PLAY WITH FIRE

CHAPTER 37

TW: ASSAULT

SCARLETT VALENTINE

PRESENT TIME

Leave it to Holden to sit in a booth at the club with a sour look on his face as I danced with Eros. I asked Holden, he said I wouldn't ever catch him dead dancing so I asked Eros and he immediately jumped up from his seat and ushered me onto the dance floor.

I held my laughs back as I swayed, too focused on Eros' purposely over the top dancing to a remix of 'Cream' by Prince to dance myself. Eros grabbed my hand, twirling me into his chest, our bodies moving in sync with the music as Eros danced like he were a cowboy. He lazily grinned down at me, his eyes heavy from the amount of alcohol he downed in seconds earlier.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Eros caught me off guard, a laugh leaving my lips as I smiled up at him.

"Yeah?" I asked, eyebrows raised in question. Eros nodded his head, closing his eyes as he leant down, his mouth pressing against my ear as he spoke.

"Back in High School there was a small period of time where I hated Holden" I frowned, not knowing where he was going with this or it's relevance to literally anything.

"Why?"

"Cause he called dibs on you first" My body body went stiff as Eros continued to sway me from side to side. I didn't know what to say so I said nothing at all.

"Don't worry Scar, I'm not professing my love for you. That'd be awkward. I'm just saying you caught the attention of a lot more people then you think" A smile spread across my mouth.

"Two people isn't much" I stated, Eros circling his arm around my waist and pulling me into his body tighter when someone walked past and bumped me.

"Well, there was Holden of course, me, Dean and Schmidt, which I believe is 4 people" Eros taped his hand against my hip 4 times. I pulled back slightly to look up at him.

"Dean and Schmidt too?" I didn't believe him. I wasn't anything special. I'm still nothing special. Eros hummed.

"We all thought we had a chance with you, but that was when we were too blind to notice the way you and Holden looked at each other. After everything the both of you have been through, you both deserve to be happy. I'm glad you two found your way back to each other" I grinned up at Eros, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down for a hug. I looked over his shoulder, my eyes meeting Holden's immediately. For once he didn't look annoyed I was touching a guy that wasn't him. For once he looked calm.

"Times up, Donovan" Eros and I pulled back at the same time to Dean holding his hand out, waiting for me to place mine in his palm. I smiled up at Dean, pulling away from Eros and moving towards Dean.

"You're a clumsy one, Malaric. Watch out for her toes" Dean threw Eros the finger before whisking me away into the sea of sweaty bodies.

The second it was Dean and I alone, in a massive crowd, his once cheerful confidence he'd portrayed seconds ago was gone. He held me tight and when I looked up at him, his eyes were darting around the club.

"Dean. Are you okay?"  I placed my hand on his chest, starting to turn around when Dean raised his hand to the back of my head, keeping me practically staring at his chest.

"Don't turn around" Dean mumbled, his arm tightening around my waist as he slowly dropped his hand from my head, trusting me not to turn around. The thing Dean didn't know about me is that him telling me not to do something makes me want to do it more, and eventually, for as long as I could hold it off, I would turn around. The second a hand touched my back I felt myself slightly relax. Tilting my head back I was met with Holden, standing feet above me, his eyes focused on Dean.