Running from His Claim (Beauty and the Beast #2)

Chapter 25

The first thing I noticed was that the huge poster of a majestic sitting panther was covered by a poster of Dizzy. Victor gently placed his hand on my back and we walked into the huge hall. Inside the lights were low and the music was fun but not too loud. People were milling around in groups or as couples, mingling and drinking as they waited for the event to officially start.

"When does it start?" I asked.

"It already has," Victor grinned, leading me towards the back. "Dizzy's just working the crowd."

Backstage, we found Dizzy waiting for us. He grinned widely when he set those dark sea colored eyes on me. He took my hand and touched it to his cool lips. "Now I know tonight will be a huge success," he flirted. "I was afraid you wouldn't come."

I blushed and glanced up at Victor as I smiled, "Like I had much choice."

"Ditch him after?"

"*Flip you," Victor said, too low for anyone else to hear, but he was laughing.

Dizzy laughed too. "Hey man." The handshake appeared again. "Glad you made it."

"Sure man. Now get this thing started. My girl wants to dance."

"What girl?" I teased, raising a brow.

Victor shot me a look as Dizzy laughed and walked away. Victor took me back to the hall where people had started dancing.

"Belle, hey!" I looked up to find Derek walking over to us with a wide grin. He stopped a short distance away when Victor tightened his hold on my waist, pulling me back against his chest. "Uh, hi Victor."

"Where's your girl?" Victor asked.

Derek reddened and clenched his fist as Victor smirked. "We broke up."

"Well this one's taken. Go find someone else to play with."

I glanced up at Victor in surprise. He sounded slightly amused, but I heard an edge in his tone that he'd never shown with any of my friends before. What had Derek done to him? Derek turned and stormed off. I turned to Victor. "What was that about?"

He raised a brow. "You seriously don't see it?"

"See what?"

He shook his head and just folded me into his arms. I was about to pursue it when Dizzy came onto the stage. How did I know? The screaming that almost instantly deafened me. I turned towards the stage - Victor had made sure we were close to it and people naturally left a wide space around us - as Dizzy took the mic.

For the next couple of hours I learnt that Dizzy was an amazing dancer. He had back up dancers, mostly girls, but none of them ever came really close to him. He worked that into the choreography, always standing out and outshining everyone else even when he let someone else take center stage. He was mesmerizing and the screams around me never lowered in volume the entire time he danced to song after song.

Finally, he grabbed a mic again and said, "Okay, I'm beat. That's it, I'm done." There were loud protests for him to keep going - which I'm sure he was counting on - and he pleaded, "Come on guys, please? I need to catch my breath. It's not easy being this awesome!" People laughed and he went on, "Right now it's your turn. You guys can dance your hearts out while I go back and grab an energy drink - or scarf down a pizza real quick. Be right back!" And he ran off the stage.

Music started playing again and people went back to dancing or chatting. Victor grabbed me a drink and we ignored the music around us. About four songs later, as a new song was cued to start, Victor suddenly changed. He'd been playful the whole time we were talking, but he suddenly got intense. My heart skipped a beat at the heat in his stunning blue eyes and the way he suddenly stepped forward so that we were pressed flush against each other.