Shock Me: An Opposites Attract Standalone Romance in the So Wrong It's Right Series Read online

  Shock Me

  Casey Hagen

  Hagen Novels, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by Casey Hagen

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including: photocopying, recording, or by any storage and retrieval methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

  Hagen Novels, LLC

  [email protected]

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons, things, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Edited By: Editing by Kimberly Dawn

  Cover Design: Wildheart Graphics

  COVER ME / Casey Hagen. — 1st ed.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Casey in the wild…

  1

  Staring down at the list of “tasks,” as her friends called them, Mabel Lee Montgomery swallowed the church bell-sized lump of dread that lodged in the back of her throat.

  In just one week, Aurora Rose would walk down the aisle on ridiculously high designer wedding heels to her forever, Jeff. Judging by the list clenched in Mabel Lee’s shaking hand, Aurora had every intention of corrupting her tribe with heaps of immoral deeds before she did.

  Mabel Lee knew the bachelorette party at Big Shift would be no cake walk, but the list of sexy tasks Aurora expected each of them to complete staring up at her sent a shiver of sheer trepidation down her spine.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she searched the inky darkness, thick with stifling humidity that suffocated everything it touched.

  Or maybe that was her rising panic.

  Her breaths came in shallow gasps, and moisture glistened over her skin. She half expected to find God himself looming behind her with a finger shaking in judgment.

  The list in her hand served as a way for her friends to warm up before the Devil took over and the real night of sin started. But for Mabel Lee, she might as well be walking into a swinger house in the midst of a full-blown orgy and being expected to grab the nearest erect you-know-what walking past to get her freak on.

  Whatever getting her freak on meant.

  She was pretty sure it meant something different to her than her friends.

  With a heavy sigh, she winced as she glanced the list.

  Wink at a stranger. (Make sure said stranger sees you or it doesn’t count, Mabel Lee.)

  Dip your finger in your drink and drag it over your cleavage to attract the attention of a stranger. (You better have left those puritan dresses home, Mabel Lee, and chose something that shows the girls. We know you have busties. Let them live a little.)

  Keep eye contact with a hottie while you eat a cherry. (We know you’re not allergic to cherries, Mabel Lee, so don’t even try it.)

  Okay, her friends definitely made the list together judging by all the Mabel Lee directives in parenthesis, and clearly, she was the only one not invited to that party.

  Just the first three guaranteed that she would either be sending signals to three different men who she’d have to fend off for the next few hours, or… if she directed all those lusty signals toward just one guy, she might just find herself engaged to him before the night was over.

  “Come on, Mabel Lee. You can read that inside. We’re missing skin,” her oldest friend Cassidy Delmont called out with a defiant lift of her chin. She eyed her with one perfectly arched eyebrow dialed to full judgment as she held the door open to Big Shift, the single hottest strip club within a hundred miles.

  Not that Mabel Lee was supposed to know anything about it. Nope. But she’d overheard her mama and a few of the ladies in her mama’s church group, which was really more of a front for an hour wasted on idle gossip and indulgent desserts. After all, carbs and gossip didn’t count when one was serving the Lord.

  At least that’s what her mama told the group before launching into her hellfire and damnation prediction for the good Christian girls being lured from their tight-knit town of Willette twenty-three miles to the very establishment before her eyes on the outskirts of Macon, Georgia.

  And of course, since she couldn’t help herself, she’d Googled Big Shift the minute she’d gotten her hot little hands on her phone, which just happened to be while lying on her queen-sized bed with the fan full blast, blowing over her naked skin in her often-stuffy studio apartment.

  Those images of practically naked, beautiful men had been popping into her head at the most inopportune times ever since, starting with that aforementioned naked state under the barrage of relentless heat and ending during prayer services for Lolly Jenkins who’d just started hospice care.

  Mabel Lee forced her feet to move, her sedate pumps clicking in a slow beat of anticipation in time with the heavy thud of her heart.

  What really bothered her mama was the duo of Yankee, highfalutin women who had invaded the south and dared turn the once-derelict and drug-ridden Fox Den into a flashy, sinful display of their wealth.

  You’d think that would have been a good thing with the drug element banished and the economic boost, but no.

  Because gasp! They’d also had the audacity to stock the place full of naked men swaying weak women to the dark side with their tanned skin and fake charm.

  Her mama had delivered the last whispered tidbit behind her hand, but the righteous indignation in her voice had made it crystal clear to Mabel Lee who’d kept an ear pressed to the door.

  A sexy tune spilled out the door from inside, and the piercing squeal of women followed. The pounding beat swelled, and before she knew it, Mabel Lee’s hips swayed with the rhythm as she walked.

  The rest of the crew had ducked inside, but Cassidy, as usual, waited for Mabel Lee to get with the program. She’d been waiting for the ever-cautious Mabel Lee for fifteen years now, since the first day they’d met on the playground in fifth grade, becoming the glue that bound Mabel Lee to the group.

  To this day, she wondered why Cassidy had bothered. Mabel Lee was the one who didn’t fit in. The one always one step behind.

  “There you go, girl. I knew you couldn’t hide that inner swagger for long once we got you here,” Cassidy said, giving her a nudge and a grin.

  Mabel squared her shoulders and went for dignified. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Ooooh, swagger and now lyin’.” Cassidy clucked her tongue. “And we haven’t even gotten inside yet.”

  Mabel Lee bit her lip and winced. “I’m going straight to hell. I can feel it.”

  “Honey, there are some shitty humans in this world, and you are absolutely not one of them. A little white lie and display of confidence won’
t be your demise.”

  “Said Satan’s helper,” Mabel Lee muttered.

  “Who knows, maybe I was sent here by one of those angels you give such credit to in order to make sure you live life to the fullest and if you’re lucky, have your first lung-seizing and vision-stealing orgasm.”

  “That actually sounds painful,” Mabel said, forcing herself not to wince.

  “But it hurts so good.” Cassidy gave her a swat on her behind that had her hopping over the threshold and into the club full of raging women.

  Lights flashed and streaked across a stage at the far end of the room. Women bounced on the balls of their feet around their tables, arms waving in the air, sweaty money clenched in their fists as they whooped and hollered at the guy dancing on stage.

  Mabel Lee caught a glimpse of his smile, his square jaw, and a wink, but not much more as the clusters of women blocked her view.

  Not that she was looking.

  “It’s not like I haven’t had an orgasm, you know,” Mabel Lee shouted over her shoulder in a rare show of defiance.

  Unfortunately, that stubborn streak had horrible timing, and the words rang out over the fading music.

  A sea of glances shot her way, and her ears burned hot as mortification filled her. She spun on her heel, ready to make a hasty escape, because darn it, this just wasn’t a place for her. She’d planned to spend a hundred dollars on Aurora and Jeff’s wedding present, but she’d gladly make it two hundred if that earned Aurora’s forgiveness for bailing on the wild night she had planned.

  Cassidy snagged her around the elbow and gave her a firm tug that had her tumbling into Cassidy’s side. “Eric Fischer copping a feel under your bra in the back seat of Aurora’s Chevy giving you a bit of tingly does not count as an orgasm,” Cassidy said in her ear as the music kicked up again.

  Mabel Lee sucked in a breath and searched the room through narrowed eyes for Aurora, Layla, and Heather. “She told you about that?”

  “Honey, the whole school knew about it. And not because of Aurora. Eric bragged to everyone how he got to second base with the Preacher Montgomery’s daughter. Aurora is the reason your parents never found out. When she heard he’d been running his mouth, she threatened to tenderize his testicle with her stiletto if he didn’t shut it. So, really, you owe her. And you’re not leaving.”

  “Ladies!” A smooth-talking man, naked from his leather pants on up, said as he took each of their hands.

  “Well, hello,” Cassidy said with a wiggle of her shoulders and a flirty smile.

  “Hi,” Mabel Lee said, her voice so low and meek the guy holding her hand leaned in and tilted his ear toward her.

  Would it be rude to snatch her hand back? What was the protocol in a place like this? And really, what was on that palm of his?

  He surprised her by pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her hand before bowing slightly. But with Cassidy, he twirled her as though they had been on the dance floor together all night. He tucked her right into him, her chestnut hair flying around her face and catching on his slick shoulder.

  He read them well. She just wasn’t sure how she felt about being the fair maiden. Sure, in a fairy-tale world when she was five it sounded great. But a small part of her deep inside, hiding under sermons and church etiquette, wanted to be twirled, darn it.

  This place tempted her. It drew on every adventure she’d ever fantasized about having. Experiences she hadn’t even told her friends about, because one thing she knew for sure, they’d make it their mission to set in motion every single one.

  “You’ve joined us just in the nick of time. The last two tickets of the night go to you,” he said with a grin and a wink, holding two blue tickets in the air.

  “Tickets for what,” Cassidy asked, handing one to her.

  “In thirty minutes, we’re going to pull one. The winner gets a free dance from the stripper of their choice.”

  Mabel pushed the ticket back into Cassidy’s hand. “Ummm, I’m good, but thank you.”

  “Oh no, you don’t. Girl, you are so taking this ticket. If there’s anyone here that needs a set of bells, and not the church kind, waving in her face, it’s you.”

  She eyed the ticket in Cassidy’s outstretched hand. “I thought we were here for Aurora?”

  “No reason we can’t multitask.”

  With a sigh, she snatched the ticket and tucked it in her purse.

  “Would you look at that?” Cassidy said, draping an arm over her shoulder as the greeter slid away. “No lightning strike. No bursting into flames. Look, Mabel Lee. I’m not asking you to get bombed and go home with one of the dancers. But it’s time to let go for a bit. Have a good time. You can pray for forgiveness at church tomorrow, but tonight…let’s have some fun.”

  Aurora’s head shot over the crowd, and she waved her arms at them.

  “See how excited Aurora is?” Cassidy whispered next to her. “Give her this night, Mabel Lee. Don’t make her spend it trying to pull you out of that shell you’re anchored in. Please?”

  Is that what she was doing? She was so darn uncomfortable that her friends had to spend their time and effort constantly focusing on opening her up?

  Yup, that’s what she had been totally doing.

  Had being the operative word. She would not ruin Aurora’s night by being so timid that the focus had to be on her and not on the entertainment.

  “Fun. I can do this. I can totally do this.” She had to let go at some point, right? What better time than with her crew. If Aurora would threaten to maim Eric in high school, now, almost ten years later, she’d probably commit murder for her.

  Okay, best not to think like that. But it was the thought that counted.

  A tall wall of muscle sidled past her, jet-black hair waving down his tan back. “Excuse me, ma’am,’ he said with a polite smile and nod. He stopped at a table just a few feet away and set a wide wooden stool in the space between two brunettes with a fiery gleam in their eyes. “Did one of you ladies order some private entertainment?”

  “See, look at how polite these guys are. He used his southern manners and everything,” Cassidy pointed out.

  The ladies laughed, and the one ran her fingertip along her cleavage in a clear effort to draw his eye.

  Mabel Lee wrinkled her nose. The list. Oh, Lord help her.

  Cassidy took her hand and all but dragged her to the table where the Aurora, Layla, and Heather had already ordered starter drinks for all of them.

  “Yeesh, girl, I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Aurora said, giving her a squeeze. “Listen, you sit right where you won’t miss a single thing.”

  The crescent moon-shaped table had been designed to fit along the edge of the curved stage. Five chairs surrounded the outside, and the one in the middle had full view of the scuffed wood floor currently occupied by a rather exuberant dancer with shaggy blonde hair, a lean muscular frame, and a blue G-string that revealed pretty much all.

  She gulped hard. “You should sit in the middle; you’re the guest of honor.”

  “Nonsense. I know you’re going to take a while to warm up, and that seat is the furthest from the stage. You’ll be more comfortable. Besides, I plan to touch,” Aurora said with a wide grin.

  Furthest from the stage?

  They didn’t have to tell her twice. She dropped into the chair and tucked her purse in her lap over the blue skirt of her dress. Aurora’s words finally wormed their way through the testosterone fog in her brain. “Wait, there’s touching?”

  “Usually with female strippers, no, but the men tend to encourage it,” Layla said as she flagged down a waiter. “I’m not saying to grab a dancer’s junk or anything. Well, unless he invites you to.”

  A hard, glistening body sidled over and stepped between Mabel Lee and Layla. “Are you lovely ladies ready for the next round?” he asked with a hand on the back of both of their chairs.

  So much skin. They really did have magnificent bodies. They reminded her of the eighteenth-century
nudes from college. Muscles rippled over abdomens and there was no shortage of that deep V cutting straight down into their…

  “A round of Buttery Nipples with a Cherry Kiss would be great. And after that, I’d adore it if you sent over a pitcher of the Chocolate Brownie Sexcapade,” Aurora said as she closed the little black book that held the drink menu.

  Mabel Lee’s internal temperature shot up to a thousand degrees, leaving her swallowing past a parched throat. “And water. Please send water,” she squeaked out.

  Her heart rolled in her chest, the beat hard and heavy. The music faded and the lights dimmed casting a hush over the crowd. A light beat started in the background, the sound ricocheting around them making it hard to tell just where it came from.

  “Laaadddddiiiiiieeeeesssss!” an exuberant voice drew out over the PA system. “All eyes on the stage. It’s the man you’ve heard about, the man you’ve all been waiting for. Please give a warm welcome to the highly sought after, mysteriously elusive…Viper!”

  The women at the tables surrounding them shot to their feet, cheering, a keen look of anticipation gleaming in their eyes.

  Mabel Lee watched them as their energy erupted and inhibitions went up in smoke. They craned their necks, screaming and whistling, fistfuls of cash waving in the air.

  Heather leaned in. “Oh, I’ve heard of this guy. He’s not one of their regulars. No one ever knows what nights he’ll perform. It’s kind of made him a legend,” she said in a hushed whisper. “If one of us wins the free dances, he’s the one to pick hands down. What do you say, ladies?”

  “I’m going to have to get a preview of the goods first,” Layla said.

  The waiter popped in between them and unloaded their array of drinks.