The Merger

Chapter 15

"The crowd tonight is amazing!" I say to the girls before taking a big swig of water in the spacious dressing room. Performers are everywhere, laughing, chatting loudly, and being carried by the high of their performances.

The dance routine was one of the best performances we've ever done. The excitement and energy in the air polished off every hit of every beat.

Yet I don't have too much time to celebrate. The reverberation from Ana's voice reaches the room indicating I need to be back there any second now to do the final performance.

I've only stepped in for Ana once or twice before and hope she picks someone who could have fun with it. The last time I did this dance the guy almost peed his pants from how terrified he was.

After quickly changing into my black long-sleeve bodysuit with mesh paneling cutouts and strapping on her heels, I hurry through the back of the theater hallway. The sound of a man's voice reaches my ears, indicating Ana picked someone.

I giggle to myself thinking about some of the moves I need to do. I wonder who the lucky guy is.

I make my way to the side of the stage and as soon as my gaze lands on the back of the man's head, my pulse ticks up a notch. He's seated on a chair with his back toward me... and looks too familiar.

Before I can even process who the man is, Ana calls the audience to give it up for me. The spotlights change to a reddish-purple hue and Ana scurries off the stage. The opening of Taylor Swift's Vigilante Shit begins to stream through the speakers, filling up the space and prompting me to move into the audience's view of the stage.

The crowd cheers loudly as I seductively walked toward the broad-shouldered man in the chair. Those broad shoulders look so much like - I freeze, my pulse skyrocketing through the roof. The man turns his head toward the audience and his profile becomes visible.

What the...? There's no way!

I move swiftly to be in front of Lucas, not even bothering to keep up the routine. My jaw falls to the floor.

Lucas, in flesh and blood, is grinning from ear to ear seated on the chair in front of me. The very same spot where I'm supposed to be waving my ass and boobs around in the air in a few seconds.

My mind moves rapidly trying to process what's going on. How did he find out about this? Did he see my dance earlier? What the hell is he doing?

The music stops. I'm frozen. For a moment everything is dead silent, and all I can hear is my pulse in my eardrums.

Lucas draws his brows together briefly. Yet a moment later, his features morph into a challenging glint.

Fuck, he's good.

I shift my gaze around to the waiting crowd and then meet Ana's concerned look in the corner. She glances back at Lucas and a smile tugs at her lips. I look at Lucas and all I see is smug.