Graham stands up, a little caught off guard. He straightens his jacket and glances at me for a second before returning his attention back to Penelope. “You queefed in the high roller suite?”
“What? No!” A very pissed off Penelope looks my way. Damn it Page and her blonde hair.
“It was in our apartment, but that’s not why Gavin wants us to live here. It’s not like it was a gas bomb, setting off the entire apartment like a grenade. I didn’t even know it happened until we were driving over here.”
“Seriously,” Penelope grinds out. “Shut up, Page.”
“Wait.” Graham presses his fingers to his head as he tries to understand. “What the fuck is going on? What’s this about them living here?”
Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I lean against the door and say, “They need a place to stay, their apartment is unsuitable for two young women, two very attractive young women.”
“Aw, you think I’m attractive?” Page asks, winking at me. Penelope whacks her in the stomach, clearly over Page’s antics tonight.
“This was a bad idea,” she stands from her chair. “Forget about this whole conversation. Come on Page.” Seizing her by the arm, Penelope pulls up her friend and walks her toward the door where I stand solid in place. “Move, Gavin.”
I shake my head. “No can do, baby. You’re not going back to that apartment. It’s entirely too unsafe for you.”
“We’ve been living there for three years and nothing’s happened. We’re fine.”
I grind my teeth together, trying to hold back my temper. “You’re not going back there,” I bite out.
Penelope crosses her arms in challenge, preparing for battle. “What, you stick your dick inside me and now you think you can tell me what to do?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wrong.” She pokes me in the chest. “That’s not how this works, Gavin. I’m a big girl. I know what I’m doing. I’ve taken care of myself up until this point, I don’t need you swooping in on your white horse trying to ‘save’ us. We’re fine, right Page?”
Biting her lip, Page looks at the ground but is brought back to the conversation when Penelope elbows her. “Yeah,” she forcefully says. “We’re fine.” From the tone in Page’s voice, I know they’re not fine. It can’t be easy coming home late at night, drug deals going on in your parking lot and loud, knife stabbing fights sounding off in the apartment next to you. I don’t care if they made the damn place homey, it’s not fit for them, it’s not fit for the girl I’m fucking dating.
“Is that right? Care to explain the little conversation we overhead before we left your place? The one about some hooker stabbing her pimp.”
“They were having sex while we were packing. It’s how they roll,” Penelope answers flippantly.
“Well it’s not how I fucking roll,” I say, stepping closer to Penelope who visibly gulps under my hard stare. “No woman of mine will be staying at an apartment like that. There is no fucking way I will allow it. You have no choice in the matter. I protect what’s mine, Penelope. The minute I came inside you, I claimed you. I fucking branded you. That means I protect you. I take care of you.” My voice trails off, becoming horse from the intensity in the conversation.
I never expected to become so territorial over a woman but I knew the minute I walked back into her apartment, it would be the last time they would eat a dinner there. I refuse to let her go back to that hellhole where she could be raped, stabbed, or drugged.
“Where do you get off—“
“Inside of you,” I interrupt her, a smile spreading across my face from the annoyed look she’s giving me.
“Gavin…”
“Penelope…” I counter.
“Graham…” Page says, joining in. We draw our attention to her to see her shrug her shoulders. “What? I was feeling left out.”
“Fuck, this is probably one of the most asinine conversations I’ve ever been a part of,” Graham says. “Jesus. Just to get out of that hellhole, take one of the suites but you’re paying rent. This isn’t a free ride.”
“I’ll be paying their rent,” I interrupt. Penelope’s eyes narrow in slits at my announcement, but she wisely keeps quiet. She knows as well as I do that they can’t afford to stay here. I can, so that means I’m paying.
“Whatever,” Graham huffs. “Just make sure your checks clear, and for the love of God, stay out of my way.” He glances at Page with his last sentence and then pushes me to the side, taking off down the hall back to the control room.
Smiling back at the girls, I say, “Well that was easier than I expected.”
“You thought that was easy?” Penelope asks. “That was torture, thanks to Page.”
We both turn to her and instantly notice the change in her demeanor. “Hey, are you okay?” Penelope asks, a gentle hand resting on her friend’s shoulder.
She nods, “Yeah, let’s just get our bags and get settled. I’m tired.” Her voice is withdrawn, her eyes are cast down and in that moment, I know Graham has a lot of explaining to do.
Once the girls are settled in their modest suite, which is complete with a small kitchenette, living room and two bedrooms with connecting bathrooms, I talk to Penelope softly in their entryway. She looks back at Page’s room and says, “I’m going to stay here tonight. I want to make sure she’s okay.”
Not exactly what I had in mind but I can handle staying at her place now.
“Alright, let me go grab my stuff and I’ll stay over here.”
“No,” she shakes her head. “I need to have some girl time with her. You being here won’t help, especially if your hands are all over me.”
“I can keep my hands to myself.” She gives me a knowing glare. “I can try really hard.”
“No.” Standing on her tippy toes, she plants a kiss on my lips and guides me out the door.
“But…”
She presses her fingers to my lips. “Good night, Gavin.” With a wink, she shuts the door in my face.
Graham is about to get one hell of a beat down, that motherfucker! Cock blocking me even from afar.
**NELL**
I’m a nervous wreck as I pace back and forth backstage, waiting for the auditions to start. I’ve been through this process more times than I care to count, yet knowing Gavin will be sitting in the audience watching my every move, I’m a trembling mess.
“Oh, sweetheart,” my mother’s soft voice coos through the line as I hold my cell phone to my ear. I called her just minutes ago for a pep-talk, giving her the cliffnotes version of what has been happening in my life since Gavin entered—well,
forced
his way—into the picture. “You’re going to do great. You know this performance like the back of your hand. Just go out there and show them what you’ve got.”
“But...” I stammer. “He’s going to be watching,” I finish on a somewhat childish whisper.
“And you’ll knock his socks off,” she replies adamantly. God, I really love my mom. “And speaking of your young man, I’ll expect a longer phone call from you telling me
all
about him. It’s not every day my daughter becomes so enamored by a boy.” Just the sound of my mom referring to Gavin as a
boy
makes me laugh. If she only knew. Not that I’d
ever
share the nitty-gritty details.
“Okay, Momma. I gotta go, but I’ll call you after and let you know how it goes, okay?”
“Okay, my sweet girl. Knock ‘em dead.”
“I will. I love you, and I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“I love you, too, baby.”
I disconnect the call and drop the phone back into my purse before stowing it in the little cubbies back stage.
“Okay!” the stagehand calls out in a loud voice. “Can I get…” her eyes scan the clipboard in her hand, “…numbers one through twenty to come to the front of the stage.”
I look down at the paper number pinned to my camisole. Number thirteen. I’m not sure if being assigned that number is a curse or a lucky charm, either way, I don’t have time to contemplate the answer because I’m up.
I’m up
. I make my way to the front of the stage with the rest of the girls auditioning today, careful to keep my eyes off the enigmatic man sitting in one of the audience seats, the only one there other than the people involved with the auditioning process.
“All right,” a voice calls and I instantly recognize her as the director for all of La Magie’s shows. “Since this is the callback auditions we won’t be going through choreography.”
Wait… what? Call back auditions
? My stomach riots as the nervous butterflies begin kicking up an even bigger fuss. My eyes briefly scan the rows of empty seats until I land on Gavin’s handsome face. He’s smiling at me with all the confidence in the world and, suddenly, a sense of ease washes over me. He believes I can do this. My parents believe I can do this.
I
believe I can do this. I’ve auditioned enough times that I know all the performances by heart. I don’t need to run through the stupid choreography. When the director calls out the name of the performance we’ll be doing, my heart kicks with excitement. It’s my favorite one, the one that truly forecasts my skills as a gymnast.
“Even numbers,” the director calls. “I want you doing floor work once the first scene finishes. Odd numbers, you’ll be doing the aerial acrobatics.”
Yes
! It takes everything in my not to fist bump the air. I freaking
kill
with aerial acrobatics. Before I know it, we’re in place and the slow, melodic music begins. I move through each step like I was born to do it, swaying my body to the low beat, landing each move with perfection. As I dance, I can’t remember the last time I felt so confident in an audition. With each turn, each tumble, all I can think is
I got this
. The music quickly changes, the beat coming faster, heavier and my body guides me over to the long silk drape hanging from the ceiling.
Without having to think of my movements, I wrap my right leg around the silk and use my arms to pull me up the fabric in smooth, flowing motions. It’s as if the choreography is in my blood as I seamlessly execute every step of the performance. It’s like the drape is an extension of my body as I use it to flip and spin through the air. When I grab hold of the second drape, using both of them to hold me in a center split thirty feet off the ground, I can feel my muscles stretch and sing in delight as I flow from one position to the next.
The tempo of the music is building up to the crescendo and I know exactly what’s coming next. And I know, without a doubt in my mind, that I can do it. With the silk wrapped around my waist strategically, I stiffen my entire frame so I’m hanging parallel with the stage. The beat of the drums kicks up, the sound reverberating through the theater.
This is it.
Releasing my hold on the drape just enough, my body begins to spin, down, down, down, until I’m just ten feet from the floor. I tighten my hold at the exact moment I’m supposed to and I stop on a dime, swinging my left leg out to catch the second drape and twist it around my ankle. The last beat of the drum sounds, and I hit my final position with perfect precision, and just like that, it’s over.
I did it.
I fucking did it
!
As I make my way back stage in a complete daze as the next group heads to the stage, two strong arms circle my waist like a steel band, lifting me off the ground. I let out a surprised yelp as Gavin spins me around wildly. “You were fucking brilliant!” he declares as he places me on my feet, but keeps his hold tight, pinning me to his chest. “That was unbelievable!”
When I look up into his eyes, those deep, dark depths are glittering down at me, full of delight, and I know, in this very moment, I’m not falling for Gavin Saint. I’ve already landed. I’m completely and madly in love with this man. He holds my heart in the palm of his hand. He’s got the power to shatter it completely, but I don’t care. What I feel for him right now is too strong, too powerful to protect myself against, and the euphoria coursing through my blood is worth any potential heartbreak I might experience in the future.
“Thank you,” I whisper up at him, my eyes stinging with tears.
“For what, baby?” he asks just as softly, brushing a loose piece of hair from my cheek.
“For everything. For getting me this audition, for having Graham put in a good word, for getting me out of that God forsaken apartment, just…
everything
. If I get this job it’ll be because of you.”
His face lowers, his lips brushing against mine tenderly as he says, “
When
you get this job, it’ll be because you fucking nailed it, Penelope. It’ll have nothing to do with me, or Graham, or anyone else. It’s all you, baby. If you’d have seen what I just saw…” his awe-filled voice trails off as he pulls away, giving his head a shake. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Watching you up there was like watching water move.”
A giddy smile stretches across my lips as I wrap my arms around his neck. “Really?”
“Absolutely. It was inspiring.”
My heart beats rapidly against my chest as I stand on my tiptoes and pepper his jaw with light kisses. “The most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, huh?”
“Well…” I drop back down to get a better look at his face when he trails off. “Maybe second most beautiful.”
“What’s the first?” I ask with a laugh as his eyes grow darker and his hold on me tightens.
“Watching you come while I’m buried deep inside you and you’re screaming my name. Now
that’s
the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Watching you perform is a really close second.”
I laugh again as warmth pools low in my belly. “Well, I’ll just have to give you another performance later tonight, now, won’t I?”
With a feral growl, Gavin’s mouth crashes down on mine in a fierce kiss, and as I meet his tongue with my own, I can’t help but bask in the love I feel for this man.
***
“To Nell!” everyone at the table calls out, glasses lifted in the air in cheers. When my name was called earlier today as the newest performer for La Magie du Cirque, Gavin had insisted we celebrate. I thought he meant in bed, and he did… but he
also
meant at dinner with friends as well. That’s why I’m currently sitting at a large round table at Luxe, the posh, five star restaurant in Hotel Paragon, surrounded by my and Gavin’s friends. Scott’s here, putting the moves on Davies even though it’s a lost cause, Graham and Page are sitting on separate sides of the table, occasionally shooting daggers at each other, but being well behaved, nonetheless. She wouldn’t open up and tell me what’s going on between the two of them last night, but I knew something had gone down, whether she admits it or not. To his credit, Gavin only pouted for about a half hour when I insisted on inviting Nick to celebrate with us. He’s well aware there’s nothing romantic between either of us, but Gavin’s nothing if not territorial.