Page 6 of Dirty Dancer

“It was worse in the beginning,” I said. “I think she had something to prove to herself.” As much as she loved the performance, I wasn’t so disconnected that I didn’t see the hours and hours of work she put in. One of the other dancers, one of the guys, asked if she wanted a partner like she used to work with and she said no so fast, I didn’t even have time to think about that question until now.

Back and forth I went, aware of the two of them listening, and at the same time, just letting my thoughts go where they needed to go. There was something here and it had been chewing on me for weeks.

“She’s doing better—I think. Or maybe I should say, shewasdoing better until we went to Prague.” Going to Prague was something we all absolutely had to do. I’d never had a passport before, much less left the country. But we’d all gone, it had been a group effort. We went to help Ball-Cracker and Milo find their siblings.

Fuck… a new sibling. I was still rolling that fact around in my head. Doc had called to say that the kid had shown up in Braxton Harbor with Milo and Lainey. He wanted to stay with us. Right now that didn’t mean on tour, but it could mean on tour.

I’d met Theo, briefly. He was—he didn’t look like Em or Milo—and fuck that wasn’t the point right now. My thoughts kept going scattershot. I stopped mid-pace and scowled at the floor. The path I’d cut through the dust reminded me thatmaybe getting someone to sweep up these places needed to be a priority, or would that mess with how it smelled?

“Wow,” I said aloud and then shook my head. “Sorry, apparently I’m all over the place.”

“We’re fine,” Vaughn said. “We have at least four hours before someone will be looking for us.”

The delivery was so droll and dry that I laughed. “I always forget that you can be a dick.”

“Happy to remind you,” Vaughn said easily enough.

I snorted, then blew out another breath. “I think she is better about some things, but she’s pushing herself again. I want to tell her to take a real break, not one where she tries to do everything in the few days she’s supposed to have off or be everywhere for everyone.”

There it was, itclicked.

“The last break we took at home, she didn’t slow down for a day. She went on the road with Jasper. She went to the mechanic’s shop with Kel. She even took turns to go with Doc to the new houses. Liam came in on that flying break and she left with him for meetings. By the time we got back on the road, I don’t think she had a real day off.”

That was also not counting all the hours she spent in her studio. At least two hours every single day, whether she was training a routine or just training. She argued she had to because that was what it took. But what was that cost to her?

“After Prague, I think she needs it more than ever. But even if we plan to go home, Theo is going to be there now.” If I was Boo-Boo’s baby brother, I’d want to know her too. I’d want her attention, hell, I wanted her attention now but she had so many demands.

“You think she’s spreading herself too thin.” It wasn’t a question. Vaughn lifted his shoulders. “I don’t disagree, butFreddie—she misses the guys and I think she needs that time with them even at the cost ofnottaking a break.”

“I know she misses them.” She never hid that from any of us. Her excitement when she saw them was so genuine. I also knew she didn’t relax as well as she did when we were all home. One of us was with her every night on the road, sometimes it was all of us. I didn’t like to hang out through the sex part. Sometimes it was fun, but other times…

Right not about me.

“But I think she’s demanding more of herself and now she’s adding new routines.” Which was what this break had been about. “She wants to challenge herself.”

For some reason, those five words scared the piss out of me. They had from the moment she said it aloud this week when she’d been testing a new routine on a pole that dangled with no silks.

“Challenge herself,” Vaughn repeated and he cut a look past me to Rome and when I glanced at him, I found him wearing the same expression.

“That’s what she told me.” It wasn’t betraying a confidence. I’d cut out my tongue before I did that to her, but she’d mentioned it in passing and I needed to not be the only one whoheardthe problem present in those words.

Vaughn blew out a breath.

“I’ll talk to her,” Rome volunteered and I raised my brows. At my skeptical look, he shrugged. “I can be blunt.”

Yes. Yes he could.

“If she needs a partner to challenge herself,” he continued. “I can do that too.”

The profound relief that crashed through me had me flipping the knife closed. He put the two parts of it together and that was the part that had been haunting me. I got that she refused to let fear dictate her life, but the last partner she had when sheperformed had been a brutal, abusive piece of shit that should have suffered even more than he did before we killed him.

“Better?” Vaughn asked and he made no effort to cover his own relief. “Also, Rome, if you’re going up there too, we need to work out new engineering so it’s safe for both of you.”

Since my next step had been to call Ball-Cracker or Milo or both, yes, I felt a lot better. “I want to help her too.”

“Let her teach you to dance,” Rome said as he stood and straightened. “I want coffee now.” He was heading to the door and I stared after him. Vaughn chuckled but pushed the outer door open for Rome.

“C’mon, Freddie. Coffee and food. Then we can plan the next few days…”

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