Page 16 of Surrender
I hadn’t been training to perform. My muscles weren’t prepared, my body wasn’t prepared, and neither was my mind.I could have seriously hurt myself, and I was lucky I had gotten away with some blisters and aching muscles.
I winced. “I haven’t been dancingen pointe. It was just a little impromptu show at the charity thing Parker took me to last night,” I muttered, already knowing how stupid the words sounded as they passed my lips. “You know, keep the donors entertained, make them feel like their donations are worth it. It just happened.”
“Uh-huh,” she deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest. “Because people always accidentally slip and fall into a full performance of theWaltz of the Snowflakesin a fresh pair ofpointeshoes. That, by the looks, didn’t fit very well.”
It annoyed me that she knew me so well, she didn’t even have to guess what I’d chosen to dance to.
“I tried to get out of it, then Parker’s mom started talking aboutrealballerinas.” Lucy’s nose scrunched at the term. “How they pushed through and all this bullshit. I saw red. It made me feel like I had to prove myself to her and to all those people.”
“And Parker didn’t step in and stand up for you?”
I swallowed hard. “He was the one who told them I’d do it, without asking me first.”
“Of course he did,” she said with a sigh, shaking her head.
The disappointment in her voice made me feel sick, and another wave of tears quickly began to swell in the back of my throat. “Just say it, Luce.”
“Say what?”
I rolled my eyes before meeting her sharp, knowing stare. “That I’m an idiot. That I should have spoken up and put my foot down. That their world isn’t my world, and I don’t have anything to prove to them.”
Lucy scoffed. “Babe, if you already know all that, then why do you need me to say it?”
Laughter bubbled up, pushing past the tears and forcing asmile onto my face. “You’re the fucking worst.”
She dropped onto the couch beside me, both of us lying our heads back and staring at the ceiling. “And yet, here I am, rescuing you from boring suit man.”
I tried not to grin.
She was right.
I didn’t need to hear her say it.
I already knew.
You have nothing to prove.
Not to my short-term boyfriend.
Certainly not to his millionaire mother.
“Anyway,” Lucy started, breaking through the silence. “I do have something I need to show you that might help with the dilemma currently occupying your every brain cell.” She got to her feet and disappeared down the hall.
“That sounds ominous,” I called skeptically, letting out a quiet groan as I forced my body off the couch. “But thanks for coming to get me.”
“Don’t thank me just yet.” She grinned mischievously, rolling my packed suitcase out of the bedroom and over to the door. “Remember, you promised you’d teach my senior ballet class this week in return for me saving your ass, so I need you to be functional. Which means no more surprisepointemarathons, got it?”
I hooked my arm through hers and let my head fall against her shoulder. “Agreed. There will be no more maiming myself in the name of the arts.”
“No more sacrificing your feet at the altar of the rich and famous,” she corrected, making us both giggle. “Come on… coffee, then a surprise.”
The warmth of Lucy’s presence settled over me, and for the first time in a couple of days, the tension in my chest eased just a little. That was the power of our friendship. It was the kindof strength you find when the people you love stand by you and don’t force you to face things on your own.
Chapter Seven
BLUE
Whip looked like he’d rather be anywhere other than crammed at a tiny table next to the club’s lawyer, Dane Mercer, wearing a suit, a borrowed suit that was far too fucking big. He shifted uncomfortably on the stiff wooden chair, tapping at the tabletop with his finger.
