Page 28 of Dirty Dancer

Theo folded his arms almost defensively and shrugged. “I just don’t want to do it.”

“I get it,” Freddie said. “I had to get tested every year, but it worked out. Meant I got the right classes. Ms. Stephanie always went with me though, she sat through the assessments. She promised to be my backup and she always was.”

Freddie hated to be alone with strangers. Maybe Theo did too.

“So,” Freddie continued. “If you want, I’ll go and hang out for your assessments and I’ll be your backup. I can’t really help you cheat or anything, cause my grades were never that good anyway.” He waved it off like he didn’t have the intellectual capacity. Freddie was a hell of a lot smarter than he pretended, but he liked to keep what he could do to himself.

I respected it.

“Think they’d get pissed if I asked for someone different to do the testing?”

The almost cooperative meekness in his Theo’s tone almost knocked me over with a feather. The anger and belligerence drained away and now he just sounded tired.

“Nope,” I said. “I’ll call Liam right now and ask him to get it changed.” Then because the kid was talking, I said, “Do you want to go to the learning center and meet the other counselors and candidates, see who you click with?”

Theo rubbed at his lower lip, a deep scowl settling on his brow. “I don’t know. I don’t… I don’t know any of them.”

Fair.

“That’s why you take backup,” Freddie said. “I got no problems tagging along. We’ll check out who is there and who looks good and if they all suck, Liam can figure out another way.”

Discomfort reflected in Theo’s eyes. “Just like that?” Disbelief underscored the words.

“Kid,” I said. “Let me tell you what being a Vandal means—it means you don’t have to do shit alone. It means we will have your back every step of the way. If the path needs to be cleared, we clear it. If you need a hand, you get it.”

“It also means if you need a boot to the ass, you get that too,” Freddie said, self-deprecating grin in place.

“But I’m not a Vandal.” The emptiness in that statement cut me.

“Sure you are,” Freddie said easily. “You’re family. That makes you a Vandal.”

The hungry look in Theo’s eyes at Freddie’s statement answered the last question I had. Theo was fighting us to make us prove we were here and wouldn’t abandon him. He wanted to be here. He wanted his brother and his sister, whether he was willing to admit it or not, and he wanted to be a part of something.

“What he said,” I told him. “Also, I am the boot that is going to be up your ass when you need it. Now, eat your food. I’ll call Liam.”

“Should I go with…” Theo started to rise, but I waved him back to his chair.

“Emersyn will be down soon and I think you wanted to see her.”

He tried to cover up the flare of interest, but he couldn’t hide it fully.

“She’s going to want to see you too,” Freddie said, giving him an out and I bumped Freddie’s shoulder with my fist as I stood. I caught his eye as I turned and he lifted his chin.

He had this.

Cool.

I would get with Liam and we’d put our heads together. We needed someone who could work with Theo, but not threaten him. We were gonna find him someone we would trust to work with Freddie.

CHAPTER 12

EMERSYN

Each time we came home it took me a few days to reacclimate. I loved traveling, training, and performing. It was a constant flow of energy output. Our days were mapped out and scheduled. We might wake up in one city and go to bed in another, but there was a familiarity to the routine that I craved.

Coming home meant an entirely different routine. Time with the guys, resting, getting a bit of a break from the daily grind of performance and training. Not too much of a break because the last thing I wanted was to get sloppy, or worse, out of shape.

This was the first break I’d taken with Theo in residence. He’d been present at Kel’s birthday party, and I’d earned a quiet hello from him and a couple of words before Lainey arrived with Andrea. After that, he ignored me and Milo both.

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