Page 72 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“Ok?” he asked with a touch of worry.

I nodded, flashing him a wide grin to ease his concern. We had spent the last few hours reacquainting my body with some hard-core street dancing moves. Raheem had pushed at my insistence, but it seemed my body wasn’t quite ready for the intense change in dance styles. Some moves made me feel like a novice. And that’s why I was on the floor getting the cramps in my thighs stretched out. I had pushed myself too far.

The sharp click of shoes across the floor had me turning my head sideways and I got an upside down view of Matt not more than a few feet away from us. Slowly I wriggled out from under Raheem, shooting Matt a bright smile. He was home. The past few days had been awkward. He knew how I felt about him working so much and us barely spending time together. I mean, marriage should be easy at this stage.Weren’t we still in the honeymoon period?

Raheem and I both stood up. The introduction I planned on making took a backburner when I noticed Matt’s expression. Oh. His face was flushed. Oh no. What had I done now to earn that look? With the smile slowly disappearing from my face we stared at each other. The bottom of my stomach fell out when I noticed the way his jaw was clenched tightly. Matt beckoned me with a crook of his fingers then spun on his heels and stormed out the studio.

“Give me a minute.” I muttered to Raheem before hurrying after my husband.

I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what grave error I had committed to deserve his anger. Could it be the mess on my side of the walk-in closet? I said I would tidy it. Or was it because I had left the tv on in the entertainment room all last night? If Matt would let me pay something towards the household bills then he wouldn’t have to gripe about my lack of proper eco-etiquette and the incremental increase in the cost.

“Hey guys,” I said in surprise as I spotted Adam and Nathan loitering in the hallway. Neither one would hold my gaze for longer than a few seconds. Instead they looked everywhere but my leotard clad body.

“Ah,” Adam cleared his throat awkwardly. “Hello, Madi. How are you?”

“Madison.” Matt all but shouted at me.

My head jerked in his direction. He was halfway down the hall and his strides were fast putting a distance between us. I frowned at his retreating back before turning back to Adam. “I’m fine. We’ll talk later? It seems your brother wants to speak to me.”

I gave him a quick peck on his cheek, mindful of the boxes in his arm. Adam cleared his throat again, flashing me a weird smile. Nathan glanced at me for two seconds, then his eyes darted to the floor. What was up with these two?

“Hi, Nathan,” I said pointedly.

“Hello, Madi,” he replied hoarsely, then cleared his throat.

Seriously. Had they both swallowed something that was still stuck in their oesophagi?

“Madison.” Matt bellowed as he took the corner and disappeared from sight.

I gave Nathan a quick peck hello then scampered down the hallway in pursuit of Matt. He was waiting for me outside the kitchen. I took a deep breath and tried to smile. Matt took my arm, none-to-gently let me point out, and dragged me into the kitchen. He closed the door and that give me an idea of how serious this was, the kitchen door rarely got closed.

“Can you please explain to me why there is a strange man in my house at this time of night?” he asked in a voice devoid of any emotions. It was that emptiness that had me freaking out, eventhough I was perplexed as to his behaviour. I knew when a good freak out was required and one was needed right now.

“Excuse me?” I tugged and he released my arm. “That’s Raheem.”

“I don’t give two hoots what his name is Madison. I want to know what he’s doing here, at this time of night, in my bloody house.”

I narrowed my eyes at him with my arms automatically assuming a defensive position as I folded them. Was he serious? And what was with all this ‘my house’ crap? “I think it’s quite obvious what we were doing, Matt.”

“Was it?” came his scathing retort. “Because it looked like some man was dry humping you under my roof.”

My mouth gaped open, wide open. He had left me speechless with that comment.

“How dare you bring some stranger in here.” he rebuked me in a low, hard voice. “This is where we live, Madison. God only knows-”

“Knows what, Matt?” I had found my voice. “What’s the problem here? Because I can’t see it,” The warm stirrings of anger was building inside me, his continued proprietary reference to the house we both lived in was grating on my nerves. “And Raheem isn’t a stranger-”

“He is to me.” Matt’s annoyed hiss cut me off. “And I am not comfortable with strange men having free reign of my home.”

“What?” My arms fell to my sides and I realized exactly what was going on here. I inhaled sharply and spat out, “You didn’t have a problem when Eddie was here.”

Oh no. He definitely didn’t have a problem with Eddie being here with me at 11pm, much later than it was now. He had come in late from work, seen us dancing and given us a small wave before heading upstairs. I knew the reason why he had a problem with Raheem. The fucker.

Matt frowned at me, running a hand through his hair before he shrugged off his suit jacket. “Well, I know Eddie. I don’t know this character.”

I tried counting down from ten to one. I tried to find my inner fountain of calm, of Zen. Screw Zen.

“You don’t know, Eddie.” I grated out. “You’ve spoken to him once, Matt, months ago, for less than two minutes, but that’s not the point, is it?”

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