Hanging On (Jessica Brodie Diaries #2)(48)

I was easily the most trained dancer among them, but when there are club beats, if a girl knew what she was about, lessons meant nothing. And the girls I was with, even Jane, knew exactly what they had to work with, and they made the most of it! We moved our hips, shook our bodies, and got into the music together. No holds bar.

Sometimes we danced together, sometimes we branched out and danced with other guys. At one point I glanced up toward our area and saw a line of men, leaning against the banister in various forms of relaxation, looking down on us like we were a Las Vegas show. I pointed it out to the girls and, laughing, we put on a helluva show. We didn’t need a dance-off to get attention. And no, that wasn’t always a good thing. Actually, it rarely was.

Still, we went for it anyway. I noticed guys calling more men over, many trying to get as close as possible to William to say something or other. Regardless of conversation, or lack thereof, all eyes were on us, which was why I figured we’d done enough. I knew people here, and what’s more, a lot of people knew William. I didn’t want this talked about negatively.

I waved a finger in a circular motion, calling for the girls to wrap it up. Flem did an extravagant humping of Lump, who pushed her off and slapped her in the arse, and then we flipped everyone off and went back to normal dancing. Just a splash of humor.

Sometime later, when the girls were looking a little flushed and sweaty, I stepped out of the cluster of bodies and off to the stairs. There was still a line of men from our area, eyes still mostly on one or many of us, but they weren’t so single-minded in their staring. I figured that was a good thing. If we’d made too big a spectacle, or were still making one, there would be much more drool.

Flem joined me. “Time to go up?”

“I’m hot. You want to stay?”

“No. I’ve worked myself sober. Hanging out and drinking for a while would be good.”

“Hey,” Lump said, joining us. “Going back?”

“Yeah, that okay?”

“Definitely. Should I get Jane and Claire? They are trying to out-do each other.”

I shrugged. I was in no hurry.

“Oh wait, here they come.”

“Hey ladies, want to join my buddies and me?” It was some ugly man in tight jeans and cowboy boots.

“No, thanks,” Jane said as she walked up.

“I’m f**king roasting!” Claire roared, stepping in front of the ugly man and fanning herself.

We all eyed the stairs.

“Why the feck did they make these things so steep?” Claire asked, her hand on my arm.

“Bar. C’mon.” With a determined look, Flem grabbed the banister and Lump’s hand.

“Wait, let me get toward the banister,” Lump said, trying to angle behind Flem.

“No way!” Flem yelled. “You have the best balance of us all. You’re going in the middle.”

“What, so you can drag me down with you?”

“Yea.” Claire stepped in front of me and grabbed onto Lump.

Lump shrugged. Apparently death wasn’t a big of a deal to her. The woman never cared about much.

In a random, haphazard progression in which we all held heads high and tried to keep our eyes up and our bodies confident, we traversed the steepest stairs in America. One self-assured step at a time. Until Claire misjudged the height and stubbed her toe.

“Fuck!” was the only indication that something went wrong.

Claire wildly grabbed onto Lump as she pitched forward, kicking a foot back and hitting me in the shin. That threw me off balance, and I clutched onto Jane next to me, who dove for the banister as she tipped backwards. Lump, seriously the best I knew at balancing, which was why she earned the spot she did, planted her heeled feet, gripped Flem’s shoulder, who was in turn gripping the banister with both hands, and grabbed Claire by the back of the neck. She pushed a swaying Claire down toward the stairs, making the other woman nearly lay on it, while keeping herself firmly braced between two stair levels. Her shoulder, back and arm muscles, though not bulky like those of Moose, were cut and defined under the strain.

We teetered, Flem and Jane, our anchors, taxed.

Finally we stilled, regained balanced, and breathed. Claire straightened up with a firm hand on Lump.

“Holy f**k! I nearly broke my head!” Claire exclaimed before she started laughing.

“Stop laughing. We have half the stairway to go,” I said through the chorus of giggles.

“Near death experience,” Jane muttered, clearly shaken. She obviously thought she was going down, backwards, headfirst.

When we finally made it to the top we met my bouncer friend. He was known to be the hardest bouncer here. An ass**le to everyone. In his forties, with a solid tenure, he didn’t give a shit about anyone. But he’d taken me up and down the stairs the last time I’d been here. Why? Because I was fun and nice. That’s all it usually took.

Well, and in need, but I didn’t go around advertising that.

He was out of breath and wore a fierce scowl when he got to us. “If you girls can’t walk up the stairs on your own, would you call me so’s I can get ya?”

“Yes,” we answered like petulant children in chorus. He let us pass with a stern look each.

Next came Adam, Moose and William.

“Ah crap, we sounded the siren,” I mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Lump asked with a wary look. She didn’t like being rushed by a group of large men. I didn’t blame her.