise when she looked down, she saw that same frat guy clamoring on the stage.
Her eyes widened because everyone knew not to get on the stage, but clearly, this asshole hadn’t gotten the memo. She tried to be professional and continue with her performance, hoping that James and Roland would come and get him off the stage soon, but when the white frat guy got close to the pole, she paused, locking her ankles together on the pole so she could remain upright.
“Let me dance with you,” the guy said. He looked drunk, his face flushed red, and she could practically smell the liquor coming off of him.
The music continued, and Honey glanced into the crowd until she spotted James coming from the main entrance, bustling his way through the crowd so he could get to the guy, but before she knew it, the man had taken it upon himself to get that dance.
“Come on,” the guy said, grabbing her ankle and tugging her.
Finally, their DJ stopped the music, and Honey could hear the crowd booing him, telling him to get off stage. Honey knew she should remain professional, but there was nothing she hated more than men touching her without her permission. She didn’t care if she took her clothes off for a living, touching her without permission was off-limits, and all the guests here knew that which was why none of them ever tried to grope her while she was walking through the crowd. It was no wonder that they seemed just as angry as herself.
“Get your hands off of me,” Honey said loud enough so she could be heard over the crowd.
“I just want a dance,” he said as he yanked on her ankle hard enough that she nearly fell. She winced from the pain. At the same time, James rushed on stage and grabbed the guy, but unfortunately, the white guy had a vise grip on her ankle.
“Sorry, Honey,” James said as he tried to yank the man away.
Honey was angry and frustrated, but most of all, she was scared because of how she was positioned on this pole. If James yanked him the wrong way and this guy kept a grip on her, she might fall too. Honey was ready to scream when she heard the crowd go quiet, and when she looked to her left, her eyes popped open when she saw a dark, menacing figure stalk onto the stage, and to her surprise, it was Nikos. She had never seen him this angry before.
