Chapter 20 Shaken #2
As I looked into his eyes, I knew we had this down. There was such a strong connection between us that even the slightest falter was so easily covered by the other.
The turns whipped out quickly, and Preston tossed me just a tad higher than in our private rehearsals. His hands felt so confident and possessive on my waist, like he owned every inch of my body—our trust in each other was completely solid.
We reached the final diagonal, where normally we’d be tired, but there was a surge of energy between us.
The hand transitions were executed so smoothly between us that there was extra time to push out another pirouette.
The choreography had hoped for two, we’d been practicing three, today we executed four flawlessly.
After one more hand grab, he reached and pulled me in, slamming me down right on his thigh for the final pose…except he pulled me with so much momentum, my body kept moving, bowling us over onto the floor as the music ended.
Collapsed on top of each other, we burst out laughing as we scrambled to recover.
“I’m sorry, that was my fault.” Preston got off the floor and helped me up. “I pulled her too hard to my knee.”
For a split second, I braced for snickers or whispers. But instead, applause broke out—and I exhaled in relief, laughing with Preston like we’d meant to fall all along.
Half the room started to cheer and clapped their approval, while the other half sat in silence, stunned, not knowing how to react to our number. I looked at Demetrius, who was nodding in approval at me, his eyes alight with fire. Isaac covered his smile and winked at me playfully.
Not too bad, I thought as I breathed a sigh of relief. Even with a fall to the floor at the end, we seemed to be on the right track.
Preston and I took our place as we would after the duet. Next, the lead couple needed to acknowledge us with a bow, and then we could leave the stage.
Adrienne walked up and stood before us. She avoided making eye contact with me as we bowed to each other. Then Preston escorted me offstage, and our part of the show was done.
The rehearsal continued as Preston and I sat back on the side, quietly laughing to each other.
“I’m so sorry. I pulled you too hard, thinking I could stop you,” he whispered in my ear.
“It’s fine. We should end like that every show,” I joked to him as Lukas sat down next to us, flipping through his camera pictures.
“I’m going to frame this,” he whispered. On his camera was a picture of me fallen on my backside with Preston toppled over, on top of me.
“You live for these moments, don’t you?” Preston jokingly shoved Lukas aside.
“When you’re both famous, I’ll use these photos to keep you humble.” He clicked to another. “Here’s a better one if you want to look at yourselves in a perfect light.”
This picture showed Preston and me smiling at each other at the top of a lift. There was so much energy alive in the photo, it was hard not to smile and appreciate Lukas’s ability to capture the moment.
“That’s awesome. Can we frame this?” Preston leaned over. “I want this for my room.”
“I’ll have to charge,” Lukas joked before leaving us and returning to his spot.
Not too bad of a run, I thought as I smiled at Millie and the rest of the corps, all giving me thumbs up and silent applause.
***
After we all practiced the final bows for the show, rehearsals concluded for the day, much to my relief. My feet were aching, my back was sore, and I had a growing headache from the constant brave face I had to wear.
I sat under the side barre near my ballet bag and slowly untied my pointe shoe ribbons, unwrapping them from around my ankle.
“Oof!” Millie exclaimed, dropping down next to me. “My feet are killing me!”
“I hear that!” I laughed, pulling my feet out of my pointe shoes. “Which mate do you think I can get to massage my tired feet?”
“Oh, definitely Preston, probably Dem,” Millie smiled as we both glanced at Preston and Dem talking together at the front of the room. “You might have to sweet-talk Lukas.”
“Isaac?” I shot Millie a knowing glance. We both shook our heads, laughing at what exactly Isaac would say about rubbing my feet.
“He’d probably demand you rub his,” Millie shook her head, still laughing as she pulled her shoes off.
“No doubt,” I replied. “And I probably would too. I’m pretty sure that man could get me to do anything he wanted.”
I picked up my pointe shoes and gave each of them a small bend.
“Those look pretty dead,” Millie said.
I sighed with a nod. Pointe shoes only really lasted so long, depending on the dancer and the strength of their feet. Every few weeks, I needed to replace mine, which meant sewing on the ribbons and elastics on each new pair.
“Looks like I’ll be sewing shoes this weekend,” I said, standing up off the floor as I watched Lukas walk over to me. Turning to face him, I said, “I need to grab new shoes, then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Sounds good, I’ll wait down here for you,” he replied, rubbing my arm slightly. “Great job today, both of you.”
“Thanks!” Millie laughed. “I really feel like I stood out amongst the other eleven girls dancing around me.”
“You did to me,” I smiled. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you!”
We both turned our attention back to Lukas as I batted my eyelashes at him. “Lukas, my feet are pretty sore. Would you give me a foot rub tonight?”
Lukas snorted, amused by my question. “Sorry love, you’ll have to beg me harder than that, especially when Preston would so eagerly do it.”
“Oh,” I said, letting my face drop to a look of disappointment. “I see.”
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Lukas said, rolling his eyes.
“Wow, you four are so cooked already,” Millie laughed as we turned and gave each other a high five. Lukas pursed his lips together as he shook his head at me.
With a wave goodbye to a few people around us, Millie and I took off for the dancer’s lounge where the extra pointe shoes were stored. There was a twinge of anxiety in me as I proceeded into the lounge; the last time I was in this room was the day everyone had discovered I was the pack’s omega.
A lot of dancers were either lounging about, gathering their things, or preparing to leave. Off to the side, the changing booths were full, most likely people changing out of their dance attire to leave. Several eyes looked at me as I walked through the room, but luckily, most were ignoring me.
I paused at the large rock that had been placed in front of my locker a few weeks ago. It still sat exactly where I’d moved it. Much to my surprise though, the hurtful messages had been erased. Drawn on top of them were friendly pictures and new messages along the smooth surface of the rock.
Ivy, you’re so inspiring to watch!
I smiled slightly to myself; that message was much preferred to calling me an anchor.
Catching up to Millie, I followed her into a side closet where all the extra pointe shoes were kept.
Each dancer had their own cubby with their name written across the bin, and mine was at the bottom left of the stack.
As I moved closer to my bin, I felt a sharp prick on the bottom of my foot.
“Owe,” I said, holding onto the bin as I lifted my foot. I plucked out a tiny shard of glass sticking out of my skin. “Watch out, Millie. I just stepped on some glass.”
“Ugh, seriously? Broken glass in here? You okay?” she asked, looking over to me as she reached for a few pairs of her shoes.
“Yeah,” I said, tossing the shard in a nearby trash can.
I reached back over to my bin and pulled out three pairs of brand-new pointe shoes. Next, I sat down on the little chair nearby and pulled the first one out of the bag. Wanting to try on the fit really quickly, I decided to slide on the shoe without any of the usual padding I wore in class.
I put the tip of the shoe on the floor and pressed my foot into it, and instantly, my big toe exploded in pain.
“Ah,” I cried out, trying to pull my foot out of my shoe, but it felt like my toenail was being ripped off.
“What’s wrong?” Millie asked.
“There’s something in this shoe,” I exclaimed as tears swelled in my eyes. “It hurts really badly.”
“Oh god, what do you need?” Millie asked, tossing her shoes aside and kneeling beside me.
“Pack mate, quickly,” I managed to squeak out. My big toe was throbbing, and the pain was growing worse and worse. My stomach felt queasy thinking about all the different things this could be.
I tried to wiggle my foot back out of the shoe, but that only made the pain worse. As another wave of nausea hit, I turned to the trashcan nearby and pulled it close to me, dry heaving into the bin.
“Ivy!” Lukas shouted from the entrance to the dancer’s lounge. “Where are you?”
“In here,” I croaked out with my face buried in the trash can.
Within a few seconds, Lukas appeared next to me, followed by half the company trying to see what was going on.
“Something’s in my shoe—it’s stabbed my toe, and I can’t take the shoe off,” I cried, setting the trash can down and burying my head into his shoulder. “It hurts so bad.”
I lifted my foot, and much to my horror, blood was soaking through the tip of the shoe.
“We’re going to the ER,” Lukas said, scooping me up in his arms. “I’m here, and you’ll be okay.” Turning to Millie, Lukas added. “Call us an ambulance.”
***
Demetrius
“We had to cut off her pointe shoe to get to the issue,” Ivy’s doctor said, standing before me, holding up a glass jar. “We found this two-inch shard wedged underneath her toenail. You should know there was a lot more glass in that shoe as well.”
“Dear god, someone did this to her,” I half-whispered, taking the jar from his hands. Turning to Preston, Isaac, and Lukas, I held up the jar. “Someone put glass in her shoe.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Isaac fumed, rushing over to me.
“Can we see her? How is she doing?” Preston asked, standing on the other side of me. Lukas stood behind us, listening in.
“She’s actually doing fine,” the doctor replied. “Once we got the shard out, we were able to quickly stop the bleeding. The team is analyzing the toe for any remaining glass left behind. You’ll be able to see her in a minute.”
I didn’t want to ask if she’d be able to dance or not—I just wanted her to be alright and in my arms, but fuck, I knew it was my job.
“What will her recovery time be?” I asked, swallowing that lump in my throat.
“She should be back on her feet tomorrow, though I’d have her avoid putting pressure on the tip for a few days,” the doctor said.
“Assuming we didn’t miss any glass, she’ll be fine to resume everything by next week—she’ll just need to manage what pain she experiences.
I’m going to go check on her, so please excuse me. ”
The doctor walked away, leaving Isaac staring hard at me with a pissed-off expression on his face.
“Well, thank god she can still dance, right?”
Anger swelled inside me as my voice dropped to a low growl. “I don’t care about the dancing right now, but I know she will. She’s my mate too—I only care about her getting better and being safe, dammit!”
“Let’s not fight out here,” Preston said. He held his hands up between us, working to calm us both down.
“Everything she interacts with is moving into my office,” I said, turning my back to Isaac. “I want her around me whenever she’s not dancing—I can’t believe we let her get hurt like this.”
“I joined class today, and the atmosphere was pretty tense around her,” Preston said. “There’s a lot of resentment going on within the company ranks.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I snapped, turning to face Preston. “I’ll fire every dancer who looks at her wrong.”
“And then what? Keep her trapped in your office? Never let her out? I’m surprised you’ll even let her dance as well—she could twist an ankle,” Lukas said. “Ivy won’t want any of this.”
“It’s for her own good,” I said. I really needed to calm down; I could sense Lukas trying to talk some sense into me. I turned to look at him as my heart ached to see Ivy. “She’s my omega, and I let her down.”
“I know,” he softly replied. “Don’t you think we all feel guilty? I was the last to see her before she went to get more pointe shoes. I should have gone with her, but she was having fun with Millie.”
The doctor reappeared from Ivy’s room, holding the door open. “Arco pack? She can see you now.”
As soon as the doctor said that, I immediately rushed through Ivy’s door with the rest of the pack following close behind.
Ivy was lying on the white hospital bed, still dressed in her rehearsal leotard and tights from the day. The leg with her injured toe was elevated, and her big toe was wrapped in bandages. She looked a little pale compared to her normal appearance, but her smile was still on her face.
“Hi guys!” she exclaimed, holding her arms out as we each rushed up to her.
“Ivy…” Lukas exclaimed, rushing to her side. “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I should have gone with you.”
Ivy shook her head in reply. “No, you can't follow me around all the time. This was a random fluke.”
“That was not a fluke,” Isaac said, standing next to her bedside with his arms folded. “Someone did this to your shoes. This was malicious.”
Ivy’s eyes dropped down to her fingers as she slowly nodded her head. Quietly, she added, “I know.”
That acknowledgement broke my heart all over again. She just wanted to have friends in the company, to not make any waves, and now her fellow dancers were attacking her for being matched to us.
I reached for her hand, capturing her gaze. “We’re going to find this person, and we’re going to make our company a great place to be. I never want you to be worried ever again about being in our building.”
Ivy’s eyes connected with mine as a smile returned to her face. “They said I can go home soon. I’m going to need some ice cream as I’ve been told it’ll make my toe feel better.”
Preston laughed as he gently rubbed her leg. “Ice cream it is then.”
“Also foot rubs…” Ivy added, glancing over to Lukas.
“This was all just a ploy to get a foot rub out of me, wasn’t it?” Lukas teased. “Fine, one foot rub it is.”
Ivy continued talking with Preston and Isaac as I pulled Lukas aside. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I quietly leaned in to him. “Can you investigate who might have done this in the building?”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “I want to hunt them down and murder them.”
“I’ll settle for watching them being escorted from the building in handcuffs.”
“I’ll start with Millie and see if she noticed anything, then I’ll get a better grasp on who exactly isn’t thrilled with Ivy,” Lukas said.
“Good, I want whoever did this gone, asap.”