Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (70 page)

               
Kayla shakes her head vigorously.  “No!”

               
“How about it?” the girl on stage says.  “Are you coming up on stage,
Kayla?”

               
Damien starts to push her toward the crowd.  “Damien,” Kayla snaps,
straining against him.  “I will hurt you!”

               
“Just go.” He laughs.  “I promise you’ll be safe.”

               
“No!”

               
“I will donate twenty thousand dollars to any charity that you want if you go
up there,” Damien declares with a grin.  “Homeless children could really
use it.”

               
Kayla glares at him.  “That’s not fair.”

               
“It’s a proposition.”

               
“Fine,” she finally spits out.  Turning to the stage, she awkwardly walks
over to it.  The crowd erupts into applause.  Her face turns a
brilliant shade of red as her cheeks start to burn.

               
The girl sticks her hand out at the top of the steps.  “Hi, my name is
Nicole.  Your boyfriend is the one who suggested this.”  Darting her
gaze to Damien, Kayla sees him wave.  She glares at him.  “All right,
this song is especially for you.”

               
The music starts to play and Kayla immediately bursts out laughing.  The
girl starts to sing,
“
I
Kissed
A
Girl,” by Katy Perry.  She grabs Kayla’s
hand and sings the song to her. 

               
When she sings, “I kissed a girl just to try it, I hope my boyfriend don’t mind
it,” the singer turns to Damien and winks.  He laughs.  It’s then
that Kayla sees Jackson walk up beside him.  He looks at her with raised
eyebrows.

               
Feeling a little daring, Kayla looks at the singer who is dancing around the
stage, and Kayla starts to follow her.  The whole crowd erupts in
cheers.  They dance around and with each other.  The applause is
thunderous.  Kayla laughs the entire time but tries to play off the sexy
moves as much as she can.

               
When Kayla looks over at the guys, their mouths are gaping.  Kayla tries
even harder to dance the sexy moves that Tracy taught her.  The crowd
screams now.  The singer plays along the whole time.  Finally, at the
end of the song, she leans forward and kisses Kayla lightly on the lips. 
Kayla pulls away after a second in shock.

               
The crowd continues to cheer.  Kayla turns to look at Damien.  He is
clapping and laughing with everyone else as Kayla blushes. Over Damien’s
shoulder she notices a security guard approach him.  Damien rolls his eyes
but leans in to hear the guy talk.  Nodding, he starts to follow the guard
through the club.

               
Kayla smiles at the singer and leaves the stage.  The crowd claps at her
as she passes.  When she gets to Jackson, she asks, “Where did Damien go?”

               
Jackson shrugs his shoulders.  “I don’t know.  I’m not his
keeper.  That’s your job now.”

               
“Ha, ha, funny,” Kayla sarcastically replies.  “I can’t believe I just did
that.”

               
Jackson leans close to her and whispers, “So, since you’re Damien’s girlfriend
now, does that mean I don’t get to participate in your girl-on-girl
experiences?”

“Shut up!”  Kayla
laughs.  “There will be no girl-on-girl anything!”

               
“Oh, come on.” Jackson chuckles.  “That was hot.”

               
She shakes her head.  “No, no, no, that will never happen.”

               
“I don’t know,” he murmurs.  “You’re making it really difficult not to
fantasize about you anymore.”

               
“You can do whatever you want.  You’re a grown boy.”

               
With heat in his eyes, Jackson only returns with, “Yeah.”

               
They stand beside each other for a second. When Kayla can’t endure the
closeness anymore, she nervously steps to the side.  “Where did my
boyfriend go?”

               
“I don’t know, we can go find him if you want,” Jackson replies quietly.

               
“Okay.”

               
He tilts his head and they meander through the club.  Jackson approaches a
security guard.  “Where is Damien?”

               
“Master Damien is in the back office on a phone call,” the guy replies.

               
“Where’s that?” Kayla inquires.

               
“You can’t go back there,” the security guard replies.

               
Kayla raises an eyebrow. “Are you going to stop me?”

               
The security guard shakes his head.  “Go through that doorway and down the
hall.”

               
“Thanks,” Kayla chirps.  She grabs Jackson’s hand and pulls him through
the crowd.  When they get through the door, the hallway blankets them in
darkness.  “I guess it’s down here.”  They walk toward the light at
the end of the hall.  When they get there, Kayla’s eyes fall into the
office and her heart drops.

               
Damien and Natasha are standing close together. Natasha grabs Damien’s tie and
yanks him toward her.  Kayla can’t breathe.  She reaches out and
clutches Jackson’s shirt.  He grabs her arms to steady her.  Damien
exchanges words with Natasha, but Kayla can’t hear them.  She spins around
and sprints down the hallway.  “Kayla!” Jackson yells.

               
She doesn’t listen to him.  She runs out the door, thrusting her body into
the masses of people.  The crowd is almost impossible to get
through.  Her heart pounds out of her chest and the club blurs around
her.  She breaks through the people and falls against a table, trying to
steady herself.

               
Hands grab her.  Kayla spins around to find Jackson.  Her throat
closes and she chokes on a sob. “He’s a bastard!”

               
“Kayla, stop, he pushed her away,” Jackson emphasizes.

               
“Yeah right,” she screams.  “What is he doing back there with her anyway?”

               
Jackson shakes his head.  “I don’t know.  He wouldn’t cheat on you,
though.”

               
Her eyes frantically search Jackson’s face for the truth. “I don’t believe you! 
She gives him something I don’t.”

               
“Kayla, it’s not like I want you to be with him!” Jackson urges strongly.

               
Her shoulders sag as she looks up at him with pleading eyes. “Why?”

               
His eyes stare into hers.  “You know why.”

               
“But you won’t let us be together,” Kayla replies.  He averts his
gaze.  With a glare, Kayla says, “I am done with both of you.  I want
to go home.  Right now, and I mean to my house, to my life!  Away
from you guys and this whole thing!”

               
Damien appears next to them.  “Kayla, stop.”

               
“No!  You jackass!  I saw you!”

               
“You don’t know what you were seeing,” Damien replies.  “I went back to
answer a phone call from my dad.  She just showed up.  I told her to
go to hell.”

               
“I don’t believe you,” she seethes.

               
“Kayla, please, I didn’t do anything,” Damien states strongly.  “I swear
on my sister’s life.  I pushed her away.”

               
“I saw that,” Jackson interjects kindly.  “He did.”

               
Kayla just looks at Damien.  “She gave you something I am not ready to
give.”

               
“That doesn’t matter to me,” he replies.  “When you are ready, we will
take that step.  You mean everything to me and she means nothing.”

               
 A lump forms in her throat and her eyes glisten with tears. “I thought
you were going to have sex with her.”

               
Damien pulls her into his arms.  “I don’t want her here.  I had her
escorted out.  You mean the world to me.  Please understand that.”

               
Jerkily, she nods her head. 

“I’m going to give you guys
a minute,” Jackson murmurs quietly before turning and walking away.  Kayla
wants to call out after him but doesn’t.

               
Turning, she looks back at Damien.  He stares into her eyes.  “I love
you, Kayla.  I wish you could believe that.”

               
“I know,” Kayla replies.  She tilts her head and steps closer to
him.  Damien meets her, pressing his lips on hers.  Kayla grasps his
shirt and pulls him tight against her.  They kiss each other slowly. 
Energy starts to run over her nerves before she finally pulls away from
him.  “I want to dance with you.”

               
“Okay,” he breathes out.  Damien grabs her hand and leads her onto the
dance floor. He pulls Kayla against him.  She wraps her arms around his
neck, and they begin to dance.  The pheromones and energy are thick in the
air.  They tickle every inch of Kayla’s body.  With their bodies
pressed against each other, Kayla can’t even think straight.

               
Damien brings his fingers up under her chin and moves her face to his. 
When their lips meet, it’s like a volcanic eruption.  They kiss each other
frantically.  The energy pushes and pulls on Kayla until she’s breathless.
“I want you,” she whispers to him.

               
“Okay,” Damien replies.  Bending over, he lifts her into his arms and
Kayla breathes him in.  Everything is a blur in her head.  He carries
her into an enclosed area where a heavy curtain blocks out the rest of the
club.  Damien sets her down.  Looking at him, she feels his energy
whip inside of her like an electrical current.

               
She fervently starts pulling on his clothes.  Damien bends down and starts
to kiss her hotly.  Kayla’s fingers fumble around with the buttons on his
vest.  He reaches down and undoes them for her.  Next, he takes off
his tie, only pulling away from her for the briefest of seconds.  When
their lips meet again, Kayla wraps her arms tightly around his neck, rising
onto her tiptoes.  Damien lifts her up and her shoes fall off of her
feet. 

               
They stumble their way to the couch in the corner.  Damien lays her down
and then crawls on top of her.  With the energy boiling in the room, Kayla
can’t breathe.  Damien runs his hand up her leg and under her dress.

               
Suddenly, he is pulled away.  Kayla looks up just in time to see Jackson
deck Damien in the face.  “Jackson!” she yells.

               
Damien falls backwards and hits the wall.  “Oh, it’s on,” he spits out,
blood coming from his mouth.  He jumps up and kicks Jackson in the
face.  Jackson partially ducks out of the way, and sweeps Damien’s legs
out from underneath him.  Damien lands hard on the floor, but he instantly
does a kip-up and lands back on his feet.

               
“She said she didn’t want to,” Jackson bellows. “But you still had to go ahead
and try.”

               
“Jackson,” Kayla yells.  “Stop!”

               
Damien reaches out and tries to punch Jackson.  Jackson spins out of the
way, darting behind Damien.  He grabs Damien into a headlock.  “You
have gone too far,” he growls at Damien.

               
The curtain is thrown back, and a security guard points something at Jackson
and shoots.  Jackson screams out in pain and drops to the floor.  The
security guard doesn’t do anything to stop Jackson’s pain.  Unable to
endure Jackson’s screams, Kayla knees the guard between the legs.  One of
the other security guards grabs Kayla as his partner falls to the ground. 
She screams at the top of her lungs.

               
“Put her down,
”
Damien
shouts.
“
Or I will have
you executed!”

               
The guard quickly lets Kayla go.  She darts over to Jackson. 
“Jackson, are you okay?”  He moans and rolls over.  Kayla starts to
cry.  “Talk to me, please!”

               
“Kayla,” Damien says, stepping towards her.  “He needs to be looked at.”

               
“You stay away from us,” she yells, trying to shield Jackson from his
cousin.  “You did this!”

               
Hurt fills Damien’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to do anything.”

               
Jackson rolls over onto his knees, which causes Kayla’s attention to snap back
to him. “Are you okay?”      

               
“I think I’m going to die, but yeah,” Jackson groans.

               
“We should really have him looked at,” Damien says.

               
“Shut up,” Kayla screams.  “Leave us alone.”

               
Damien faces the guards. “Get out of here.  I didn’t ask for this.”

               
“We are your security, Master Damien,” one of the guards replies.

               
“Heads will roll,” Damien spits out.

               
Jackson half leans on Kayla as he attempts to sit up.  “I think I’m going
to be sick.”

               
“Where’s the bathroom?” Kayla growls.