Shattered Dreams (Boys of Bellerose, #3)(54)

“Wanna dance?” Vee said suddenly, linking her arm through mine and pulling me up before I could answer. “This is my favorite song.”

The VIP area had a smaller dance floor that was filled with quite a few people already, some I recognized and others I didn’t. Vee led me over, and as we got closer, I caught sight of a giant shadow perched against one of the pillars near the entrance.

Grayson.

His expression was flat as he watched me pass, and whatever fizzle of happiness the alcohol had produced vanished as the shadowy memories of the fire forced themselves into my mind.

Tearing my gaze away, I sucked in a few deep breaths, following Vee without conscious thoughts of dancing any longer.

“Don’t show him that you’re affected,” she said firmly, pulling me around and moving her body in time to the beat. “Forget Grayson for the night, and feel this fucking song.”

She lifted her hands up in the air, and I tried to relax my stiff shoulders. I still held the second drink I’d grabbed from the table, so I chugged it half down to kickstart my buzz again, and eventually, I was able to relax again.

“Fuck yes,” Vee yelled, hands in the air as she closed her eyes and moved her hips side to side. “Can’t believe I almost died and missed this.”

I couldn’t believe it either.

Following suit, I closed my eyes and drank more vodka until the bottle was empty and I was finally feeling the beat. Strong hands landed on my hips, and I spun to find Angelo there, stepping in to dance with his wife and me.

Yeah, it was as fucking weird as it sounded.

Only he didn’t even look at Vee, the darkly enticing stare reserved completely for me.

Before I knew what the hell I was doing, I stepped forward and threw myself into his arms.

Just like I’d done back at Grayson’s when Angelo first returned from hospital, I hugged him with every part of me, and his groan as he lifted me off the ground had heat blooming in my center.

Hotter than any alcohol could produce.

“Bella,” he rumbled, his lips landing on mine.

Our last kiss had been in anger, but this one was filled with so many emotions.

Pain, hope, lust, and… love.

Just like with Jace, we might have been apart, but the love had never gone anywhere.

It was a forever kind of love, and I was in big fucking trouble with all these men.

How did one survive without their heart?

I had so many more to lose now.





twenty-four





BILLIE


My kiss with Angelo lasted only a few hot, stolen moments, but that was long enough to shake me through to my core. When the song shifted, we naturally drifted apart as our bodies moved to the beat, and soon I found myself dancing—and grinding—on Rhett while a roaming waitress handed us Jell-o shots. When I turned around again, Angelo was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Vee.

An uncomfortable ribbon of anxiety wrapped around my chest, but I quickly convinced myself they’d just gone to get more drinks. Or pee. Or something. Besides, I was buzzed enough that it was easy to forget and just lose myself in the moment. The music, the lights, the drinks… Rhett’s hands. I was so addicted to his touch I forgot where we were, until a camera flash lit the dancefloor near my face.

“Shit,” Rhett sighed. “We should go. Too many cameras in here tonight.”

Jace was sitting alone at our table, a drink in hand and a scowl set on his face. When Rhett asked where everyone was, Jace just shrugged and finished his drink with one gulp.

“We done?” he asked, rising from his seat with that shitty expression still creasing his brow.

I was easily drunk enough to start a fight with him over it, but sanity prevailed as I remembered the camera phones turned our direction. So I bit my tongue and let them lead me out of the club with Rhett’s arm possessively draped over my shoulders.

More flashes seemed to go off as our security pulled up with a car, but maybe I was just being paranoid. Maybe it was just normal club lights? Jace was on his phone, his fingers flying over the screen as he waited for Rhett and me to get into the backseat before sliding in on my other side.

“Told the others that we’re heading back to the hotel,” he announced as our driver pulled away from the club. This car wasn’t the spacious limo we’d all arrived in, just a standard, blacked-out SUV, which meant I was squished up in the tiny middle seat with two big, tattooed, sweaty rock stars on either side of me.

Could I really be blamed for having flashbacks of our one and only threesome? I was only human, and a tipsy one at that.

“And we’re already up on Dirty Truths,” Rhett groaned, snapping me out of my sexy thoughts. Apparently, his mind was firmly elsewhere as he glared down at his phone screen. “This time they’re crediting the pictures to someone else who sent them in, so it gives us zero hints who’s behind the blog.”

“What’s the story?” Jace asked, opening his own phone. “Bellerose plays a crappy show, then goes out to party? Not much of a—” He broke off when the page loaded. “Oh, I see.”

“What?” I asked, peering over at his screen. Then I sighed heavily. “Ah. That.”

Someone had snapped a picture of Angelo and I locked in a passionate embrace in the middle of the dance floor, and it was slapped right alongside a contrasting—or complimentary—picture of me and Rhett locking lips. Considering my distinctive dress, it was pretty obvious both kisses were from the same night.