How Beauty Saved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight)

by Garren, Jax

She had a pretty face, but she was more than just that. She could prove it to him. “I’m heading out to the loading dock. I’ll be back.”

  Catrina looked appalled. “What? No. You have to perform in less than five minutes.”

  “Okay, so I’ll be back in four.” Jolie ran out the door as fast as her high heels would take her. She felt bad about Catrina, but she had to talk to Hauk.

  They weren’t on the couches at the loading dock. But Mercedes Salvador, the only member of the troupe who was also in The Underlight, was leaning on the railing talking to Cassie, one of their regular backstage techs.

  “Mercy! You seen Hauk?”

  She turned, startled. “Oh, hey, Jolie. He and some blond chick went in to watch the shows a while back. I don’t know where to.” She scrunched her face, curious. “They acted pretty tight, but I’ve never seen her before. You know who she was?”

  Jolie groaned in frustration. “Cincy import. She and Hauk go waaay back.”

  Mercy laughed. “And here I thought you two were a done—”

  Jolie put a finger against her friend’s lips. “Don’t. Say. It. I’ve gotten the memo. From everyone. But I need to talk to Hauk.”

  Mercy’s eyes danced.

  “Not about Saint Ashley.”

  “Saint Ashley? Me-ow.”

  Jolie ignored her. “About something else. Work-related.” Word on the street was Cassie was applying to get into The Underlight, but she wasn’t sure where in the process the girl was. Mercy would know what she was talking about, though.

  “Oh!” Mercy straightened up to all business. “He wasn’t looking too healthy when they walked out. Limping a little. I doubt he’ll go back to his normal spot. Maybe they just went to the back of the room? There are a lot of shadowy alcoves back there.”

  “Thanks.” Jolie hurried back into the building. Without Hauk to part the seas for her, there was no way she would make it through the crowd and back to the stage in time to perform. But she could take the second-story ledge and drop in behind them.

  It only took a few seconds to make her way to the back where, sure enough, she found the world’s most mis-sized couple sitting in the shadows on folding chairs. She climbed down a ladder near them.

  Hauk had propped himself up against a wall. Ashley leaned against his shoulder, a tired expression on her face. But they were still talking. Hauk laughed at something she said, and Ashley beamed proudly. They were so engaged with each they didn’t notice Jolie approach,

  Ashley’s was the first voice that came in clearly. Jolie dragged her feet, listening.

  “I’ll never forget the way you looked in that pressed uniform, standing in formation with all the other soldiers. Gosh, we were eighteen. Seems like forever ago.”

  Hauk lightly punched her shoulder, his grin wide. “I’ll never forget the night before. Wasn’t expecting that.”

  Ashley blushed a bright pink. “I was afraid I’d never see you again!”

  He laughed low, a sound that always made Jolie’s spine tingle. Ashley reached up and stroked his shoulder. Apparently she wasn’t immune to it either. They relaxed together so naturally. Like they’d fallen right back into a decade ago with ease.

  Jolie realized she should go. This wasn’t her business.

  Then Hauk said, “I didn’t think you’d show to my deployment after what you said when you gave me the ring back.”

  The air collapsed from Jolie’s lungs, and she couldn’t seem to take any more in. Surely he didn’t mean that kind of ring. Right?

  Ashley turned in to Hauk. Her next words came out choked, as if she was holding back tears. “I didn’t think I could handle being an Army wife.”

  Oh shit, he did mean that kind of ring.

  “But I still loved you. I’m sorry, Wesley. I’m so very sorry.”

  Oh. God. Everything inside Jolie seemed to disappear, leaving her utterly empty.

  Ha C sii>Godher husband was overseas getting shot at by the Taliban.

  Dammit, that was totally legitimate.

  And no longer a problem for them.

  The audience cheered, and Jolie turned her attention to the stage, where Catrina was walking up to the mic.

  Shit, she was going to be late. She ran back to the ladder to get her ass on stage.

  * * *

  Hauk squeezed his ex, embarrassed at how good it felt to hear her apologize. He’d never made any bones about what he planned to do after graduation, but she hadn’t told him how she felt about it until after he’d come home with his enlistment papers. He’d spent his first year of service wondering if she’d have married him if he’d gone into the police force or fire department or some other job where he could stay in Cincinnati.

  But he hadn’t wanted to stay in Cincy. And he’d been a damn good soldier.

  He squeezed her shoulders. “Hey, ancient history, okay? Army wife’s a suck job. I don’t blame you for not wanting it.” Or he didn’t fault her anymore, anyway. And that was what mattered now.

  Catrina announced Spork would return as the final act of the night. Of course pretty-boy’s band was playing. The screaming young things wanted emo music and the gay men wanted to watch him shake his ass again.

  Pretty-boy knew how to play to his audience, Hauk would give him that.

  “Why are they hauling a pole onto the stage?” Ashley asked. The notion of seeing the band again perked her tired face right back up.

  He poked her in the ribs. “Not you, too.”

  She glanced back at him from where she leaned against his shoulder then did that blinking double-take that happened every time she forgot what he looked like now. She tried so hard to hide it. Eventually that startled reaction would go away when she’d fully accept his new face. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

  Jolie had never flinched. Not even from the beginning.

  “Me too, what?” Ashley asked.

  Hauk waved a dismissal. “Nothing.”

  On the stage just left of center, the techs were stabilizing what appeared to be a pole-dancing apparatus on an elevated circular platform. Spork was coming back on, but Catrina hadn’t left the mic.

  Her announcement continued, “At the behest of Spork—” The crowd screamed at the stupid name, and Catrina gave them a moment to revel. She crooked her finger at Paul, who obliged by coming forward to let Catrina squeeze on his bicep.

  Stage ham. Hauk thought about puking.

  Catrina tried again. “At the behest of these lovely, lovely men—” More cheering as Paul waggled his eyebrows. “—we’ll have dancing for their final song.”

  Hauk sat up a little straighter. Maybe the last act would have something entertaining in it.

  Catrina laughed throatily. “Jolie, are you around?”

  If he didn’t know Catrina so well, Hauk would have missed the irritation in her tone. Did Jolie even know she was performing aga Cerfe tried soin, or was she still in The Underlight?

  A throat cleared on the other side of the stage. Jolie’s legs appeared from the rafters, hooked on to the pole, and she slid down into sight. “You could say I’ve been…hanging around.”

  Catrina’s tension dropped back to her normal level of mania.

  Paul grinned.

  The audience, likely remembering her from earlier, went even a little crazier.

  “Is she pole dancing?” Ashley asked, all trace of sympathy gone. “Wes, sweetie, I’m trying to go with the flow here, but the girl you want to date is a stripping pole dancer? Have you really thought about this?”

  He shrugged. “It’s not like she works at The Yellow Rose.”

  “Is that a…a…gentleman’s club? Fine, so she’s not getting paid with dollars in her waistband. Other men are still looking at her.”

  Hauk smirked. “I shouldn’t date a girl because other men are going to look at her? Have you looked at her? She could wear a nun’s outfit, and men would gawk.” He turned his attention back at the stage and shook his head. “I put up with it when I dated you. I can
put up with it when I date anybody else.”

  Ashley stiffened. “Me? Nobody gawks at me.”

  “Yeah. Your cute, upturned nose and gray eyes. Smooth skin and thick hair. Petite little body. What man would want to spend his time appreciating those? Come on, Ash, I’m not the only man who’s ever found you attractive. You’re a beautiful woman, too.”

  “I don’t dress like that.” She pointed at the stage, where Jolie’s red swimsuit halter and daisy dukes showed off how much she had nothing to hide.

  He smiled brighter. “So? A pretty woman is a pretty woman, and sue us, we like to look. I don’t care how Jolie dresses or what she does for fun. She’s going to get stared at, and I’m okay with that. The important part, the part I want, is that she comes home with me.” And nobody else. But that part might take a while. Hell, the whole thing might take a while, and he didn’t blame her.

  But for the first time since he’d known Jolie, his hope didn’t feel completely vain.

  On stage, Jolie slid the rest of the way down the pole, spinning slightly. She made the movement appear effortless. There was a brightness to her expression he was starting to recognize as her “game face,” the one that meant she wasn’t showing what was going on in her head.

  For all the skin she was happy to show, the woman rarely revealed what was going on inside.

  In those pin-prick heels she was somehow comfortable in, she made her way across the stage under Paul’s approving gaze.

  “You wear the best costumes,” he said, his voice easily carrying through the space.

  She threw her arms out and twirled for the audience to appreciate. “Cloth won’t stick to the pole. Gotta show some skin if I want to dance on that.” She hitched a thumb at it.

  His drummer piped up. “Hey, Red, what’s that tattooed on your hip? Rose petals?”

  Eyes wide in mock surprise, Jolie glanced down at her hip. “Why, look at that.”

  Paul laughed and leaned into his microphone. “Is she worthy of a song or what?”

  Cnt ont sizThat got another cheer from the audience. The idea of Paul and Jolie was popular with the crowd.

  Well, of course it was. They were both beautiful people. Everybody liked beautiful people. They loved beautiful people getting together and making beautiful children.

  “I got a request,” Jolie said.

  “Anything for you, gorgeous.”

  “You guys do a kick-ass ‘Free Fallin.’ Can you do that for us?”

  The audience roared in approval.

  Paul smiled. “You got it.”

  Ashley wrinkled her nose. “I take it they know each other?”

  “Yeah,” was all Hauk managed. He tried not to sound too sour. But when Jolie turned and Paul smacked her on the rear, he stiffened in anger. Jolie threw a saucy grin over her shoulder at him though, apparently not minding in the least.

  The music started with a lazy, almost folksy beat that gave the song an intimate feel. Jolie strolled around the pole, touching it delicately as she moved. She closed her eyes. The false brightness dropped from her smile, replaced by the genuine article as she hoisted herself into the air.

  Jolie had told him she was ready to debut a new aerial skill, but she’d called it “vertical dancing” without an explanation of what that meant.

  Apparently it meant walking on air.

  Hauk had seen pole dancing before, back when he was in the military, but it was nothing like this. Jolie lifted herself up with the slow grace of a gymnast, inverting her body and then holding herself aloft, perpendicular to the ground. She curled around the pole as it spun. The stage light bathed her in an ethereal glow, making her skin luminous in the shadows above the stage. She danced, and the strongest woman Hauk had ever met revealed a side of herself that was delicate and vulnerable.

  And happy. That was one of the biggest things he loved about watching her perform: the untainted joy on her face.

  The audience applauded as each move topped the previous in gravity-defying beauty. The music picked up for the finale. She rotated faster, one arm holding on, the other reaching for the sky.

  “Okay,” Ashley whispered. “That’s actually pretty neat.”

  Hauk grinned. As the song came to a close, Jolie glided down the pole to the stage. She landed on her knees, back arched, one hand up the pole, the other trailing the ground.

  Applause roared.

  “Good God, take a bow, woman,” Paul said, admiration practically dripping from him.

  Still flushed from her performance, she strode to the front of the stage, gave a smile to the crowd then turned to the alcove where Hauk and Ashley sat to give him his post-show wink. He warmed with the attention—even with Paul on stage, she remembered him.

  Except, how did she know to look this way instead of his usual place?

  He didn’t wonder long because when she straightened from her bow, Paul wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into another kiss. She stiffened as if surprised then softened against him as the crowd went crazy. Hauk felt sick.

  “Huh,” Ashley said then shut her mouth. But the sound said everything she meant as clearly as a lecture.

  It was a lecture he didn’t need to hear. Ceedh. But For the second time today, Jolie was kissing a man she hadn’t said a word about in two months.

  Back in December, she’d clung to Paul outside her car and lingered in his arms until they had to go their separate ways. Hauk liked to think this kiss wasn’t as intense, that she didn’t lean into Paul with the same ease she had before. That maybe her hands were too stiff against him, her body too rigid to be natural.

  Hauk liked to think he was learning to tell when Jolie was honest and when she was putting on a show. And his sense said this wasn’t real. This display was for the audience.

  Earlier today in the gym and on the couch, she’d crushed herself against him. He hadn’t imagined that. She’d clutched at his clothes as she kissed him back with an intensity that had sent him burning. There had been nothing frigid, nothing restrained or tense about her reaction. About the hum of her voice. Even when she’d backed away, her tone had been husky, her eyes dark with more than just anger. Or was that wishful thinking from a lovesick idiot?

  Catrina came back onstage and took the mic to close the rally. Behind her, Paul whispered into Jolie’s ear, and she laughed. With a final wave, they strolled off the stage, arm in arm, looking almost like the happy couple she’d once wanted to be a part of. Almost, but not quite. Or so Hauk thought.

  It was hard to trust his senses when they were telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. Neither time he’d kissed her had ended with her laughing in his arms, that was for sure. Hell, he still hadn’t figured out why she’d been so pissed.

  Jealousy threatened to overwhelm him as he tried to sort it out. He had no idea where to go from here. He wanted Jolie so desperately but had no idea what strategy to take. Did he simply tell her how he felt? Or would that panic her? Was she truly mad at him? If so, why? Most importantly, did she feel anything for him? Or was she simply the first woman who hadn’t flinched at his face in five years, and he was interpreting her reaction far too optimistically?

  Ashley stretched her arms and tried to hide a yawn. “Shall we turn in?”

  “You go ahead. I’m working the after-party.” No, he wasn’t. He never worked parties. He didn’t even know if there would be a place for him to hide. He should go home.

  “Oh. Well, I’ll go too.”

  “You will?” Ash didn’t do parties unless he dragged her. No, she hadn’t done parties ten years

  ago . He shouldn’t expect her to be identical to her teenaged self any more than she should expect him to. Even if this was the first difference he’d noted in her between then and now. It was a good change. He should encourage her to cut loose a little. “Okay. It’ll be fun.” He’d try to make sure it was for her, anyway.

  Chapter Seven

  Jolie kept her face neutral as she slid out of Paul’s arms, but his onstage crap had
her seething inside. Three months ago she’d have cried happy tears to have him so possessive. And now? All she could do was wonder what Hauk had thought of their shenanigans. But Paul didn’t seem to notice her discomfort.

  Kirk, their drummer, greeted her with a high five she was happy to return. She’d always liked him. “Nice job, Red! We should have you up there with us all the time!”

  Paul laughed. “Whatcha say, gorgeous? You wanna be our official dancer?”

  Jolie gave him a brittle smile her mom would’ve been proud of. “Yes. I trained with Houston Ballet for thirteen years in the hopes that I could be a backup dancer for a local punk band.”

  “Ooooh…” Everyone but Paul joined in.

  Paul took her arm and pulled her to the side. “What’s wrong? I was kidding. I know you’ve got your own thing.”

  Maybe she had overreacted. She patted his hand but couldn’t bring herself to look him in the face without grimacing, so she turned back to the stage instead. “No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t have snapped. But if you’ll excuse me—” She tried to slip away, but he wouldn’t let go of her arm.

  “You going to the after-party?”

  “Yeah. A couple of us are performing at it.” She tried to get away again. Still no dice. What was it about this boy? When she’d been trying to hang on to him last fall, he’d been casual. Now that she wasn’t sure she wanted him anymore, he was like glue.

  “What to ride over together?” he asked.

  “I’m giving a ride to some of my troupe-mates.”

  “Okay. Well, I’ll see you there then.” He smiled. “Gonna keep wearing that outfit? ’Cause hot damn, woman.” The smile morphed to the killer grin he regularly felled women with, turning that high-wattage focus entirely on her.

  It reminded her that despite the lack of a defined relationship, they’d always had an understanding that when they were both at the same place at the same time, they went home together. Between his concert tour and her dancing schedule that hadn’t happened in two months, but Paul seemed hopeful the deal hadn’t changed.

  Everything had changed, though. For her, anyway. Or it had, provided Hauk wasn’t taking Ashley home.