Page 30 of Breakpoint
Jaz shook her head. “I don’t dance.”
“This isn’t dancing, Jaz,” Dani shouted back over the music. She grabbed her hand, Dani’s grip surprisingly strong, interlocking her fingers with Jaz’s, pulling her to the middle of the room where everyone was already screaming the words. “This is an anthem!”
Jaz hesitated for a moment, then a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Dani started to sway, and after a moment, Jaz joined in, her initial shyness melting away with the familiar lyrics, mirroring Dani’s joyful abandon. The energy of the crowd was palpable, a tangible thing that seemed to seep into Jaz’s bones. As the choruscrescendoed, they were both laughing, twirling, and singing along off-key with the rest of the party. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs, not to stop believing. They moved together, not quite dancing in sync, but somehow perfectly attuned to each other’s energy. The sheer joy of the moment, the infectious rhythm of the song, washed over them.
Throughout the entire song, Dani didn’t let go of her hand. Their fingers were tightly interwoven as they swayed and danced in the center of the makeshift dance floor, the crowd melting away from her perspective, feeling like it was just the two of them. And at that moment, everything in the world felt right.
How had this woman, whom she’d been ready to throttle not even six months ago, become someone Jaz wanted to be close to and spend her free time with? She noticed the way Dani’s brown hair caught in the light and bounced everywhere, how she absentmindedly tucked the strays behind her ear, and how her infectious smile lit up her whole face.
Suddenly, a figure stumbled into them. They bumped against each other, a brief, unexpected collision forcing her right into Dani’s arms. The music was a muted hum in the background as they suddenly found themselves face-to-face, closer than they had ever been before. When had simply looking at Dani made her pulse quicken?
And then she saw it, in the depths of Dani’s eyes—a flicker of something she hadn’t dared to acknowledge before. Attraction. Staring back at her. Her laughter faded, replaced by a flutter of a different kind. The party raged on around them, but for Jaz, it was just the two of them, a silent question hanging in the air betweenthem. The alcohol had lowered her inhibitions, essentially pushing them into the background, when normally she would have pulled back from this embrace. But she didn’t, and neither did Dani.
Jaz felt dizzy and breathless, and the intensity of her reaction caught her completely off guard. Why was her heart racing? Why did her skin tingle where Dani was touching her? It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. This was different. Electric. Intoxicating. This was too much, too intimate. She wasn’t used to this kind of closeness with anyone. And yet...part of her, a part she was trying desperately to ignore, wanted to lean into it. To enjoy the comfort and security of being held like this.
She thought they shared an intense moment at the Wimbledon Champions Dinner. Though Jaz blew it off because there was no way that Dani, her best friend and a gorgeous woman fifteen years younger, was interested in her.
But Dani finally leaned in, and Jaz parted her lips in anticipation. It was a slow, almost hesitant approach; a silent conversation played out in the space between them. The air between them seemed to crackle with a shared spark as their lips finally met. The kiss was tentative at first, a hesitant touch and a soft brush of lips. Her eyes fluttered shut as she lost herself in the sensation of Dani’s lips on her, in the warmth of her body pressed against her own. Then it deepened, and another rush of warmth and excitement that left her breathless and sent a jolt of electricity through Jaz.
Around them, the party raged on, a kaleidoscope of movement and sound, but they were oblivious. Even though the surrounding air was thick with adrenaline, the sound from the room seemed to fade. Her teeth lightly took hold of Dani’s lower lip, tugging andnipping at her mouth. Dani flicked her tongue lightly against Jaz’s lips, and they parted for her like they’d been made for no other purpose.
Their tongues finally collided, and a low hum of pleasure escaped Jaz as their tongues brushed, a languid dance that felt both exploratory and intimate. Jaz swiftly drew her tongue in and sucked, wanting to explore all her depths in this one kiss. Every movement was deliberate, each stroke of Dani’s tongue against hers drawing her deeper into a haze of pure sensation. Dani’s hands found their way into Jaz’s face, thumb stroking her cheekbone and pulling her closer, needing more.
Every touch, every brush of lips and tongue, felt like an unspoken confession, each of them revealing more of what lay hidden beneath their layers of pretense. It was raw, urgent, and filled with a need that neither of them had fully understood until now. It was an unfiltered expression of everything they had been holding back. Jaz’s hand moved to the small of her back, pressing their bodies even closer. There was no facade to maintain—just them, giving in to the pull that had been simmering beneath the surface. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before, not even with Lena.
But then the music shifted, and everyone screamed. The sounds of a Taylor Swift song filled the air. The change was jarring, a sudden intrusion of reality into their perfect bubble, pulling them apart.
Jaz’s eyes snapped open. The spell was broken. She brought her eyes to meet Dani, who was looking at her and smiling, a look of surprise but delight on her face.
Jaz suddenly remembered where she was and pulled away abruptly, as if she’d been burned. Dani, stunned, reached out, her hand hovering in the air where Jaz’s face had been just moments before.
“Jaz?” she whispered, her voice hoarse and confused.
But Jaz didn’t answer. She took a step back, then another, her gaze darting around the room as if searching for an escape. She looked like a deer caught in headlights, trapped and terrified. Without a word, she turned and fled, disappearing into the throng of dancing bodies, leaving Dani standing alone.
Chapter 11
Dani chewed on her lip while she waited for Jaz to enter the locker room. The gray walls were adorned with television screens showing various matches taking place across the tournament. She knew Jaz had just finished her match, a loss to a top ten player. Dani hadn’t fared much better today either, a loss to a player that she had beaten easily a few months ago. Each rally of her single match had been a blur, her focus fractured, and her serve weaker than usual. Her mind had been elsewhere.
Dani hadn’t seen or talked to Jaz in over a week. Since that fateful night when they shared a stolen moment in the midst of chaos. But it was more than a moment, it was a kiss that knocked Dani off her feet. She couldn’t even remember the names of all the women she had kissed, but that kiss with Jaz in the middle of the makeshift dance floor put every other kiss she had ever had to shame. It was a kiss for the ages and over too soon for Dani’s liking.
But before she could speak, before she could even process what had happened, Jaz turned and ran. She didn’t say a word, didn’toffer an explanation. She was gone. Dani stood there, stunned, her hand still hovering where Jaz’s cheek had been.
Confusion warred with hurt, a bitter cocktail swirling in her gut.
“Wait!” she called out, but doubted Jaz could hear her over the music. She rushed out to the room, scanned the hallway, peering down random walkways, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. But all she saw were other athletes drinking and celebrating without a care in the world. She had disappeared into the night between the laughter and camaraderie.
She pulled out her phone, her fingers trembling as she dialed Jaz’s number. It went straight to voicemail. She texted, a flurry of questions and confusion spilling onto the screen. “What happened?” she typed, her thumbs hovering over the send button. “Are you okay?” She hesitated, then added, “Please call me.”
Her phone remained silent. She didn’t have access to the accommodations where Jaz and more of the higher-profile athletes were staying, and knew she would never make it past security without Jaz’s approval. She replayed the kiss over and over in her mind, searching for a clue, a reason, anything that could explain her sudden departure.
And she was still searching.
Jaz had completely ghosted her. Since their kiss exactly eight nights ago, texts and calls have gone unanswered. Pure radio silence. It was a silence that was deafening, a wall of polite avoidance that had Dani’s nerves fraying, her stomach twisting into knots. This was the longest period they hadn’t been in communication in months. She missed not only her training partner, but most importantly, her friend.
Dani was trapped in a loop of questions. Had she misread everything? Had the kiss been meaningless to Jaz? A fleeting lapse in judgment, she quickly regretted? She hadn’t kissed like a conflicted woman. Or was she simply terrified, as utterly disoriented by the unexpected intimacy as Dani herself was?
After days of trying desperately to understand and respect Jaz’s boundaries, then make peace with the new disconnect between them, she decided this couldn’t go on any longer. She wasn’t going to play these silent games. She was going to be the adult and confront Jaz so they could talk directly about whatever was happening between them.
