“Dance with me?” It was a simple question. Simple words that enticed dramatic whispers from around them as Angel smiled wider at her question. Someone else would have been offended, would’ve been mortified that they hadn’t gotten the chance to ask the question first.
But Angel was something different. Someone new.
And he noticed all the attention they were basked in. Smiled widely at it as he placed his hand in hers, all warm and perfect.
“Just don’t ask me to do any weird moves, and we’re good for a couple of dances, Raylene Walker.” He joked loud enough for the crowd to hear. Ray huffed at the laughs his words called for and tugged him forward. Angel’s eyes widened at her actions but he still leaned down as she grinned back at him,
“This is the 21stCentury, Angel,” she said and started pulling him to the dancefloor, “Men twirl now. Nothing’s weird anymore.”
Angel threw his head back and laughed at her words. A friend’s laugh. A sound that attracted more eyes and more laughs at her words. At the way she portrayed their new forthcoming relationship. As she prepared the crowd for what they were afraid to hear.
And as usual, the fools laughed back.
While the clever ones feared.
28
Ray had learnt how to dance when she was fourteen, barely five years ago when she’d taken her first steps withher.When she’d thrown her head back and laughed deliriously as they had moved around the living room and laughter had emerged from every corner of the room.
This wasnothinglike that time.
She was so close to him that she could feel his beating heart. She was so near that she could smell that coffee scent that made him…him.Angel gazed down at her, all nerves of steel as they swayed with the music. It was soft at first as if they were testing the waters. As if they were slowly coaxing the crowd in with them. And Angel, with his charming smile and his dark locks of hair. With his strong body leaning over hers, always challenging, always torturing – it seemed like the moment was stretched into a thin line for forever.
Ray tipped her chin upward, her head lifting in a silent gesture, her face the mask of cold indifference. This was how it was meant to be. Angel De Santos, the golden boy with his perfect way of operations and communication. With his lovely smiles and dangerous demeanor. Andher,Raylene Walker, the cold wildcard that had brought forth a motion that they wouldallhave to prepare for.
Angel might have read her thoughts, because his hands tightened on her waist, his other hand pulling her impossibly closer as he said in a low voice,
“Keep your focus on me Storm. Stop zoning out.”
Ray hummed, finally letting a soft smile grace her lips as she leaned back in his arms, “You can’t tell me what to do Angel De Santos.”
She whispered, her breath coming out as wisps in the cold air,
“And stop fidgeting.”
His thumb that was tapping insistently on her palm stilled and a mask of silence draped over his face.
Ray saw the flash in his amber eyes, and it was theonlywarning she got before the music turned, twisted and became something farmore.
Quicker. More dangerous.
And suddenly, Angel was moving her. His hands tightening on her waist and his body going erect as he grinned down at her. Ray scoffed, a dark look crossing her eyes as she dug her heels in the floor as tried to move her back. A flash of surprise caught in his expression before it flickered away with a blink and then he was moving, leaning over her and masking her actions as a bow. Ray let a satisfied smile turn her lips as he leaned further down. Her eyes shut of their own accord, and her hand unwrapped from his and flew above her head in a smooth gesture. She heard the soft gasps, the words rise with the wind.
Beautiful. Lethal.
“Vicious.” Angel’s words drew her out of her daze, and her eyes snapped open, her head lifting to gaze up at him. She responded with a dark smile and turned her head sideways to look up at the stage upon which the players performed. As decided, her eyes caught the stranger’s and she gave a brisk nod. The man, who had already been looking at her nodded back and swiftly turned on his heels to face the rest of them.
Ray let Angel pick her up and took an inch of a step back when he righted her and placed a hand back in his. Another one of his shoulders and looked up at him with a murderous gleam in her eyes,
“Get ready Raven.”
Was all she offered before the musicswitchedandeveryonecame pouring onto the dance floor.
Angel could only scoff before Ray moved them both, a challenge in each step, a whisper in each sound, a promise in each breath. Together, they cut through the wind as the familiar dances flowed around them, in them,throughthem. Everyone around them, danced like the wind, cheered with pride and mirth.
But Ray didn’t dance to the same rhythm.
She willed Angel to see it, to notice and treasure it, because then they werecuttingright through it. Same steps, same beat, but a different world. Ray's eyes drifted shut as Angel pulled her closer and whispered words she couldn’t hear as they moved across the floor. It was beautiful. The feeling of exhilaration and the feeling of being so close to each other slowly tore them apart. The music was fast and dark.
