Page 68 of The Pucking Wrong Man

I blinked, feeling a little weak at that moment. I was pretty sure what he was insinuating...and it would mean a place to stay for the night.

Really, who needed their virginity anyway?

I shook my head, trying to destroy the feeling.

There was weak...and then there was weak...

And I hadn’t come this far to end up like that.

“Yeah, I—I’ll speak to Madame about options for improvement,” I said, shifting so he could maybe get the hint that he should let me go.

His hands squeezed my hips once and then he released me. “Make sure and ice,” he said in a completely normal tone, like he hadn’t been massaging my hip a second ago.

I pasted a smile on my face and left, forcing myself not to limp even though every step was excruciating.

There were only a few girls left when I got into the locker room. Alena sneered at me and flipped her long black ponytail. She’d been upset with me since the game—like it was my fault she’d been “relocated.”

I pretended like I always did, that it didn’t hurt that these girls I’d danced with for years thought I was nothing.

Before I’d gotten hurt, it hadn’t been quite as bad. They’d made fun of me at my old studio for being a scholarship student...but I was a star.

With my injury, I was still good. But these girls had me in their sights.

Lacey walked out of a bathroom stall, giving me a sheepish smile, but she didn’t say anything before she left.

I cried again after they left, and I changed into the clothes I wore to mop the floors.

And I cried some more as I walked to the diner to start my next shift.

I always told myself I’d never give up.

But today...today I was close.

CHAPTER 13

CAMDEN

Anastasia Lennox was a brat of the highest order, and I couldn’t wait to spank it out of her.

I sat at Charlie’s table, after two nauseating days of lurking in the shadows and not being able to talk to her.

I’d seen the longing glances she’d thrown at the door of Charlie’s the last two shifts, hoping I’d come in after she’d tried to push me away.

I knew she missed me.

Yet here we were, at the restaurant, and she was pretending that I didn’t exist as she cleaned off the tables.

Naughty girl.

Her bruise had faded some, the dark black and purple contained more greens and yellows than it had a few days ago.

It still made me want to throw up every time I saw it.

And I’d seen it alot.

I’d stared at it as I waited for her to leave Haven every morning.

I’d raged at it as she walked out of the dance studio and headed to work.

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