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I drop to my knees, spinning to face away from him, and bring my head down to the floor. The back of my skirt flicks up and lands on top of my back as I snap my hips up, giving him a perfect view of my ass, and I wish I could see his face right now.

Splitting my knees further apart, I start moving my hips down towards the floor, then back up, making my ass bounce. A sudden image of a topless Xander laid across the lounge bar top beneath me flashes in my mind. The vision trails downwards, past the defined lines of the V in his abs, where he’s also naked. His hands grip my bare waist, fingers digging into the skin there as he guides me down onto him. I pull myself back into the present, and my movements slow as a phantom sensation of being filled by him overwhelms me.

My skin has broken out into a sweat, and my breathing picks up as I desperately try to erase that image of him from my mind. He barely touched me, but my body hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him.

I sit back up onto my knees and spread them as far apart as I can, my centre hitting the floor. I grind into it, slow and deliberate. That image of him coming to the forefront again, sending heat rushing to my core. His hand travels up along the middle of my torso. I throw my head back, running my hands up and down the length of my body. Over my thighs, guiding them over to my ass and squeezing, then back up to the front. He takes his time around my breasts, pinching a nipple between his fingers and pulling gently. I just about manage to conceal a moan as I mimic my thoughts with my hands. His hand snakes its way up to my neck, gripping it and pulling me down towards his lips. His hooded eyes trace the contours of my face as his breath fans over my mouth. ‘Good fucking girl’. His whisper-growl echoes in my mind, and I force my thoughts back to the present.

All Luke ever did was insult me while he raped me, so praise is new to me. And hearing it coming out of Xander’s mouth set my body alight.

My heart rate has accelerated to impossible speeds now, and I’m sure there’s a sheen of sweat covering my entire body.

I weave my hands through my hair, looking over my shoulder at Xander. His whole frame is tense, looking like an immovable statue. His dark eyes never leave mine as his jaw clenches so hard it looks like he might just crush his teeth.

His chest rises and falls rapidly, matching my own. But his is working for an entirely different reason. Xander is vibrating with anger. His eyes blaze with a raging fire while he palms his gun. Closing and releasing his fist around it. Probably plotting a mass murder of the entire floor.

Then several deafening bangs fill the room. The music stops.

Before I know it, I’m tackled to the floor by a hard body. The familiar manly scent fills my nostrils, and a large hand cradles my head, preventing it from making contact with the stage.

“Stay down. Do not move, Angel.” Xander’s voice is steady and firm in my ear. His obvious erection presses into my thigh, but my dirty thoughts are long gone, replaced by a tremble in my muscles.

I nod my head vigorously; a sense of panic fills me as chaos breaks out. Though I can’t see anything but the white of Xander's t-shirt changing colour with the flashing neon lights. Gunshots ring out around us. Glass smashes. Chairs break. Men shout.

Xander shifts. His hand leaves my lower back, and he reaches into his side pocket, pulling out the gun he’s been threatening all night.

Unlike a few minutes ago during my performance, his breath is steady as his arm slightly cocks back with each bullet that fires out of the weapon.

His thumb moves up and down on the back of my head. “You’re okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

My breaths come in shallow beneath the weight of him, but I don’t dare move a muscle.

The last of the gunshots ring out before everything falls silent.

“What in the fuck?” Jacques’s voice booms in the still silence, and Xander’s body tenses at last.

“Get everyone the fuck out of here. Take him down to the basement.” His chest rumbles against mine with his words.

At last, his weight lifts off me, and dim lights fill my vision. There’s a hush of people leaving the club.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes to adjust to the new lighting. I take in the scene around me and freeze. People, including staff, are being evacuated out of the building by security with guns, but there are also people… bodies… covered in blood, slumped on the chairs, that aren’t moving.

I swallow past the lump in my throat, my eyes wide with the realisation of what just happened.

Xander’s presence remains beside me. He grabs my chin with his thumb and forefinger and guides my face towards his, his eyes locked on mine.

“You’re okay,” he states. I glance down to where he still holds his gun. He quickly shoves it back in his pocket and guides me upright. “You’re okay,” he repeats, slower.

His eyes wander behind me, nostrils flaring slightly, before scooping me up and carrying me bridal style towards the stairs. All the while, I keep my focus on the hard lines of his face.

He catches my gaze as he takes two stairs at a time. “You're safe.”

I realise at that moment that my whole body is trembling in his arms, so I force my muscles to relax, but it just makes the shaking worse. His jaw ticks as he watches my struggle to calm down. My body is in so much shock that all I can really focus on is him.

Everything is a blur.

He kicks open a door and gently sets me down on the bed. I take in my surroundings and realise it’s the same bedroom from the storm night. Only now, it looks different.

“Stay here. Do not move. I will send Ezra to stand outside the door as soon as possible,” he says, gently stroking a hand down the side of my face.