a dance with who she loves and who she hates

Stuck in an Arranged Marriage with the Popular Playboy

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Chapter 4: a dance with who she loves and who she hates

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The singer of the band, a rookie group with big dreams and nervous eyes, sees Lori enter and announces the opening dance as soon as she give him a nod of her head.

“May the newly-wed couple open the dance floor”, he speaks into the microphone before counting down.

The music starts. It is a slow song, the perfect song to dance to when you are in love, when you want to hug your partner close to your body and whisper sweet nothings into their ears. Given the current situation, it feels nothing more than awkward. 

Elijah drags Lori to the middle of the dance floor, nearly stumbling over his own feet if she hadn’t pulled him back up again.

“Behave”, She warn him, boring her fingernails into his shoulder.

“Don’t tell me what to do”, he growls before he presses her against his body rather harshly.

She is feeling things she did not want to feel. His stomach pressing against hers, his body heat mixing with hers, his hand slowly getting warmer in hers. As well as his hair tickling her skin when he leans closer to whisper something into her ear. It makes her shiver, her desire to escape this god awful situation growing in her stomach.

“The only reason I am doing this right now, is because my father threatened to cut my dick off if I let people know how much I do not want to marry you. I’m not enjoying this one bit”, he growls and pulls back.

He fakes a smile as to not draw suspicion from the guests.

“Don’t worry I’m not either.” Lori whisper back before accidentally stepping on his toes.

“Ow”, he hisses, staring at me with anger in his eyes.

I laugh out loud, throwing my head back.

A loud hush of adoration goes through the room upon seeing the two of us so happy.

How stupid these people are, she is really starting to question how they can lead companies with their tiny little brains.

“I apologize I seem to have misplaced my foot for a second”, I chuckle.

“Whatever”, he scoffs, rolling his eyes at me.

I have to admit at least he knows how to move to the music without making it look awkward. Maybe even for a second, for just a split second when he had twirled me around and had caught me safely again, i had enjoyed the dance. But just for a second, not one moment longer.

Elijah had let go of me as soon as the last note had been played and the curious eyes of the guest had been gone from the two of you, and had stormed off to the bar instead.

For some godforsaken reason i decide to follow him. Maybe because i wanted a drink myself or maybe because i wanted to cuss at him for getting drunk before our dance together and nearly having ruined it before it had even begun.

My eyes are so fixated on Elijah that I don’t even register Jordan standing up from his seat to walk up to me. He stops when he sees what I’m planning on doing, clutching his hands to fists and clenching his jaw.

“One Mojito please”, I tell the barkeeper, sitting down on the barstool right next to Elijah.

I look over to my left. Elijah had obviously noticed my presence, but tries his hardest to ignore my eyes on his face, staring into his cocktail instead with a clenched jaw. I watch him for a moment, trying to come up with the right words to say.

“Someone wants to drink himself into a coma tonight”, I gripe.

Elijah inhales, closing his eyes to get a hold of his anger. My words annoyed him. Good.

“I danced with you, our responsibilities are done. So scurry off and annoy someone else”, he grumbles, turning his back to me.

“I’m just trying to save you from a big hangover tomorrow”, I act innocent.

Elijah turns on his barstool so quickly i was are he might fall off for a moment. He grasps the bar counter, catching himself before his ass can slip off the leathery seat.

Anger burns in his eyes as he stares me down.

“No you’re not. You are just trying to push my buttons. Don’t-”, he gets off his barstool, taking a step closer to me. My knee brushes over his thigh, his close proximity making me nervous, “-god damn push them. Not tonight”, he warns with a deep growl.

I want to throw a snarky remark at his head, but he doesn’t give me any chance to do so as he turns his back to me and leaves me at the bar.

I watch him stumble to his seat and fall down on the chair. One of his friends quickly takes his cocktail out of his hands before Elijah could spill everything on his expensive suit. His friend, small framed but terribly handsome, starts scolding him, giving Elijah a sobering slap on the back of his head. Given how his friend was currently treating Elijah, he must be older than him.

Elijah simply nods his head, brushing him off with a wave of his hand before taking the straw of his cocktail into his mouth once again.

I scoff, breaking my eyes away from him.

Rude, I could never fall in love with someone as ill-mannered as Kim Elijah.

A hand taps my shoulder, calling my attention. I turn on my barstool, facing a frowning Jordan. 

“Jordan, hey”, I force a smile to my face.

"Want to dance?” he asks, offering me his hand to take. 

One I gladly accept as I jump off the stool and let him lead me to the middle of the dance floor. I could need a distraction right now before i follow Elijah’s footsteps and drink myself into a coma.

Although my eyes are on Jordan’s face the whole time, his own don’t pay me any mind, staring at an unaware Elijah in jealousy. Even as he wraps his arms around me and starts twirling me around to the beat of the music his eyes don’t fall from Elijah. The jealousy basically trips off of him.

“Stop staring Jordan, people will ask questions”, I tell him. 

Jordan blinks, ripped out of his trance, before he looks at me. 

“I saw the way he talked to you”, he grumbles. His fingers around mine tighten as new anger enlightens in his stomach.  

“I had it coming, don’t worry about it”, I assure him, stroking my hand up and down his arm. 

“And the thing he calls dancing looked so awkward, I wanted to laugh out loud at some points”, he continues, grinding his teeth.

“Now you are just being mean. Besides I stepped on his toes so he got what he deserved”, I start playing with his hair at the nape of his neck in a means to calm him down.

A smirk washes over Jordan’s face before he snorts a laugh.

“I saw, it was hilarious”, he cackles, the sound of his voice making me smile as well.

The song changes to an upbeat rock song and with it my dancing changes.

Jordan practically flies over the dance floor with me, twirling me around and pulling out moves i had never seen on him before. My whole body shakes in laughter at this point, my eyes are teary from laughing so hard and my stomach aches in giggles. Even without trying but just being himself Jordan had managed to distract me from the harsh reality of tonight.

I even nearly crash into another couple with my giggly antics, both of us instantly apologizing to the frowning couple with a deep bow of your heads.

“It’s your fault for nearly launching me into the air. You need to control your strength a little better”, I accuse Jordan with a chuckle.

Jordan looks at me with big eyes, clearly faking being offended.

“Oh so now it is my fault? You beg me ‘to do the move’ and all I did was follow through with it. How is that my fault?” he pouts.

“You’ve grown too strong Jordan”, I giggle, tracing the outline of his sculpted chest with gentle fingers.

“You think so?” he grins proudly.

“Mhm”, I nod my head, now feeling up and down his firm arms.

As if in reflex Jordan leans closer to me, staring at my lips hungrily, wanting to kiss me like he always does in situations like these. For a moment I had nearly given in, for just a moment I had gotten on your tiptoes and had held onto his shirt to pull him closer. For just a moment I had nearly forgotten my composure.

“Wait”, I gasp when reality had set back in.

I pull away, clearly confusing Jordan with my actions.

“We shouldn’t be doing this”, I tell him.

Hurt washes over Jordan’s face, the sparkle in his eyes extinguishes and his smile turns into a frown. He sighs in defeat, tightening his arm around me in the process. 

“You are right”, he agrees as he pulls me closer to his body, “let’s enjoy the moment otherwise then.”

His smell tickles my nose, his hand feels comforting on the small on my back and the way his thumb caresses the hand he is holding, makes my heart beat faster in my chest. Just moments ago the band had changed songs again, now playing a slow ballad. The perfect song to dance to with your lover, the perfect song to stare into each others eyes and kiss the others lips softly.

If only there wasn’t a wedding ring sitting heavily on my finger and five hundred guests were currently celebrating my marriage to a man, who wasn’t Jordan. My heart feels heavy in my chest at the realisation. 

“I never want this to end”, Jordan confesses before he rests his chin on my shoulder, nuzzling his face into my hair. 

I know he has his eyes closed. He sighs, pressing me even tighter to his body. This isn’t dancing what the two of us are doing right now, he is basically hugging me in the middle of the dance floor for everyone to see.  

“Don’t you think we are a little too close for it to be still considered dancing with your sibling-in-law?” I ask, stealing a glance at my parents direction to see if they had noticed our discretion. 

They hadn’t, they were far too busy with talking to Elijah’s parents. 

“I think we both know that I am far more than Jana’s annoying little brother for you”, Jordan rasps, ghosting his lips over my jawline in a hushed kiss. 

I shudder at the feeling, wanting nothing more than to close my eyes. Jordan smirks against my skin when he feels my fingernails bore into his shoulders as I attempt to find my composure. 

“Jordan didn’t I tell you to stop before someone sees us?” I warn, pushing him away so there would be a healthy distance between the two of us again. I keep a firm hand on his chest to stop him from hugging me one more time.

Jordan pouts.

“Why should I? I’m horny for you”, he confesses, catching me totally off-guard. 

A couple in their sixties suddenly stops dancing next to me, now staring at me. They had most definitely heard him, judging by the distaste written on their features. 

Not wanting to make the situation any worse, I drag Jordan as far away from the couple as possible.

As he stumbles behind me, giggling like an excited little boy and nearly falling over his own steps if my hands hadn’t such a firm grasp around his, realisation about his current state washes over me. 

“Are you drunk? Is that why you can’t behave yourself right now?” I growl, grabbing his face by his cheeks and studying his face for any signs of intoxication. His pupils are blown out, his eyes glassy and his cheeks red. 

“Great, you are”, I scoff, “Sit down, I’ll get you some water to drink”, I tell him, forcing him to sit down on the next best chair I could find. Thankfully the table I was currently at was empty, so no unwanted eyes were able to watch me right now. 

Jordan grabs my wrist before I can turn around and leave him to get some water. He nearly manages to pull me onto his lap if I hadn’t slapped his hand away in the last moment. 

“Don’t be angry at me please”, he pleads, reaching for my wrist again.

“I’m not. Yet. Don’t try me”, I warn. 

He pouts, finally having given up at trying to hold onto my wrist again, now sloughing on the chair. 

“You are going to turn your back on me and walk to your parents table, am I right?” He asks. 

“No”, I pull him to his feet by his arm, “we are both going to go to my parents table, sit down at our assigned seats and act like nothing had happened. And then I will ask a waiter to get you some water and sober you up."

"But-” he complains but gets silenced by a firm squeeze of his arm.

“No buts, you are far too young to be that drunk”, I grumble.

Jordan scoffs.

“I’m twenty three, I’m not too young”, he complains with a pout.

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TBC