The Price of Mason

by Linda Kage

  “Okay.” Suppressing the need to shudder in delight, I watched my own fingers rest on the top-most swell of her lush hips. Damn, she had one sweet body.

  “I’ll start the count,” she added, glancing up at me questionably. I nodded, letting her know that was fine. She nodded back. “Alright, so our first step will be on the beginning number one of the second set. Sound good to you?”

  I shrugged. “Sure.”

  She smiled big and started to count. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One…”

  We both stepped forward…right onto the other’s feet.

  “Oh, God! Sorry,” she cried, hopping back, just as I jerked away, muttering, “Shit. My bad.”

  “I think one of us was supposed to step backward while the other stepped forward.” She went back to the phone and started over.

  I glanced over her shoulder and pointed. “Looks like the guy was supposed to step forward.” I was smugly happy to notice the first mistake hadn’t been mine after all. Thank God.

  “Yeah, about that…” Nia winced up at me before asking, “Do you mind if I lead?”

  I lifted a brow, not saying anything. And she kept talking.

  “The thing is, I’m learning this dance for my mom, so I should rightly be filling in my dad’s place, meaning…” She let the words die off before she continued, “And since all you need to learn is how to keep your balance and coordination, it doesn’t matter so much whose role you fill, so… This would be a win-win for both of us. Right?”

  I nodded once, but all I could seem to say was, “You want me to be the girl?”

  On a regretful cringe, she bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Yes. Would you? Please.”

  Why not? I wanted to mutter while throwing my hands up in defeat. I was already being subjected to dance, which was not my thing because I was so bad at it. We might as well make my humiliation complete by taking away my guy part, too. Sure.

  Nia just kept waiting for me to give in, so I mumbled, “I guess. That’s fine.”

  “Great!” A smile bloomed across her face. “Thank you so much for agreeing to this. You have no idea how much it means to me.”

  I nodded, unable to say anything because I was still a little put out, even though I liked her smile, and I really liked being the one to put it on her face. Then she moved closer as she started the video again, and that was even nicer. She smelled good, like warm honey and vanilla, which made me more agreeable when she suggested we try again after watching the first five steps about three more times.

  “Yeah. I think I got it this time.”

  Reaching for her hip, I sucked in air, letting my chest swell as I nodded to let her know I was ready.

  On our second attempt, we made it through the first step, her shifting forward as I moved back. And then we followed it smoothly with the second step. Then I fucked it up on the third, and she followed me by going in the wrong direction on the fourth.

  We laughed together and started over.

  The third try didn’t go any easier than the second. But we made it through the first eight steps without a problem on the fourth attempt.

  High-fiving, we cheered and congratulated each other, only to mess up on the first step of our fifth try.

  “Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a long hour?” Nia asked, setting her hands on her thighs and bending at the waist to blow out a breath when we parted for a quick break.

  “I’m just glad you really do suck as much as I do.” This would’ve been so much more painful otherwise.

  Realizing that could be taken wrong, my eyes widened as I lifted a hand. “No offense.”

  Laughing, she waved my concerns aside. “None taken. Trust me.”

  She watched as I ran through the steps by myself. “Are you supposed to watch your feet when you do that?”

  I shrugged. “Probably not.” So I tried to grin up at her as I zipped through them again, only to trip myself up, stumble to the side, and nearly fall on my ass.

  Nia burst out laughing. Clutching her stomach, she shook her head. “Oh my God, that was classic.”

  “And that’s what I do every day in practice too.”

  Before she could answer, Skylar rushed forward, interrupting us. “I know what you need,” she announced as if having just figured out the biggest secret in the universe. “Some footwork drills.”

  “Gee, you think,” I muttered dryly. “But every time we do ladders in football practice, I just trip and mess everyone else up.”

  “That’s because you’re rushing to keep up with them,” my sister said, rolling her eyes as she spread a jump rope she’d grabbed from somewhere out on the floor. “You need to go at your own pace until you’re ready to pick things up a little. It’s not that you can’t do it or that it’s impossible to catch up with the others; it’s just that you’re trying to start out way too advanced than you should. Here. We’ll turn them into dance drills. Face each other.”

  She nudged Nia and me over to stand next to one side of the rope, and then she manually put my hands back on Nia’s hips. “Now, you’ll jump from one side of the rope to the other with Nia jumping forward and Julian going backward. Go as slowly as you need to at first. And the more secure you feel with that speed, then pick it up and go a little faster the next time.”

  And then she was gone again, returning to the world of jetés and pliés.

  Nia and I looked at each other. “She’s kind of like a whirlwind, isn’t she?”

  I could only shake my head. “You have no idea. She doesn’t even stop moving in her sleep. I get exhausted just watching her.”

  Nia laughed, and I decided I liked making her laugh. She had a good laugh.

  Once we got started jumping over the line of the rope, we thought we’d set a nice easy speed, until she tripped and fell into me, her face landing in the center of my chest.

  “Whoa there.” Laughing, I caught her against me. “You okay?”

  “Yep. Just peachy,” came the muffled answer. I swear she took extra-long to look up at me because she was sniffing my shirt. When she finally did, she cringed. “Should we slow it down even more?”

  “Sure.” Skylar had said to go as slow as we needed to. And since I got to be this close to my suck buddy, I didn’t care how fast we moved.

  After we started over, we made it through the length of the rope without either of us tripping once. We might’ve gone at a snails speed but, by God, we made it. So we tried it again, going a little faster, only to have to slow it back down once more.

  Meanwhile, we cracked jokes about getting passed by turtles and growing grass. Nia had just laughed about something I’d said and was leaning against my chest, giggling, when she pulled back, squinting at something behind me.

  “Um… Do you know those women? I think they’re watching you.”

  “What?” I jerked around, only to groan, “Oh, hell, no,” and spin back to her, pressing my hand to my forehead as I closed my eyes.

  “I take that to mean you do know them?” Nia sounded amused.

  “Nope,” I said. “Never seen them before. They’re definitely not my mom and Aunt Reese, that’s for damn sure.”

  Nia laughed. “Really? Which one’s your mom?”

  “The blonde one,” I muttered on a resigned sigh before glancing back to see if they were still there.

  When they grinned and waved, I lifted my hands in a “what the hell are you doing?” gesture, and they took that as an invitation to hurry over and give me a hug.

  “Sorry,” my mom gushed, wrapping her arms around me and smooshing her lips against my cheek. “We were just dropping Chloe and Bella off for their tap dance class and wanted to peek in to see how you were doing.” She pinched my cheek. “I can’t believe my baby boy’s taking his first dance class. This is so exciting.”

  “Seriously,” I said, lifting my hand and backing away. “Don’t ever do that again.” I was not a cheek-pinching kind of guy. At all.

  Mom merely laughed and
turned to Nia. “Hi, I’m Eva. This is my cousin, Reese. You guys look so cute together. What’s your name?”

  Strangely, Nia seemed charmed by my adoptive mother. She introduced herself and even patiently answered a rush of intrusive questions about herself that I hadn’t even thought to inquire about yet; although I gotta admit having a snoopy mom had its perks. In thirty seconds, I learned Nia was the same age as me, had just moved to a new neighborhood with her mom and would be attending the same school with me as soon as summer break was over, and her biggest wish after high school was to open a new hair salon with her mother.

  When Skylar noticed Mom and Aunt Reese loitering, she chased them off and forced me and Nia to continue with our footwork drills.

  By the time our hour was over, Nia and I were adept at jumping over a rope, two feet at a time, at the speed of a super-fast sloth.

  “So…” Biting her lip, Nia sent me a coy smile. “Think you’ll come back for the next class?”

  If it gave me the chance to touch her again, hell yes, I’d be back. Unlike Coach, I wasn’t so certain dance class was going to make me a better football player, but if it made him happy and gave me more time with my suck buddy, I could keep doing this, no problem.

  Chapter Four

  Nia

  Four weeks passed. Julian and I practiced three evenings a week, an hour each session. Some days we made some actual progress, and some days it felt as if we were worse than when we’d started this impossible mission. But one thing never wavered: the chemistry that steadily grew between us.

  I started wearing tighter, skimpier workout clothes. He put on a little cologne before class. My eyes lingered on him; his hands lingered on me. And we talked nonstop whenever we were together. We’d laugh, we’d argue, we’d flirt. And yet, when the hour was over, we’d go our separate ways and have no other contact with each other whatsoever until the next class.

  Because of that, I didn’t want to put too much hope into whatever I felt like was growing between us, but the hope kind of blossomed anyway. I just couldn’t help it. I liked Julian. I liked him a lot.

  So when I walked into class for what was supposed to be our last practice together, since he’d be trying out for the team the next day and I’d be surprising my mom with her special anniversary dance the day after that, I was equal parts excited to see him and equal parts sad. I didn’t want this to be our last day together.

  I mean, I knew we would be going to the same school this next year—which was a relief to realize I’d actually know someone there—but I still wanted to keep spending time with him like we did in class. You know, close-contact kind of time. I was trying to boost myself into asking him if he’d want to go on an actual date with me, practicing the words in my head, when I glanced up and saw him talking to another girl.

  Leticia Marsh was one of Skylar’s friends and another fabulous dancer who volunteered at the academy, teaching a class to younger kids as well. She was also tall and slim like Skylar, which made me wrinkle my nose bitterly as she laughed at something Julian said, leaning in toward him intimately as she touched his arm.

  “You’re so funny,” she told him, her voice carrying across the room and making me roll my eyes.

  Ha ha, you’re so lame, I muttered in my head, projecting my sour thoughts her way, wishing diarrhea or something on her. Even though I felt like the lame one because I was growing jealous of some girl for merely talking to the guy I liked. Insecure much, I asked myself.

  Turning away, I plopped onto the floor and started my stretching exercises while Julian and Leticia talked on, oblivious to my presence. They didn’t stop until a couple of six-year-olds entered, talking loudly enough to interrupt them.

  “Well, I guess I better let you start your warm-ups,” Leticia told Julian with a regretful smile as she touched his arm yet again before slowly backing away. “And let me know if you ever change your mind about getting together and doing something some time.”

  “Will do,” Julian answered pleasantly, waving her away and watching her until she disappeared from the room.

  When he finally turned my way, his face registered surprise before it broke into a smile. “Hey!” He jogged over. “I didn’t see you come in.”

  “Hmm,” I answered bitterly, focusing on stretching my arm across my chest and holding my elbow in place. “Yeah, you looked pretty occupied.”

  “Oh.” He seemed a little taken aback by the ice in my voice before he pointed toward the doorway. “Yeah, that was one of my sister’s friends. We’ve known her since forever.”

  I nodded. “She’s pretty.”

  He shrugged. “I guess.”

  Silence flowered between us, and it was an awkward uncomfortable silence at that, one we hadn’t experienced since the first few days of class. Julian sat next to me, but instead of starting his own warm-up stretches, he scratched the back of his neck. “So, this is the last day of class for both of us.”

  “Yep,” I answered emotionlessly.

  He nodded. “It’s strange. It was the very last thing I wanted to do, and yet…now I’m going to miss it.” His gaze shifted my way, and it seemed to say, I’m going to miss you. But that was probably just a stupid, hopeful wish on my part.

  Sighing, I glanced his way and murmured a quiet, “Yeah.” I was going to miss it too.

  When he opened his mouth, I held my breath, wishing he’d ask to see me again, but his sister breezed into the room, a flurry of excitement, clapping her hands and bubbling with praise as she thanked all the students for being in her class throughout the summer. As she talked on about how much she was going to miss everyone and how proud she was of us, Julian scooted across the floor closer to me, hissing, “Hey.”

  I glanced over and caught his concerned look as he mouthed the words, “You okay?”

  No, I wanted to weep. I was so far and gone away from okay it was pathetic. I didn’t want to say goodbye to him, and I wanted to keep seeing him outside class, but now I was too insecure and afraid to ask after seeing Leticia—the beautiful, fabulous dancer—basically just ask him out.

  Shrugging, I said, “I’m fine.”

  His brows furrowed, letting me know he was confused by my response, probably because my body language said one thing while my mouth said another.

  “Julian,” his sister called, breaking into our moment. “Nia. I think I left my box of awards in the supply closet. Do you think you two could go fetch it for me? I’m not sure exactly where I left it so you might have to search a while.”

  When her brother zipped her a short frown, she sent him a meaningful look before darting her gaze my way. They seemed to have a silent sibling-type argument to which Julian must’ve lost because he huffed out an aggravated breath and jerked to his feet, muttering, “Fine.”

  He stormed toward the closed door of the supply closet, only to pause when he reached it so he could wait on me to enter first. As soon as I stepped inside, I spotted the box full of certificates and little presents wrapped in neat bows sitting on a cart in the center of the room.

  “Uh… Aren’t these the awards right here?”

  I turned back, jumping when Julian closed the door behind himself, closing us alone inside the closet.

  He shook his head slowly, beginning to smile. “You know, I don’t think my sister’s ever played wing woman for me before but I gotta admit, I like it.”

  I blinked at him, utterly confused. “What?”

  He took his hand off the doorknob and stepped toward me. “She knows I like you, so she just gave us an excuse to have a moment alone together so I could tell you that.”

  “She…” I swallowed, pretty sure I was hearing things. Shaking my head, I gulped. “But… You can’t.”

  His lips quirked with amusement. “I can’t what? Can’t steal a moment alone with you, tell you I like you, or I can’t like you, period?”

  “What about Leticia?” I blurted, feeling like a moron as soon as I spoke the words. Because, honestly, I didn’t care a lick ab
out Leticia. If Julian wanted to tell me he liked me, I was all for it.

  Julian paused and cocked his head to the side. “What about her?”

  “Well, I just sat out there and watched as she basically asked you out.”

  “Then, you must’ve also been sitting there and watching when I basically turned her down,” Julian countered, arching an eyebrow and grinning mischievously. Then he stepped toward me again. “Turns out, I have my eye on someone else. Someone shorter, and curvier, and pretty much the only girl I can actually dance with.”

  My breath caught, and the hope inside me exploded into a shower of euphoria. “Really?” I asked, still not daring to believe what I was hearing.

  “Really,” he murmured, slipping his finger under my chin so I’d lift my face for him. Then he pressed his mouth to mine, and life suddenly became amazing. I clutched the front of his shirt as he cupped my face and deepened the contact.

  Chapter Five

  Julian

  So, I made the football team.

  It was the most embarrassing tryouts of my life, but also the most awesome. Even though no other player’s family showed up to watch, my entire family did, and when I say entire, I mean even extended members, like my mom’s cousin’s sister-in-law’s six-year-old daughter, Haven, along with her parents, Sarah and Brandt, and Aunt Reese herself, sitting next to Uncle Mason and their twins, and just everyone. Yeah, little Haven might also be the coach’s niece, but still… They all sat with my family in the bleachers and clapped, hollering encouragingly whenever it was my turn to run the fifty-yard dash or throw the ball. Skylar had made signs that said shit like “You can do it, Julian,” and all my siblings and cousins held them up to cheer me on.

  It kind of made me a little emotional. I’d come a long way from being that abandoned baby, left with a stepdad who didn’t know shit about kids. Made me love my crazy, huge concoction of relatives all the more. I glanced up at everyone, focusing on my parents as Dad slung his arm around Mom’s shoulders and rested his temple against hers in a prideful way only parents did when watching their kid succeed at something. And I spotted my nine-year-old brother, Trick, as he flirted with Nia, and—wait!