The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1) (19 page)

Ivy nodded. “Well she’s the
understudy and that’s what they’re for so no surprise.”

Ivy’s hands rested on the
table and Dante reached over and grabbed one of her hands. “I’m sorry, hon.”

HON! The only reason I didn’t
explode is because Ivy raised her other hand and patted his, then pulled her
hand away, but the look of sadness on her face is what really stopped me. I
leaned closer to her and placed my hand on her thigh squeezing it. Letting her
know I was there for her. Whatever she faced, I made up my mind to face it with
her. I wasn’t walking away from her. Been there done that, didn’t work so well.

Dante continued talking,
“They gave me some paperwork to give you, too. It’s just insurance stuff and
compensation. Stuff you have to sign, it’s all in your contract with the
company.”

“Okay, just leave it here. I
think…I think I’m a little tired and want to go lie down.”

Shit! My baby was hurting. I
heard it in her voice and I didn’t know how to help her. I didn’t want to ask
her the question burning in my head. Were her days as a ballerina over? Double
shit. I needed to talk to Dante, maybe he could give me the answers I needed.
Even if I didn’t care for the way he was into Ivy, he was my only source of
information other than Ivy herself. She was in no shape to answer my questions.
I stood and moved over to her chair, I placed my hands around her back and
under her butt.

“What…what are you doing?”
she gasped as I picked her up.

“Putting you to bed. Put your
arms around me.” She did and I walked with her in my arms back to the bedroom.
I placed her on top of the covers.

“Do you want me to go?”
Please God say no.

She shook her head. “No.
Stay.”

“Okay, babe. Let me go get
your crutches and make a phone call to my trainer. He’s been trying to reach me
all day. I need to let him know I’ll be there in the morning.”

“Okay,” she said.

All of which was true. Tsang
had left two messages and I’d gotten a text from Jai. I couldn’t ignore them
anymore. But first I wanted to speak to Dante in case he was going out for the
night. I found him still in the kitchen cleaning up. Who knew, the dude was
domestic and shit. He stopped wiping down the table when he saw me.

“What?” he said.

I leaned against the wall and
crossed my arms. “Look, let’s agree that we don’t like each other, but we do
both care about Ivy.”

“I know one of us cares about
Ivy,” Dante said.

“I care about her, man. I’ve
known her for a long time. Longer than you have.”

He narrowed his eyes and sat
down pushing a seat out for me. I swung the seat around so the back was in
front of me and I rested my arms on it.

“Yes, I know. I also know how
much she cares about you but you keep leaving without so much as a goodbye.”

“That’s not happening again,”
I gritted out between clenched teeth.

“We’ll see.”

I took a deep breath and
tried to rein in my temper. I needed information. “Fair enough. What I want to
know right now is what does this injury mean for Ivy? Won’t the tendons eventually
heal then she’d be able to dance again?”

Dante sighed. “For most any
other discipline of dance yes, but not ballet. The ankle is an integral part of
how a ballerina performs on point. We place a lot of stress on our bodies, the
ankle especially. A twist is bad enough because it weakens the ankle so it
tends to happen more than once, but a torn tendon.” Dante shook his head. “It’s
the end.”

“So it’s like a ballerina’s
Achilles heel.”

Dante shook his head.

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit.”

“So now what? What are her
options? Does she have to stop dancing completely, you said this was particular
to ballet but I know she does modern, too.”

“Yeah she does, but you have
to understand she’s a ballerina. Ballet is not just what she does but defines
who she is.”

That I did understand and
told him so. “I’m a professional fighter. Mixed martial arts, so I get it. I
don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t fight.” I knew I’d find out soon enough
because once I threw the fight I’d probably never be allowed back in the area
again or if I did it would be to lose. I couldn’t do it.

Dante raised an eyebrow. “I
didn’t know you were a fighter, Ivy never said. She just told me you moved with
your step-dad to Japan and you all lost touch.”

I was glad she’d talked to
him about me, it meant she did think about me. I thought about her. A lot.

Dante studied me for a
second. “Is this like a fight club kinda thing, underground?”

I smiled. “Yeah, something
like that and no Ivy doesn’t really get that part.”

He nodded. “Are you any
good?”

Now it was my turn to raise
an eyebrow. “Unbeaten.”

“Then you probably do
understand how she’s feeling. As far as her options. I don’t believe she’d want
to dance in another area. But frankly, I think she’d make one hell of a
chorographer. She’s really good, she’s worked quite a few of our modern ballet
pieces and there are places that would hire her. Her name alone would guarantee
attendance.” Dante paused. “But for now it’s still raw, she’s going to need a
little time for this to settle in. I don’t even think she called her parents
and told them yet. I was going to while we were at the hospital but she told me
not to, she’d take care of it.”

I knew for a fact she hadn’t
since I was with her the entire time, since she left the hospital. These last
few minutes were the only time we’d been apart. So unless she was talking to
them now she hadn’t. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Thank you.”

Dante stood up. “You’re
welcome. And just to be clear. Martial arts or not, you hurt her again and I’ll
kick your ass.”

“You can try. And I won’t
hurt her. Oh one more thing, since we’re sharing, she thinks you’re bi. I don’t
know or care what you are but I know damn well you’re not just into being
friends with her. But she is with me now and I’m warning you back the fuck
off.”

Dante didn’t break eye
contact he just nodded then turned and walked out of the kitchen. If he weren’t
trying to get into my girl’s pants I might actually like the fuck. Bi my ass.
He was no more into dudes than I was.

I took my phone out and
texted Tsang.

Me:
‘Be there at 8am nothing has changed.’

The reply was immediate.

Tsang:
‘See you then.’

Chapter Twenty

Ivy

I don’t know how I would have
made it through the night without Maze’s warmth surrounding me, keeping me safe
while I cried, fighting not to let go of a lifelong dream. But sometime during
the night Maze wiped the tears off my face and what he said was so simple.

“Don’t give up until you know
you have to, and then just change direction,” he said.

“It’s torn tendons, Maze.”

“So, once the cast comes off
you’ll do rehab. I’ll help. There are some exercises I’ll teach you to help
strengthen your ankle.”

Then he made sweet love to
me. Slow, tender, we watched each other the entire time and I nearly drowned in
his eyes. There was the Maze I’d fallen in love with so long ago. I did love
him. I always had. It was why I waited for him and why his disappearing on me
after reentering my life hurt so much. But I believed he loved me, too. I saw
it in the way he looked at me while we made love. I felt it in his tender
touches. I could wait for the words.

When I got up in the morning
I saw Maze sitting on the side of the bed pulling up his pants. I sat up and he
leaned over and kissed me. “I was trying not to wake you,” he said. “And no I
wasn’t just going to leave. I promise I will never do that again. I’ve already
sent you a text.” He grinned seemingly pleased with himself.

He handed me my phone, which
I’d placed on the nightstand near his side of the bed. Sure enough there was a
text just a few minutes old from Maze. I smiled and opened it. My heart banged
against my chest when I saw instead of the Xs he usually placed at the end of
his text he’d placed a heart.

I smiled. “You’re going to
the gym.”

“Yeah. I need to go back to
the house in Brooklyn first to grab my gear and then get over to the gym by
eight. But as soon as I’m done I’ll text you.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll probably be there all
day. Will you be all right?”

“I’ll be fine.” I smiled at
him, but I missed him already.

He knelt by the bed, we
leaned toward each other and he kissed me hard, then got up. “Later.” His voice
was husky and that one word held a promise.

Then he turned toward the
door, opened it and was gone. I stretched like a cat. I had sore muscles but a
delicious kind of sore and not in the usual places. We were very inventive last
night while we made love, the cast didn’t slow us down at all. I felt the smile
take over my face. I grabbed the pillow he’d lain on and held it over my face
taking in his scent on it and all over me. I closed my eyes but couldn’t go
back to sleep, thoughts of my life without dance being such a huge part of it
flashed before me. But I remembered Maze’s words, so I wouldn’t give up. Not
until I absolutely had to. There were exercises I would do once the cast came
off to strengthen my ankle. And if it healed properly I might have a fighting
chance, but only one. Feeling better about that decision and Maze being a
fixture in my life I would have gone back to sleep but I heard movement out in
the other room, Dante. He was probably getting ready to leave, and I wanted to
talk to him.

Maze left my crutches propped
against the nightstand on my side of the bed. I sat up stark naked, my clothes
from the night before now rested on the chair near the closet door. Maze must
have picked them up off the floor. I smiled at him doing even that kind of
domestic task. With his tough-like approach to most things he was incredibly
thoughtful and gentle. But I needed to get to my robe which hung on the back of
the bathroom door along with a XXL t-shirt I sometimes slept in that covered my
ass, I’d put them both on. I really needed a shower but I didn’t want to miss
Dante. I got my crutches and made my way over to the bathroom, giving my teeth
a quick brushing then grabbing the t-shirt and robe and putting them on.
Afterward I made my way out into the living room. I spotted Dante sitting at
the breakfast table eating a bowl of oatmeal and looking at his phone.

“Hey,” he said, when he
glanced up and saw me. “Maze still here?”

“No. He had to get back to
his place to change before heading for the gym.”

Dante nodded and I made my
way over to the kitchen. I leaned against one of the crutches while I opened a
cabinet for a bowl, but Dante jumped up and grabbed one down for me.

“Here, sit down, I’ll fix you
some oatmeal.”

“Thanks,” I said and sat
down. Using one foot while navigating around the small area on crutches was
going to take some getting used to. I watched him as he quickly tore open a
pack of instant, put it in the bowl and added milk. Two minutes in the
microwave and it was good to go. He poured me a cup of tea while the food
heated.

“Here.” He placed the tea in
front of me, and then the bowl when it was ready before resuming his seat to
finish his bowl. “So you and Maze,” he said. It wasn’t a question. It was
pretty obvious it was me and Maze.

I nodded. “Yeah. Me and
Maze.”

“Just be careful, okay.
He’s…different.”

I smiled. “Rough around the
edges.”

Dante grinned. “Yeah
something like that. But I already warned him I’ll kick his ass if he hurt you
again.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.
“You know he’s a champion mixed martial arts fighter, right?”

“Yeah. Don’t care. I’d still
kick his ass.”

I believed he’d at least try.
While I knew Dante could probably take care of himself against most, I’d seen
Maze fight. He was quick and brutal and sexy as hell.