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“You know,” I murmured, my eyelids growing heavy, “this place would be paradise if it weren’t for all the fucking people.”
Leah laughed softly.
“Aw. Sad, tipsy Talia is the saddest Talia there is.” Then she reached over and squeezed my knee, the fake nails she’d worn for her sexy devil costume glinting in the moonlight. “Sorry, girl.”
“It’s okay.” I focused on the ocean in the distance, trying to find some of its strength and calm in myself. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
I stretched on the barre and extended my leg as high as it would go. When I’d pushed just a fraction of an inch beyond my previous limit, I held it there, breathing slow and steady, letting my body adjust to this new benchmark. A twinge of pain radiated out from my knee, and I grunted softly, backing off a bit.
I’d been getting impatient lately, but that was only because I’d been making such good progress. The last thing I needed was to get overeager and push too far, too fast. I didn’t want to undo all the solid work I’d done over the past two months.
Finn lounged against the opposite wall like always. He’d been coming every day since the afternoon I’d walked in on him and Ashley, and most of the time, he never said a word. All he did was watch me and tap away on his phone.
He hadn’t mentioned what happened at the Halloween party the previous weekend, and neither had I. There was nothing to say anyway. Getting shoved into a pool by Adena was just one incident in a long string of bullying and pranks I’d endured—it hardly stood out as the worst.
Leah and I had gone into Roseland the next day to buy me a new phone, and my glass-half-full friend had insisted I get the fanciest one in the store, since my old phone had been an ancient piece of shit.
“Does it hurt?”
Finn’s voice startled me so much that I nearly let go of the barre and fell on my face. My hand gripped it tighter, and I glanced at him in surprise. He peered at me, his head cocked to one side and his phone held lightly in his hands, the screen black. I thought maybe he was screwing with me, but the look on his face was full of curiosity, not malice for once.
I shrugged lightly. “Sometimes.”
“For everyone or just you?”
“Probably for me more than other
s. I mean, all dancers starting out have to go through pushing their bodies to the limit and training themselves to deal with pain. I just haven’t had that kind of practice in a while, and I have an… an old injury. So now that I’m pushing harder, my body is revolting.”
He nodded. I watched him drag his backpack over before he dug inside of it. When he found what he was looking for, he stood up and walked over to me. My heart hammered in my chest, distrust warring with my own rising curiosity. What is he doing?
As he stepped close—too close—the scent of citrus invaded my nostrils. He smelled warm and fresh, and I found myself taking a deep breath and holding it, as if trying to absorb the aroma. It should be completely illegal for someone to look and smell so good and be a complete asshole.
“Here. This’ll help.”
He opened the round container and pushed a finger against the contents, then rubbed it on my knee. I jolted at the feeling of his skin against mine, but he was calm and cool about it, as if he touched me like this all the time.
As if I were his to touch.
His fingers glided down my leg, rubbing gently as he massaged the balm into my skin. It smelled earthy and minty, and its warmth seemed to seep down into my muscles even as another, more powerful heat gathered in my low belly. I couldn’t tear my eyes from him until he pulled away, leaving my breath caught in my throat.
“How does that feel?”
I blinked and lifted my leg. Slowly, I pushed forward and back, bending and extending it. The pain I’d felt before had been a roar, but it’d dulled to a growl that wasn’t nearly as bad. I blinked up at him.
“Good. Thank you. That’s… better than it’s felt in a long time,” I admitted.
“Put your other one up here and I’ll do that too.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sure I can do it myself,” I said quickly, reaching for the jar in his hand.
Finn scoffed, pulling it away as a hint of the usual derision returned to his face. “You think I’m letting you shove your fingers in this? Do you know how much this shit costs? A lot. Put your other leg up if you want me to put it on you.”
I reluctantly gave in, switching my weight to my left foot and putting my right heel up on the barre to give him access to my leg.
This time I knew what was coming, but that didn’t make me any more prepared. I sucked in an audible breath as his large palms moved over my calf, then bit my lip quickly to muffle the sound.
Finn’s warm amber gaze lifted to my face for a second, and his hands tightened briefly, enclosing my leg completely. All the blood in my brain seemed to rush straight to my lower body, and I licked my lips helplessly.
