28. Azriel
Iheard her playing in the quad in the middle of my art history class. I could have taught this fucking class, so I wasn’t taking notes. This was an opportunity. I saw Misha’s text. I knew we agreed Misha would invite her, but there was no reason I couldn’t go talk to her.
I stood up and stalked walking out the class.
“Mr. Ivy, you cannot just walk out of my classroom!”
I tossed my middle finger over my shoulder and kept going.
He didn’t know I was leaving for good. I could have been going to take a piss.
What if I’d drank a big coffee before class?
I could get a UTI. I heard that was a thing.
I should get him fired for trying to assault my urinary tract. My dick was sacred.
I smiled. She was playing in front of the hot Lucifer statue. She’d met him, if just briefly, but she hadn’t figured out it was him. If I’d been the one to do that statue, I wouldn’t have gotten his nose and lips wrong. It was a shame he was such a nonce because he really was pretty.
She’d been playing for a while before I got Misha’s text.
It was cold as fuck out here and she’d dressed for the video and not the weather.
Harlowe played one more song and then dove for her coat.
She started throwing layers on and went to grab her gear.
I let myself be known and stepped around the statue.
“So, I’m not a musician, but I sleep with a talented, sexy one and pay attention. You should use the last song you were clearly suffering through because you decided to be sexy instead of practical in this weather,” I said, hopping on the base of the statue.
I was sure Lucifer was going to find it sacrilegious that my beautiful arse befouled his precious statue, but my arse was easily as nice as Misha’s, even if I wasn’t a ballet dancer. He should be grateful I was rubbing it all over his statue because it was the closest he was ever getting to it.
Damn it. She looked alarmed instead of turned on. Some of the plebs must have been sharing stories without context. Orion gave her the basics why I was fucking with Belinda in rehearsal and he said the AI photos grossed her out too.
“To what do I owe the pleasure? If you’re mad I talked to Misha, I didn’t know he was already feeding the cats.”
I jumped off the statue, but I rubbed my butthole on it one more time for good measure.
“I don’t own Misha and he can talk to whoever he wants.
I only have a problem when Misha doesn’t want to talk to someone and they don’t back off.
He would have walked away if he didn’t want to talk to you.
You spilled your coffee on yourself when he ran into your friend trying to flee the dining hall, so I’m almost certain if someone doesn’t want to have a conversation with you, you aren’t going to try to force them to stay. ”
“Is he okay? I know it’s not my business, but I know what a panic attack looks like when it’s about to start.”
“Do you know the dirty history of ballet?”
“I took dance history as an elective in undergrad, but I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”
It was Misha’s story to tell, but if she was going to be working with us, she needed to know.
I wasn’t going to give her all the details because she’d probably never work with us, but I could give her the basics.
I didn’t particularly think she’d do anything to set him off, but better safe than sorry.
“So, dance doesn’t pay well and for the most part, it doesn’t pay year round.
Sets and costumes are expensive, but a ballet dancer goes through an insane amount of pointe shoes and those aren’t cheap.
Ask Rue how many she’s been through just this week since I’ve seen you hanging out and she’s nice. It’s probably at least three or four.
“There is a long sordid history, and it’s even made the news recently, but basically, if you’ve got rich arseholes with more money than morals and a bunch of nubile dancers without it, you can blackmail the dancers with less money if they give the rich arseholes whatever they want.
“That was Misha’s life before we met him and he was a favorite for that.
He’s totally fine in most crowds, and he would be fine here if we weren’t famous.
They talk about us like we’re slabs of beef and they don’t care if we can hear them.
Orion and I are on stage during our shows, but Misha is the focal point since he’s dancing.
Plus, he dances like that. You can’t take your eyes off him.
We usually don’t go to the dining hall because of the gross things Misha has to hear.
It sets him off and reminds him of things he wants to forget. It was stupid to even go that night.”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. Oh, she was mad, and I liked that.
“Well, if it was your idea, why did you bring him and if it was his, why didn’t you talk him out of it? I have no idea how much therapy he’s had to deal with that, but you can’t control the situation in the dining hall, so don’t bring him there, dumbass.”
I had to resist the urge to adjust my semi because there were only a few people that would call me out like that and I’d slept with all of them. I gave her a deep bow.
“It was a momentary lapse that won’t happen again. We are protective of every bit of Misha. That wasn’t why I came out here. I have a business proposal. You don’t have to say yes, just hear me out.”
“Can I hear you out inside where there’s heating, no snow, and hopefully coffee? The cold isn’t good for my violin and I’ve been out here too long already. I really shouldn’t have played in the snow in the first place and I had it timed to get out here and get back in.”
I was botching this. I didn’t know the first thing about violins, just that if you had one at her level, they cost more than a car.
I’d been coming up with a plan to watch Isobel in case she decided to go for Harlowe’s violin like I heard her throw out and here I was keeping her in the cold and possibly damaging her violin.
“Come to my art studio? I have a coffee machine in there capable of brewing an entire pot of coffee so strong, you see noises and a mini fridge with an assortment of creamers because I like the American way of making your coffee taste like a sugar cookie caramel abomination.”
“You’re speaking my language.”
I grabbed her gear because I knew there was no way she wanted me touching her violin. I knew she was a muse. Her music inspired me, but she also wasn’t afraid to challenge me.
And I never invited anyone to my studio except Orion and Misha. It slipped right off my tongue without even thinking about it when I asked her to come.