Page 102

“Yes,” Charlotte snapped, white knuckling the edge of her phone. “They are.”

She turned her back on Victoria, slipping her arm around Ali’s shoulder, resisting the urge to backhand the woman. Whatever love once dwelled in her… now lay as barren as salted earth. Nothing good could grow there again.

“Deep breaths, babe.”

Charlotte pressed her nose to the top of Ali’s head, breathing in the faint sweetness of her shampoo, allowing it to soothe her. What she wanted, more than anything, was to ask Ali to run away with her. She wanted to be curled up somewhere with her, reading a book while she painted… She wanted to ask her to be her girlfriend. But now was hardly the time and whenever it was just the two of them, there was always something pressing in on them or they were… distracted. Was it too much to ask for a moment that was just theirs, that didn’t feel rushed, or share the stage with other important things?

“I’ll protect you,” Ali murmured, nuzzling the hollow beneath her ear.

Charlotte tilted her head, breath catching when soft lips grazed her skin. When she lifted her gaze, she caught Giselle’s unsettled expression as her eyes fixed on a rowdy group of men near center stage as the loud thumping music assaulted her senses.

Charlotte procured a private room lined in connected leather benches with small tables dotted throughout. A single polished pole claimed the small stage, where the dancers weaved in and out. They weren’t just talented but magnetic, playful, and graceful in their skyscraper heels.

Naturally, Ali befriended them in minutes, calling out tricks Charlotte had never so much as heard of.

Charlotte sipped her second whiskey, savoring the smoky burn as it seeped through her. The steady vibration of music through the floorboards felt strangely calming. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Until—

“You look bored, baby girl,” Victoria’s voice cut through the music, slick with implication as she slid into the seat beside her. “I’d be happy to buy you a lap dance. Might liven things up.”

A flare of white-hot heat surged across her chest, crawling up her neck. She kept her gaze fixed on her glass, fearing her glare might set Victoria aflame.

But would it be such a loss?

She shifted as far from Victoria as the booth and her proximity to Ali allowed. She channeled her aggravation into her finger, letting her nail clink against the glass. The sound of it lost to the music.

“I’ll have to pass,” Charlotte declined, lip curling.

Victoria draped her arm across the back of the bench, leaning in, edging closer, too close. She just kept pushing, determined to get her way.

“I could always give you one,” Victoria whispered, voice dropping to a sultry register. “For old times sake.”

Charlotte’s reaction was as instantaneous as it was violent. Her mouth flooded with saliva, nausea burning its way up her throat. Her skin tightened, compressing in on her at an alarming rate, forcing her to fight the urge to bolt or clamber across Ali’s lap just to have a barrier between them.

But she didn’t move. She wasn’t sure she even blinked. Was she breathing?

In her peripheral, Lizzie rose to her feet as though she could feel Charlotte’s discomfort like it were her own. The place she might normally feel her twin’s emotions was buried beneath revulsion.

She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t lose her temper and make a scene. But Victoria wouldn’t take no for an answer. White-noise roared as her body threatened to just shut down instead. Yes, turning to stone was the best option.

But then… Ali laughed.

A low, wicked, and delicious thing that cut through it all like the crack of a whip. She peered around Charlotte, lips curving into a feral grin that made Charlotte’s breath hitch.

“If anyone’s giving Charlotte a lap dance, it’s me,” Ali’s gaze swept Victoria slowly, deliberately. “Besides… Doubt your arthritic joints could handle it. I’d hate for you to break a hip or something.”

A few heads snapped their way, Charlotte’s own lips parted.

Victoria growled, jerking her arm back to lean forward and glare at Ali. “Don’t be cringe. No one wants to see you take your clothes off.”

“Wanna bet?” Ali baited, voice edged with more menace than Charlotte had ever heard from her before. A wild gleam lit her dark eyes with something gleeful and dangerous.

“Oh dimples.” Victoria’s smile curled into poison. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll embarrass yourself?”

“Nope.”

Ali pulled out her wallet and withdrew a neat wad of cash, and slapped a few bills onto the table in front of Victoria with a satisfying thwap.