Page 42 of Forbidden Dance
“No.”
Now that we are safely in the car, I’m less freaked out and more worried about him. “Let me see.”
He grips his steering wheel, so I reach for his hand myself, pulling it toward me. Then I do what he has so often done for me, bringing his red angry knuckles to my lips to kiss each one.
He comes down from his anger. I can feel it dropping, degree by degree. When his breathing is back to normal, I hold his hand to my chest. “You better now?”
He nods. His voice is strangled when he says, “I’m sorry.”
“Is this common, taking punches at people who insult your women?”
Blitz laughs a little. “Actually, no. I’ve been in the tabloids for a lot of things, but never for hitting someone.”
“Good to know,” I say. I wonder why this time was different. “Do people usually not dare to insult your dates?”
He shakes his head. “No, it’s been done. I’ve just never felt quite so…” he falters. “Protective. And angry. He really pissed me off. Nobody should disrespect you like that.”
I don’t point out that sending a naked picture of someone isn’t exactly respectful. But maybe he’s learned his lesson. Maybe these hard knocks are what he needed to realize he couldn’t keep living his life the way he had been.
“Well, thank you,” I say. “For defending my honor.”
He starts the car with a low rumble of the engine. “You’re welcome,” he says.
We head back to my part of town. It’s been an interesting afternoon, full of reversals and revelations. My time with Blitz is always like this. He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met.
And since I don’t know how long it will last, I have to hold on to every moment.
Chapter 15
I’m back in the light blue leotard, the one Blitz likes, on Thursday. I’m skating on thin ice at home because Mom is unhappy I’m going to the academy in the afternoon instead of the morning.
But I performed beautifully at lunch for Dad, being extra useful with Andy’s studies and showing him my latest practice test results for my SAT.
It was only afterward, when I came out in my leotard, that Mom tried to put her foot down.
“You’re going up there every day now,” she says. “Your father won’t like it.”
I admit to being a little flip with her, saying, “You act as though he is the only one in this family who can have an opinion!”
My heart doesn’t slow down until I’m well along the path to the academy. I’ve never given my parents pushback about how they limit my activities. I let my shame control me, assuming I deserved what happened. I had taken a fall. A big one. With exactly the wrong person.
But I feel differently now. I’m awake again, fully alive. And I don’t want to live their way. I want to choose my own.
Danika is in the foyer when I arrive, dressed for a meeting in a suit and heels, not dance clothes. She pauses when she sees me. “This isn’t your usual day.”
“I want those toe shoes!” I tell her.
She nods and passes a set of keys to Suze. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” she says to her. “Lock everything up for me tonight.”
I’m relieved she’ll be gone. That means she can’t catch me with Blitz. Hopefully I’ve beaten him here so she doesn’t even have to worry.
“What’s open?” I ask Suze.
“Two, three, and four,” she says. “It’s quiet back there until the after-school classes begin at three.”
“Awesome,” I say, practically skipping as I head to the studio hall.
The corridor is quiet. In Studio 1, Betsy is doing a private lesson. All the toddlers are napping at home, and all the school-aged kids are in class. So there isn’t much going on.
