Page 73 of Surrender
Not worrying about spotting or technique. Simply enjoying the movements my body had been trained for, the movements I’d spent years and years practicing until they became a part of me. It hadn’t always been fun, and there had been plenty of tears along the way, but in the end, I wouldn’t be who I am without it.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to find Lucy standing in the doorway with a soft smile on her face.
“You do realize how amazing you are, right?” she commented.
Instantly, I rolled my eyes, letting out a breathless laugh as I waddled back to the mirror—pointeshoes were not made for normal walking. “Says the one who’s literally been on Broadway.”
She met me at the front of the class, both of us sinking to the floor to stretch. She’d been teaching a contemporary class in the room next door, and her black tights were covered in dirt and dust.
I screwed up my nose. “Um… do we need to have the floors cleaned?”
Contemporary was characterized by a lot of rolling around on the floor, creating awkward yet strangely stunning shapes with the body.
She followed my line of sight, instantly breaking out into laughter. “Oh, no!” she said, shaking her head. “I visited Callan at a job site at lunch, and they needed someone to get into the crawl space. Then, when I got here for class, I realized I didn’t have any spare tights.”
“Oh, Callan!” I cried dramatically, my hands over my heart. “Of course, I’ll get all dirty for you. Because you’re so buff and sexy.”
She reached out to grab me, but I scooted backward, out of her reach.
“Don’t make me come over there,” she threatened, her cheeksbright red though the smile on her face said everything it needed to say. “He’s cool. Okay? And sweet. And buff.”
“And sexy,” I whispered with a grin, enjoying my best friend’s embarrassment but also loving that she was so happy.
“It’s not like you can talk,” she threw back, stretching one leg out in front of her and reaching for her toes with effortless grace. “You and Nate have been inseparable the past week.”
“He’s being cautious after everything that happened with Parker. Nate is just protective.”
“Nate is just in love,” she countered with a pointed look. “And he has been since you two were teenagers.”
I wanted to argue just for the sake of banter with my best friend, but instead, I rolled my eyes as if I didn’t like hearing how obvious it was that he cared about me.
“Nate is not a ladies’ man, Darcy,” she continued, thinking I needed more convincing. “I’ve spent time around the club since I’ve been back. He’s not like the other single guys, always surrounded by women. And when women do try to flirt with him, half the time he doesn’t even notice, and the other half, he scares them off with that grumpy, broody energy.”
Honestly, he’d always been that way.
It was his armor.
A defense mechanism to keep people from digging too deep into the mess that was his life. He didn’t want them to know what kind of shit he went through at home.
Unfortunately for him, though, he was hot.
So, the standoffish approach only made the girlsmore interested.
In high school, girls eyed James and him all the time, as if they were the prized pair. Hot, athletic, and practically untouchable.
Nate now, though, was something else entirely.
He’d leveled it up.
He still had that permanentfuck offface that made people want to cross the street when they saw him coming. But since then, he’d also added somefuck offtattoos, somedon’t fuck with memuscles, and anif I don’t fuck you up, my family willleather club cut.
“I don’t think anything about him ever scared me,” I said thoughtfully, thinking back.
Honestly, I remembered the day he showed up, but I don’t really remember usmeeting.
It just felt like he’d always been there.
Like we already knew each other.
