Page 35 of Dance with Me
Motherfucker. Herankle.Her fuckingankle.
She couldn’t stand on it. If she couldn’t stand, she couldn’t teach the class, if she couldn’t teach the class, she wouldn’t get paid . . .
Her thoughts swirled, jumping fromcouldn’ttocouldn’t,all to avoid the one most important fact . . .
She. Couldn’t. Dance.
Concerned murmurs filled the room. The women sat her down. An ice pack was draped over her ankle, and she grimaced at the pain. Someone packed her things for her. Someone else called an ambulance.
“It’s fine,” she tried to say, waving them all away. “I’m fine.”
One of the women got in her face. “You arenotfine. I’m a doctor, and you need to get this checked out.”
“I’ll drive—”
“You willnotdrive. Is there anyone we can call for you? Someone to meet you at the hospital?”
Too dazed to argue, Natasha unlocked her phone and handed it over. “Dimitri Kovalenko.” Before she could think too much about why she’d named Dimitri and not Kevin or Lori, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. God, she missed Gina. “No media. Please.”
Someone patted her shoulder. “Cone of silence.”
16
Five minutes into the ambulance ride, Natasha’s ankle started to throb. By the time she was wheeled into the emergency room and put on a bed surrounded by curtains, it had swelled to three times its normal size and pain radiated up her leg.
After a nurse packed it in ice and assured her a doctor would be by “momentarily,” Natasha settled in for a long wait. It hurt like hell, but as it wasn’t in danger of falling off, she would be low on the ER’s priority list.
At least she had a bed. Exhaustion set in, overwhelming the anxiety. There was so much to worry about, but right then, sleep won and she drifted off.
“Natasha!”
She startled awake at the sound of her name. Lori’s worried face hovered inches above her own.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” Lori’s brows drew together and she gripped Natasha’s hand.
“I don’t know,” Natasha mumbled, shaking Lori off so she could sit up. How long had she been asleep? “I haven’t seen the doctor yet.”
Kevin stood on the other side of the bed. “How do you feel?”
Terrifiedprobably wasn’t the answer he was looking for. “Um . . .” She glanced down at the ice pack on her ankle. “I don’t know. It hurts. Wait, what are you guys doing here?”
Lori rested her hip against the side of the bed. “Gina called us.”
Natasha blinked. Had she told Gina? Everything after the fall was a blur. “How did Gina know?”
“Dimitri called her.” Kevin’s voice was dark, and he stood with his arms crossed. “Why’d you call Dimitri and not us?”
Dios,she really wasn’t feeling well enough to lie to her friends right now, but the truth would require even more explanation of her failure, and she didn’t want to get into it. “Uh . . . I thought he’d be free.”
Kevin’s face said he wasn’t buying it. “You’ve been acting strange lately. Putting us off, canceling plans. What’s going on?”
She cut her gaze to Lori, who picked at the pilling on the hospital sheet. “We just care, Tash. That’s all.”
In a sudden burst of motion, Kevin planted a hand on the bed and leaned in. His voice dropped. “Did he do this to you? Did Dimitri hurt you?”
Wide-eyed, Natasha leaned away from his intensity. What the fuck? “No,Kev. I was teaching and I stepped wrong. That’s it. Happens to the best of us.”
He eased back, but his scowl remained.
