Page 90 of Fragile

“Make me,” I said with a smile and he shook his head in a God give me strength type motion. I was still reeling from his decision inside but knew that if I pushed it, he would back away. If he wanted to wait, I could wait.

He then sobered as I started to clear the pots away and asked, “What are your plans today?”

“I don’t have any. I may practice for a while. You?” I replied, rinsing the pots in the skin.

“Fancy working out together?” Gabriel said, leaning his hip against the counter. I spun on my bare feet, my eyebrows sky-high.

“I thought we’d agreed to be just friends for now?” I said with a jut of my chin.

He rolled his eyes and folded his arms, “I meant a real workout, in the gym downstairs, not sex.”

I didn’t try to hide my disappointment and enhanced my pout to which he warned. “Stop it.”

“What?” I said, holding my hands up feigning my innocence.

Drying my hands on the tea towel, I then threw it at him playfully and he caught it.

“Oh, OK then. You’re on but I hope you can keep it up—oh sorry—I meant keep up Mr Knight.”

As I walked past him, I was very aware of his eyes on my bottom. “You have a dirty mouth, Leonie Smith.”

I turned back to face him, backing away towards my room. “I know, I got it from the best of teachers.”

With my mojo back intact, I went to my room and would treat that day as a reset.

I wouldn’t allow Gabriel to back away from what we had. I knew he cared for me but he was right. He was part of a world that I had no experience of but I didn’t want to continue to live my life in that safe little box I kept myself in. Hell no. Gabriel had given me a taste of excitement and had shown me that there was more to life than just ballet.

He made me feel empowered and confident and if anything, although he didn’t realise it, he was the perfect person to support me in achieving my goals. He was ambitious and wanted the best and that is exactly what I wanted.

I spent that morning getting ready for my workout session in the gym with Gabriel. I would train hard, tone my body and then, I would follow my dream of dancing on the stage at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

If Gabriel wanted me to wait in the wings for him. I could do that.

*****

Having taken my eye off the ball recently due to my infatuation with Gabriel, I decided to try and focus on my classes. I put myself out there more, practising at the front instead of shying away like a wallflower. I caught the eye of a visiting choreographer, who gave me some tips about my alignment. I even managed to get the guts to send an application to the Royal Ballet School, Gabriel having helped me to fill it out so it was the best it could be. Ballet wasn’t all about the practical element, you had to use the right words to get your foot in the door and where words were concerned. Gabriel was a genius.

Asher and I hung out more as Gabriel threw himself into his work, going from freelance to apprentice. He spoke about some of the cases he had started to work on; one that stood out was a case against a juvenile detention centre where staff had allegedly abused some kids. I loved the fact that he was working on situations that would help people who had been wrongfully harmed in some way. It proved that he was nothing like his father, who even from his sickbed, still worked for that dodgy client Gabriel had mentioned. I thought back to the Charity Ball, I’d spoken to Athena again and she had seemed genuinely interested in my ballet. Garrett hadn’t made an appearance, being too sick and so I had yet to meet the big man himself.

Both Gabriel and Asher visited their father regularly and bit by bit hatchets were being buried.

The boys and I would hang out together at the house and watch movies, Gabriel still stole a few kisses here and there but we’d stopped having sex. I found it difficult and did attempt to entice him a few times but he was a man of his word.

I told him more about my foster parents and he was always keen to ask me questions. Things were heading in the right direction for me in all areas of my life but at a slower pace than before, which was fine.

The thought of being shut out of Gabriel’s world completely would have been the death of me, I was sure. I could continue to love Gabriel from afar and I knew that we would naturally gravitate together. Nothing was forced and I felt the bond between us getting stronger every day.

*****

It was Saturday and I was working at Felice’s. They had a function room behind the main bar area and Max had hired it out for his thirtieth birthday.

I dressed in my usual uniform of black jeans, with a black shirt and my name tag on and put my hair up into a ponytail. I then packed my jeans and a camisole with ballet flats into a bag. After my shift finished at six, I would join the boys for Max’s birthday drinks and Asher and Mark would also be there.

Every day at some stage, I would leave Gabriel a jokey note on a post-it on one of the mirrored wardrobes in his room and he would always return the favour. Once I’d received a rose on my pillow, another day a chocolate. It was a bit of fun and always made me smile.

I pulled my bag against my shoulder and wrote a question for Gabriel to read when he came back from Max’s party. He was at the office and had said that he’d see me there.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

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