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Bash leans next to me, throws his arm over my shoulder and squeezes.
I lean my head against him momentarily until my stomach decides to revolt again, and I run for the trees that back up to the parking lot, tossing my cookies for the second damn time today. This stomach bug started Friday, and I haven’t been able to shake it yet.
Just my luck, the cop pulls up while I’m vomiting.
Fuck my life.
When Bash and I enter the house nearly two hours later, all eyes turn to us. Well, all eyes except Tommy’s. He’s too busy loving on Rocky, who’s sprawled out on her pink princess bed next to him, eating up the attention. Bash and I split as he walks into the family room, and I head into the kitchen. Nattie, Sabrina, Carys, and Katherine follow me as soon as they see me. “Katherine, do you have any ginger ale? My stomach is in knots right now.”
“Of course, Belle.” She comes back seconds later with my drink and a sleeve of Saltine crackers. “Here, honey. Eat some of these. It should help.” She steals a cracker before sipping her own ginger ale.
“What happened, Belle?” Nat sits next to me at the island. Her blonde hair is in two long braids, and she’s wearing a number thirteen Sinclair jersey that matches the one I now wear for each of the games.
Brina sits on my other side while Carys and Katherine lean against the beautiful granite island across from us.
“Someone broke into the studio after I left yesterday or early this morning. The cops don’t know how they got around the alarm system because it was still armed.”
Gasps are heard throughout the room before Carys asks, “Did they take anything?”
I nod my head. “The only thing missing is my laptop. They did a ton of damage, but it doesn’t look like they took anything else.”
Nat places her hand on mine. “Damage?”
“They spray-painted the floor in Studio One with the word ‘whore.’ They broke the wall of mirrors in studio two. The drawers in my office were open, and the papers that were in them are scattered throughout the building.” I hiccup, trying to stifle my sob. “I don’t understand why someone would do this.”
“Oh, honey.” Katherine reaches across the island and holds my hand.
“Did the police find any evidence? Did they mention whether there were any other break-ins last night?” Leave it to Brina to think like a future lawyer.
“No. They didn’t mention it.” I take a tissue from the box Carys just pushed across the island. “I’m going to have to close the studio at least until I get everything settled with the insurance company and get the repairs done.” I look over at Nattie, my lip quivering. “We’re going to lose our students.”
“We’re not losing anyone.” Nattie straightens. “Are your files with the student information saved to the cloud?”
I nod.
“I’ll call the parents and let them know we have to close for now but don’t expect it to be long before we’re up and running again. They can look at it like a hiatus for the holidays.”
Sabrina laces her fingers with mine. “I’ll help.”
“Me too,” is echoed from Chloe, Carys, and Katherine.
The damn bursts, and I can’t contain my tears. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you, all of you.”
“And you’ll never have to.” Nattie stands up and looks around. “Where’s the Mary Poppins bag? I know that’s where you’ve got your log-in information written down.”
I point to the floor by the side door before I run to the bathroom to puke... again.
