Selena looked almost dazed as she gazed up at him in confusion. He caught a quick glimmer of wild color in her eyes but figured it had to be the club’s many strobe lights, since it sure as hell hadn’t been green. He glanced at her hands and was relieved to see her claws weren’t out. Even as he watched, the little bit of fang that was protruding over her lower lip disappeared before she even realized they were there.
Thank God.
Her eyes cleared but were just as quickly filled with confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing,” he said, pulling her in close again and dropping his forehead down to rest on hers. “I thought we might need to take a break and cool off a bit before you make me completely lose control and I end up doing something that’s likely going to show up on YouTube.”
Selena looked around, as if only then realizing they were in the middle of a crowded dance floor. A sultry smile curved her lips. “You have a problem staying in control when I kiss you?”
He grinned in return, knowing she could still feel his hard-on pressing against her urgently. “I think that’s obvious.”
She wiggled against him as if letting him know she was fully aware of his condition. “Okay, good call. But to be honest, I’m not too sure you would have been the only one losing control.”
“At least you didn’t bite me again,” he pointed out.
She laughed. “Maybe later. Until then, maybe we should check in on Becca and Scott.”
Brooks took Selena’s hand and led her off the floor, praying no one noticed the raging hard-on in his jeans as they weaved their way through the crowd of people between them and their booth.
They found Becca and Scott talking and laughing like they’d been dating for months. Jayden was kind of surprised…until he saw all the empty glasses on Scott’s side of the table, along with three colorful metal cans that looked like something an energy drink would come in. Alcohol and caffeine. That was one way to loosen up.
Scott slid the glasses and cans aside, making room for him and Selena, laughing as one of the cans fell over and splattered a few droplets of clear liquid on the table. “Sorry about that. But I told Becca that the only way she’d get me out there on the dance floor was to ply me with booze and energy drinks. I think she went a little overboard.”
Brooks chuckled. Lots of guys hated to dance. They’d been indoctrinated since birth to avoid doing anything that might make them look silly or uncool. It was only alcohol—and the chance to get up close and personal with a good-looking woman—that usually gave them the courage to do it at all. From the number of cans on the table, Scott clearly included energy drinks into the mix when it came to getting his nerve up.
Brooks reached out and set the can upright, his nose wrinkling at the harsh chemical odor of whatever was inside it. He didn’t recognize the container, but with the name of BUZZ splashed across it in garish, lightning-bolt letters, it was obvious what the stuff was all about. It didn’t smell like anything Brooks ever wanted to try, but Scott seemed to be cool with it.
“You two look so smooth out there,” Becca said, grinning at Selena. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’ve been dancing together for years.”
While Selena and Becca talked about how great the music was, Scott leaned in and asked Brooks where he’d learned to dance.
“I learned most of the formal stuff in college,” Brooks admitted. “I needed an elective, and ballroom dancing was an option. I picked up the rest here and there over the years.”
Scott nodded. “That’s cool. Where’d you go to school?”
Brooks was kind of surprised how easy it was, but before he knew it, he and Scott fell into an easy conversation about their college experiences. Brooks didn’t mention the stuff about law enforcement, but other than that, he talked and had a good time doing it. On the other side of the booth, Scott drank another energy drink. Chill and excited at the same time, his feet were tapping like crazy in time to the music coming from the dance floor.
A few minutes later, Scott gave Becca a smile. “Want to dance?”
Becca nodded eagerly, smiling back at him. She started sliding out of the booth with Scott, only to stop and motion Brooks and Selena to join them. “Come on! It’ll be fun!”
They hit the floor just as the worst dance song ever—at least in Brooks’s opinion—started playing—“YMCA.” Brooks felt like pointing out that the song wasn’t even from the ’80s, but he was pretty sure no one cared. He would have faked a hamstring injury, but it was obvious Selena loved the damn song. He threw a quick glance in Zane’s direction, hoping he wasn’t watching. Not only was his teammate watching, he was holding his frigging cell phone aloft, recording everything. Brooks gave him a covert finger. Zane smiled and waved back. This crap was gonna show up on the screen of the next SWAT training class for sure.
But when he saw how much fun Selena was having, he decided he didn’t care. Beside them, Becca and Scott were laughing and dancing like crazy. Hell, Scott was actually jumping around with a completely euphoric expression on his face.
The floor filled with people dancing and singing, everyone bumping into each other and not caring a bit. But as the end of the song approached, Brooks’s instincts screamed at him that something was wrong. At first, he was worried a hunter had slipped into the crowd, but after a moment, he realized that wasn’t it at all. It was Scott. He’d stopped dancing. Not only that, but he was as pale as a ghost. And whereas his heart had been beating like a drum a minute ago, now it was thumping so slowly, Brooks could barely pick it up.
Suddenly, Scott’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he started falling forward.
Becca screamed and tried to slow Scott’s fall, but Brooks jumped in to catch him, lowering the man to the floor. Around them, everyone stepped back, gasping and murmuring in shock.
Out of the corner of his eye, Brooks saw Zane pushing his way through the crowd even as Scott’s heart stopped.
“He’s going under,” Brooks said, starting CPR.
Zane dropped down to do the rescue breathing, coming up after his first two breaths with a stunned look on his face. “He’s overdosing on fentanyl. I can taste it.”
Shit.There were so many other frigging chemicals in the energy drink, he hadn’t even smelled the fentanyl.
