Chapter 8 #2
Armand blew a kiss to Edward, and walked Scarlet out of the office, to the reception area where Alex was sitting on one of the lush couches, with his cell phone to his ear.
Alex turned to them and got up, giving whoever was on the phone a quick, “Talk later.”
Armand kept his arm around Scarlet as he led her down the hall toward the main studio. Alex kept his distance behind them.
There was buzz around North Pointe of the recent news. As she walked past other dancers, she heard hushed whispers, and couldn’t help but notice their eyes follow her.
Fantastic, she thought. The new waves of attention weren’t as welcome as she’d hoped. On top of the prima buzz, she was officially branded a victim. She knew news spread fast— especially if Victoria Delaney’s name was involved.
She heard someone’s low talking. “I heard she escaped, like MacGyver style.”
“I heard it’s the Russian mob,” someone responded.
“The Russian mob is in San Francisco?”
Scarlet desperately wanted to get to rehearsal so she could at least attempt to hide.
At the first intersection of hallways, Armand stopped and let go of her arm. “I need to make a quick detour. I’ll see you in the studio.”
Scarlet clutched her bag tighter as Armand floated off. She threw a quick acknowledgment to Alex, who wasn’t keeping as much distance as she would like.
“So.” She teetered on her heels. “I have to go to rehearsal now.”
“I know,” he responded. “I have your schedule.”
“Right.” She blushed. “Of course you do… So…”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I have to be in there today because Edward wants me to talk to the dancers about the new safety precautions. Most days, I’ll go on rounds and keep myself busy while you practice.”
Scarlet’s first thought was she didn’t want him to keep busy while she practiced. It surprised her to realize she wanted him to see her dance, but she couldn’t tell him that. Scarlet was still hesitant to trust Alex, but the more glances she stole, the more flutters she felt in her chest.
“Okay.” She managed a tight smile, turned, and continued on her way to the spacious dance studio known as Studio A. The walls were high, as were the windows and mirrors that surrounded it. Dancers were scattered about, going through their warm-up routines, their bags and belongings strewn about.
A few conversations came to a halt as Scarlet entered the room. She plastered a smile on her face, waved at a few people, and made a beeline for Nora, who sat stretching near the window.
“How’s it going?” Nora asked.
“About as well as can be expected,” Scarlet answered.
She watched Alex keep to the other side of the room where the speakers and piano rested, joining five other men who were also dressed in casual suits.
“You think they all need to be in here at once?” Nora brought her leg to her chest in a stretch and nodded to the men. “How much trouble can you and the Principles get into practicing your pas de bourrées?”
Scarlet watched the men for a moment. Alex looked the friendliest with two men who seemed to have years and experience on the rest. The first, a shorter, muscular Black man with an easy smile.
The second, tall and thin with silver and gray hair.
Alex cracked a smile and shook his head as the taller man gestured to the piano.
“They’re supposed to give us a safety lecture or something,” Scarlet answered. “Clear the air so people aren’t just rampantly gossiping.”
“This is ballet,” Nora said. “We survive only on rampant gossip and the tears of our enemies.”
Scarlet let out a laugh that echoed out into the room making the rest of the dancers stop and stare. She quickly brought her hand up to her mouth as Nora grinned at her.
“Glad you’re still you,” she said. “I was worried the whole kidnapping thing would mess with your head.”
The attention in the room seemed to shift to her as Scarlet continued to chuckle, but she ignored it. Instead, her gaze rested across the room once more.
Now, Alex spoke directly to the shorter man who kept pointing to the screen of the iPad he held.
The small group looked drastically out of place in the studio filled with ballet dancers.
Not all of them were built like Alex. It was a rather motley crew of men, but they all knew how to dress.
Alex stood out as the definite leader. Scarlet smiled as she watched him.
Her attention was still on Alex when she felt a presence tower over her. The sound of a throat clearing made her look up.
Victoria Delaney stared down at her, flanked by her two friends, Lily Bennington and Sonja Dean. All three women were poster children for what a perfect ballerina should look like, down to their perfectly placed buns. They were all principal dancers.
Scarlet and Nora both got to their feet. Around them, dancers not-so-subtly began to shift their attention and gather around. Scarlet did her best to straighten herself up to her full height, which was just below Victoria’s nose.
“Listen.” Victoria’s eyes locked with Scarlet’s. “We’re all adults here. I’m sure we can agree that spreading rumors isn’t very classy.”
“Not that you would know much about class, Delaney.” Nora smirked.
Victoria looked over at her and smiled sweetly. “I’m sorry, Brevic, which one of us was born in a communist country? Not me.”
Nora crossed her arms in front of her and threw a sneer to the tall redhead. “I’ll have you know it’s been twenty-five years since Croatia said yes to democracy—two months before I was born. You, on the other hand, use a language coach to hide your Jersey accent, so suck it.”
Scarlet had to smile at Nora’s quip. No one liked Victoria, but most of the dancers usually bowed to her if only just to avoid confrontation. Not Nora.
“Anyway,” Victoria said pointedly. “We all know what happened last night, and the word is, I had something to do with it.”
“You didn’t,” Scarlet said.
Victoria’s open mouth closed, and she hesitated.
Nora glanced at Scarlet and dropped her hands back to her sides.
“I get it,” Scarlet went on. “You’re upset, and you don’t like me … but that doesn’t make you some crazy villain.” She looked around at the other dancers, raising her voice. “So, we can just stop all the rumors right now.”
Victoria placed her hands on her hips. “Thank you,” she replied curtly.
What Victoria wanted was to look like the better person, and Scarlet had beaten her to it. Judging from Victoria’s tone, she hadn’t liked the interjection.
Victoria and her friends turned in their pointe shoes and retreated to their warm-up places. The rest of the gathering crowd dispersed, until only Logan was left, eyeing his two friends critically.
“Hooray! I got here just in time for Miss Vic’s empty gratitude,” he said.
“Note that she didn’t apologize,” Nora said to Scarlet. “You know, for threatening you. What a fake.”
“It’s fine,” Scarlet said. Her attention shifted back to Alex, who was watching her. When their eyes met, he didn’t look away.
Logan grabbed the barre on the mirrored wall and leaned in close to Scarlet’s ear. “That bodyguard of yours will not keep his eyes off you,” he said.
Scarlet looked down at her feet. “That’s his job, Logan.”
“Uh, no, sweetheart,” Logan said. “I know that look in a man’s eyes, and there’s definitely something more than moral duty behind his.”
Scarlet let out a huff of air.
Nora chuckled. “I can’t believe that in the course of two days, your life has gone from Reality Bites to the Terminator.”
“Actually, the guy is kind of a dick,” Scarlet said. “So, drop it.”
Logan nudged Nora. “She’s calling him names. Maybe she’ll ask us to go pass him a love note at lunch break.”
Scarlet shook her head, and stretched. She extended her arm back so she could steal another glance at Alex. This time, his eyes broke away the moment she made eye contact. He shook his head and pulled out his cell phone.
Scarlet pursed her lips, and brought her legs up to her chest. Her feelings became tangled in Logan’s comment.
There’s something more behind his eyes…
The jolt of excitement from the night before had officially turned into a fluttering stomach.
Scarlet wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.