The Dare

The bass hit me before I even entered the club.

Lights flashed, people screamed, bottles lifted in the air.

I shouldn’t be here

“Woooo!! It feels like a dream. The Raina Cole is actually in a club,” my friend, Cassie, yelled, flinging an arm over my shoulder

“You two deceived me,” I yelled back over the music, pointing at both my friends. “You said a small dinner.”

“It got you to come along, right?” Katrina jollied, already eyeing one of the male dancers.

She caught my gaze as I looked around the club in discomfort, my hand covering the side of my face.

“Don’t worry, miss billion dollar queen. This is a high-end private club, so don't worry about paparazzi or the media capturing you. Come on, now lighten up.”

“Besides, it’s my bachelorette night.” Cassie added. “And you need to remember what fun feels like.”

I scoffed as we took a seat in the VVIP section. “I know what fun is,” I muttered, under my breath.

“Yeah, sure you do. Your idea of fun is a quarterly report that balances to the last decimal.” Cassie mocked me.

“Or a business meeting,” Katrina added as they both burst out in laughter.

Katrina gave me a smirk and I instantly knew where she was going. “You know what would make tonight historic? If Raina actually looked at a man.”

“Yesss!” Cassie seconded. “Come on, Raina. When was the last time you went on a date or, dare I say, even got railed?”

I shrugged. “What’s the point? You meet someone, think he’s different, fall in love, he cheats, you cry, you spend months hating him, and then you do it all over again with a new face and the same disappointment. No, thanks.”

The memories of what happened the last time I completely gave myself to a man came flooding my head all over again, and I sighed, finally pouring myself a drink.

“Okay then, start slow,” Katrina said. “Pick a worthy man here and just get fucked tonight.”

“I hate to break it to you, Kat, but having sex with someone doesn't count as ‘starting slow’”

They were about to press further to convince me to take a man home tonight when the lights in the club suddenly dimmed.

The crowd screamed louder, and I looked at the stage.

Twelve spotlights flared, revealing four male strippers in different role-play costumes, muscles gleaming under the lights.

Katrina got on top of her seat and cheered while Cassie clapped. I tried to pretend to be interested to get Katrina and Cassie off my back for the night. I cheered when they did and wore a tight smile, but I remained utterly unimpressed.

Then the music dropped out for a beat, and the MC’s voice rolled low over the speakers. “One more for you tonight, ladies. A special guest.”

Katrina shrieked. Cassie grabbed my arm. I didn’t understand the reaction until he walked out.

I felt my breath stop in my throat.

My eyes followed him instantly, the noise in the club immediately drowning out.

He was in a firefighter’s costume, easily six-foot-six, a head taller than the other four. His hair was dark and long enough to brush his shoulders, a helmet propped on top of it like an afterthought.

He worked through the reveal slow, like he had somewhere better to be and didn’t care. The helmet went first, tossed to someone in the crowd without looking. Then the jacket, unbuttoned one slow inch at a time until skin started showing, and more skin, until it was off completely, tossed aside.

Christ, his body looked like God himself had taken the time to sculpt it.

I don’t know if it was oil or sweat, but his whole body caught the light like it was doing it on purpose.

I blinked, shaking my head as though I could shake the thoughts of him away completely.

I dragged my attention toward my drink. It lasted exactly three seconds before my eyes betrayed me again.

Okay, one more look wouldn’t hurt. One more look and that’s it. I lifted my head to the stage once more and his eyes caught mine

I froze, refusing to even move my neck. His stare lingered on me, and he grabbed the pole on the stage, dancing slower and more seductively now, as though I was the only one he could see in the club, and he was performing for just me.

My eyes were now glued to him as he spread his legs on either side of the pole, his pelvic region and his body now directly in contact with the pole.

I tightened my legs and folded my hands, piercing my skin, hoping I would snap out of whatever spell this man on stage had me on.

With his eyes almost burning a spot on my face, he threw the jacket he had taken off to me and, before I knew what I was doing, I had caught it.

“Raina!” Cassie cooed and I finally looked away from him

“You caught his jacket!” Katrina gasped

“What? No..I..”

“Don’t even try to deny it. It’s right in your hand plus you were totally eye fucking him.” Cassie interrupted me, bouncing excitedly in her seat

Maybe it was just the neon lights and the music making everything feel like a sin worth committing.

“Just appreciating the choreography.”

I tried to keep my eyes on both of them, holding back everything in me that wanted to drift back to the stage to look at him.

“Appreciating the choreography, huh? Is that why you’re holding on to the jacket he gave you like it might disappear?” Katrina pointed

I quickly tossed it beside me. Cassie picked up the jacket and put it back in my hands. “This one might be your fresh start. I’ve never seen you so riled up. Look at you, you’re down right flushed.”

Here we go again. “No one’s my fresh start. Didn’t you bring me here to be entertained? I was just being entertained. That’s it.”

The crowd's louder cheer and applause made me realize their performance was over. I looked to the stage just as he was about to exit only to find him already looking at me. I looked away quickly, his exit from the stage leaving a lingering ache in my chest that I disregarded

“Okay then, prove it.” Cassie's voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Prove what?”

“Prove that he’s just another guy, and his presence had no effect whatsoever on you,” Cassie dared

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Katrina and Cassie exchanged glances and then whispered in each other's ears before they looked at me with mischievous smiles on their faces.

I raised my brows, bracing myself for what they were going to say.

“Book a private dance with him," Katrina said, “Ten minutes. I guarantee you’ll fold and be all over him in less than five minutes.”

“We’ll pay for the private dance if you agree. Unless you admit that you’ve finally found a guy that pulls your attention after ages,” Cassie teased.

I could’ve refused, but refusing meant they’d think I hadn’t moved on, and agreeing meant they’d stop bothering me for the night either way.

“Fine. Book the dance. When I don’t melt because I honestly couldn’t care less, you both owe me silence for a month.”

They screamed, high-fived, and called for the hostess

A part of me that agreed was just to prove to myself that I was still in control, and he was just like every other man.

Across the room, I looked up just in time to see him glance over his shoulder, his gaze landing right on me again, his lips curved into a smirk.

Why did he keep staring at me even before I found his gaze?

There was a look in his eyes I couldn’t name, what had I just agreed to?