by K. K. Allen
She let out a scream that echoed off the stage walls, and I couldn’t help laughing before giving her a piece of my mind. I had so much more to say, but I needed to find Lex.
“And for the record, I’m not turning my back on you. You turned your back on me the moment you decided to control my happiness. Lex is it for me, Winter. And if you can’t accept that—if you won’t amend the contract and keep Lex in your show—then we have nothing left to say here.”
She wiped a tear and nodded. “Fine. Then leave. You’ll be paid up until the start of the show.”
I sighed, and while Winter could easily change her mind and right all of this bullshit, guilt was chewing through my insides. She might not have “made me,” as she claimed, but she had been a friend since the beginning.
“I don’t care about the money. Believe it or not, I care about you and this show and the dancers. All of them. You don’t need to do this. Let Lex stay, and I will too.”
She shook her head as more tears spilled down her cheeks. “It’s done. You made your choice.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You didn’t give me a choice.”
CHAPTER 59
Lex
When Shane and I arrived at my room later that night, the termination papers were waiting for me. Amie was already there with the envelope in her hands. The paper shook as she handed it to me. It looked as if she’d been crying.
“I talked to the other dancers,” Amie said, still holding the parcel tight. “Everyone was shocked. Of course they were. But no one gives a fuck that you’re dating Theo. Not to the extent Winter is taking it. She’s really letting you go?” She held up the envelope. “That’s what this is, right?” She shook her head.
Shane sat beside Amie and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Then he tugged the envelope from her grip and handed it to me. I didn’t open it right away. I couldn’t. The moment I read whatever was inside, everything would be over, as if the last two and a half months hadn’t existed.
Shane and I had spent the entire day and night walking the streets of Las Vegas, dipping into different venues to eat, talk, and cry. I’d turned off my phone too, delaying the inevitable and avoiding Theo. In the two weeks I’d been there, I hadn’t seen much of Vegas. I’d taken it for granted. It wasn’t supposed to be over this quickly.
My heart was torn between my dreams and the man I loved. Part of me wished I’d been stronger. I could have avoided the humiliation and devastation by staying away from him. We could have waited out the six months, but it had felt so impossible. The truth was, I didn’t know if I was right or wrong, I just knew it was over. All of it.
“Who the fuck played that video? That’s what I want to know.” Shane steamed as he stared out the window at the Vegas skyline. “That was some dirty shit.” He looked at Amie. “What would the motive be for trying to hurt Lex like that?”
Amie looked at me, and our eyes locked, a mutual thought passing through our silence. We both knew who’d done it. But did it even matter? The issue wasn’t who outed us, it was what we were hiding.
“Reggie,” Amie said, gritting her teeth. “It had to have been Reggie.”
“What?” Shane practically screeched. “Dude was into Lex. There’s no way he would—” His mouth formed an O. “You think he was jealous of Lex and Theo?” His face crinkled. “That doesn’t make sense. What would he get out of having Lex kicked off the show?”
I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t think that was his motive. He and Theo have had a rivalry for years, dating back to their foster kid life. Reggie’s always felt gypped of the opportunities Theo’s gotten over him. After the bonus track got taken away, he completely lost it. I think he saw an opportunity to destroy Theo, and I got caught in the cross fire.”
I remembered the cryptic message Reggie was trying to pass to me before the rehearsal today and told Amie and Shane about it.
“What a douche,” Amie snarled. “I can’t believe we were friends with him.”
Shane’s face had gone stony. “I feel like there’s still something we’re missing.”
I ripped open the envelope and pulled out the thick stack of papers. “It doesn’t matter.” I waved the document in the air. “It’s already done. Terminated without pay for breach of contract.” I looked at Shane, my eyes stinging, but I had no tears left to cry. “I’m going home.”
“To LA?”
I shook my head. “I’m going home, Shane. Back to Seattle.”
CHAPTER 60
Theo
I knocked on Lex’s door first thing in the morning, only to be greeted by a perturbed Amie. She looked as though she hadn’t gotten any sleep all night. I pushed the door open farther and glanced inside. “Where is she?”
“Excuse me,” Amie said, pushing me back out the door and wrapping her arms around her waist. “It’s six in the morning. You shouldn’t be banging on doors. You’ll wake someone up.”
“It’s Vegas,” I reminded her, and she rolled her eyes.
“Well, Lex isn’t here.”
My heart started to pound. “What do you mean she’s not here? Where the hell is she?”
“She left with Shane. They were catching the first flight home.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked to see if I had any missed calls or messages from Lex. Nothing. “She wasn’t even going to tell me?”
Amie sighed and glanced around the hall before her eyes landed on mine. “She was pretty upset all night. I don’t think she was trying to avoid you so much as trying to figure out what the fuck to do for the rest of her life. I’m sure she’ll call you when she lands.”
I backed away, tapping through my phone to find the first airline app that popped up. I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for Lex to call me. “Then I’ll go to her. It won’t take me long to get to LA.”
“She didn’t go to LA.”
Cold air swirled around us, but I could feel it in my bones. “What do you mean? You just said they were flying home.”
“Yeah, to Seattle.”
No. Lex was going to give up everything. And it was all because of me.
I felt physically sick as I ran to my room, without so much as a goodbye to Amie, and tossed all of my belongings into my suitcases. When I reentered the hallway, I debated taking the long route to the elevators to avoid passing Winter’s door. But it was six in the morning. Winter wouldn’t be awake.
I was almost in the clear when the door to her room suddenly opened. I had nowhere to hide, and there was still another hundred yards until I arrived at the elevators. So I stood there like an idiot, but it wasn’t Winter who walked out.
Reggie stepped out as he zipped up his fly and stuffed his shirt into his jeans, all while Winter’s door was shutting behind him.
I went absolutely still.
He looked up and his eyes widened to the size of a raccoon’s. “Shit,” he muttered quietly.
“What the fuck?” The boom in my voice was uncontrollable. Suddenly, everything started to make sense. My brain was working so fast, my head felt as if it were flying along the tracks of a wooden roller coaster.
Winter had been fucking Reggie. “I’ve moved on, thank you very much.” That was what Winter had told me last week. But with him? How had I not seen that coming?
That was why she really gave him the bonus track.
It probably all started the night he helped Winter choose the feature spots.
Reggie saw you two drive off in your car.
I shuddered as reality washed over me.
Reggie’s shock had disappeared. He glanced at my bags and chuckled. “What would you call something like this? Karma?”
I released the handles of my cases and shoved Reggie into the wall so hard that it shook against his back. Then I cupped his throat with my palm and squeezed. “Listen to me, you son of a bitch. You fucked with the wrong person.”
He swiped his hands up to grip my wrists and ripped them from his throat before gasping for air.
“You’re fucking crazy,” he choked out.
“I don’t think so. Crazy is peeping on my personal shit and broadcasting it for all to see. I get it. You’ve been jealous of me your whole fucking life. You can’t help it. So you wanted to fuck with me. Get me off the show so you could take my place. It makes sense, and I’m not even surprised you would go to such lengths to take out the competition since that’s the only way you’ll ever succeed in this world. But why Lex? She’s been nothing but nice to you.”
He finally seemed to be breathing normally, but his eyes were pointed hard at me.
“And don’t think I didn’t figure out that you fucked with Winter’s head when she was making selections for the featured spots.” I motioned to the door he’d just stepped out of. “So this is how you take my job, huh? You sleep with Winter, show a video to get Lex kicked off the crew, and then you—what? Take credit for my choreography? Is that what you think will happen next?”
“I don’t need to take credit for shit,” he spit. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m no thief, Noska. And yeah, I will pick up the slack when you leave. As a matter of fact, I just sealed the deal on that.” He winked, and I knew he was trying to piss me off further. It worked.
It was then that another question flashed through my mind. “Who told you about Mallory?”
His lip curled up on one side. “Who do you think?”
Winter. Of course it was Winter. But why? Because they were sleeping together? Was that their version of pillow talk? It still wasn’t adding up. “So tell me this. Why would you pair yourself with Lex, and spend loads of time flirting with her, when all you really wanted was to fuck Winter for a few measly opportunities?”
Reggie laughed and shook his head. “Really? Aren’t you the one that put the moves on Winter to get your first gig?”
“No, that’s not how it worked at all.”
He waved off my comment with a roll of his eyes. “Whatever. I actually liked Lex. Tight abs, juicy ass. What’s not to like, right?” He wiggled his eyes as I fought back my rage. Then he shrugged. “But she wasn’t into me. Winter, on the other hand—”
I cocked back my elbow and slung it forward, but he caught it before I could drive it into his face. “Hit me again and I’ll break this hand, pretty boy.” He gripped my fist as he twisted.
His jaw was clenched, and the smile that flashed across his face was so dark, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he did snap my fist, right there.
The door behind him opened, stunning us both. Reggie dropped my hand, and though it throbbed, I didn’t give him the satisfaction of letting on that he’d caused pain.
Winter stepped out, her eyes filled with fury. “What the hell is going on here?”
Stanley, Marcus, and Alison stepped into the hall almost as soon as she had. I shouldn’t have been surprised. The three of them knew where Winter was at all times.
Alison’s eyes narrowed on Reggie, and she stalked forward until she was right in front of him. “You are so fired.”
He did a double take, apparently to make sure she wasn’t speaking to me, then he barked out a laugh. “You can’t fire me.”
She tilted her head. “Actually, I can. But if you’d rather wait until Winter talks to the poor AV intern you paid to broadcast that private video of Lex and Theo, then sure, feel free to stick around.” She rolled her eyes. “I knew you were a creep the day I met you. Glad I finally have proof.”
Winter was shaking as her eyes darted between them. “You took that video?” She squinted at him as though she couldn’t believe it. “Why would you do that?” She shook her head.
Reggie looked at her sideways. “Why would I do that? You were grateful the first time I outed this asshole. Don’t change your tune now.”
“I never said I was okay with exposing my choreographer and backup dancer the way you did, Reg. That is not the way it works around here. You could have come to me.”
Logic. It was something Reggie so clearly lacked, and part of me felt bad for him as I watch confusion overtake his angry expression. I realized the system had failed him the way it had helped me. It wasn’t easy growing up in the foster care system in our neighborhood. It was easy to fall in with the wrong crowd. While we both had frequented the rec center, I was the one Rashni pulled under his wing, not Reggie.
But none of that gave a person an excuse to be a shitty human.
And then it hit me. After ten years of dealing with the same bullshit with Reggie, I finally understood what made him tick. This wasn’t about Winter or Lex or Alison. This was about Reggie feeling that he got left behind at the worst possible time in his life and never feeling as if he’d been able to catch up. That was why he’d been tailing my career, trying to compete, and finally going to sad lengths to reach my goals instead of creating some of his own.
“You’re off the show. Alison will arrange your transportation back to LA.” Winter blinked past the moisture building in her eyes.
Reggie stepped up to her, wrath filling his face. “Don’t be stupid. The show is in three days, and you’re already down one dancer. You can’t lose me too.”
“I think less is more in this case,” Alison said with a wink.
He glowered at her. “Listen here, you stupid bit—”
Stanley yanked on his arm and bent it slightly, making Reggie wince. “Don’t talk to a lady like that,” he snarled. “It’s time to go.”
Marcus helped him pull Reggie down the hall, his legs dragging behind him.
CHAPTER 61
Lex
Shane and I stood at the hotel curb, suitcases in hand. And with a heavy heart, I watched as our driver pulled up and exited the SUV to greet us. Our flights were already booked—his to Atlanta to meet up with Dominic, mine to Seattle, where I would finally hear the words I’d been running from since I was a little girl.
I told you so.
I shivered thinking about my parents’ likely reaction as I walked through their front door, defeat written all over my face. Would they even care what I’d been through? They probably wouldn’t even ask. They’d chalk it up to young, immature Alexandra, who had finally seen the error of her ways.
The sour image of my future was broken up by Shane’s hand resting on the back of my neck. “You ready?”
I shook my head and clutched my belongings tighter. “Just give me a minute.” I met his eyes. “We’re early, right?”
“There’s no rush. Take your time.” He stepped forward and talked to the driver, who proceeded to nod and walk back to his car.
I looked toward the busy Vegas traffic, but it was all a blur as I thought long and hard about my next move. My gut churned, telling me something was wrong. My decision to go back to Seattle was an emotional one and made in haste, a reaction to the heartbreak and confusion I felt yesterday after receiving that letter of termination. But maybe it was the wrong decision.
Shane approached again, this time stepping in front of me and forcing my eyes to meet his. “You don’t have to go back there. This doesn’t have to be the end of the road.”
My throat burned. Why did I think it was the best option? And then, with an ache in my chest, I remembered.
“You read the termination papers. The contract I signed is active for one year. That means even if I keep taking classes at Gravity, I won’t be able to audition for a single thing until that expires.”
“That contract is bullshit, and everyone knows it. Winter can fire you for breaching the contract, but she can’t fuck up your livelihood.”
I swallowed, knowing what he was saying was probably true. “Still, I only have enough savings for the next four months. That’s not enough time to find something else and earn a living.”
“You know I’ll take care of the expenses until you can pitch in. I’m making money now. We’ll be fine.”
I groaned. “I need to be able to support myself. You know that’s important to me.”
He nodded as he squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again. “There�
��s got to be another option. There’s nothing good for you in Seattle. That’s not your home anymore. Your home is wherever you’re able to live out your dream.”
Despite the awful situation I was in, his words breathed hope into me. Winter could take away my money, but she couldn’t take away my skills or my dream. If I decided to give up, that would be totally on me.
Dancers trained long and hard to find their center—their balance—in order to look and feel as light as possible on the dance floor. We were taught to be grounded, sturdy, limber, and weightless. So then why was I having so much trouble finding that sense of balance in my life?
“Have you tried to talk to Theo?”
I frowned, hating the guilt that tore through my chest. I wasn’t being fair to him. I knew that. “He’ll just convince me to stay, and I need to figure this out on my own.”
“Okay,” Shane said, peeling my bags away from my hands. I looked down, confused. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I am going to force you to think harder about your next move. So, I think you should cancel your flight.”
“What?” Panic gripped me. “Why?”
“Because,” he said, gesturing to the bellhop to grab our things. “If you really wanted to go home, you’d be on your way to the airport by now. Today we’re going to live it up, Vegas-style. When you’re ready to make a decision, you will.”
Relief flowed through me at the thought of not having to make a life-altering decision right that second. “I do have some Vegas winnings I could splurge with. And there’s so much more I’ve been dying to see.” I looked up at him, excitement bubbling from within. “And I might also have comp tickets for Thunder From Down Under.”
Shane’s mouth spread wide with a grin. “There’s my girl.”
The Vegas strip was as alive during the day as it was at night. Drinks were flowing, alarm bells were ringing, and roller coasters were zooming by.