Center of Gravity

by K. K. Allen

  I watched as he took a swig of wine, wondering if I was supposed to ask him more about that statement. But I didn’t want to ask. I wasn’t interested in knowing the inner workings of Reggie’s brain. At that point, I just wanted to leave.

  But where would I go?

  A full sandwich, a bowl of soup, and a half plate of French fries later, Reggie had rambled off every dance opportunity he’d ever been blessed with. I knew the guy had an ego the size of Texas, but I’d never quite known the shape of it until that night. “It’s only a matter of time before I’m producing shows like this Vegas one. And I won’t wait until two months before to start choreography.” He chuckled, and I could almost pretend his comment wasn’t a dig at Theo.

  It continued on like that for the rest of dinner. Reggie, boasting. Me, unsure how to respond. By the time the waitress came around with the check, I was more than ready to leave.

  I was silent on the ride to my apartment, checking my phone though I knew I shouldn’t. A dull pang hit my heart when I noticed Theo had never responded to my messages. It had been hours, and I was beginning to think I wouldn’t hear from him for the rest of the night.

  Reggie pulled up to the front entrance, leaned in, and gave me a hug. “Think about that choreography over the weekend. We’ll hit it hard on Monday. You’ll pick it up in no time.”

  He winked and I returned it with a pinched smile. I hadn’t even stepped onto the curb when he gunned the engine and sped out of the parking lot.

  I sat on the bottom step, in no hurry at all to enter my hellhole of an apartment. How had today turned into a massive pile of crap?

  A flash of headlights lit me in my spot, and then a black vehicle crawled toward me. My chest heated when I recognized Theo’s car. Had he been waiting for me?

  The tears that threatened earlier came back with a vengeance. I swiped them away and covered my eyes with my sunglasses before standing and sliding into Theo’s car without a word.

  He didn’t speak to me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to speak to him. Instead, I let him drive to wherever he planned to take me. My energy was depleted, and the last thing I wanted was another argument. I would settle for one of his guest beds if that was what he offered. I’d even take the couch. It didn’t mean either of us owed each other anything.

  For the first time that day, I started to regret kissing Theo that morning. I’d complicated everything that was already complicated to begin with.

  By the time we pulled into his driveway, I’d prepared myself for the worst. That the silence would continue until we were back to the way we were supposed to be. Just a choreographer and his dancer.

  Satisfied, I reached for my bag, but Theo grabbed it first, his voice gruff. “I got it.”

  Air puffed out my nose in frustration. “Thanks,” I shot back, just as cold.

  He looked at me as if he wanted to say something but made the choice not to. And on the trek up the drive, through the side door, and up the stairs into his massive kitchen, I could feel my anger brewing.

  I stopped in the hallway at the landing to another set of steps. “Where’s your guest bedroom?”

  Our eyes connected, and I felt the ripple of energy between us, energy that had never disconnected. My feelings for Theo were tearing me apart, tearing my dreams apart, and all I wanted was to lock myself in a room and have space away from him to clear my head. But I couldn’t. I was trapped under his roof with this fucking energy zapping between us, tethering two opposites with steel chains.

  He let out a breath and nodded for me to take the stairs. He followed, and I didn’t stop walking until we reached the end of the hall and he pushed open the door to a room. “This one should work. Feel free to use anything in here. Kitchen too, but you already ate.”

  I slipped past, careful not to touch him, and placed my duffel on the four-poster bed. “Thanks.” I glanced in his direction, attempting to drop some of my attitude. “Really, thank you. You didn’t have to do this, but I appreciate it.” I turned to the bed and unzipped my bag.

  What else was there to say with this insurmountable tension between us? I refused to look at him again. I couldn’t. The tears were already resuming, and I wanted him gone before the dam burst.

  I tore my shirt off, leaving my sports bra intact. Then I kicked off my shoes and peeled back my socks. I expected him to leave when I reached for my leggings, but I could feel him behind me, waiting—for what, I didn’t know.

  I turned. “What do you want, Theo?”

  His eyes blazed. “You don’t want me to answer that.”

  I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Okay, fine. But can you leave? I’d like to shower and go to bed.”

  “How was your date?”

  I whipped around. “What?”

  “Reggie’s into you. You know that, don’t you? I know you know that. Everyone knows. And you went to dinner with him, anyway.”

  “I was starving. And you were nowhere to be found. Just disappeared like some goddamn jealous boyfriend. You didn’t answer my messages. You never came back. Reggie offered to take me to dinner, so I accepted.” I shook my head in disbelief. “What does it matter to you? Your career is already set. I’m the only one with anything to lose here.”

  “Is that what you think? That I have nothing to lose?” He stepped closer, but he was still several feet away. “I’m taking a risk here too. Don’t insult me.”

  “I don’t even know why we’re fighting.” Emotion clogged my throat. I turned again, swiveling on my foot so fast it caught on the carpet. I could feel my balance fail me before I had a chance to catch my fall. My foot twisted behind me, and I flew forward. My hands shot out, but Theo’s arms wrapped around my middle, stopping me from crashing into the floor.

  He lifted me and set me on the bed, then he sank to the floor to examine my ankle.

  “I’m fine. It’s fine,” I pleaded.

  I didn’t know if he was concerned because of the show or because he genuinely didn’t want to see me hurt, but the worry on his face did something to me.

  “Just hold still and let me look at it.”

  His words broke the dam. Tears exploded from my eyes. It was the buildup from the entire day, my conflicted emotions, and the pain in my foot that threatened everything I’d worked so hard for. But none of that held a candle to what Theo’s kindness did to me. The way he took gentle hold of my foot and applied pressure in the most tender of areas as he checked to see if anything was broken.

  “You just tweaked it. You don’t want it to feel stiff tomorrow.” He stood up. “Stay here. I’m going to get you some ice. Stay off it and keep it elevated.” He said all of this while picking me up and setting me against the headrest. He proceeded to stack a couple of pillows under my ankle before he left.

  He was back less than a minute later, and as he tended to my foot, I couldn’t help staring at his face. At the hard lines that seemed to melt away as he cared for someone other than himself. And I listened to the tone of his voice every time he asked me how something felt or if I was okay.

  Those were the moments that tricked me into believing there was something real between us. That Theo could possibly care for me as more than a dancer or partner, more than something he needed to heal because his production depended on it.

  I didn’t know what to believe.

  CHAPTER 31

  Theo

  I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up with a crick in my neck and unfamiliar sheets in my grip. A moan wafted through the air. My heart pounded fiercely at the strange noise. It didn’t come from me. I don’t think it did. Another moan, this one followed by a rustle of sheets. My head snapped toward the sound.

  Sometimes after waking, I’d feel suspended between dreaming and reality. Staring at Lex’s matted caramel blond hair draped haphazardly against her delicate, olive skin, I wasn’t sure which state I was currently in. I must have been dreaming. No woman like Alexandra Quinn would dare allow a man like me in her bed.

  But she l
et me stay.

  I quickly recapped the events of the day before. There was a lot of anger. Anger at Winter for making huge show decisions without me. Anger at Reggie for going off script with my choreography. And anger at Lex for going to dinner with that scumbag. To make things worse, I’d shown up at Lex’s apartment just as Reggie was pulling away. He hadn’t even waited until she’d made it safely through the doors.

  My chest burned. Funny how that worked. How anger could expose true feelings and desires I hadn’t even known were there. Or at least I’d done a good job of stifling them. It was why I had to walk out of that studio yesterday. Every second I stood there, I bled.

  Fuck. I rubbed the skin over my heart, tearing my eyes from her sleeping form. That didn’t help. I could still hear her, her breaths even and deep. I could still feel her, her ass pressed into my leg. I groaned when I realized my dick was hard too. It took everything in me not to work up a release right there.

  I peeled my back from the bed and planted my feet on the floor.

  “Theo?” a groggy voice called.

  I stiffened before twisting my body to face her. One of her eyes was already cracked open. “Hey.”

  “You don’t have to go.”

  The way she said it—with her small, gravelly morning voice—was a subtle plea for me to stay.

  “I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said. “About Reggie and the choreography.” Her lids batted down as she spoke.

  She was sorry? Was my behavior yesterday even redeemable?

  I knew the tables had turned the moment Lex sank into the passenger seat last night, her small limbs already tense, her jaw hard, eyes facing forward, voice silent. It was too much to bear, yet I knew I deserved the silence.

  An inferno raged within me, a ball of flames destroying me from the inside out. “Lex,” I said, but I repositioned myself so I was fully facing her. “My issues with Reggie have nothing to do with you.”

  “But you were angry with me.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  Her brows bowed down, and she shook her head. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”

  I didn’t think I could feel worse about yesterday. “I’m sorry. I was letting off some steam in the pool, and time got away from me. When I got your message, I went straight to your place.”

  The truth was, in the hours after I left Gravity, I distracted myself so I wouldn’t beat the living shit out of Reggie. I unpacked her things in the guest room, then I threw myself in the pool, swam laps, and did nothing but count each stroke.

  The moment I pushed out of the pool, she was everywhere. In my head, on my skin, in my fucking heart, and I didn’t know how she got so close to begin with.

  “And then you saw Reggie leave my place.”

  I nodded.

  “Theo, he’s my dance partner.”

  “I know.”

  “But you hate him.” It wasn’t a question.

  I cringed and reached for the back of my neck, squeezing as if it were my last lifeline. How was I to explain any of this? I wasn’t sure I could, not even to myself. “It’s complicated.”

  “Uncomplicate it.”

  I’d been in this business a long time, and I knew the image Reggie portrayed versus the man he was behind closed doors. He was starting to show his true colors. But how could I explain that to Lex in a way that didn’t make me sound threatened?

  “Reggie and I go way back. Back to the foster care system. We ran in different circles but the same neighborhood, so there was a mutual respect at the time. He’s a natural-born hustler. It sounds awful coming out of my mouth. I know firsthand what living in South Central LA can do to a kid, and it’s not pretty. I was one of the lucky ones.”

  Perhaps we all played two different roles—one in the eyes of the public and one in private—but Reggie crossed the line when it came to using his assets to get what he wanted. He was a manipulator and a bully and a straight-up creep. I didn’t want him around Lex. And it wasn’t for the reason I’d initially thought. It wasn’t because I thought he was after her. It was because I didn’t want her to be a pawn in whatever game he was playing with Winter and me.

  I’d been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but wanting to protect Lex was not one of them.

  She tilted her head thoughtfully. “He seems to be doing okay.”

  I nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s been through a lot, and he’s come out on top, but sometimes his methods are … questionable. I don’t trust the guy, especially when it comes to you.”

  “Why?” She was fishing for what she wanted to hear, and that made me want to smile.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, never taking my eyes off hers. “I think you know.”

  I could hear the hitch in her voice before she looked away. Then she scanned the room and lifted her arms then dropped them in defeat. “Should I be more worried about my ankle?”

  Relief filled me. She was dropping the “us” talk for now. After a deep exhale to calm my racing heart, I ran my hand over the blanket and down her legs until I reached the small of her foot. “Can I?” I gesture toward the edge of the blanket.

  “Sure.” She watched my hand as I lifted the blanket and placed it over her other foot. I ran a finger from the bone at the top of her foot around to her ankle. I’d taken some sports medicine classes and knew her foot wasn’t broken or even fractured. “You’re not even swelling. You’re fine. It might be a little stiff and tender today, so light exercises would be good.”

  “No dancing?”

  “I’d give it twelve hours.”

  She smiled, her eyes softening. “Thanks, doc. What do I owe you?”

  I scooted back on the bed and turned to my side to face her. “I know what I want. What are you willing to give?”

  She blushed, and I thought about taking what I wanted right then—to feel her mouth on mine again. Her kiss from yesterday still made me lightheaded when I thought about it. Whatever came over her in that car, I wanted more of it.

  “We should spend the day by the pool,” she suggested. “I’m sure you’re never home long enough to get much use out of it. And swimming should be good for my ankle, right?”

  She didn’t have to twist my arm. Not if it meant watching Lex prance around in a bikini.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Her smile grew wider, and it was so infectious, I could feel my mouth stretching in response.

  “Let’s do it.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Lex

  Something had changed. That was obvious from the moment I woke up to find Theo in my bed. What hit me instantly wasn’t the fact that he was there—it was that he had stayed. After applying ice to my foot off and on for almost an hour, compressing my ankle with a wrap, and bringing me Motrin for any residual swelling, he still stayed last night.

  I slipped on the only bathing suit I’d brought to LA. It wasn’t anything glamorous or sexy, though in that moment, I wished it were. It was just a scalloped black triangle bikini. I used one of my long dance shirts as a swim cover-up and headed downstairs. As I passed by the kitchen, I grabbed an apple before slipping out the back door to the patio.

  Theo’s backyard was beautiful and private, with ivy spilling over aged brick walls and trees towering around the edge of the property. A large cabana sat on the far end of the water, and opposite it was a hot tub with a waterfall that plunged into the pool. As music spilled through the outdoor speakers, I smiled, knowing Theo had turned it on for me.

  After shedding my cover-up, I tested the water with my toes. It was already warm from the morning sun, so I slipped into the water slowly and swam lap after lap, without trying to set a record. Instead, I focused on how the water felt as it glided against my skin. How my muscles worked against the water, making me feel weightless and lithe.

  I became incredibly aware of my body when gravity was no longer a force against it. It was a lot like dancing—that freeing feeling that helps a dancer bend and twist and leap to music. If on
ly I felt that way in life, but something always seemed to be holding me back.

  I was half asleep under the cabana’s shade when I glanced through my sunglasses and saw a shirtless Theo approaching. I swallowed as I took in the golden tan hiding his normally fair complexion. He was naturally athletic, and for a dancer, that meant conditioning the entire body. Clearly the man went above and beyond. He was lean and had defined muscle without being too bulky.

  It was nice to see him this way too, without the leather jacket, his jaw relaxed, shades pulled up on his head, hazel eyes—which appeared blue today—sparkling against the sky.

  “Hey,” he said with a smile.

  “Hey.” I smiled back. “All caught up with work?”

  He shrugged. “As much as I can be on everyone’s day off.” He sat on the lounge chair next to me and reached for the sunblock on the side table. “I got the final stage setup from Vegas. We’ll have to make a few tweaks but nothing massive.”

  “What’s that like?” I asked as he began rubbing lotion on his arms. “Putting on a huge show for someone like Winter?”

  He let out a laugh. “A lot like putting a bunch of toddlers in a room with all the toys in the world at their fingertips and making them agree on which one they all have to play with.”

  I giggled. “That sounds … interesting. And not fun at all.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s when my charm and negotiation skills come into play.” He winked. “I win ’em over every time.”

  “I’m sure you do.”

  He grinned and reached his hand out. “Time to swim.”

  “I already swam,” I whined while letting him pull me.

  “But if I didn’t see it, did it really happen?”

  Theo still hadn’t gotten into the water when I started to float on my back. Apparently when he said, “Time to swim,” what he really meant was that it was time for me to swim. He, on the other hand, just sat at the edge with his long legs daggling, his palms pressed into the red and yellow tile rim, and his shaded gaze angled at me.