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Her phone chimed. She checked it. Becca.
Please. Talk to me. I’m sorry.
Quinn rolled her eyes and shoved the phone into her bag.
A branch snapped somewhere off to her right, and she froze, her eyes searching the darkness.
Nothing. Whatever.
She found Adam’s audition song, melodic R&B with a driving beat.
Then she threw herself into the routine.
The ground was uneven here, and she had to watch out for branches, but she had sound in her ears and cold air on her skin.
One of her favorite things about dance was that she could do it anywhere.
Her body was getting stronger from working with Adam, but she still had miles to go before she’d reach his level. Her turns needed more balance, and she still missed the beat in the more complicated moves. When Adam had first asked her to be his partner for his audition piece, she’d been ready to laugh it off.
She had no real professional training, no expensive dance clothes or private instructors or anything to bring to the table other than raw talent. But even after he’d convinced her, she hadn’t been ready for his work ethic. His intensity.
Adam wasn’t f**king around. He wanted this scholarship.
And the stronger Quinn got, the more she realized she wanted him to get it, too. She didn’t want to let him down.
She wanted to accomplish something, for once in her life.
She spun too fast and landed hard, stumbling. Damn. She used the slider on her iPod to back the song up a bit, then launched herself into motion.
The stars whirled above her, bearing witness to her dance.
She wished Nick were here to feed power into the air. She could feel it when he did that now, driving energy into the music until she couldn’t help leaping higher and moving with every beat.
She tried to find that same energy now, without him, but the woods were empty, the wind’s only power the ability to keep her cold.
Wham. Something slammed into her, and the music died instantly. Quinn hit the ground before she realized she was falling.
Then the earbuds were yanked free of her ears, something snapped at her waistband, and footsteps were tearing away through the underbrush.
Wtf?
Then she got it.
“Come back here!” she screamed, running after the thief.
She’d saved every penny for months to buy that iPod. “Stop!
Stop! ”
Her assailant had a pretty good head start. This had to be a guy, from the size and the way he moved. He bolted into the street without looking. Quinn followed.
A horn blared and she stumbled. Headlights filled her eyes, tires screeched, but the impact never came. Quinn made it to the curb and kept running, tearing across the parking lot of the strip mall.
“Thief!” she shouted. “Somebody stop him!”
Somebody. Like there was anyone out here.
He was getting away, gaining ground. The farthest part of the strip mall was pitch-black now, dark store fronts featuring a pe-diatric dentist’s office and an eyewear shop. Beyond that, more woods. If he made it past the edge of the shops and into the trees, she’d never catch him.
