by SM Olivier
I really wanted this opportunity. I needed it, in fact. It was the escape I truly needed, but I refused to be talked down to and treated like a deviant.
“Um, I think you’re misreading this,” Zane coughed out, blushing.
I had never seen him blush. He was always so calm and controlled with his emotions.
“We, I mean, I…” Zane hesitated as he looked at me apologetically.
“What?” Angry Twin the snapped at the same time the other twin began to laugh uproariously.
The chocolate-chomping twin sauntered forward and clapped the angry-confused twin's shoulder. “Hey, Ay?” he said between laughter. “I saw this one leaving the bathroom rather flushed moments before you entered. I think they were together before you went in.”
I surmised that Angry Twin was Ayden.
“Did you take pictures of me?” Ayden snarled, obviously not understanding what his twin had correctly surmised.
“I don’t have anything to take pictures of you with.” My face was warm, but my voice still held a note of indignation. I patted myself down and slowly twirled. In my dance outfit, there was nowhere I could hide my phone. I had put it back in my bag before Zane and I ran off to the restrooms.
“Bro,” Laken continued laughing at my expense. “They were hooking up and you probably got their right afterward.”
I couldn’t help but cover my face. “Laken’s right,” I muttered. “I was coming out of the stall while you came in.”
“How do you know she isn’t lying?” Ayden hissed. “She’s not the first, or the last, to try and proposition us.”
I had felt anger at first at his accusations but now I kind of pitied him. Pieces began to fall into place. Their last lead dancer was found in one of their hotel rooms recently. I was sure it wasn’t the first time it, either, nor the last. They may have chosen to pursue a career in music, but it didn’t give people the right to invade their privacy.
I might not have chosen getting thrust into the limelight after my abduction, but I understood his struggle. It was hard to know who to trust in a world full of wolves. I wasn’t anywhere near their level of fame, and people were always secretly taping me or taking pictures of me. David and Grandpa were shielding me from the brunt of my notoriety, but I wasn’t oblivious that my private life was continually being exploited.
The only difference was, eventually, I would literally and figuratively be yesterday’s news. However, these men would always be exploited as long as they stayed in their chosen careers. I could sympathize with that to a degree. It was a shame that they couldn’t do anything without fear of being scrutinized.
“I assure you I am happily dating six men and have no desire to proposition you,” I blurted out in shock and humiliation. “No matter how attractive and talented you are.” Word vomit continued to spew from my mouth. “I’m not interested in any way, shape, or form. I would never dream of violating your privacy in any way, either.”
Legally, I really couldn’t. Zane and I had already signed our non-disclosure agreements. We could tell our families who we were working for. However, we couldn’t tell them any details about the choreography until after it was released. Also, if we were to encounter any of the guys, we weren’t permitted to discuss them beyond a professional capacity.
“A music video is good for my career,” I continued. “Any rumors with my name and anyone famous will never get the vultures away from me. Honestly, I didn’t, nor would I, try to invade your personal space like that. I know what it’s like living in a fishbowl, and I’ve only experienced it for the last few weeks.”
Laken continued to chuckle, muttering about quickies and the wrong place at the wrong time. I was glad he found humor in the situation because I sure didn’t. Yes, they were identical, but I immediately pegged this twin as the carefree one. He reminded me of a cross between my Paxton and Golden.
Ayden−the serious twin− continued to look at me with an intensity that almost made me squirm. “You do look familiar. Who are you?” He placed his hands on his hips and suspiciously looked at me.
“She’s our new lead dancer,” Grady interjected as he came around the corner. “The rest of the crew is trickling in. Zane and Peyton, I think they’ll be looking for you shortly.”
“But—” Ayden began to growl at the same time Grady brushed past me and stood in front of him.
He began murmuring something to him, but I couldn’t hear his words as Zane linked his fingers through mine and pulled me away.
“I’m so sorry,” Zane muttered to me. “He must have come from the opposite direction. I never even saw him! I wouldn’t have left you in there if I’d seen him walk in.”
“It’s okay,” I murmured in return. “It wasn’t your fault in any way.”
I was shaking from the rush of emotions, but I didn’t blame Zane in any way. I was the one who had propositioned him into a quickie. It had been my decision, and I knew there were risks. I just hadn’t factored in a band member− I was still hopefully dancing for− walking in on me when I was about to leave.
In retrospect, I probably should have held my tongue better. I should have quickly apologized and explained the situation to Ayden. I shouldn’t have allowed his accusations to rile me up and trigger my word vomit.
Now I just prayed that I hadn’t ruined not only my chance for an amazing opportunity but Zane’s as well. This may have never been his dream, but I knew he was just as excited as I was to perform in a well-known band's music video.
●
“What the fuck are you doing here?” a nasty feminine voice snarled behind me.
“Excuse me?” Zane stood up to his full height. “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to that way?”
It took me a second to realize the woman was addressing me. As Grady said, the dancers had been trickling in when Zane and I returned to the dance room. I was busy nervously waiting to see if I was going to be fired as Zane and I warmed back up.
I turned and my eyes widened slightly. I immediately recognized the beauty before me. She was around my height, and her build was similar to mine. However, she was blessed with bigger breasts than mine. Her long black hair was down and reached nearly to her waist. Her skin was flawlessly beautiful and reminiscent of Snow White, eyes an almond-shaped and a unique bluish-gray hue. On the outside, she was model-beautiful with the natural grace of a dancer. Unfortunately, her insides were black as night.
Clementine was the reason I missed out on my last opportunity to be in a music video. She had accused me of stealing her jewelry. They found the missing piece in my locker, but it wasn’t until after the competition that landed her the part that the truth was discovered. She had set me up. She had intentionally placed the jewelry in my locker. I was nearly kicked out of my school because of her.
I unconsciously rubbed the scar below my breast that I received the weekend I was supposed to be at the competition. She never faced any repercussions because she never returned to school. Her parents had hired her an agent and a private dance teacher.
“I’m not talking to you, sexy,” she nearly purred.
I had seen many men fall over themselves when she turned it on. She was an accomplished actor and seemed to have a way of weaving her wiles around any man she desired. Hell, they had worked on Lucas, and he knew how her actions had affected me.
I found out she had hooked up with Lucas, hoping to “steal” him away, believing he was my boyfriend just because we were always with each other. I hadn’t been angry that they’d hooked up; I had felt betrayed by Lucas because he, of all people, understood how she had derailed my life.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree.” Zane’s lip curled with barely concealed contempt as he put his arm around my shoulder. “I’m wondering why you would come in here being so vile to my girl.”
Clementine smiled and had a mask of wholesome innocence plastered across her face. She casually placed a well-manicured hand on Zane’s bicep and batted her long sooty eyelashes up at hi
m. Her acting skills were on point. It appeared her career taking off had benefited her in many ways.
After she did the music video, she had guest-starred on a popular crime show. I also heard rumors she was being considered for a well-known reality dancing show. It used to be hard hearing about her accomplishments and living the life I hoped to have one day.
Zane shrugged her hands off his bicep and pulled me in closer. I saw Clementine’s eyes narrow for a moment. She was deviously calculating once more.
“Oh, sexy,” Clementine cooed. “Peyton and I are old friends. I was just kidding.”
If I didn’t know Clementine as well as I did, I would gobble up her lies. However, I knew her instant attraction to Zane had her on her best behavior. She had every confidence that she could lure him into her bed by the end of the night. There was no exaggeration when I say she had done it numerous times. I had seen her lure men into a hook-up that were “happy” in their relationships. She was a queen of manipulation.
“We were never friends,” I said cooly before looking up at Zane.
He seemed unmoved by her beauty and flirting, and that gave me a thrill like no other. It was beyond flattering to feel like you were the center of a man's attention, surrounded by beautiful people. Clementine wasn’t the first woman to approach Zane since we entered the room.
Most of them were curious about my presence. At the same time, the others seemed to want to flirt with Zane. A few of them even asked about the hotel he was staying in and asking us if we wanted to go out with them afterward. I wasn’t naïve. I was included in the invitations, but with twenty girls and four guys, these bitches were thirsty.
“She placed her jewelry in my locker at my previous school and accused me of stealing it,” I informed him.
“The one who hooked up with Lucas?” Zane said as understanding dawned.
“The same,” I confirmed as realization struck me.
There were a handful of bold females here, but only one of them was brazen enough to sneak into Ayden and Laken’s hotel room. She was also crazy talented. She had been my true competition at my last school. We were continually competing for the solo and lead spots.
Unlike her, I thrived on the competition. It pushed me to train harder. It forced me to push my limits continually. I never contemplated sabotaging her career to further my own. I had wanted to achieve success the right way. She hadn’t. She would do anything and everything to ensure she rose to the top.
“I believe karma is cashing in on a previous bad deed.” I smiled at Zane.
“What does that mean?” Clementine hissed. “Why are you here?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. I hoped my assumptions were correct. How befitting would it be that I took the role originally intended for Clementine? It would be just another way for fate to prove how fickle it could be. One moment you thought you had your life planned out and everything was falling into place, and the next moment it was showing you that it could change on a dime.
It made me think of my last opportunity. It made me wonder once again why I had been abducted and left with the scars so deeply embedded in me emotionally, physically, and mentally. Lastly, it made me think about Crew.
An ache formed in my chest once more. He had become one of my rocks. He helped me keep afloat when I feared I would drown. I thought my love was enough for him. Obviously, it hadn’t been if he could ghost me so easily.
“Oh, lovely!” Naila came into the room, clapping her hands pulling me from my maudlin thoughts. “It looks like everyone’s here. Everyone take your place. A week from today, showtime, ladies, and gents. A few of the guys were kind enough to agree to spend some time with us today to give us a better idea about what to expect on the day-of.”
I was too embarrassed to look up when I noticed Grady, Laken, and Ayden entering the room. I just prayed Ayden believed me. Last time, I could see my future. Today I got to taste it, and it tasted so good.
Zane kissed my temple before I made my way to my starting point. I realized that Clementine mirrored my movements and was thoroughly confused until a sardonic laugh came from the scaffolding.
Ayden was sitting on the scaffolding as two girls flanked him. He had a guitar in his hand and looked perfectly at ease. He didn’t even seem to notice how hungrily the girls were watching him.
“Oh, sweetie,” Ayden said coldly. “Did we forget to tell you that you’ll be back here with these girls and guys?”
I turned and felt my stomach drop until I realized he was talking to Clementine.
“What?” Clementine nearly screeched. “With the backup dancers? Why?” She glared in accusation like I had a hand in her… demotion.
Laken took a few steps forward, and I noticed he and his brother had changed into plain V-neck black t-shirts. I didn’t know how I could tell them apart, but I could.
“You broke into our room and expected us to be okay with that? You told our girlfriend that we invited you back,” Laken hissed.
He wasn’t laughing any longer, and I realized he wasn’t as untouched with life as he pretended to be. My first impression of him was that he was carefree and laughed a lot. Now I understood. Like most people, if he was pushed enough, he could bare his teeth.
Wait. Had he said our girlfriend?
I had read that the guys were notorious playboys. Many names had been linked to theirs in the last year alone. Except Grady, who seemed to keep all his escapades and women under lock and key.
Had a woman finally managed to pin down the guys enough for them to care what she thought of them?
“It was a misunderstanding,” Clementine simpered. “I told you one already. One of your roadies gave me your keycard and a note asking me back to your room.”
“I don’t think so,” Laken sneered. “I think you paid someone to give you our keycard. However, we can’t prove it; otherwise, you would have been long gone by now.”
I wanted to tell Laken he should trust his gut because she was a master manipulator. I wanted to confirm his suspicions and tell him it was her MO. That she had done something similar in the past, and her parents hand enough money to brush all her transgressions away.
Laken turned on his heel and began to stalk to the other side of the room when Clementine reached out and grabbed his arm. “Please, Ayden, don’t punish me for something I didn’t do. I’m the best lead you could cast.”
Her eyes welled with tears, and I wanted to clap for her moving performance. Not.
“Laken,” I corrected her instead. “At least call him by the right name.”
I didn’t know why I had corrected her. Maybe because reporters had called me by Ava and Claire’s name. They were so hungry for a scoop that some of them hadn’t even bothered learning my name. I looked like the younger version of Ava, true. However, Claire and I appeared similar, but even separated, you could tell us apart. They had stripped away my identity days, weeks, after I had been dehumanized by my kidnappers for eighteen very long days.
Laken looked over at me in surprise but quickly masked it. I was confused by the look before Grady took a few steps forward.
“Ms. Valentine, please don’t embarrass yourself further. Be thankful we don’t have sufficient enough evidence to prove your transgressions. We found the best lead for our music video. Take your place or leave,” Grady clipped out.
“Her?” Clementine scoffed between her tears, looking at me, then back to Grady. “You do realize she placed fourth at her last competition for her solo performance. Everyone who knows our world realizes she’s broken. She’s never going to be the same again. Whatever happened when she was ‘taken,’” she made air quotes with her fingers, “fucked her head up. She’s going to crumble when she’s in front of the camera.”
For a moment, I wondered how she would have known that. It wasn’t like she competed anymore. Then I felt a tightness in my chest as I felt all eyes on me. The little voice in the back of my head that fed all my insecurities was agreeing with her loudly.
None of these people knew what I’d gone through. None of these people were there. Yet, there was a portion of society that still doubted I had been taken to begin with. Some of them speculated that I had run away. It didn’t help that Ava or Claire never named Tormentor as one of our abductors. They both insisted that they had run away.
Ava had, but Claire hadn’t, and now I looked like a liar because my story didn’t match theirs, and it had been leaked to the press. I felt like this incident would follow me my whole life. When would people stop judging me by that horrific time?
Dancing and what happened to me were two separate parts of my life. When would people stop reminding me of my past when I wanted nothing to do with it?
I felt panic begin to set in.
I still didn’t know why my panic attacks seemed to strike at random. There seemed to be no definitive trigger. Sometimes I was immune to the stares, whispers, and aggression. Then other times, I felt like, out of nowhere, the breath was ripped from my chest. I felt like the world was closing in, and my vision began to darken.
I thought I had begun to manage them. I thought I had control over my attacks and anxiety. I guess I was wrong.
Zane snarled and stalked forward. “She took first in her duet, and her solo was given to her the morning of the competition.”
His words came from afar, but his hand on mine seemed to break through the dark haze. He squeezed it hard and placed it against his chest, and I realized he was trying to save me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.
I felt Zane twirl my ring on my finger, and I was reminded of a technique I had read online. Find an object and focus on it. I felt the coolness of my ring. I felt the way Zane twirled it like I had done a thousand times. I felt the rapid beating of his chest. I remembered how Paxton had given it to me, replacing the ring Madison had given me.
Slowly the tightness began to dissipate, and forgotten words whispered through my mind.
This too shall pass.
This too shall pass.
I had faced several demons in my life, and I had risen each time. Sure, this last one had taken longer and came with a whole boatload more scars, but I knew I was a survivor. I was born with a stacked deck, yet I had proven myself time and time again.