Make It Count (5 page)

Chapter Five

A
LEC COULDN’T TA
KE
his eyes off Max’s arm draped around Kat’s shoulders. He had to be some sort of masochist, agreeing to come out to the bar with them, Tara, Shanna and Cam.

And he was
pissed off
that twenty-year-old Kat had a fake ID. It was stupid and risky. When the bouncer studied it, flicking it in his fingers, Alec had glared at Kat. But she had pointed her finger at him and whispered “pinky swear truce” so he shut his mouth. Plus, she wasn’t his girlfriend. What say did he have in her life?

So now he alternated between seething with anger and seething with jealousy. With a cherry of guilt on top of that sundae. He was the life of the party.

His other roommate, Camilo “Cam” Ruiz, scanned the room like a predator as usual. He’d started school a semester late because he was in boot camp, having joined the Air National Guard right out of high school. He was in Alec’s major, angling to be a detective or something. On the weekends he wasn’t reporting for his monthly drill, he was on the prowl. He hooked ’em with his dimples, reeled ’em in with his charm and then let ’em go. And they all loved him for it. Alec couldn’t figure out how he did it without girls going
Fatal Attraction
on his ass.

Kat’s friend, Tara, sat beside him, the strobe lights catching on the white blonde of her short hair. Shanna was on the other side, quiet as always, sneaking glances at Cam from under her bangs, full lips pressed tight together.

Bodies writhed and wriggled on the dance floor at Caps, and the house music pounded a throbbing pain into Alec’s temples, the bright lights blinding him. He would have rather been at Craig’s Place across town, a laid-back bar with classic rock on the jukebox and scratched pool tables.

“You want another drink?” Max asked Kat, rising from the table. Alec noted Kat had barely touched the rum and coke in front of her. She shook her head, and Max tugged a lock of her hair before heading to the bar.

Kat smoothed her hair down and raised her eyes to him, quickly looking away when their gazes locked.

“Kitty-Kat, Shan, let’s dance,” Tara shouted over the booming house music. Kat looked at her friend, her eyes skittering right over Alec, and he really wanted to know why she avoided looking at him.

Her face was blank, like she was trying to process her friend’s words, or make a decision, and then her crimson-tinted lips split into that sexy smile. “Sure.” He now recognized her mask, the confident, sexy girl she portrayed in public.

“Didn’t you go out on a date with this DJ? Maybe you can make a request,” Tara said as the three of them walked away, already starting to sway their hips to the beat. Kat’s ass looked phenomenal in her tight jeans and red high heels.
Damn it.
That cherry of guilt was turning into a huge, gross, rotten tomato. And he couldn’t talk to his best friend about it, because
he
was the reason Alec currently had said rotten tomato in his gut.

“Stone.”

Alec turned to Cam.

His black wavy hair shone in the light and his dark eyes were assessing. “What’s Shanna’s deal?”

“I don’t know what you mean by
deal
.”

Cam took a gulp of his beer and waved his hand while swallowing. “You know, like, does she have a boyfriend or whatever.”

“I don’t know, why the fuck are you asking me? Ask Max.”

Cam paused and then placed his bottle gently on the table. “What’s up your ass?”

“Nothing.”

“You sound like a girl right now.”

“You sound like a chauvinist right now.”

Cam’s mouth dropped open. “Dude.”

Alec inhaled, the air tangy with stale beer and sweaty college students. He let out his breath and rubbed his face. “I’m sorry. I’m in a bad mood.”

“Yeah, Captain Obvious. Thanks for the heads up. And what else is new?”

Alec snorted a laugh and kicked out Max’s chair for him as he returned to the table. “Where are the girls?”

“Dancing.” Cam answered. “And Zuk’s being a prick.”

“What’s new?” Max said. Was Alec really that awful all the time that both his friends had the same response to his bad mood? Max grinned at him and this time Alec aimed his kick at his friend’s knee. Max took the hit without a wince, then shifted his chair for a better view of the dance floor. “If Kat’s dancing, I’m watching. Man, that’s why I asked her out in the first place.”

Alec let his eyes drift to the dance floor, and there was Kat, doing some sort of grinding dance move with Tara, their bodies plastered together—
Jesus Christ
—Kat’s long, shiny hair whipping around her neck, slender arms over her head.

Max elbowed him. “She can dance, right?” like Kat was some piece of meat.

The beat pounded into Alec’s head and the beer fuzzed his brain. Kat’s moves had him in a trance, but he was ever aware of her boyfriend’s presence beside him, like a big bucket of cold water down his pants.

Alec jumped five inches off of his seat when Max stood up. “I need to run to the john. Can you watch Kat and make sure no jackass puts his hands on her?”

So now he was a babysitter? This night was getting better and better. He nodded and didn’t take his eyes off of the dance floor. The guilt of watching her eased slightly. Max told him to, so it was okay, right?

Of course a minute after Max left, some guy walked up behind Kat, his eyes glued to her wiggling ass. Kat’s back was turned so she didn’t see him. The dude was huge, too, like six-five easy, and he was looking back at his friends, giving them a thumbs-up.

This was not Alec’s night.

He stood, knowing his own height of six feet was going to look puny. He motioned to Cam, hoping he knew some sort of black ops trick to bring Big Dude to his knees with a strategic finger poke. “We gotta get the girls. Some guy is trying to get all over them.”

Cam’s eyes swept the dance floor, and his face hardened. “I got Tara and Shanna, you get Kat.”

Course.

Alec pushed his way through the writhing bodies on the dance floor, eyes on Kat. By now, the big dude had started grinding his crotch against her ass, his hands clamped on her hips.

When Alec was five feet away, Kat dislodged the guy’s hands and whirled around to face him, all of five-three with her heels, her face only coming up to his pecs. She put a hand up, right in the guy’s face, and Alec saw her lips say, “No.”

His heart started beating five times harder, and if he were a sap, he would have said he fell in love with her right then. Babysit Kat? She could take care of herself.

Big Dude didn’t want to take no for an answer. He grabbed her hips again and leaned in, pressing his face against her neck. Kat recoiled, yelled “Ew!” which Alec heard clearly over the blasting music, and then she shoved Big Dude’s shoulders.

Big Dude wasn’t amused.

Alec took three more strides and was by her side. Kat whirled on him, the fight still in her eyes, as if she expected him to be Big Dude’s backup. When she saw it was him, her face lit up.

“Alec!” she yelled, flinging her arms around his neck. She nuzzled her face into his chest, then leaned back. “Pretend to be my boyfriend,” she whispered.

Did Kat realize that was like a death sentence when Big Dude was rolling his cannonball shoulders and fisting his fingered hammers? But he couldn’t say no, not with Kat’s scent in his nostrils, the warmth of her still-dancing body pressing against his.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cam led Tara and Shanna off the dance floor and that spurred his brain into working again.

“Uh . . .” Yeah, that was all he had. He never claimed to be an actor. So he gripped her waist and turned around, walking side-by-side, ignoring Big Dude.

Big Dude didn’t like to be ignored.

“Yo!” He grabbed Alec’s shoulder and wrenched it around. Alec didn’t have time to unwrap from Kat, so she came with him.

Alec didn’t like to fight. When they were younger, Max fought all the rich assholes for both of them. Alec liked to sit down and talk it out. Like adults. Or as Max called it, a “pussy pacifist.”

“You need to keep a better leash on your girl,” Big Dude said. Kat stiffened beside him, about to launch into a tirade. Was she afraid of anyone? Guys weren’t supposed to hit girls, but that didn’t mean none did.

Alec grimaced at the guy’s mention of a leash. “Sorry, her collar is getting dry-cleaned.”

Big Dude looked like he was contemplating stomping the life out of Alec. Kat snorted a laugh beside him, seemingly unconcerned about Alec’s imminent pounding.

Before he could determine the best way to diffuse the situation, a body stepped in front of him. Max had finally stopped pissing and graced them with his presence. How generous. “Fuck off, Brant.”

That was Max. No mincing words.

Alec didn’t stay to hear the rest. He pulled Kat along with him off of the dance floor while she craned her neck around, shooting death glares at Big Dude the whole time.

When they got to their table, she sat down in her chair and shivered. “What a jerk.” She smoothed her shirt over her hips. “Ugh, he had big, gross sweaty hands.”

Alec didn’t say anything, watching Kat put herself together and glad it hadn’t escalated into him getting his nose broken.

“Thanks for that,” she said, all traces of sexy Kat gone, her blue eyes earnest.

Anytime, anywhere, just say the word
, Alec wanted to say. Instead he shrugged. “Max asked me to watch out for you.”

Then he wanted to break his own nose as Kat’s face fell. She recovered quickly, though. “Right. Max asked you. Well, thanks.”

Max returned a couple of minutes later and sat down beside Kat.

“Everything okay?” Alec asked.

“Yeah, Brant’s drunk. He’s an asshole sober, so he’s just brimming with it when plastered.” He took a sip of beer and looked around, bobbing his head to the music. Kat fidgeted beside him, twisting her shirt in her fingers. The adrenaline of the near fight seemed to have left her, and now she looked drained.

Ask Kat if she’s okay, ask Kat if she’s okay
, Alec tried to tell Max through telepathy. It didn’t work.

Alec leaned across the table to Kat. “You okay?”

She looked up, startled. Then she took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Her eyes shifted away.
Liar.

K
AT SIPPED HER
drink. The same drink she’d had for the past hour. Max kept offering to buy her another one, not even bothering to notice she barely drank the one she had.

She didn’t really like alcohol. She had enough trouble staying focused. Being intoxicated only made that worse. Plus, she felt all worked up from that big muscle head pawing her.

When she’d seen Alec walk through the crowd, she’d been relieved, knowing he’d have her back. It wasn’t until Max actually showed up that she realized she hadn’t even thought of
him
. Her boyfriend.

Things were complicated.

Max was everything safe. The devil she knew.

And now Alec sat across from her, quiet and studious, his eyes on her like he was trying to figure her out. She wished she could figure herself out. Alec was a six-foot, pompadoured temptation. She loved how he made a joke rather than threw his weight around at the big guy, not that his weight would have mattered, since her unwanted dancing companion could have tossed Alec into the second-floor DJ booth. But when she thought about it, she liked that he didn’t try to flex his muscles and get all arrogant. She could take care of herself, provided she had someone at her back.

And having Alec at her back had made her feel as big as the meathead.

“You want to dance?” Max said, taking her out of her super-strength contemplation.

“Um, sure.” She rose and reached for his hand.

“Nah, not with me. I hate dancing.” Max screwed up his lips. “Go dance with Stone.”

Seriously? Was this really happening? Alec made a strangled noise from across the table. When she didn’t answer, Max looked at his friend. “Go dance with Kat. You’re good at it.”

Alec’s jaw was tight when he stood up. He reached down and took a shot that was on the table, then washed it down with beer. His steps seemed a little unsteady when he grabbed Kat’s arm and snarled at his friend. “Fine.”

As they walked onto the dance floor, Kat said, “If you don’t want to, we don’t have to dance—“

“It’s not a matter of not wanting to,” Alec muttered, cutting her off.

They dissolved into the crowd on the dance floor, Alec taking her to the far corner, as far away from Max as they could get. Kat didn’t protest.

Once they reached an empty spot among the writhing bodies, Alec grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. Thigh to thigh. Hip to hip. Chest to chest. They’d never been this close before.

His eyes, normally such a pale green, sparked in the club lighting, and there was a sexy smirk to his mouth. His fingers on her lower back were insistent, pressing, and conveying a message that her foggy brain didn’t want to analyze.

He leaned down so his lips were at her ear and whispered, “Show me what you got.”

Now
that
, she could do. The deep bass of the song was a thudding pulse down her spine and each horn blast was like a shot of adrenaline right into her veins. She’d loved dancing ever since her mom had given Kat her first tutu before ballet class.

She closed her eyes and let the beat of the song tap into her bones. She bent her knees and rolled her hips and shoulders, her fingers tangling into Alec’s hair, like she’d imagined many times, while he kept his face pressed into her neck. He let her lead at first, and then his hips began to churn. He followed her movement, anticipating every shift of her body.

And she was lost. She was lost to the music, lost to the lust roaring through her veins and most of all lost to Alec—to the feel of the muscles in his arms and shoulders rippling under her hands, a strong thigh pressed between her legs and his hips grinding into hers.

He lifted his head and when they locked gazes, she couldn’t look away. Something shifted behind his eyes, and his pupils dilated. Kat saw the desire in them—the red-blooded male look that said he wanted to rip her clothes off. His hands, which had migrated to her ass, squeezed, and she wondered if her look echoed his.