Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twent y
Emberli
“Y ou barely spoke to me the entire night!” I yell. Elijah launches his guitar at the wall and I watch as it smashes.
Anger.
Guilt.
Sadness.
When did we get to this point?
What about me?
It’s one more frequent question I find myself asking of late. The piece of me I pushed so far away to accommodate Elijah instead of myself.
“Just stop!” He shouts. “Stop!”
“No! This isn’t fair, Elijah. This…”
“It’s not all about you, Emberli.”
“You ignored me the entire night.”
“I was catching up with friends. Do you realize how fucking stupid you sound?”
“You have to move your body like it has no bones.” Alec, our salsa dance instructor, reenacts his entire body relaxing as he body rolls the air.
“Oh my God.” Thayne grumbles next to me and I elbow his ribs to keep him quiet.
I’d signed up for salsa lessons which Thayne had refused to come to, something about keeping his reputation around the town. And then I realized that I’d signed up for a couples lesson and when it was too late to refund the money, I mentioned him asking his brothers if one of them would come. And now we’re here.
“And you do not want to raise your feet so high off the ground. We like the ground. We stay on the ground.” Alec claps his hands at the small group of us who sit on the bleachers in the high school gymnasium. The entire place reeks of old equipment, band aids and a suffocating amount of body odor. It gives me flashbacks to years of physical education and numerous attempts to get out of it at any extent possible. I was, and still am, not an athletic person.
“Now, today we are going to start with some basic moves, such as forward and back and side to side.” Alec instructs, demonstrating the movements he wants us to learn before clapping his hands again. “Join me on the dance floor.”
“Does he know it’s not a dance floor?”
I shush Thayne, who finds this entire set up highly amusing.
“Okay people! Stand in front of your partners and connect with them. Really look them in the eye. Dancing with a partner is intimate.”
Thayne perks an eyebrow at me just as he mirrors my stance. I can’t hold my grin at how unamused he looks. I feel even better knowing that he only came because I offered to go with one of his brothers instead.
His eyes dart around the room at the other couples just as Alec’s hand falls on his shoulder.
“You cannot find what you’re looking for anywhere else. Focus on your partner. She is very beautiful.”
I swear Thayne’s lip curls into a wolf-like snarl before his eyes fixate on me.
“You want to connect with your partner, Mr. Rawlins. Not eat them.”
Thayne’s fist clench and Alec takes this as a sign to shuffle away.
“You can’t threaten the dance instructor.” I told him.
“I didn’t.”
“You just did, without words.”
As hot as the man in front of me was, I did not want him to screw this up. Learning how to salsa was something I’d wanted to do for a while, yet never had or made the time to do it.
“Okay. Now I want you to tell your partner one thing you love about them.”
“Is he fucking serious?” Thayne barks out, earning a few looks from the other couples who appear willing, unlike Thayne.
“Will you shut up?” I whisper.
“I thought we came to dance. Not have a fucking therapy lesson.”
“Yeah well, you could do with one.”
Thayne chuckles at this, wrapping his arm around my waist as Alec instructed.
Focus on the class? Vanished.
“I’m sorry. I’ll take this more seriously.” Genuinity consumes him and I find myself drowning once again in his stare.
He’s got to know that one look from him sends more than half of the town thirsting for him. Hasn’t he?
I definitely feel more smug than I should about the fact that Thayne is here with me.
It was no secret that Thayne was one of the most eligible bachelors in town, which is why there’s a woman down the dance line glaring daggers at me despite dancing with her husband who rigidly throws some questionable moves out in front of her.
“So what do you love about me, Superman?”
Thayne purses his lips together in thought. “I love your voice.”
“Awww.” An elderly lady coos next to us, obviously eavesdropping on our conversation .
“Sorry. That’s just adorable.” It really is.
Thayne has absolutely no fucking business looking this good and complimenting the way he does - even though that’s part of the exercise. My cheeks warm at his flattery.
“You know what this one said to me?” The lady nods at her husband who only rolls his eyes. “That I cook nice parsnips. That’s what he said. Nice parsnips.”
“Hell, what do you want me to say, Mary?”
“You should know what to say, Derek. I shouldn’t have to tell you!”
Damn straight, you tell him lady!
I’m suddenly hit with a bundle of battle flashbacks with Elijah. He’s not here, but he haunts me everywhere, even now. I’m over him. But I don’t think I’ll ever get over what he put me through and the way he changed my mindset about myself for the worst. It dawns on me that Thayne and I are the only “couple” here who seem relatively sane. Which says a lot.
Mary and Derek continue their squabble over Alec’s praises of approval as he makes his way down the line of learners.
“What do you like about me?” Thayne asks, stepping back just as I step forward, copying Alec’s movement as he steals Mary to demonstrate how we should be dancing.
Thayne and I are a pair of stiff and awkward beings, who don’t dance nearly as well as the others around us.
But that’s not why I came here anyway, I came to learn and have fun. And right now, I was having exactly that with Thayne by my side.
“I like how you put all the glasses on the bottom shelf.”
“You noticed that, huh?”
“I notice a lot of things about you.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like how much you care for your family.”
Thayne’s cut off just as Alec swoops in, taking my hands in his before he leads us backwards and to the side before swirling me around in a circle. I try not to laugh at the sour expression painted on Thayne’s face that he doesn’t even attempt to hide.
The death stare he burns into the back of Alec’s head is undeniably hot and yet somewhat alarming. Until it’s not, and Alec drops my hand, sauntering over to Thayne.
“Your lady has nice moves, Mr. Rawlins. But you should work on releasing all of that tension that is in your shoulders.” Alec releases me before capering over to Thayne, kneading his palms into the man who looks as if he’s contemplating murder. “I can help you with that if you like.”
My eyes widen behind Alec, who is so obvious in flirting with my dance partner.
“No thanks.” Thayne grouches. “I’m fine with tension.”
“Whatever you say, manimal.”
***
“It is not funny,” grunts Thayne from the driver's seat as he drives us back to the ranch.
“Whatever you say, manimal.” I wheeze and throw my head back in laughter once again.
“You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?”
“The funniest.” I sigh. “God. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
“Well I’m glad that our dance instructor hitting on me is entertainment for you.”
“We should do that again.” I suggest.
“Fine. But we’re changing instructors.”
“Agreed. Personally I think your moves are next level. Alec was just intimidated.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better? ”
“Possibly. Is it working?”
“Weirdly, yeah.”
For someone who didn’t care much for others’ opinions, he’d certainly taken an interest in mine and I didn’t mind it one bit. I’d found myself interested in his thoughts too. I would do anything to be in his brain for an hour or two. To see life the way that he does. Maybe see what he thinks of me whilst I’m at it.
Only earlier I had written out some new lyrics and the first thing I wanted to do was show Thayne to see what he thinks of them. I was drawn to him in a way I never thought I could be again, and although it was terrifying, it was also electrifying.
I felt as if Thayne Rawlins was bringing me back to life.