Building the Life (The Dancing Wolf Book 3)

by Amy DeMeritt

  “We’ve all made sacrifices to come out here and we’ve worked our asses off. We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but I couldn’t have picked a better group to be out here with. I know we’re short one member right now, but I’m so fucking proud to be dancing with all of you. Tonight, holds no promises, but the contacts we made tonight could mean big things for all of us. Anyway, thanks for getting us here. You girls are fucking awesome. Cheers!”

  “Cheers!”

  Everyone echo’s her back and takes a drink from their glass. I nearly spit it back in the glass.

  “Ugh, that’s terrible. That’s worse than firewater.”

  Everyone laughs at me, except Awenasa and Jaime. Awenasa also has a look of distaste on her face and she agrees that she doesn’t like it either, so I place both of our glasses on the coffee table. Jaime shrugs a shoulder and takes another sip.

  “It’s not bad, but I don’t really drink either. Only on special occasions.”

  “Get that girl some firewater, Sara. Kayla has to have one drink with us.”

  Sara smiles and I groan and sink back into the couch. Sara returns a moment later with a bottle of whiskey and shot glasses. She pours a whole line of shots and hands them out to everyone. I look at the small glass of dark liquid in my hand as if it’s a rotten fish head that I’m expected to eat. Awenasa looks at me with a small grin and kisses my lips.

  “Ready, puppy?”

  I groan and she giggles. She wraps her arm in mine and we take the shot together and then she lets her empty shot glass slide into mine as we swallow back the harsh burning liquid.

  “Ok, that was so fucking cute. Do that again.” I look over at Symone and shake my head. “No more damn firewater.” They laugh and Sara pours us another shot. “You’re an ass.” She laughs hard and waits for Awenasa and I to take our shots. “Damn firewater.” I shake my head and everyone laughs at me. Sara pours another shot and I glare at her. “You said I only had to drink one.”

  “Bottoms up, baby sister.”

  I exhale in frustration and Awenasa and I take another shot together. My throat burns and I already feel it in my head.

  “Damn firewater.”

  Awenasa smiles at me and runs her fingers through my hair, before leaning in to kiss me. We smile against each other’s lips, slowly open our eyes for just a moment, and then as our eyes close, we part our lips, slipping into a hot passionate tumbling of lips and tongues.

  Heat flares up my chest and a spark lights me up inside, making me pulse and buzz between my legs. Awenasa releases a small whimper sound and leans into me, pushing me onto my back. She palms up my stomach and chest, grabs my bowtie, and roughly tugs it lose. I grab her hip and pull her down to straddle my lap. She smiles against my lips, and starts slowly pulling me up to a sitting position by my bowtie. I grab her ass and pull her in hard against me, making her moan deeply into my mouth.

  I wrap my arms around her and rotate us to get my feet back on the floor. I try to stand up, but my head is dizzy and I fall back again. Awenasa pulls back from the kiss and looks at me with a smile. She runs her fingers through my hair and laughs a little before laying her head on my shoulder.

  “Damn, is that all we get?” I quickly look up startled. “Jesus. I forgot about all of you. You just sitting here watching me and my wife? That’s gross.” They laugh hard and Sara says, “You didn’t exactly give Jaime a choice. You just used her lap as a bed. You damn freak.”

  I look over at Jaime and her cheeks are blushing, but she’s smiling in a kind understanding way.

  “Sorry. I tend to get tunnel vision when I drink. Only one person exists and it’s hard to remember the rest of the world.”

  “It’s ok. I would have stopped you before you went too far.”

  Awenasa lifts her head and firmly kisses my lips before sliding off my lap to sit next to me again. She loops her arm in mine and rests her head on my shoulder.

  “How are you feeling, Awenasa?” My wife lifts her head to look at Sara and smiles. “Great. How are you feeling?” Sara laughs a little and shakes her head. “Damn light weights.”

  “Isn’t alcohol expensive and dehydrating?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “So, you’re teasing us because we can get that buzzed feeling you like without spending a fortune and completely dehydrating our bodies like you? That doesn’t seem logical. I like having money to spend on my babies and I don’t want to turn into a wrinkly old prune before my women make me lots of children and they grow up and make me lots of grandchildren.”

  Awenasa lifts her head and turns mine to look at her. She has an adorable smile on her face with a brilliant glimmer in her eyes. I smile really big and kiss her lips.

  “What time do we have to be up tomorrow?” I slowly look back at the others and Sara looks at her watch. “You mean, today? We have about five hours. I guess we should try to get some sleep. Ready, babe?” Keira smiles and stands up, taking her hand and pulling Sara up from the couch. “See you all later.”

  As they walk behind us, Keira playfully ruffles my hair and smiles at me. Tonya stands next and downs a shot.

  “Ok, I’m going to try to crash. You coming, Symone?” Symone yawns and stands up. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  “I guess we better go to bed too.” I look at Awenasa and nod. “Ok, baby.”

  We stand up, but I’m a little unsteady on my feet and almost fall over again. Awenasa and Jaime quickly catch me and laugh a little. With Jaime supporting one side of me, and Awenasa clumsily supporting my other side, we make it back to the bedroom. Jaime tries to help us into bed, but all three of us end up tumbling onto the bed together. We laugh and disentangle to lay on our backs. We release a long-relieved sigh.

  “Beds are so great.” Jaime and Awenasa laugh and agree. “I don’t want to get back up to get undressed.”

  “Me either.”

  “Just kick your shoes off.”

  We kick our shoes off and I lift my arms and pull on their shoulders. Awenasa smiles, kisses my lips, and lays on my chest. Jaime hesitates, but I yawn and yank her over.

  “Get over here, woman.”

  She looks in my eyes affectionately, kisses my cheek, and lays on my chest. Awenasa lifts her head for a moment, making Jaime lift her head again. Awenasa smiles, kisses Jaime’s forehead, and they lay back down on my chest.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  It’s been a really exhausting week of rehearsals and filming for the Giz Anderson video. We finished all of the work for the carnival filming yesterday, but we have to film the beach dance today. Only Symone and I are required to be at the beach today, but everyone is supposed to be getting up and going with us anyway, if they can get up.

  I really need about ten more hours of sleep, but our driver will be here in a couple hours, so I force myself to get out of bed. Awenasa stirs next to me as I’m climbing out of bed. She stretches and sits up looking half asleep. My beautiful wife has been great about being by my side through the entire crazy schedule and I can tell its wearing her out as well. I smile and kiss her lips.

  “Why don’t you try to sleep in, baby?” She shakes her head and pushes the covers down. “If you’re up, I’m up.”

  Symone is sitting on a stool with her head in her arms on the kitchen counter. Awenasa sits on the stool next to her and lays her head down as well. I open the fridge and pull out the orange juice, ginger ale, and a jar of cherries. I make three “cocktails” and set one down in front of each of them. I run my fingers through their hair, coaxing their heads up and they look up at me with adorable sleepy pouty faces.

  “Drink up. What do you want to eat?” Symone takes a sip of juice and lays her head back down. “More sleep.”

  I turn back to the fridge and pull out some eggs, sausage patties, cheese, and English muffins. I feel like I have lead in my veins and I’m very slow moving around the kitchen, but I know we need to eat a good breakfast. It’s hard enough trying to function without enough sleep, but I’m even less produ
ctive if I don’t start my day with a really good breakfast.

  I make enough breakfast sandwiches for everyone so the others can eat when they get up, and gently coax Awenasa and Symone awake again. They lift their heads, yawn, and slowly straighten up. I pull a stool around to sit across from them and Awenasa leans over to kiss my lips.

  “Thanks for cooking.”

  “Yeah, thanks, baby.” Symone is leaning on her hand looking at the plate, but hasn’t taken a bite yet and looks like she’s going to pass out. “Are you going to be able to dance today?”

  “Yeah, I just need to wake up. My eyes just don’t want to stay open. I need caffeine.” I nod and stand up. “Which pod do you want?”

  “Hazelnut with a little bit of sweet cream, please.” I pop the pod into the single serve coffee maker, add a little cream to the mug, and push the button to brew her a cup of coffee. “Do you want coffee or tea, baby?” Awenasa shakes her head. “The juice is fine, thanks.”

  As I’m setting the coffee down in front of Symone, Jaime comes out yawning and looking just as exhausted as the rest of us. She sits down next to Awenasa and lays her head on her arms. I grab her a breakfast sandwich out of the oven and fix her a cup of mocha coffee. She looks up with a cute smile as I set them down in front of her.

  “Thank you.”

  “I bet you’re glad you get to go home tomorrow.” Jaime shakes her head. “Yes and no. I’m really exhausted and just want to sleep for like two days straight, but it’s been nice working on a set again. It’s been almost two years since I’ve done something like this. I didn’t realize how much I missed this part of dancing. I love teaching, but I like doing this as well. The parties, interviews, and public appearances have been fun too.”

  “So, no regrets agreeing to join the group?” She smiles and shakes her head. “No. It will be interesting to see what comes next though. Depending on how busy the schedule becomes, I may have to hire someone to run the school when we have projects. I can’t cancel classes for long periods of time very often.”

  “You should probably start looking when you get home. I have a feeling that Sara’s going to try to get something new lined up pretty quickly after this next video. My girls might be able to help.”

  “With what?”

  “They’re good at reading people. Have them around for the interviews or whatever and they can tell you if they’re trustworthy or not.” Jaime smiles and nods as she takes a sip of coffee. “Ok, maybe I’ll ask them. Are they still able to pick me up from the airport tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, we talked to them last night. They’ll be there.”

  I frown and look down at my half-eaten sandwich. A heavy weight, heavier than the exhaustion I feel, fills my chest. I really miss my babies. Seeing them on video chat last night was nice, but it made me ache so badly for them. I wanted to hold them in my arms, feel their lips against mine, and taste them on my tongue while they sing their chorus of beautiful pleasure for me. I want to listen to them laugh while they sit on my lap and run their fingers through my hair.

  Jaime reaches over and takes my hand, gently squeezing it. I look up and a tear trails down my cheek. I give her a weak smile and stand up. Awenasa also looks torn and stands with me.

  “See you soon.”

  I take Awenasa’s hand and we go to the bedroom. I pull her into my arms and breathe her scent in deeply, trying to fill myself with her instead of the ache I feel.

  “I miss them too, puppy. I talk to them a lot through text while you’re working, but it’s not the same as being with them.”

  “Sara is networking like crazy with all of these new contacts we made here. I know it’s a good thing, but part of me is dreading it because I know it means frequent long trips away from them. I’m worried that this happening too often will break up our family.” Awenasa lifts her head and caresses my cheek as she leans in to kiss my lips. “I don’t think that will happen. There’s more love in this family than in most monogamous relationships. Besides, they won’t always have to stay home. There will be times that we can all travel together.”

  There’s a quick rapid knock on the door just before it swings open with a frustrated looking Sara standing in the doorway.

  “The fucking van will be here in less than an hour. Everything’s been moved up today because of possible rain. Rain in California during a draught when we all need more sleep. The universe is fucking hilarious.”

  She storms out of the room and Awenasa and I look at each other with equal disappointment. We go back to the kitchen to finish eating and then everyone scrambles to get ready. No one is in a good mood and say barely more than a couple words to each other as we get ready for the day.

  When we arrive at the secluded site on the beach that will be our set for filming today, the place is swarming with people setting up cameras, fans, and tons of wires, all over the beach.

  I look over at Symone and she looks completely drained. The two of us have the biggest roles in the video, so we’ve had to work more than the others. All of us have worked hard and we’ve all had to keep doing our scenes over and over again so they can film various angles, change props and extras, and fix lighting, but Symone and I have had to deal with it a lot more than the others.

  I take her hand and she looks in my eyes for a moment before laying her head on my shoulder. I’m really glad we have a few days before we have to report for the next video. I don’t think any of us will be able to survive that job if we don’t get some rest.

  We get down to the beach where the director is barking orders and he turns to us with slightly less agitation on his face. He points to Symone and I, and then to a trailer in the parking lot.

  “Wardrobe and makeup. We need to get started right away.”

  Symone and I go to the trailer and a group of women and men immediately start pulling our clothes off of us.

  “Whoa, what the fuck? We can dress ourselves.” They slowly back up as they’re about to take Symone’s bra off and look at me uneasy. I pull Symone over to me and hold out a hand to them. “Give us what we’re wearing and we’ll change. You don’t just go fucking stripping people and invading their private places.”

  “We’re just doing our job, but whatever. Here. You have two minutes and then we’re coming back in, clothed or not. I’m not being fired because you’re shy about your body.”

  They hand me the clothes and step outside the trailer. Symone wraps her arms around me and kisses my neck.

  “Thank you.”

  We turn our backs to each other and start changing. I’m in a pair of soft straight leg khaki pants, a cute sporty bra, and a white button up collar shirt. When Symone gives the ok to turn, she’s in a black bikini with a loosely woven sarong.

  “You look great. I hope that sarong doesn’t get in your way. Doing the lift with that thing may be hard.”

  Before she can answer, the trailer opens and the five we kicked out come back in to check our clothes.

  One of the women looks me over with frustration and starts unbuttoning my shirt.

  “I told you she wouldn’t dress herself properly. They want this open.”

  She unbuttons my top completely, rolls my sleeves to my elbows and then rolls the legs of my pants to mid-calf. They quickly fuss over us to do our makeup and hair and then we’re pulled outside for final inspection to make sure we look ok in the sunlight.

  When we get back to the beach, Giz has arrived and she looks way too awake and refreshed compared to the rest of us. She’s barely been needed for the videos, so she’s not as overworked as the rest of us.

  “My morning cup of entertainment.” She smiles and walks around us, inspecting us. “I like. I have a change to the ending. Just before Symone hops into your arms, I want you to take your shirt off, wrap it around her as she hops up, and then lay her down on your shirt. Can you do that?”

  “Whatever.” Giz smiles really big and takes a long drink from her iced coffee. “We need to work together again. Wait, why didn’t they put
shine on your abs?” She looks up towards the trailers and screams, “Sasha!”

  The same woman that unbuttoned my shirt comes out of the trailer and Giz points to my abs. The woman quickly rushes over with a spray bottle and a towel. She sprays my abs and gently wipes oil over my stomach that makes my abs look wet and slightly shiny. Giz smiles and licks her lips.

  “Much better. Are you ready to start?”

  “Yes.”

  She smiles and looks me up and down again. She starts to walk away, but then turns back, getting really close to me. She holds her coffee out to Symone and then reaches for my pants button. I quickly step backwards, before she can actually grab onto my pants.

  “What are you doing?”

  She grips the sides of my shirt and pulls me back to herself.

  “A small wardrobe change.” She unbuttons my pants and tugs them down a little bit so the thick elastic waist of my boy short underwear is showing. “Better, but I think I’d rather lose the pants completely.”

  “We’re not making a porno. This is a music video that children will be watching. Check your fucking hormones.” Giz laughs hard and takes her coffee from Symone. “Point for The Dancing Wolf. Get ready. We’re about to start.”

  She walks away and Symone turns to look and me smiling. “You’re not afraid to say anything to anyone, are you?”

  “Why should I be?”

  We get started, but keep having to stop to fix camera angles, rake sand smooth sand, and adjust fans so they’re not blowing sand in our faces. The first time I try to do the requested modification to the ending, I can’t get the shirt off easily enough because of the rolled sleeves.

  “Don’t you know how to take a shirt off?” Giz comes over to see what the problem is. “You have my sleeves rolled tightly around my arms. It’s not going to come off as fluidly as you’d like.”

  She looks around and motions for one of the crew members to come over. She grabs a folding knife off his belt and it flips open with a fast-loud snap. She quickly grabs the rolled cuff and cuts through the side, making the rolled sleeve loose on my arm. She cuts the other side and then closes the knife and hands it back to the crewmember.