Tiny Dancer

by J. M. Worthington

  Chapter 23

  Annie Prieto

  Why the hell did tonight finally truly hurt me? It opened my eyes to who Lucas and I really were.

  Going through the motions and finishing the night had been hell, especially the part when Candice was presented and her dad talked about the special relationship Lucas and her had shared throughout their life.

  Lucas couldn’t even look at me as he stood on that stage. He knew what Candice’s father said was true, and she was the type of girl he would end up with. I was simply the girl to have fun with. All I would ever be was the girl he looked back on when he talked about his wild days.

  I felt too much for him, and if I gave him any more, I'd never be able to walk away. He had left a note for me with Will to meet him at his treehouse. I didn’t go. I’d wanted to go to my mother’s grave but it was only a short hop from the treehouse, and I had enough sense to know I would have never be able to stay away from him if I went.

  I would've gone and told him I loved him. Possibly the dumbest thing I’d ever done was fall in love with Lucas Carter. A one-sided love was the worst fate in the world.

  I stumbled out to Bob’s car in the comfort of the darkness of the night, ready to sleep the night away. As soon as Bob parked in my driveway, I hopped out, afraid the emotions of the day would break free.

  I skipped a shower, not the brightest of ideas, crawled into bed in the clothes I wore to work, and cursed myself because I couldn’t get the image of Lucas and Candice dancing out of my head. I knew had no right to be angry, but it still didn’t help numb the pain.

  My eyelids weighed a ton when I finally gave over to the day and closed them.

  I wasn’t even aware I’d fallen asleep when a creak at the door cause my eyelids to pop open. I was still fully dressed and reached around toward my back to unlatch my bra when I was immediately stilled upon hearing the sound that had pulled me from my sleep. The door clicked shut. I was too scared to move; much less look to see who it was.

  I heard someone kick off their shoes and creep over toward the bed. I know I should’ve screamed, at the very least think of a way to protect myself. Instead, I remained frozen, knowing whoever it was, I was totally defenseless.

  Great, I’m going to die and I didn’t even change my underwear. Mimi will be proud.

  The bed concaved under the weight of a body, my breathing ceased for a moment then calmness washed over me. I let out the breath I had been holding, it was Lucas. Only he had ever stopped my heart and made me feel that everything was right.

  Crap, I fooled around and fell in love.

  He placed a single white rose on the bed beside me.

  Lucas Carter, a rose from the centerpiece on the table you shared with Candice is not an appropriate peace offering. I refuse to accept your leftovers.

  I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, and broke. I literally could have picked up the pieces of my heart scattered across the bedsheets.

  He shifted the covers and his lips moved along the shell of my ear as he climbed under them. He gripped me around my waist and dragged me against him, lacing his fingers with mine. I was conscious I was still wearing the old sweats I’d worn the day before, but Lucas had never seemed to care what I had on. He judged me by who I was on the inside. That was the Lucas I needed to see. Not the high-priced Lucas I’d witnessed all night.

  He didn’t speak, simply clutched me as tight as he could. His finger traced over the waistband of my pants.

  Why the hell can’t I scream?

  It felt like every cell in my body was moving so fast that my veins were nothing but a blur. I wanted to ask him so many questions, but more, I wanted him to hold me and never leave, because there was no other place I belonged more than in his arms. The idea of it all scared me ... I'm pissed.

  Everything around me turned to feelings, and I was experiencing all of them at once. As if he could sense the emotional turmoil ripping through my mind, he never released his grip on me not even for a mere second. He finally freed his fingers from around mine and cradled my head with his arm. He pressed his lips to the back of my head then buried his face into my hair.

  “I do work,” he whispered and moved his mouth to my ear and nipped my earlobe. “I don’t have to. My grandfather left me enough I could party through my college years and still have plenty left over, but I don’t want to be that kind of person. I flip houses and I’m good at it. I have a good mind for business. I’ve almost doubled what money I have the last two years alone in buying fixer-uppers, remodeling them, and selling for a profit. I’ll show you the houses I’m working on if you want me to.”

  I ached from his words as if a flame had burnt through everything I believed in and demolished all I knew to be true. Everyone viewed him as the rich kid who didn’t give two flips about anything, and he didn’t care what the world saw, but he cared about the man I knew. He wanted me to know who he truly was.

  I wrapped my hand around his arm that was holding on tightly to me and I squeezed it, hard. I wanted to crawl inside of him so he could feel how deeply my heart ached, to let him know I wanted the man he was.

  His mouth parted over the bare skin on my shoulder, and the feel of his tongue against the throbbing vein in my neck sent a surge of heat and lust coursing through me.

  “They know, all of them know, you are all I want. The only person I ever care to escort anywhere else again is you,” he said, slowly exploring every inch of exposed skin his mouth could reach. “I want to hold your hand in this life. If you’ll have me.”

  The sound of his thick, gravelly voice made my head spin.

  I reached back and pushed my fingers through his long hair, pressing him closer against my neck. The tickle of his hot breath as it washed over my neck became more frantic and his kisses harder.

  He pressed his forehead against the side of my neck as I shifted onto my back. He rolled over me then leaned down to put his weight on his elbow. His hands came up to grasp the side of my face and whispered, “You’re beautiful,” so lightly I wasn’t sure he meant for me to hear him.

  I wanted to imprint the moment into my memory so I’d never forget it.

  I had a hard time putting the man I saw earlier that night on that stage refusing to even look at me and the man looking down at me with such reverence in his eyes in the same box. However, right at that moment, I knew he felt what I always felt when I looked at him ... only confusing me more than I already was.

  “What did I do to deserve you?” he asked, looking down at me. “You’re what is precious in my life. You can call me on all my shit but please want me more than you hate me.”

  His words were a steel anchor placed on my chest causing each breath harder to take in than the one before.

  I nodded my head because if I spoke, the tears would flow, and the only control I had was of my emotions. I had to hold onto what I could.

  He rubbed his forehead against me. I took his face in my hands and thanked God again for bringing us together.

  “What have you done ...?” Then immediately, he closed his eyes and lowered his lips to mine. He started to move his lips around mine, first kissing around the corners of my mouth, then he took my bottom lip between his and gently sucked on it. Ever so softly, he parted my lips with his tongue. When our tongues met, I knew we were working as one. Damn, he could kiss. Forget remodeling, he would make a killing if kissing was his profession.

  He worked his tongue over mine as his kiss grew more demanding.

  Maybe what I read in books wasn’t hogwash, because for once I could literally see fireworks going off behind my eyelids. In only one kiss I felt more emotions than I’d felt before. The word for the day was most definitely feelings.

  Every moan, thrust, movement I made, Lucas matched with his own. My new favorite pastime had become kissing Lucas.

  After only a few minutes of kissing, I’d become so horny. Every touch sent tiny jolts of lust through my body. Her scent was as subtle and alluring as a field of honeysuckles. I
wouldn’t take her like this. She warranted cuddling and romance, not a quickie of pent-up emotions. I pulled back and pressed my head to hers.

  “I can’t do this now,” I whispered.

  “Please tell me you want this too? Please tell me you’re not really gay?” she asked and laughter escaped her Cupid’s-bow lips.

  A slight press of my midsection against her leg informed her I’d wanted everything she had to offer. “Definitely not gay. But tell me no, because you deserve more than I’m able to give you right now. I’m already about to come in my pants. I’m giving you more than a few minutes.”

  “Okay,” she simply said.

  I was a heaving pile of hormones and the best she had in her was an okay. “Okay?” I repeated.

  “Okay, but I won’t wait forever.”

  My Annie wouldn’t have to wait forever.

  She pressed her lips to mine one more time before I rolled off her and tucked her under my arm, and that was precisely how she went to sleep in my arms.

  Chapter 24

  Annie Prieto

  Alone was how I found myself. There was no doubt Lucas had crawled into my bed — I could still smell his scent on the sheets. I sat up and looked at the clock. It was already past noon. Shit, I’m scheduled to be at work at one.

  I leaped out of bed and scraped my foot over a note lying beside my opened sketchpad.

  My Annie,

  I like waking up next to you, because you’re kind of cute when you snore. I hope I get a chance to wake up beside you again and again.

  I found your portfolio and have never been more touched. I really do look hot especially with the magic you work with a pencil.

  I had to go to a jobsite to do that thing called work. I’ll call you when I get done.

  Yours, Lucas

  I blushed immediately at the idea Lucas had found my stash of drawings … all of him.

  Late was my middle name but I’d never showed up for work late. I raced in the backdoor and grabbed the apron off the hook.

  “Annie.” Will stopped me before I even got it over my head.

  I blew out a puff of air, waiting on the butt chewing I knew I deserved.

  “I’ve been trying to call you.” Will took my shoulders in his hands and turned me until I was facing the backdoor.

  “Crap, I overslept. My cell is still on the charger in the kitchen. Sorry, I promise I won’t be late again.”

  “I don’t care about you being late. I’ve already called Lucas. It’s going to be okay.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Don’t go out there.”

  I stormed through the kitchen doors.

  The dining room was overfilled with every friend Lucas had. They had to have taken up at least ten tables. Everyone was staring and laughing except for the one older couple in the corner. A blonde who I’d often spotted with Candice walked over and handed me a picture.

  “Nice, I didn’t know you had all that going on under your work uniform.”

  Someone had photo-shopped my head onto a full-body layout of, according to the stats in the corner, Miss Playmate March 2015.

  It all played out as if I was watching a movie. I could feel my pulse beating in my ears, blocking out all other sounds except the breath that was raggedly moving in and out of my lungs at irregular, gasping intervals. Everyone had a copy in their hands. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the others across the room. Nothing else mattered. The thoughts of when I was fourteen and what my foster brother did came rushing back. I could no longer control my hands; they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm as the color drained from my face. Yet, still I stared, willing myself not to run.

  I was positive they all expected my reaction to be more volatile; maybe an outburst of tears, throwing the picture across the room, screaming some cuss words.

  There were only three issues they didn’t expect: I vowed never to let anyone see me cry, I viewed acts of rage child-like and I was no longer a child, and I couldn’t form the words to speak.

  All I could hear were the words of the woman the foster system forced me to live with after Mimi died, “Of course it’s your fault. You’re a whore.” I turned to flee and ran straight into Lucas’s arms.

  He held me for a moment. “This is about me, okay. I’ll take care of it.”

  He walked over to the biggest table where Candice and Troy were sitting. Troy stood up and pointed to the picture. “She likes long bubble baths, old movies, and lollipops. No wonder you’ve been hanging around. So, tell me, how great is it in those bubble baths?”

  Lucas stood, relaxed and unaffected as if it was simply another night out with friends. It was more terrifying than if he had shown the emotions I was sure he was experiencing. He leaned in and whispered something in Troy’s ear. Lucas’s expression turned murderous; Troy looked torn between crying and puking. Lucas took three steps back then rammed his fist into Troy’s face. Troy’s body bent in two.

  “You’re not worth it. None of you are,” Lucas said as Troy wiped blood from his nose.

  He grabbed my hand and led me out onto the parking lot, wiping Troy’s blood off his knuckles.

  “I’m sorry, precious. So, damn sorry.”

  If life had taught me anything, it was the sad fact that very few things were going to go my way and hardly anyone got a happily-ever-after. Life was hard, real, and even uglier. That was life, but it wasn’t one I could accept when it was those same hard facts effecting Annie.

  I paced back and forth. My hands automatically balled up into a fist at my side.

  “Calm down, it was a stupid prank. I’ve had worse things to happen to me.”

  So, damn sweet. It wasn’t the prank. It wasn’t even the idea that someone took the time to hurt someone like Annie. It was the fact they hurt her because of me. The very reason I swore I would never care for anyone because I could only cause them pain. But now that I had Annie in my life, I couldn’t let her go.

  “They hurt what is precious to me. How can I let that go?” I looked at Annie, forcing myself to calm down.

  “It was a stupid picture, not your bike,” she said and laughed the most artificial laugh.

  Really, she said that. Did she really believe that my bike even came close to her and the way I felt?

  I jerked her hand and pulled her over to the bike, dangling the key in my hand. “Drive it.”

  “I can’t drive this. I’ll wreck it.”

  “It’s only a piece of metal that will one day rust anyway. The only thing that matters is you.” I slung my leg over the seat and scooted back to give her room to hop on in front of me. “Plus, if you kill me, you have all those drawings to remember me by.”

  A small smile touched her lips. Damn, I’d put that smile on her face. She understood what I was trying to do. She was what I cared about. She was my precious. My more.

  Chapter 25

  Annie Prieto

  Lucas wrapped my hand around the lever on the Harley’s left handlebar. “The clutch,” he informed. The heavy bike wobbled underneath me. Lucas grabbed the handle, trying to steady the bike and me.

  “Are you sure? What if I kill us both?” I asked.

  “I could think of worse ways to die than having you between my legs,” he said and nestled my body tightly between his thighs.

  “Chill, I really don’t look like that picture.”

  He drilled over those words in his head. “No, you’re better.” He wrapped his hand around mine. “Ready, precious?”

  My stomach contorted strangely, and I was unaware if it was because of the fear of driving an inanimate hunk of metal or the way he was holding me. His arms were sealed around my waist as he worked his thumb back and forth over my hip.

  “Hold down the clutch.” Lucas caressed his fingers over mine and placed our joined hands over the clutch. “Don’t let go of the clutch, squeeze it as if our life depends on it because it does.”

  Then suddenly, he slammed his foot down on the pedal. There wa
s a short howling sound, and the force of the bike thrust under me. The bike started to rock, but Lucas caught the handle bars before we fell to the ground. “Lightly, let up on the throttle but not the clutch.”

  The bike rumbled like an angry woman in heat beneath me. I let out a breath I’d been holding for the last few minutes and twisted the right handle. The bike jerked forward slightly. “You got this, precious.”

  He used his left foot to adjust the bike into first gear. “Now ease up on the clutch.”