ENIGMA

Dance With Me

His arms were spread out along the back of the booth like a king on his thrown. The deep brown of his button up shirt complimented his eyes beautifully. I watched as his eyes racked up and down my form before leaning forward and placing his arms on the table in front of him. Honey boy lifted his hand and motioned for me to come closer, and I froze.

Jesus I just spent the last week trying not to think about him. Reminding myself endlessly that just because he was good looking didn't mean I needed to break my rules. I purposely threw away that napkin so I wouldn't be tempted to call or text him. I felt a small push to my shoulder propelling me forward a few steps. With a glare I turned to Loretta's giggling form.

"Oh, come on," she coaxed. "We're in a public place with cameras. What would it hurt to just go over and say 'hi'?"

"Fine," I sighed. "But for just a minute. We're supposed to be meeting someone, remember?"

She squealed happily and snatched my hand as she skipped by and right up to the table, "Evening fellas."

"Well, hello gorgeous," said the guy to the right of Honey Boy as he stood up. He made a show of kissing Loretta's hand, and she giggled as I rolled my eyes. I recognized him as one of the guys who came into the restaurant.

"I'm Corey, and that is Rhett," he said as he pointed to the beefy guy at the opposite side of the booth as him. "Next to him is Emmett and the quiet guy here is Brandon."

So, Honey Boy was Brandon. A huge part of me was thankful. How awkward would it to be to look at one of these other guys and say 'Oops! I like your friend.' What the hell am I saying? I don't even know this guy. I like his eyes and the way he looks at me. That's it... right? Shit.

Corey motions for us to have a seat in the booth and before I can protest Loretta is pushing me down into the seat right into Brandon's side. "Sorry," I mumble.

"Don't be," he replies with a smirk.

I adjusted myself in the seat putting a little bit of room between us and he chuckles, "I don't bite."

"Good to know," I replied with a smile. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I'm kind of having a moment. I was almost drugged then we're called up here to speak to what I can only assume is the manager. Before we could even get to the guy, we run into you lot and... it's just a lot to take in."

"Here," he said holding out his hand to shake mine. "Allow me to relieve some of that. I'm Brandon Willcox, owner of TROUBLE. I saw you on the cctv camera's and figured I'd find out in person why you didn't call."

My jaw hit the table. No way was this young good-looking guy was the owner of this club. Weren't club owners balding me in their late forties getting their jolly's off in their office with young girls looking to drink for free.

Brandon cleared his throat, and I shook myself out of my stupor, "Sorry." I said then shook his hand, "Annalise Carter, but everyone calls me Anna."

"Nice to properly meet you, Anna."

"I'm sorry if I'm overstepping but aren't you a little... young to own a club?"

Brandon Laughed, "No, you're not over stepping. I actually get that a lot. I'll be thirty next month. After I finished my business degree, I took over my father's business. With the money I made from that I opened this place."

"What made you open this club?"

Brandon looked up to see if anyone was paying attention to us then lowered his voice, "When we were in college Corey's twin sister was brutally raped and murdered in the middle of a club and no one noticed a thing. I learned it wasn't the first time it had happened in that club. I wanted to create a safe haven. A place where people could come and enjoy themselves and not have to worry about getting hurt."