Page 30 of Power Play

“I’m here. Been a long week, but I’m here,” I say, pulling my hat down a bit, a nervous habit I have. “How about you?”

“I’m good. Busy week as well between classes and work, but I made it through.”

“What’s everyone up to?” I ask, glancing around to see where everyone is.

“Cassie and Miles are playing darts. I think Harris and Trevor are trying to talk Gwen into a game of pool with Melissa. And apparently, Trevor bought a tray of shots,” she responds with a laugh.

“That’s cool. You said it was a busy week of school? What’re you going to school for?”

“I’m getting my master’s degree in business.”

“Business? I thought you said you were a dancer?”

The words must’ve come off harsher than I meant because her shoulders tense in response. Her eyes seem sadder now, with some of their brightness dimming just enough to lose their sparkle in the low light of the bar. She takes a long drink from her glass and looks up at me, the sadness on her face hitting me straight in the gut.

“Yeah, you’re right. I was, but then I got injured. When that happened, I decided I wanted to find a way to share my passion for dance with others, so now I teach it. You know if you can’t do it, teach it, or whatever bullshit people say.”

“Yeah, I get that. But why business?”

“I want to have my own studio here in the city, but I want to do it my way, not how everyone thinks I should. To do that, I need my own studio, and a degree to help me succeed as a business owner.”

“That’s awesome. Where would you open one if you could pick anywhere?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I had the perfect studio over on Broadway, but it fell through. Now I just casually look when I can, but nothing too serious until I graduate in May.”

I can’t lie, I’m impressed by her vision. She has the drive and the plans to back it up. It’s attractive as fuck to see a girl with both a dream and the determination to make it happen. Her outlook on life is also surprising at such a young age. At least, I assume she’s young. She seems barely legal to drink.

“I know this is breaking like all the rules and you’re never supposed to ask a lady this, but if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“Twenty-four.”

“Wow,” I say. Fuck, she’s young. But thankfully, not quite as young as I thought. Plus, she’s pretty mature for her age, which makes it easy to hang out with her. “It’s nice to see someone your age with such drive.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had my dream taken from me before. I refuse to let it happen again.” Sawyer immediately grabs her drink and downs it like a champ. “What about you? How old are you?”

“Thirty-seven,” I reply, expecting her reaction to be less than desirable and for her to be weirded out by my age. I’m surprised when she just grins.

“Damnit! I thought I had it when I guessed thirty-three. Thirty-seven, huh? I like it. It suits you.”

“You thought I was thirty-three?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, I mean, your face isn’t old. You have some lines by your eyes, and I can see a gray or two,” Sawyer teases before slowly raking her eyes from my face all the way down my body, taking her time and having no shame about it. “But I mean, you’re obviously in great shape, and you have this energy about you that just exudes confidence. Usually, guys in their twenties don’t have that—”

Before I can even respond, a voice behind me pipes in. “BDE,” Cassie says with a grin.

“BDE? What the fuck is that? It sounds like an and STD,” I say, dumbfounded.

“No, dummy. Big. Dick. Energy. It’s a sort of confidence some men have, but only when they have the equipment to back it up.”

If I was embarrassed easily, this might’ve done me in. Cassie has excellent timing with eavesdropping.

“Damn, I guess I’m more transparent than I thought. I’ll have to work on that,” I deadpan.

Surprisingly, Sawyer is the one blushing at that, hopefully imagining what sort of “BDE” I might have.

“Well, yeah. Whatever. We’re hungry so we’re getting food. Are you guys staying or going?” Cassie asks.

“I’m not hungry. I’ll wait till you get back here,” I tell them, staying behind to save our seats while they are gone.

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