The Game Changer (6 page)

She also giggled at the fact that she was wearing incredibly sexy lingerie under her dress. Olivia had dragged her into La Senza at the mall, and she and Angelica had helped her pick out half a dozen new pairs of panties, two new bras, and a bustier. Her breasts had never looked so perky.

“Here we go, this’ll finish it off nicely,” Olivia said, striding into the room and handing Melody a pair of dangly silver earrings. She turned Melody so she could fasten a matching necklace around her throat, then clapped her hands together. “Perfect! They match your bracelet.”

Melody surveyed herself in the mirror, and couldn’t keep her lips from curving upward. With Olivia’s help, she had scooped half her hair up and pinned it, leaving the rest of the chestnut curls to cascade over her shoulders and down her back. Olivia had also helped her with her makeup, giving her eyelids a smoky dusting of shadow that made her hazel eyes pop.

“You look so sexy.” Olivia bumped Melody out of the way with her hip so she could look at herself in the mirror.

Melody’s cheeks grew warm. Why was it so easy for her best friend to tell her that, but Rick had never been able to? And why the hell couldn’t she stop thinking about him? Giving herself a mental shake, she stepped back to admire Olivia’s dress. She’d seen it on her in the store, but it looked even better now. Sleeveless and almost scandalously short, it hugged every one of Olivia’s curves. She had left her hair down and used the curling iron to add some big waves. Olivia had done her makeup in a similar smoky look to Melody’s, which made her aqua-coloured eyes even more luminous than usual.

Melody knew Olivia would draw plenty of attention tonight, but as she smoothed down her dress and walked in a circle in an attempt to adjust to the heels, she thought she might command a bit of attention herself. This was probably the first time in their entire friendship that Melody wasn’t worried about being invisible.

That didn’t exactly stop her from being nervous, though. She and Olivia hadn’t been to a club in about a year, and she knew it would be different now because she was single.

“So remember, girls’ only tonight,” Olivia said, meeting Melody’s gaze in the mirror as she fluffed her hair. “We can flirt, we can dance, we can let guys buy us drinks, but we’ll be coming home together at the end of the night. There’ll be plenty of time for picking up guys later. Tonight’s about us.”

Olivia turned to face Melody, a smile lighting her beautiful face. “Ready, sexy lady? Sugar mama needs a drink.”

*****

The cab pulled up in front of Atlantis, and Olivia paid the driver before slipping from the car and taking Melody’s hand to help her slide out.

“Thanks.” Melody steadied herself before checking to make sure her dress was still covering her behind. “Short dress, high heels, not something I’m used to.”

Olivia laughed. “You’re good. You ready for this?”

Melody’s stomach had started to flutter the minute the cab turned onto North Front Street. She suddenly felt like a little girl playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes and makeup, although her mother would never own a dress like the one Melody was wearing, and she probably would have had a heart attack if she could have seen her daughter right then.

Melody kept telling herself that this was what normal, single, twenty-eight-year-old women did. They had social lives, they went out with friends, they danced and drank and flirted with guys. Still, part of her wished they had started with one of the local bars where she could have worn jeans and flat shoes.

She looked down the street to one such bar, Sweet Home Alabama, and could see crowds of people milling around outside. They were dressed casually, drinking beer from the bottle, and laughing so loudly their voices carried all the way to where Melody and Olivia stood.

“No,” Olivia said firmly, following Melody’s gaze. “We’ll go there someday if you really want to line dance or something. Or we’ll go to TJ’s over on Bell, they have better music. The whole point of Atlantis is that we get to dress up, be with a more sophisticated crowd, and sip drinks from glasses, not bottles.” She squeezed Melody’s hand before tugging her toward the door. “You’ll have fun tonight, I promise.”

As they approached the enormous arched doors flanked by Grecian columns, Melody could hear the low thump of bass from inside. The bouncer at the door had the broadest chest and largest biceps Melody had ever seen; she expected him to burst Hulk-like from the shirt at any moment as he checked their ID and opened the door for them. He flashed Melody a smile as she passed, giving her a little wink as he said, “You ladies have a good time tonight. Any problems in there, you come find me.”

“Ooh,” Olivia said as she took Melody’s hand once more and led her toward the window to pay for their cover. “If you don’t find any hot guys in here tonight, you could always go back and get his number.”

Melody laughed and shook her head. “Sure, why not?” She stood to the side as Olivia paid for them to get in. At the end of the corridor, she could see flashing blue and purple lights from inside the club itself, and she could feel the floor vibrating slightly beneath her feet from the music.

“All right, let’s go!” Olivia flashed Melody an excited grin. “I can’t wait to see the inside of this place.”

As Olivia tugged her down the hall, the music got louder with each step. Melody was surprised at Olivia’s eagerness to get inside; sure, she loved to party, but she had been to all the hottest nightclubs in Toronto. Melody thought this would be just another club for her, especially since it was in Bellevue, which wasn’t exactly known for its stellar nightlife.

Melody didn’t have long to wonder, because the minute they stepped through the main doorway, her senses were assaulted with an onslaught of sights and sounds. The music, which had seemed loud even from outside, throbbed and pulsed from the soles of her feet up through her body. People were clustered together in groups, standing around, sitting at the tall round tables with high stools that were scattered throughout the place, or lounging on the curved couches near the walls.

Melody felt like a kid at an amusement park, all wide-eyed and wonderstruck. Atlantis was like nothing she had ever seen before. There were two identical bars on either side of the room that looked as if they were made of crystallized ice, and were lit from within by an indigo light that seemed to pulse in time with the music.

Holding tightly to Olivia’s hand, Melody allowed herself to be guided through the throng of bodies toward the closest bar. She couldn’t hear what Olivia called to the bartender, nor did she really care in that moment, because she had finally noticed the dance floor. She’d seen the long counter-like square in the middle of the room, and now finally saw the two large gaps that led down to the sunken dance floor.

People—mostly women, with a few guys mixed in—filled the large space. It was a mass of swaying hips, moving arms, and grinding bodies.

Olivia turned from the bar holding two pink-orange drinks in fancy glasses. “Sex on the Beach,” she said in Melody’s ear. It was their go-to drink; they had discovered it in college, and although they would drink pretty much anything, it was their favourite.

Melody thanked Olivia as she accepted the glass. She had barely taken a sip when Olivia grabbed her arm and pulled her across the room toward the counter that ringed the dance floor. “We’ll just hang out for awhile,” Olivia said, raising her voice to be heard over the music and voices. “Get a few drinks into you before we dance.”

Melody laughed. Olivia certainly knew her well. It wasn’t that she couldn’t or wouldn’t dance without having a few drinks first, but she was far less self-conscious once the liquor took effect and loosened her inhibitions. She tried never to get really drunk, because she didn’t enjoy that feeling of not knowing where she was or what she was doing. She could see a few girls below who were well on their way, even though it was still early.

Melody knew it was too easy to do stupid things when you weren’t in your right mind. Not to mention the fact that there were plenty of guys who would take advantage of a girl who was out-of-her-mind intoxicated. Melody didn’t intend for either of those things to happen. Not tonight, anyway. She knew that if she ever did decide to get fall-down drunk, Olivia would be there to make sure she didn’t embarrass herself too badly, and to ensure that she got home safely.

She sipped her sweet drink and watched the dancers on the floor below. Olivia finished her drink in record time, so Melody knew she was anxious to get on the dance floor. By the time Olivia got back from the bar with another round of drinks, Melody had finished her first, and she took several large gulps of the second, hoping for a quick buzz.

“I love this song!” Olivia yelled a minute later when the tracks changed and an Usher song blasted over the speakers.

Melody sighed, the sound lost in the deafening noise of the club. Picking up her drink, she took Olivia’s hand in her free hand and led her down the steps onto the dance floor. She found a spot for them off to the side, and when she turned around, Olivia’s beaming smile made it worth getting jostled.

Melody glanced around as she started to move her hips in time to the music. Her movements were understated compared to most of the other dancers, but she knew she would loosen up after the first few songs. Olivia, on the other hand, got right into it, moving her whole body to the rhythm.

As usual, Olivia drew attention immediately. Melody always took a perverse sort of pleasure in watching people’s reactions to her best friend, particularly other women. They were either jealous, and gave her nasty looks—usually while their boyfriends ogled her—or admired her, taking in her shoes, dress, killer body, and shiny shampoo-commercial-worthy hair. Men’s reactions were more straightforward and ran to appreciation and lust.

For the most part, Olivia ignored them all and kept her attention on Melody. She had this way of making Melody feel like the most important person in the world. They both knew that people were staring and that guys wanted to approach, but at moments like this it was the two of them in their own little world, as it had been for the last two decades.

When they had been dancing for almost half an hour, Melody realized she felt more comfortable than she usually did on a dance floor. She and Olivia both had a thin sheen of sweat covering their arms and faces, but she felt energized and refreshed. For once, she knew Olivia wasn’t the only one drawing attention, and it made her feel good.

Out of the corner of her eye, Melody noticed a tall, good-looking guy approaching them. She stepped back a foot or so, and saw one corner of Olivia’s mouth lift in a smile as she did the same. The guy moved into the opening, grinning first at Olivia, then Melody, seemingly pleased to be dancing with two beautiful women.

“I’m Ed,” he shouted. He was a pretty good dancer, despite the fact that Melody could tell by his slightly glassy eyes that he’d had quite a few drinks already. He managed to keep his hands to himself, which was always a plus in Melody’s mind.

“Nice to meet you,” Olivia said with a sexy smile. Melody wondered if Ed noticed neither of them told him their names.

They spent the length of two songs dancing with Ed, allowing him to be part of their little world for a brief time. When Melody gave Olivia the signal they’d arranged in their college days—scratching behind her ear—Olivia flashed Ed a dimpled grin, gave him a little wave, and took Melody’s hand, spinning her away to another part of the floor.

They continued to dance, occasionally allowing a new man to join them before smiling and spinning away again. It was like a game; the guys who weren’t too pushy were allowed to dance with them for a few minutes, but the guys who tried to take control or get grabby were promptly left behind.

The only time they rested was when they went to get fresh cocktails; they would lean against the bar, breathing heavily and wiping their foreheads while the bartender mixed their drinks, then the minute the glasses were in their hands, they’d be heading back to the dance floor.

Time ceased to have meaning to them. Melody had no idea if minutes or hours passed, nor did she care. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much fun. She wondered if part of the reason she felt so relaxed was because the dance floor was sunken, so not everyone in the entire place could watch them. Usually the dance floor was the showpiece of any club—elevated, wide open, or spotlighted—and people would stand around and watch the dancers. It always made her uncomfortable because she felt like she was on display.

Her gaze swept over the people standing at or near the counter that ran around the dance floor. A few people watched the dancers with passing interest, but most of them were engaged in conversation—talking, laughing, and drinking. Melody scanned the club-goers until her eyes caught someone else’s, a man who appeared to be watching her. When their gazes held for a beat, then two, he cocked an eyebrow, smiling slightly. He raised his glass in a silent salute, then turned and was almost instantly swallowed into the crowd.