Chasing Ember

Green and ember-colored lasers spilled from the spinning fixtures overhead, washing the dance floor in color. It was Friday, the place jammed wall-to-wall with bodies bouncing to the DJ's pounding set. Bass shuddered up through my shoes, and heat rolled off the crowd without mercy. I swept my gaze across the crush of people. They looked like penguins bunching together in the cold--if penguins had found meth. at my ear, following it with a friendly shot to my arm. His ice-blue eyes flashed in the low light. "That's the fourth girl you've blown off tonight, and we only just walked in." I shrugged. Admitting I was sick of empty hookups and recycled flirting felt pathetic. To be fair, sex itself wasn't the issue, but lately I'd been edgy, craving something more. Maybe a challenge. Maybe the rush that came with the pursuit. I tipped back my beer. "If you had to eat the same crap every day, you'd get tired of it too," I said. Tyler snorted a laugh. His blond hair, stiff with gel, didn't move as he jerked his chin, then his bottle, toward the dance floor. "Look at that, man. Holy shit," he said, capping it with a shrill whistle. Right in the center of the floor, a girl was moving--no, forget moving--working her body with such raw sensuality that staring was automatic. She moved like... hell, the only word I had was sex. Her tiny dress hugged every curve, drawing in the dozens of eyes fixed on her. And the dress was this make-me-sin shade of ember. Damn. I probably drooled when she dipped low and rolled her hips like a dream. Long black hair brushed her narrow waist, and those spiked heels made her legs look endless. Something about the way she moved hooked me, a streak of defiance riding every smooth motion. My heart kicked hard against my ribs the second she lifted her eyes and caught mine.