Page 176 of The Dixon Rule

Viktor tightens his lips. “Don’t try to get in my head. It won’t work.”

“Really? Because you seem mighty rattled.”

“I don’t rattle.”

“If you say so.”

“I don’t rattle.”

I grin at him. “Sure, bro.”

“Bullying everyone around you as usual, huh, Ride or Dance?” Martinique says darkly.

“As usual?” Diana echoes, looking amused. “We’ve literally never spoken to another NUABC competitor in our entire lives.”

“Exactly.” Martinique’s voice is snide. “Snobs aren’t welcome here, Ride or Dance.”

“Can you please stop calling us by our social media channel?” I ask politely. “It’s very dehumanizing.”

They both scowl at me.

“Okay, then. See you later, Confi-Dance.” I glance at my girl. “Can we remove ourselves from this creepy showdown?”

“God yes.”

We leave them in the ballroom shooting daggers into our backs.

“I think they might actually be off their rockers,” I tell Diana.

“Certifiable.” She’s still shaking her head about it. “Come on, let’s go backstage. I want to check my makeup.”

The hotel is permitting contestants to use the adjacent banquet hall as a backstage area. The huge space is packed with dancers in various states of undress. There are a lot of sequins and man-bulges in this room.

Diana’s shoes click on the tiled floor on the way to the area where we left our stuff. They look like low-heeled sandals to me, but Diana assured me they’re real dance shoes.

She approaches one of the mirrors in the vanity area and drags a french-tipped fingernail beneath her eye to smooth out the line of her eye makeup.

Damn, she looks so hot right now. I wish she’d kept her hair down, but she said it would be too distracting. Instead, it’s in a tight ponytail secured at the nape of her neck. A red flower is clipped over her left ear. Throw in the bold-red lips and smoky eyeshadow, and I want to bend her over the vanity table and drill her right here in front of everyone.

Once she’s satisfied with her makeup, she turns to face me.

“Repeat after me,” she says firmly. “We are going to captivate the audience.”

“I’m not repeating that. And I’m not captivating my asshole teammates.”

Diana can’t control her laughter. “I still can’t believe Coach Jensen is bringing the whole team to watch us. Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s the devil.” I harrumph. “I told you to contact the NUABC people and make sure they didn’t give him tickets.”

“They wouldn’t have gone along with it. The afternoon audience is always too small. They want to fill those seats.”

“My teammates are going to be heckling us the entire time. I hope you know that.”

She pales. “They’d better not. That could affect our scores!”

It’s chaos back here. I continue scoping out our competitors, but it’s hard to know who is entered in which category. I do know that the Solo and Duo categories are up first, though, while the pairs competing in the five- or nine-dance events don’t go on until late afternoon and evening. That includes Lynsey and her partner, Sergei, so I’m startled when I spot her in the crowd.

Lynsey walks toward us when she catches my eye. She’s in sweats, but her makeup is perfect and her hair is pulled back in the bun I’ve seen her wear a thousand times during ballet performances. Meticulously styled with sparkly hair pins above her temples because that’s Lynsey. Meticulous.

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