*11-The Stranger

                                    

                                          
Newly Edited
                          
The music boomed loud, sweaty bodies grinded against each other. My head pounded with every beat of the base, but my eyes never left the stranger. He looked so out of his element, yet he somehow seemed to fit right in. No one questioned him, though there were women who kept glancing his way.
                          
I knew that this was all due to the heat, well maybe not all of it, but the majority of it was.Normally, I wouldn’t be this attracted to a random guy. Sure I would think he was cute or sexy, but I wouldn’t make eye contact, or flirt with my eyes, like I was doing now.
                          
I had always been comfortable around guys. But those were guys I was friends with, not bar tenders and strangers who were checking me out.
                          
I sipped the tequila again. It burned my throat but gave me the confidence boost I needed. The stranger and I seemed to finish our drinks at the same time as If we were both controlled by something else, we gravitated towards each other.
                          
I slid off the stool, the material of my dress scraped against my sensitive thighs.

                          
Sparks shot up and down my body. He stood up, he was tall. Almost the same height as Derek.
                          
We met in the middle of the dance floor, his hands slid around my waist, slowly sliding down to my hips.
                          
The beat struck. A new song started, it had a sexy beat and only added to the mode of sex on the dance floor. Shifter weren’t discrete about sex or sexual feelings at all.
                          
I grinded and shifted my hips. I hadn’t danced in a really long time but I just listened to the beat and let it flow through my body. In time, my body moved with the song, I turned around and gave the stranger the dance of his life. With my back to him, I shook my hips and rolled my head from side to side. My hair flipped back and forth, adding to the effect.
                          
His hands were on my hips close to my ass, I grinded in him, feeling his aroused behind me.
                          
You put it down like New York City, I never sleep. Chris browns voice boomed from the speakers.
                          
I slid all the way down and back up again.
                          
Wild like Los Angeles, my fantasy.
                          
My hips jerked back and they connected with his.  He groaned, stating his appreciation.
                          
Hotter than Miami, I feel the heat.
                          
You put it down like New York City 
                          
I never sleep, wild like Los Angeles My fantasy,
                          
 Hotter than Miami I feel the heat! 
                          
Ohh, Miss International love
                          
Ohh, Miss International love
                          
The chorus continued and I shook my hips, letting go. I felt the stress of the last two weeks rolling through me. I felt the looks people were giving me, as if a caress on my body. Goosebumps aligned my whole body.
                          
Some looked at me in wonder and surprise others with lust and hatred.
                          
Most of the guys were surprised and interested. The women were outraged and angry.
                          
……………
                          
Derek
                          
I felt disappointed when I noticed the bottle of scotch was almost over.  I could always order another one. I was trying to drown both of their faces out, but images of them kept flashing before my eyes. I couldn’t stop; seeing the blood stains, hearing her screams, her lifeless body.
                          
My head pounded at the beat of the song but I didn’t care, all I cared about was forgetting. A delicious scent drifted over and my nose picked up on it. I smiled, it smelled like Gracie, but she couldn’t possibly be here, I must be imagining her.
                          
 Something was different from the scent; I couldn’t place the difference because my mind was too clouded by alcohol.I looked up for the first time since ordering my drink and my gaze swept the whole room. It was especially busy tonight, seeing as it was a Friday night.
                          
One week since Gracie had been attacked.
                          
I grimaced at the thought. I haven’t seen her since the night I walked out of the hospital.
                          
The distance and loneliness was killing me.
                          
A bear could only be so far away from his mate before the effects set in. I tried blocking it out, severing the mate bond that connected us. But I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
                          
 I knew that her bond to us was almost severed. She thought she had completely separated the thin line that connected all three of us but she hadn’t. It was still there, barely hanging on. And each day that went by, depending on how she felt about us either strengthened the bond or continued to break it. At the rate we were going at, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was already broken.
                          
I continued drinking, not paying attention to my surroundings. People laughed and dance and drunk. Mates danced with each other, laughing, a look of pure love on their faces. I flinched at the look; I could never have that, not with Gracie, not with anyone.
                          
I don’t know why I let Garret talk me into trying to win back Gracie, it was the stupidest idea. There is no way she would want us back, not after everything that happened, not after all that we did to her.
                          
But damn, Did she grow up. Who knew that the scrawny little girl, who ran after boys and dressed like a tomboy would grow up to look like a super model, everyman’s wet dream. I shook my head; it’s amazing how people change.
                          
The scent grew stronger, as the night progressed. I was thinking there is no way Gracie could be here, when something red caught my eye.
                          
I followed the fabric, starting at the well toned calves and going up. The dressed then hugged a world class ass and wrapped around amazing hips that flared from the top and then narrowed. A picture of Gracie on her first day back flashed before my eyes. The skirt she wore that day hugged her ass like second skin and wrapped around her hips.
                          
My eyes kept going up, her spine dipped at the bottom then flared out, her lower back, just before her ass also dipped in two places, making it look like a dimple. And image of me swirling my tongue on the dimples on her lower back flashed in my mind. My jeans tightened over my erection.
                          
I didn’t understand my reaction to this stranger. The only person I have had this kind of reaction to was Gracie.
                          
This woman exuded sex appeal with the subtlety of a flashing red light.  Everyone in the room seemed to be focusing on her, even Zack, the bartender. Men looked at her in wonder and lust, some women too, but the majority of the women looked angry.
                          
I could see why, their dates, mates, and god forbid husbands were all looking at this woman as if she was water and they were thirsty.
                          
 She a looker. She had the dancing skills of a stripper with the class and dignity. My protective instincts fired up instantly. I didn’t like the way they were looking at her.
                          
The expression that caught me completely of guard though, was the one on the face of the guy she was dancing with. He looked like he was in heaven and couldn’t believe it. His face was a mixture of pure lust, wonder and a smile so big it couldn’t even be described as a smile.
                          
The beat was so loud and she never missed a beat. His hands slid around her hips and turned her to face him. And a collective gasp sounded from the whole room.  
                          
My breath stopped in my lungs. And as if on cue, Akon’s Beautiful blasted over the speakers.
                          
………
                          
Cassie