“Great,” she exclaimed. “Now speed up a little, you’re getting a little faster.”

We practiced for a while before the song changed and Missy began to talk to me about how to use my arms.

“It’s just like having sex with yourself,” she explained causing Harmony, Honey and I to all laugh. “You’re going to move your hands over your body like you could imagine your man doing.”

I sighed but took a deep breath. I’d gone this far already, why not imagine I’m having sex with myself on a stage full of people. It wasn’t like I was embarrassed about it, wasn’t like I hadn’t had sex in front of people before.

My hips swayed side to side as I slowly moved my hands over them and up the sides of my waist. I cupped my breasts just quickly, running my fingers around them lightly like a feather before continuing to lift my hands up into the air. One arm stayed up as the other drifted down it, tickling over the skin as it came down and around my face.

“Open your eyes, Chelsea,” I heard Missy say excitedly.

My eyes popped open and I was facing the rear of the stage, but what I saw was myself. My body flowed and moved to the music, it may have been slow and there wasn’t a huge amount of movement, but what I saw was sexy and sensual. I gasped, but I didn’t stop, enjoying watching my body twist and sway as my hands roamed it just like a lovers would.

It was mesmerizing.

I was dancing.

The song came to a stop too soon. My body halting with it. But then came the booming sound of applause and whistles and hoots from the people behind me. Harmony threw her arms around me and squeezed before stepping back. Her face looked as though it was about to split she was smiling so hard.

“That was awesome. You were dancing.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

I was dancing.

I looked over at Missy, who stood to the side of the stage with a smirk on her face. The woman was good. More than freaking good, she was amazing. The cheers continued and I turned toward them and gave a small curtsy—not so easily in my short mini.

Harmony hooked her arm through mine and we walked off the stage. “Lucky I told all the boys that they had to keep their hands off you. Otherwise, you’d be getting mauled right now.”

I laughed, a little relieved. Unfortunately, there’s only one man I wanted to maul me, and he was back home.

“Another drink?” Harmony beamed.

I swallowed tightly and nodded. “Hell yes, another drink.”

I groaned as I rolled over on the bed. My head throbbed and there was a trail of drool slipping from the side of my mouth and down my cheek. I wiped at it with the back of my hand.

Fuck, I was sexy.

Even though my head pounded and I felt a little like I might be sick, I knew I wasn’t in my own bedroom instantly. The bed felt like I was sleeping on a rock and the sheets smelt like they had been locked away in a grandma’s closet next to the mothballs for about ten years. Just that smell alone was enough to make me heave.

Luckily there was a glass of water and some aspirin sitting next to the bed as per usual. I silently thanked drunk me as I threw a couple pills in my mouth and chugged the glass of water, forcing it down. I was one of those people who got hangovers just from the smell of alcohol. I don’t know what it was about me, but it had always been the same. You’d think it would put me off drinking, but instead I had taught myself to leave what I needed next to the bed the night before instead.

In my brain, it seemed logical.

The room I was in was small, but it was private. Harmony had even managed to score me one with a small toilet and shower attached. At first I wondered what brother I’d kicked out for the couple of nights I was there because, let’s face it, I knew it wasn’t a club girl’s room. But as I climbed in the shower I was grateful that I didn’t have to drag myself out and see people as I went in search of the communal bathrooms.

As soon as the hot spray hit my naked body I let out a sigh. It felt good, soothing. I took my time soaping myself and washed my hair.

Optimus had given me three days to have a break and sort myself out, but I was already feeling a little homesick. It was a strange feeling, one that I’d never had before. Growing up I had moved from foster home to foster home—the need to just get away was so strong. It was like I felt as though someone was chasing me and I had to keep moving in order to survive. But there was no one chasing me. No ghosts from my past coming back to haunt me.

Some of the homes I’d run from hadn’t been horrible. A couple, at some point, even made me feel like I could stay and that I could be happy there. But it wouldn’t take long before I couldn’t fight the urge any longer, my mother’s words playing over and over in my head.

Run.

Keep running.

Don’t stop running.

The clubhouse has been the only place I’d stayed at longer than about a year. At first I thought it was because of Harmony. We had connected straight away and were inseparable since. But I’d had friends before and I’d left them without even looking back.

I knew it was because of Optimus.

He had filled a void that I never realized I had. Sure, I’d had boyfriends growing up, started having sex younger than I should have. But there was an air about Op that just drew me to him. Maybe it was his strength or his commanding personality. Maybe it was because he gave me something I hadn’t had since I was little—a family. I wasn’t sure.

The shower finally began to run cold so I turned it off and climbed out. After drying and dressing I was about ready to go in search of Harmony, and see if we could find some extremely fattening food that would satisfy my turning stomach, but before I could head out there was a knock on the door.

I got up and flicked the lock, expecting to find my best friend behind it but instead finding her other half.

Kit gave me a gorgeous smile. “Morning. How’s the head?”

I stepped back, letting him inside. “It’s pounding a little. I was just about to go see if Harmony wanted to come find some food with me.”

“Yeah, she had to go out. She’s doing guitar lessons and one of her students rang this morning saying she couldn’t make it to her lesson tomorrow so could they do it today,” he explained.

“Oh, okay,” I said, slightly disappointed.

“Yeah. You know her. If music is involved, it’s always urgent,” he chuckled.

I nodded in understanding. Harmony was dedicated. She loved music and anything to do with it. Sometimes I wondered if it even came first in her life before Kit.

“I’d like to have a chat with you, so how ‘bout I take you out for breakfast?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you know the difference between a chat and a lecture?”

He chuckled as he headed for the door. “Come on, I’ll even pay.”

I sighed, not sure how this little chat would go. But I did know that Kit cared about both Optimus and I. We took his truck into town which I heard him grumble about quietly as we climbed in, but we both knew that the back of his bike was now reserved for his Old Lady. We found a nice little diner that according to him served amazing big breakfasts and took a booth in the corner of the room. The waitress eyed Kit shamelessly as we ordered, something I was used to while going places with the brothers, but that still annoyed me. I glared at her as she walked away with a purposeful swish of her hair and sway in her hips. When I looked over at Kit, he just laughed.

“You need any club whores? You should hit her up, she seems keen,” I joked.

“Yeah, like I need any more drama in the clubhouse than there is at the moment. Honestly, you women—”