Page 37 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“I’m not scared of any of you, Julian. Things are changing atThe P.Bellatrix didn’t whisper in Marsden’s ear and get you one of the male leads, it went to Bevan, who deserved it. I suggest all of you lay off the sabotage and pettiness and focus on what we are all getting paid to do—dance ballet. You’re right. Shit is about to get real, and you have no idea what’s coming your way.”
I couldn’t warn anyone about this fucking ballet, because I didn’t have the whole story. I had a feeling that even if I did, that wouldn’t stop the Terrible Trio. I regretted what just came out of my mouth. I was trying to warn Julian that soon, there would be more important things to worry about than me being the understudy and Bevan dancing a lead.
I understood petty bitches, and I knew exactly how he would read what I just said. The Terrible Trio wasn’t going to think about canceled ballets, or about why Marsden had made them sign NDAs in blood. They were going to take this as an open declaration of war, and assume that I was going to be doing the same nasty shit they had to steal Bellatrix’s part and run the three of them off.
Shit. Kaine always warned me about needing to keep my temper in check if I wanted to work for the bureau… I shouldn’t have sunk to their level, because it had only made everything worse.
“Beyla!” Arden called.
Arden, Nyx, and Bevan surrounded my table. Julian’s fangs were still out, and they could tell things had gotten intense. Arden glowered at Julian.
“Remember the last time you fucked with Bevan? Beyla and Bevan aremine.You come at them, and I won’t stop when you’re on the floor, even when crying and begging me to. Marsden didn’t do shit to me for breaking your face, and I know you had Bellatrix and Ivory try to get me fired.”
I didn’t have time to process why Arden just claimed Bevan and me. Arden must have put the fear of the gods into Julian, because he fled the table and left his lunch. No one asked me what just happened. Arden waspissed.
He grabbed my dance bag and started rifling through it. I didn’t stop him. It wasn’t like six pairs of pointe shoes, hair ties, stretch bands, medical tape, bandages, Neosporin, snacks, and some tampons were super private. They were probably in the dance bag of every ballerina in the company, and someone had already slipped broken glass in my pointe shoes once.
“I’m going to beat that little fucker to a pulp and destroy Bellatrix and Ivory!” Arden growled.
He kept pulling things out of my dance bag and stashing them in the pockets of his leather jacket. Arden was furious.
“Sorry we weren’t there when you got out,” Bevan said. “Julian sent us on this wild fucking goose chase.”
“It’s fine, so what’s in my dance bag this time?”
“Enough cocaine to kill an entire pack of werewolves,” Arden grunted. “I’m going to murder that little shit.”
“Stop, Arden,” Bevan said. “Marsden kisses your ass, but none of us are fucking him, unlike Bellatrix and Ivory, so we can’t be obvious about this.”
“They put fuckingcocainein Beyla’s bag, and Bellatrix is going to try to hurt you again at rehearsal. It’s time to get obvious!”
Arden had gotten totally weird about both me and Bevan. I was pretty sure the stunts the Terrible Trio were pulling with me were standard issue, and nothing he hadn’t seen before. He’d had every opportunity to stop this kind of behavior before I got here.
Bevan unzipped his dance bag and pulled something out, then slid it across the table to me.
“I picked this up on the way to class. Most everyone in the company has learned to get one because you never know when you’re going to find something nasty in your dance bag.”
Bevan had bought me a combination lock for the zippers on my bag. It was unfortunate that people were having to lock their bags in a professional company, and Marsden hadn’t removed the culprit. I could have seriously injured myself if I’d put on those pointe shoes with broken glass in them. If Marsden had a problem with drugs, he could have had me arrested if they’d found me with that much cocaine in my bag.
I should have been furious about all this… and I was, but Arden was at some atomic level of angry I couldn't even fathom. What the fuck did he even mean when he said that that Bevan and I werehis?!
Chapter28
Merlin
Ithrew together some popcorn with mixed nuts and chocolate pieces for my rehearsal snack, because there was bound to be some epic ballerina drama at rehearsal that I’d need some extra energy to deal with. Beyla had all but declared war on Bellatrix when she wore red to class, then she fucking clotheslined her and knocked her on her ass. It looked like Beyla had recruited minions because Arden, Nyx, and Bevan all wore red, too.
I wanted to be one of Beyla’s minions. She was a fantastic dancer, and partnering with her was a dream. I was also totally intrigued that even though I’d hit her with my incubus, she had practically told me to shut up. Plus, it was high time someone put Bellatrix in her place.
Not only did I pop some popcorn, but I also went back to my apartment and changed my shirt from white to red. Nicolai had the same idea. Bellatrix always had to be the last person to enter the room and always made some grand entrance. She was going to see all of us were firmly #teamBeyla. Bellatrix was definitely going to retaliate. Maybe Marsden would finally see how nasty she was and fire her.
We had all formed a circle around Beyla and were trying to talk to her. Arden seemed pissed Nicolai and I were talking to her. Bevan seemed to be the only male he wanted around Beyla, which I didn’t get because Bevan was into all genders and as equally into Beyla as the rest of us. Plus, didn’t Arden have this thing about not dating dancers?
The door slammed against the wall, and Bellatrix made her entrance, while exaggeratedly sniffling and wiping her nose. Marsden smiled when he saw her, and she zeroed in on him right away.
“I want to make a formal complaint. My understudy tried to sell me cocaine! Her bag is full of it. She’s trying to deal to the entire company.”
Anyone could clearly see Bellatrix was extremely high and had been back on the cocaine for a while. That expensive rehab Marsden shipped her off to hadn’t gotten her off it. She did what she needed to do to come back home and dance, and had just more careful since to avoid being caught.
