Phoenix: The Beauty in Between (A Beautiful Series Companion Novel) Read Online Free PDF

“Babysitting? I’m not a baby,” I tell him, feeling
genuinely confused.
    “Relax
sweetheart,” he says, draping his long lean arm across my
shoulders. The physical contact does something to me, and I can’t
help myself. I turn towards him, wrapping my arms tightly around
his slim waist. We stay like that, for what seems like an eternity,
and I feel a great rush of energy surging through my body.
    Through his
chest, I hear Jeff say something. But, I can’t understand a word of
it. I’m lost in the embrace. It’s been so long since someone has
held me.
    Eventually, he
gently pushes me away and peers into my face smiling. His hand
grazes my cheek as he brushes my hair back with his fingers.
    “Let’s go
inside,” he suggests in a low intimate voice. “You can dance all
night, and you’ll feel amazing. I promise.”
    Nodding, I
follow Jeff and Tahlia up to the back entrance to the club. There,
Jeff claps hands with the bouncer, who immediately lets us in.
    “Told you he
was connected,” Tahlia murmurs in my ear. “And I told you he was
hot too. He’s got his eye on you,” she giggles, as she nudges my
side playfully.
    The sound is
deafening as we walk through the main doors of the club. Some sort
of indiscernible music is playing, and I can’t help but move along
as the beat takes over my body. When the song nears its end, the DJ
starts to splice a new one in. It’s a familiar beat, and the room
starts to cheer and move more excitedly as Underworld’s ‘Born
Slippy’ starts to play.
    Euphoria seems
to have replaced the blood in my veins as my molecules dance for me
– or with me. I can’t really tell. I just know that it’s amazing,
the song feels like it’s a part of me.
    In unison, the
room bounces together, our hands in the air as we gyrate and shout
‘lager’ when the song tells us to.
    Some guy,
indistinguishable to me in the dark of the room, comes and starts
to dance against Tahlia. She breaks off with him, leaving me to
dance on my own. I’m feeling so wonderful that I couldn’t care
less. I just keep bouncing along with everyone else, swaying my
body and feeling the music vibrate along with my cells. Every piece
of me seems to want to be a part of the beat, and I feel as though
I have no control. I can’t do anything but dance.
    After a while,
Jeff appears in front of me and starts to sway along with me. He is
truly the most beautiful man I have met so far. With his dark-brown
hair, clipped close to his head and designer stubble sprinkled
along his jaw line. I’m in awe.
    I can’t help
myself, I reach out to run my hand over his head. I have this great
desire to touch it, to feel the short spikes prickling into the
palm of my hand. He grins as I do, and takes me by the wrist,
pulling me closer to him. Our dancing slows, and he leans down to
speak into my ear.
    “Have you ever
been kissed Paige?”
    He pulls back
from my ear and stands in front of me, his eyes searching mine as
he waits for my answer. I don’t give it to him. I don’t want him to
know how inexperienced I am.
    His mouth curls
in a half smile as he places his index finger onto his tongue, and
then slips it inside his pocket. When he holds it in front of me,
there is a small white pill stuck to the end of it.
    He holds it to
my lips, and I open my mouth obligingly. But he pulls it back and
shakes his head slowly from side to side, his eyes dancing as he
watches me.
    “This one is
going to cost you,” he murmurs in my ear.
    “I…I don’t have
any money,” I stammer. “I’m sorry.”
    “I don’t want
your money,” he says, placing the pill on the end of his tongue as
he leans in close to me and brushes his lips against mine. “I want
your first kiss.”
    My urge to give
him that kiss is so great that I don’t even think before parting my
lips. I let his tongue, and the pill, into my mouth. He pauses,
long enough for me to swallow, and then reclaims my lips with
his.
    His mouth moves
over mine as I do my best