Katey hung up the phone, and then threw her pillow and blanket into the back. She looked into the passenger seat and saw her duffle bag that she had packed the night before. She agitatedly rummaged through it to make sure she had everything she needed. After finding her dress pants, heels, blouse, makeup, perfume, toothbrush and toothpaste, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had enough sense to pack it all after she was still incensed by the fight wit hMary. Katey didn’t want to have to go back to the house for something she forgot.
She raced out of the parking lot and off school campus, ignoring the speed bumps along the way. The studio was all the way down town on Main Street several blocks from the bookstore where she worked as well.
Katey parked as close as she could to the ballroom dance studio and fueled by adrenaline, ran across the street, carrying her duffle bag and Logan’s jacket over her shoulder.
Katey dodged traffic and leaped over the curb. Class had already started and Lily was waiting for her outside near one of the many rod-iron benches that dotted along the main thoroughfare. Lily was a pretty girl in the same grade as Katey, but a thousand times more exuberant than her docile friend. Her normally bright blue eyes were darkened by mild annoyance as she theatrically tapped her toe against the sidewalk to show her impatience.
Lily grabbed Katey by the arm and practically dragged her over the threshold, nearly making her trip. Lily’s spunk made up for her petite build and no one should be fooled by her pretty skirt and pink blouse. She was a regular firecracker.
Katey let herself be pulled across the hardwood dance floor to the back of the studio towards the open doorway that led to the water cooler, office, and two bathrooms
“Quick, get changed and I’ll start the lesson,” Lily ordered as she shoved Katey into the girl’s bathroom. Katey opened her mouth to apologize, but by then the door had slammed shut, leaving her in the dark. She grumbled, flipped on the light and started changing.
Ballroom dancing was what brought Lily and Katey together in their freshmen year. Lily, the more flamboyant of the two, was dancing with every guy and gal in the dancing club at school while Katey stood timidly on the sidelines. It was only when Lily came over with her outgoing personality, that Katey dove on in and realized she loved dancing.
The club is where they had met Forrest.
Forrest and Lily had been going steady for almost just as long as they all had been dancing. The two of them were nearly polar opposites, but once together, they were a team unrivaled by any other couple Katey had seen.
There was a time when Katey might have had a crush on Forrest, but he had too much ego for her to handle at times.
When Katey was finished freshening up, she came back to the dance floor, carrying Logan’s jackets in her arms as she approached the podium. There, standing in his perfect posture, was Forrest, controlling the music for the group lesson from the studio’s laptop.
His auburn hair was swept to one side of his face, the same hairstyle he’s had since Katey and Lily met him. Katey snickered when she noticed he was wearing tan pants with a white and blue-checkered shirt that she used to make fun of him for wearing.
She stood beside him as they both watched Lily conducting the class with poise and flair that Katey could never muster. She was too awkward, too abrupt at times and didn’t know how to properly correct the position of someone’s foot without sounding like they had committed some immoral sin. Katey would never make it as a teacher, even if she wanted to. Why the owners of the studio kept her on as a volunteer was beyond her understanding.
Either way, Lily looked to be handling the group just fine.
“You’re late,” Forrest stated, nudging her shoulder.
Katey pushed him in return, but she might as well have been pushing against a brick wall. His dorky outfit hid much of the strong body that Lily obviously drooled over. He had to be athletic to handle all the dips and complicated lifting techniques that Lily insisted he learn.
“Whatever. Find any new songs?” she asked, looking down at the screen. He was flipping through files and music folders. He shook his head in reply
“Nope. I think I found all the good songs for the tango. But we’re running low on cha-cha tunes,” he said with a sigh and a hint of puzzlement in his tone.
Katey leaned over and peered at the screen. “Check in that folder,” she advised, reaching over with her finger to indicate where she wanted him to click.
He did and found a bounty of cha-cha songs for them to use. Forrest glanced up to thank her, but did a triple take.
Katey jerked her chin down in puzzlement. “What?”
Forrest leaned closer, enough to make her take a few steps back so he didn’t pop her carefully formed social bubble. “Something’s different,” he remarked, a similar drawl of curiosity in his words.
She shrugged. “I’m the same me. Nothing changed.”
Plenty had changed, but Forrest was one of the many people who knew nothing about her depression and she wasn’t about to go around blabbing her testimony of how one night with a stranger helped her recover.
Forrest propped his elbow on the podium and let his gaze run up and down her body, then linger on her eyes. “Nope. Something is definitely different.”
For a split moment of panic, Katey wondered if her friend was about to force the truth out of her. But she was saved by Lily.
“Forrest, can you come here for a second,” she called out.
He excused himself like the proper gentleman that he always was and joined Lily out on the dance floor to demonstrate to the class.
Katey let out a tight breath and sat down in one of the padded chairs that was pushed up against the wall behind the podium. From there, she watched the group lesson unfold beautifully. Lily was an excellent teacher and with Forrest by her side, they were an unstoppable force in the world of ballroom dance. Lily had already admitted to her that they would want to enter competitions one day. And Forrest confided in her that he planned to propose soon.
She observed their graceful movements, so filled with passion and comfortableness with each other. They were the perfect couple. The satisfaction of seeing both of her friends happy was worth the bittersweet pains of jealousy that she had for their bliss.
An ache developed in her gut that could have been taken as self-pity. She hoped that someday she would find a guy like Forrest… if not better.
Katey’s fingers unconsciously stroked over the heavy fabric of the jacket in her lap and she thought of last night and the mysteriously vanishing Logan. She could recall his face and the romantic lilt of his deep voice perfectly. The way his smile beamed brighter than the moonlight and the way his eyes cradled her in a warm embrace that she never wanted to escape from. It was a magical night, that was for sure.
As the class drew to a close, Katey lifted the fabric to her nose and sniffed. His scent hadn’t faded throughout the night. She smiled and closed her eyes, remembering how it felt to be with him. He was a stranger and despite her first initial reaction to him, she felt safe with him. She could trust him, rely on him. It was the strangest revelation. She hardly noticed Lily and Forrest making their way across the empty dance floor to her.
“Ah… look at that. Katey looks like she’s in love.” Lily jumped around, being completely graceful in her heels as she ran towards Katey. Her friend tugged the jacket out of her grasp and skipped away with it.
This was the first time it’d been out of Katey’s possession since Logan gave it to her and she immediately felt empty without it. Katey chased after her and snatched it back with a glare. Lily only giggled. She tried not to show that the teasing bothered her, but failed miserably.
“Whose jacket is it?” Forrest crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the podium, giving Katey a furtive stare.
Katey felt a flush creep up her neck as Lily continued to giggle.
“You wouldn’t know him,” Katey said, smiling coyly and sticking up her nose at both of them.
Lily once again swiped the jacket from Katey’s grasp and danced around with it out on the floor, chanting “Katey’s in love! Katey’s in love!”
Katey chased her around as fast as she could without tripping in her heels.
Briefly, Lily stopped and sniffed the jacket just as Katey did moments before. “Oh, whoever’s it is, smells amazing!” she cried out as she threw the jacket to Forrest who happened to be following both of them around to make sure a cat fight didn’t ensue.
Forrest smelt the jacket’s collar as well and something in his Caribbean blue eyes drew Katey’s attention. They seemed to flash with recognition.
She watched him with acute interest as his nose stuck deeper into the collar of the coat. He chuckled and then tossed it back to Lily. What was so funny about the way Logan smelled?
“What is it with you guys? It’s nothing. I’m going to return the jacket next time I see him anyway,” Katey said as she tried to steal it away from Lily again.
Katey was successful this time and slung the jacket over the back of one of the chairs.
“Where did you meet him? Leave out no details.” Lily looked as giddy as a little child at Christmas. Forrest seemed interested, but far more composed.
She couldn’t hold it in. She’d tell them, but they would only know what she wanted them to. Katey burst out into a huge grin that made her cheeks hurt as she began to tell them all about the party and the graveyard. When it came time for Katey to mention Logan, she felt she couldn’t do him justice. She could talk all day about the look in his eyes, the way he moved and his kindness. But, it would never be enough to describe how wonderful he really was.
Lily drank all of it in with a smile while Forrest patiently listened to Katey’s story of how they laid down and watched the stars until the comet blazed across the sky. When she finished her story with how quickly Logan disappeared, Lily leveled an incredulous look at her friend.
“And that’s it? You haven’t seen him since?” Lily asked.
“Nope. I haven’t seen him,” Katey replied just as the glass door opened on the other side of the studio and her worst nightmare walked through the door.
“Oh, beautiful! I’m here for my lessons!” Eric called out as he strutted across the hard wood floors, his muddy boots making a mess.
His head was topped with jet-black hair that had a suave curl to the ends. His eyes were a dung-like brown that sparkled with flecks of gold. Built to fit the role of star player on the team, he was tall and looked like he could crush bricks with his bare hands.
There was nothing outstanding about him beside his attractive features that made him lovable by everyone else but Katey.
Katey’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Eric had been lusting after her all year and it was getting on Katey’s last nerves. Even though he was the hottest football player in school and every girl was chasing him, he was a chauvinistic pig.
What Eric saw in her, she would never know. Heaven knew he had plenty of women to pick from that were prettier, smarter, and easier than she was. He was the proverbial thorn in her paw, just as Mary was.
And as he walked towards her, his boots dirtying the once clean floors, Katey felt rage boil in her gut. Katey stood up and glared at him, feeling the same uncontrollable urge to take control of her life just as she had last night when she struck back at her foster mother.
“Take off your goddamn shoes at the door, Eric!” she shouted.
The mirrors vibrated and shock filled the studio as dense as smog. Katey had never shouted in front of her friends before. She had never really shouted to anyone except for Mary.
Eric stood deathly still, eyes wide in disbelief. Katey didn’t know whether to be surprised that she inspired such trepidation in a guy like Eric or at her reaction to his blatant disregard for the cleanliness of the studio.
He slowly sat down on the floor and took his boots off without a word of protest. Meanwhile, Katey stood defiant, both hands squeezed tight into fists at her sides while she glared at him. Katey let out a frustrated sigh and turned towards the back room as he placed his shoes by the door.
“Katey, I can teach him if you want,” Lily whispered.
“No, it’s ok. Maybe if I give him what he wants he’ll leave me alone for once,” she said, shaking her head as she grabbed a broom and dustpan from the storage closet.
Katey came back out to the dance floor and threw them to Eric. “Clean up your mess and we’ll get started with the salsa.”
Eric let the broom and pan slip through his fingers and crash to the floor at his feet with a clumsy flair that wasn’t like him. He’d never fumbled with a football. Why should he do so with a dustpan?
Katey picked out a few salsa tunes to practice to while Eric grudgingly cleaned up his mess, just as she ordered.
Forrest and Lily had retreated to the water cooler as she started to play a slow paced Latin song for beginners.
Katey folded her arms over her chest and joined him on the dance floor, a scowl across her face and her heels making an intimidating clicking against the hard wood.
“What are you doing here?” Katey asked, as he was finishing up his task.
“I’m here to take dance lessons from the best,” he smiled a toothy grin, his sharp canine teeth shimmered in the light. She blinked back the curiosity.
“Are you sure you’re not here just to hit on me?”
Katey appreciated the compliment, but he had a reputation of being nothing but a dirty cad with the girls at school. He was a huge flirt and could never keep a girlfriend for more than a few weeks because he was always hitting on other girls. He couldn’t commit and that was the one thing Katey was looking for: commitment. If he didn’t have it, she wasn’t interested.
Not only that, but he had the worst affect upon her. Whenever he was close, even walking by each other in the halls, there was an unsettling impression about him that made her come unhinged. Just hearing him breathe made her want to lash out in irrational anger. She couldn’t help but remember last night and how Logan made her feel the exact opposite. She sighed.
Eric was quiet for a few beats, looking for an answer that may have had a shred of truth. His eyes roamed around the room as if he was going to find it hidden there somewhere.
Katey snorted a laugh that sounded anything but amused. “I thought so,” she remarked as she turned away.
“Wait,” he snapped, grabbing her arm to halt her retreat. “I already paid for a class. So you might as well teach me something.”
Katey looked back into his pleading eyes, his grip tightening around her forearm. He was persistent. She had to give him credit for that.
Katey twisted his wrist in an unnatural way, which made him whimper and fall to his knees. She knew darn well that she couldn’t really hurt him though. It was a show to make her feel like she was in charge, but she ignored the insult for the time.
“Fine. But if you make one move, I won’t hesitate to break your wrist or any other appendage of your body,” she threatened. He agreed and she let go.
After flexing his wrist to make sure nothing was broken, Eric moved in front of Katey to assume the position to dance with his left hand holding hers and his right hand around her waist.
But before he could do so, Katey coughed and gestured to the spot beside her. He moved next to her as she asked with a look of annoyance. It was obvious that he either wasn’t used to taking orders or resented the fact that he was taking orders from Katey.
She then began to instruct him on the basics steps of the salsa, snapping her fingers with the beat.
Katey couldn’t help but mentally notice that he was a fast learner and very nimble on his feet. She wondered if he already knew how to dance in the first place. His quick and crafty footwork must have been an acquired skill from his football practices.
Once he got the basic movements down, she thought about calling out Lily to dance with him. But after glancing towards the back office, she saw that Lily and Forest were too occupied with each other t
o bother about dancing right now.
Katey let out a breath and stepped in front of Eric to assume the position. She let him wrap his hand around her waist, only to readjust his placement up to her shoulder blade instead. Giving him a scolding glance, she took his hand in hers and they continued the lesson.
He began dancing with more advanced techniques perfectly and confirmed her suspicions that he already knew how to dance all along. Katey did not give him that praise he must have been fishing for and avoided eye contact.
She could feel his leering stare burning a hole through her.
“Why do you hate me so much?” he asked.
Katey glimpsed up to him and saw a familiar look. One she remembered seeing last night on Logan’s face, one of longing and willingness to please. Katey tried to not let it affect her, but she felt pity for him somehow. She tried to hang onto the fury that she felt earlier when he stomped through the studio with his muddy boots.
“Because I don’t like jocks that are self-absorbed and give themselves big heads just because all the girls are in love with him.”
“I hope you don’t mean me.” There was an edge of sarcasm in his tone and she was back to hating him again.
“Yes, I mean you.”
“And I’m guessing my good looks don’t make up for that?”
“Not one bit.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Eric said as the music stopped. Katey broke from his hold and walked back to the podium. She knew he was following close behind her.
“Hey, why don’t we go get some coffee or something? You can get to know me a little better and I can show you I’m not just some jerk.”
Katey turned back to look at him with an expression of suspicion. “Oh, would I find out you’re a mega-jerk instead?”
Erik smirked. “I’d hope not. But what do you say?”
“Like a date?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“It can if you want it to be.”
Katey wouldn’t crumble over a pair of puppy-dog eyes. “Then I appreciate the offer, but no thank you. I’m not interested in dating right now and I still have to work for the rest of the day. Now, the next class is about to start walking in. So if you could please leave… now?”
The Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 1) Page 5