Page 65 of Two For the Show
I’m not going to pretend like I’m good enough for her. Honestly, none of these assholes, except maybe Matteo, are good enough for her. But she chose us anyway.
She came back to us.
“Dinner’s ready,” Dexter says, breaking the spell of herlaughter. We all grab plates of Pad Thai and spread around the trailer wherever we can find a seat. It’s delicious, and I have to stop myself from scarfing it down.
“Damn, Dexter,” Quinton says through a full mouth of food. “Who knew you could cook?”
“Was mostly Matteo,” he says, ducking his head to hide his pink cheeks. “I just made the sauce.”
“Sauce is the most important part!” Dario says. “It’s all the flavor.”
We finish up and wash dishes, and I know I should leave. It’s an off night from the show, and everyone probably wants to relax on their own. But no one else seems to be going, and I don’t want to be the only one to. When I probe the bond with Alex, it’s content, happy, so I let myself relax. Quinton is flicking a lighter open and closed, Dexter is poking around on his phone, and Matteo is sketching in the corner, while Alex and Dario work on the puzzle.
This is a new dynamic for all of us. We’ll figure it out eventually.
“Hey, Matteo, you never did draw me,” Alex says thoughtfully.
“Yes, he did,” I interject. “I’ve seen some of them.”
The Beta turns bright red and hides his face behind his art pad. “Well, I mean…”
Alex is on her feet, rushing toward him and snatching the pad from his hands. He glares at me and makes a slicing motion across his throat. I snort.
Yeah right. I’d crush him like a bug. I’ve probably got a foot and a hundred pounds on the guy.
Our Omega flips through the pages, smiling. When she stops and places a hand over her mouth, I know she has found one of her.
“Well, you gonna show us?” Dario asks, trying to sneak around her to get a peek at it. “I wanna see!”
“I don’t know,” she says quietly, taking a few steps back and collapsing onto Matteo’s lap. “I think this is just for us.” She turns to him and gives him a soft kiss, pressing their foreheads together.
My heart is so full it may burst open.
This is what those stories we hear as kids should be about. Not the rival princes coming together and solving a generational battle. The ordinary people, with their ordinary struggles and pains, who find solace in one another. That’s where the real magic is.
Chapter 27
Holdingsomeone at arm’s length has a lot of connotations, but this time it’s quite literal.
“You look distracted again. You better not drop me!” Dario says through gritted teeth.
“Wrap your leg tighter around the pole, and you won’t have to worry about me dropping you,” I say flippantly. My foot is in a hidden loop at the top of the slowly spinning pole, and one arm is pushing my body away from it as I hang upside down.
My brother gets the benefit of being right side up for this new segment of our act, but he needs to learn to wrap his knee better because my hand can’t be the only thing anchoring him.
After seeing a video online, Dario decided he wanted to try a spinning pole routine. The pole hangs from a chain on the ceiling, not touching the ground, and as it spins in a wide circle, we move around each other in a semi-choreographed dance that uses a shit ton of core strength.
I say semi-choreographed because that’s what we’re trying to do right now and it’s rough going.
Dario gets himself properly wrapped around the bar, transferring his hand from mine and using both to push himself away, holding his body horizontal to the ground and moving his legs as if he is walking through the air.
I slide my foot out of the loop and alternate my hands with his, copying the move.
This isn’t death-defying, like our blindfolded trapeze act, or heart-stopping like the tightrope. It’s not even as impressive as the Wheel of Death.
But what it is is sensual, beautiful, and mesmerizing.
All the things that make for an act that we can bring Alex into.
