Page 114 of The Fire We Make

Ace opened his mouth to speak but the song switched and April and Melody both squealed their delight.

“Come on Jo! This is my shit, let’s go dance!” Melody hollered, pulling Joy from Ace’s lap and snapping whatever tension was simmering between them.

Through the haze of the substances he’d partaken in throughout the night, Ace watched Joy from his spot in their section as she danced with April and Melody. All he saw was the cloud of tight coils that whipped as she moved her head to the music.

When she turned, Ace could see her rapping the lyrics back and forth with April like she wrote them, with a smile that made his heartbeat triple its rhythm.

She raised her arms and flung her wide hips, bouncing and whining to the music like an 2000s video vixen.

She was in her zone and all types of off beat, making Ace chuckle but he continued watching anyway, more enthralled with the show many feet away from him than any of the entertainers in the section vying to gain his attention.

When the song moved from the upbeat rap song to a more sensual vibe, Ace rose from his seat, ignoring the questioning glances from his brothers. He moved through the crowded dance floor with laser focus, zeroed in on his target. She was swaying to the rhythm, still off-beat, when Ace slid behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.

Joy didn’t startle or pull away. Instead, she turned around with a grin, as if she already knew who had joined her.

“You know you don't have no rhythm right?” Ace asked in her ear.

Joy laughed, throwing her head back. Ace had to bend his knees to align their bodies. “Doesn’t matter,” she said. “Anybody looking for a professional can direct their attention to the stage.”

Ace chuckled at that.

The feel of Joy’s body pressed and writhing against his had him hot and he knew his erection was poking her through their clothes. He’d never hidden his attraction to Joy but that night, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. Her in that dress. Her big hair. Her soft skin. Her sweet scent. Moving that body that arrested his mind. He was damn near feral.

“Let me help you out, Rose,” he proposed as he gained a firm grip on her. Ace laid his hand flat against her stomach and applied light pressure guiding her body to rest flush against his. Using his body and grasp on her hips, he directed her movements, slowing them down so she rode the correct beat.

He held onto her waist and ground his pelvis to meet her movements. Joy choked out a gasp of surprise but she didn’t protest, only continued letting Ace direct her in the way he wanted her to go. They moved together, a sensual dance that made both their breaths come heavier.

Ace inhaled deeply and his eyes almost rolled back in his head at her scent. Her perfume combined with the natural aroma of her skin, Ace could get high from her fragrance alone. He knew if he could find a way to bottle it up and sell it, he would make a fortune.

But he wouldn’t.

He’d keep it all to himself and put the traces of her in every space he owned. He’d keep it in a vial around his neck so he could smell her with him all day long. He would spritz it on his pillows and sheets so he could roll around in it. Soak paper and fabric in it and hang it from the rear view mirror in all of his cars. Turn it into a soap so he could smell her scent on his skin. Mix it with wax so he could turn it into a candle and light it in his office on the nights he needed her presence.

God, he didn’t know what was wrong with him but the high he felt couldn’t just be coming from the blunts he’d inhaled. He’d smoked a thousand blunts in his lifetime and none of them made him feel like this.

He was levitating. Just having her close again was enough to both satiate the hunger and make him crave more.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Around 3am, the group’s energy started to fade. Ace rounded up Remy and his brothers and together, the five escorted April, Melody, and Joy out of the club. With his hand yet again, finding the exposed skin on Joy’s back, Ace positioned her in front of him as they exited in the same manner that they arrived.

Ace had almost declined when Von had asked them to join him at the club tonight. The moment he saw Joy though, skin on display and arguing down Cedrick at the door, he’d known he made the right decision, though.

Ace still felt buzzed in a way that had nothing to do with the blunts and bottles that made their rounds in their section. With his fingertips on Joy’s back, all of the awareness in his body was zeroed in on the spot where their skin connected. The sight of her in that dress and those heels under the brighter street lights sent a rush of blood flowing to his manhood.

As if she felt him staring, Joy looked up at him with a slight grin and he returned it.

“You had a good time?” he asked.

“I did actually,” she answered, eyes bright and slightly glassy.

She opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off by a voice from across the parking lot.

“Aye Ace!” The man’s voice cut through the night. All eight of them turned to see a man across the street leaning against a blacked out Lamborghini. Ace’s entire body stiffened and his eyes darkened with fury when Isaac came into view.

“Boy, you got some damn nerve bringing yo ass over here,” Ace growled.

Isaac had been on a tour, running his mouth to anyone who would listen since he got kicked out of the meeting several weeks ago. He’d been loud with his discontent and bordering on disrespectful, not seeming to care who it got back to.