Free Little Light of Mine (Club Decadence) by Maddie Taylor Page B

firm that provided private protection, security systems, and bounty hunter services.  She wasn’t surprised to learn that Dex was their best bounty hunter.  He was strong, tough, and very intelligent.  He was also a brilliant strategist and could get in his enem y’s head and figure out what they were thinking.  She was surprised that he had never figured out what she was keeping secret. 
    After ten minutes of deep breathing and relaxation exercises, she put on her professional mask and headed back on stage.  Her last set was full of slow ballads with themes of both love and heartache.  She compartmentalized her feelings.  It was the only way she had been able to survive the pain of the past few years.  So, she walled up her feelings in a room she constructed in the back of the mind and closing the door she locked it down. 
    She sang her heart out on the last set.  Many of the tunes were acoustic so she was playing her guitar as well as singing.  Sometimes it was just her and her guitarist Ronnie or the piano man.  For her final song she sang Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You”.  As she sang, “we both know I’m not what you need” she promised it would be for the last time.   It was just too painful.
    Elena didn’t see the man sitting at a quiet table toward the back of the lounge.  Hidden in shadow he was free to drink in the sight of her.  He thought he had suppressed his feelings but they came surging back at the first glimpse of her.  Raw emotions of love, hate, rage, and desire all burned inside him, ready to consume him.  He listened to her sing the lyrics as if they were meant just for him.  She wished him joy and happiness but he knew that wish would never be fulfilled.  His joy and happiness had walked out on him two years ago and tonight, when she was within his grasp again, he like a fool had pushed her away. 

 
    Chapter Seven
    Two interminable weeks later Dex found himself contemplating the unthinkable.  He couldn’t get Elena Lopez out of his mind.  He dreamed of her every night and woke up hard and aching.  Cold showers didn’t do the trick and he had jerked off to so many fantasies of her he felt like a randy teenager.  He even went to see her at another club.  It was a vanilla club and he had made sure he hadn’t been seen.  He just had to get another glimpse to see if the reality really matched the fantasy.  It did.  He was so screwed!
    Dex took the initiative and invited her to meet him at The Club.  He told her he had an arrangement to discuss with her.  She couldn’t believe after their last meeting that he had contacted her and asked to see her.  She had been nursing a broken heart and her injured pride ever since.  Still, despite his really despicable treatment of her, she leapt at the chance to see him and talk with him again.  She missed him so much.  She dressed carefully for their meeting , wanting to impress and portray a professional demeanor.  So, she wore a knee length navy blue skirt and demure white blouse which made her look like she was going for a meeting at Rossi instead of Club Decadence. 
    She suspected he regretted letting the band go and was going to allow her and the guys to perform again.  Her friends who were also club members had called to let her know about all the member complaints that had been levied since she was released from her contract.  Regan said attendance was down on her regular nights and Megan told her there was a petition circulating demanding they bring her back.  Elena wanted this; she needed it.  And although she knew it was going to be difficult being around Dex, seeing him there every day with other women, she needed to be around the scene.  She missed it, too.    
    Elena arrived promptly at two o’clock for their appointment.  No one was in reception so she waited, pacing nervously.  Sean entered from the club side and stopped short when he saw her.
    “Elena, what are you