Page 40 of Dancing on Air

“Wow.” Cora sighed and thought about what that meant to her brother and to Emma. “Congratulations,” she said, feeling her eyes tear up at their happiness.

“Thanks,” her brother said.

“Of course, that means I have to hurry up and lose all this baby weight. How’s practice going? We’re planning on coming out for opening day,” Emma said.

“Oh, don’t feel like you have to,” she said, feeling guilty. “I mean, it’s just Romeo and Juliet.”

Both her brother and Emma laughed. “Just?” JT said. “With my sister as the lead,” he pointed out.

“If you can make it, I’d love to have you.” She smiled and started walking again.

“Of course. We already have our tickets,” Emma admitted, making her smile even more.

“I’m planning on coming out next month. I have time off. Oh, is there any chance you can get Sarah to block off a couple rooms for me for four nights?”

“Sure,” JT said. “Just text me the dates and I’ll arrange everything. Who’s coming with you?”

“A friend and his sister. She’s thinking of opening up a bakery in Silver Cove,” she said, dreaming of eating baked goods. Any baked goods. Even though she was currently full of her favorite Thai food, she still wanted a glazed donut.

“Sounds great. The building next to Serenity’s just came available. I can send you the link to send to her?” JT suggested.

“Perfect.” She stopped outside her building. “I’m home, thanks for chatting.” She said her goodbyes quickly.

Stepping into the BAC always caused her heart to do flips. She still couldn’t believe she was here. She’d made it. And she was actually going to be the principal dancer in Romeo and Juliet.

Being a prima dancer was like winning the lottery. It should have given her extra benefits. Instead, so far, all it had given her was extra work and grief from the other dancers.

There were a handful of dancers she was friendly with, like Luc. But those friendships paled in comparison to the attention Jynx and her cronies gave her.

Normally, she would dread going into her room but since she knew that Robin was still at the Thai place with Jynx and Mary, she headed straight up.

Seeing a man standing outside her door, she frowned. When she got closer, at first, she thought it was Max. The man was built just like him and held himself very similar to how Max held himself. Then the man turned and she realized why he looked so similar.

“Can I help you?” she asked Gerald Sharpe, Max’s father.

She’d only talked to the man a handful of times over the years.

When he noticed her, he turned and smiled. “I hope so. I was hoping to run into you earlier at practice tonight,” he said easily and started towards her. He even walked like Max. Smooth.

“Oh?” she asked, stopping directly in front of him.

Gerald ran his eyes over her slowly, and she felt her insides shiver for some reason.

“Maybe we can go get a drink somewhere? I have a few… thoughts on how to enhance your performance,” he said, taking her arm.

Her entire body froze. She wanted to jerk her arm away from him. To tell him no, that she was tired and wanted to go inside and sleep. But the look he gave her sent a lick of fear through her that if she didn’t agree to go with him, there would be consequences.

“I have a very early morning,” she pointed out as he ushered her towards the elevators.

“This won’t take long,” he assured her.

“Mr. Sharpe,” she said, pulling her arm away. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m…”

Just then the elevator doors opened and Jynx, Mary, and Robin stood just inside the doors.

“Really?” Jynx gasped. “It’s not enough that your fucking the son, you have to fuck the father too?” She banged on the elevator buttons until the doors closed with them still inside.

Gerald’s hand dropped from her arm, and he turned towards her. “You’re seeing my son?” he asked in a firm tone.