First message
The Marrow Club drowned in red light and cigarette smoke, music vibrating through the floor beneath Christian’s polished shoes. Men talked around him—territory, shipments, money—but their voices blurred into meaningless noise the second she stepped onto the stage.
“Do you wanna touch…” music sang.
Christ.
She was stunning without even trying to be.
Not polished and artificial like most girls in clubs like this. There was something careless about her beauty, something almost cruel in the way it hit him all at once. Long legs catching the spotlight every time she moved, skin glowing gold beneath the crimson lights, hair spilling down her back while she rolled her hips to the music like she’d stopped caring who was watching a long time ago.
Christian couldn’t look away.
His fingers tightened slowly around the whiskey glass in his hand.
Every man in the room was staring at her. He noticed that first. The hunger in their faces. The way they leaned closer when she passed. Like they thought they deserved to look at her.
A dangerous feeling crawled beneath his skin.
Then she glanced up in his direction.
And Christian swore the entire club went silent for half a second.
Her expression didn’t change much, but he caught it anyway— that tiny hesitation in her step when their eyes met. Like she felt the weight of him watching her.
His jaw flexed.
Because he knew in that moment, he was in for it.
Nothing good could come from an obsession over a dancer at his rival’s club.