Dance For Me (Strip in the City, Book 2)

37 • Hot Party

Dominick

When Maren exited the bathroom, tugging down on the hem of her dress, I wasn't surprised to see a sheepish-looking West strolling out after her.

These two had been in the bathroom this whole time?

How nice for them.

Meanwhile, I'd been working up the courage to barge in and check on Tan. She'd had run off with a weird look on her face after I'd told her how much her help meant to me, claiming that she needed to go to the bathroom, but she obviously was just using that as an excuse to put distance between us.

Call it my sixth sense, but something was up.

"Have either of you seen Tan?"

The curvy redhead, who had been Tan's best friend since college, exchanged glances with West, who only shrugged. "I haven't seen her since she was on stage with you. Is she missing?" She gripped my arm. "Oh god. Please don't tell me she's missing. What if she was abducted?"

Abducted? Jesus. If anyone touched a hair on her head they'd be fucking dead.

I whipped around, looking for her again, when West clamped a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Don't listen to Miss True Crime Podcast over here. I'm sure Tan is around. Maybe she drank one too many jello shots and went to lay down upstairs."

I scowled at the ridiculous suggestion. Tan could hold her own well enough, and a couple of jello shots wasn't going to put her down.

If anything had happened to her, I'd never forgive myself. All I wanted to do was get out of this party and tell Tan how much I loved her. Alone.

I unlocked my phone, ready to call her, when Maren tapped my arm. "There she is! Oh, thank god!"

"See," West said, wrapping his girlfriend in a hug and lifting her off the ground. "Someone needs to stop listening to murder stories." He gave me a smile that seemed to be meant to put me at ease. "Go get your girl. I'll keep this one away from her long enough so you can talk."

Stuffing my phone in my pocket, I cut through a group of Mimi's friends who tried to pull me into a dance, and in a few strides, and did just that. The second she was in arms reach, I got my hands around Tan and pulled her against me.

She was cold, and her hair smelled like secondhand smoke, which told me she must've been outside with my grandma. I rubbed my hands over her goosebumps, trying to warm her up. But my sunshine girl didn't melt into me like she normally did.

I leaned back to get a better look at her face. Sometimes, I could read what was on her mind, but this time, I was struggling. "Baby, is everything okay?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, everything's fine."

Everything was not fine. She was giving me one of those fake ass smiles like she used to do.

I ran a hand through my hair, swallowing hard. Whatever they'd discussed hadn't settled her down. If anything, talking to Mimi had made her more upset.

She'd promised not to tell Tan my secret, so I knew it wasn't about the house.

"Is everything okay with you?" she asked, one of her brows raised.

"With me? Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

My voice was higher than it normally would be, and I cleared my throat when Tan crossed her arms. The last thing I wanted to be doing right now was fighting. Two minutes ago, Maren put the idea that she might've been abducted in my head.