Page 69 of Dirty Dancer

“What about everyone else?”

“They can make their own.” I bopped her nose and she grinned. With her attention on taking the finished pancake out of the pan, I could breathe again.

Detachment.

That was what I had been going for. Staying detached. Keeping us all even. Getting us through this mess to the other side.

She held out her hand for me to take it, it was time to pour another pancake.

Yeah, detachment my ass. She was too damn adorable. We made nearly a dozen pancakes and she was just as excited about the twelfth as she had been about the first.

They were the best damn pancakes I’d had in a while.

I was also hella late to get to the shop, but I really didn’t give a fuck. I wouldn’t have traded that hour alone with her for anything else. When I got back that night, she popped out of her room and into mine.

“Can you show me how to make eggs tomorrow?”

“Yeah, Sparrow…I can show you anything you want.”

DISORIENTATION (BONUS POV)

FREDDIE

Afist caught me in the side of the head and I rocked in the chair. Laughter bubbled up inside of me as I blinked through the watery eyes to find the pair of 19 Diamonds who’d jumped me glaring as bits of blood and spittle hit them as I laughed. Now they looked like speckled diamonds and that was funny as fuck.

I was high.

“Have you ever felt like nobody was there?” I asked. Granted it was a mostly rhetorical question.

“Shut up asshole.” He backhanded me and more blood flew from my lip. It sprayed across the tile and the girl who’d offered to suck my dick let out a squeal. I wonder if this was what they meant by spotted dick. Another laugh escaped me.

“I told you to make him talk,” another voice intruded. That dude sounded like a real asshole.

“You said get him here,” the spotted dick responded and there were tears in her voice. This time when flesh struck flesh, the spotted dick let out a cry.

“You know I’ll be found right?” I said. Hitting chicks was so fucking lazy. Besides, I was right here.

“What?” The guy whirled on me and he got right down in my face.

“Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?” I asked, blinking away the fresh wave of tears his Shrek-level onion breath dragged out of me. “And have you ever heard of a breath mint?”

He snarled, sadly exhaling more of that nasty breath into my face, and hit me square in the stomach. I would have puked, ‘cept I didn’t have anything in my stomach so I laughed.

“They want answers or pieces,” a new voice said. Yeah I couldn’t see that one cause they’d knocked my chair over and I was lying on my side on the floor. This was kind of nice. Spotted dick rubbed her face and threw me an apologetic smile. Yeah, I knew better than to chase free pussy.

Still…shit, I tried to smile but all I could taste was blood so it probably came out some gruesome Freddie Krueger shit—Freddie Krueger.

Oh shit.

I laughed.

The air wheezed out of me.

“What the fuck are you laughing at?”

The chair was yanked up and the world swayed as it righted itself.

“Have you ever felt like you could disappear?” I asked, I was flying. At some point, this shit was gonna hurt, but not right now. This was awesome.

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