Page 100 of When Hearts Awaken

“Ch-Charles,” I whisper.

His eyes take a fierce glint and he whispers urgently, “I may have been born with money and you may have come from poverty, but I’m awestruck by you. Floored by you each day. Your wealth isn’t in dollars and cents, but in your unbeatable, fighting spirit. You are a breath of fresh air in a world tainted with pollution. Reasons one hundred eight, nine, and ten.”

My hands shake—I can’t control the flood of emotions rushing through my veins like a shot of adrenaline to a dying heart. The flowers fall to the ground, dark red petals scattering among the sea of white.

“Does this answer your question? Why I wanted to tell you in person instead of texting you? How much I fucking missed you…your annoying barbs, your sarcasm, your fiery emotions, everything I’ve tried to avoid, but realize your absence has been slowly killing me inside… Do you know now, Taylor?”

Words desert me. Instead, I do what I do best, let my body, my movements tell him what I’m feeling—just like how ballet is a love letter without words.

I pull his head down and crush my lips against his, swallowing the groan emanating from his throat. He curls his arms around me, his hand snaking up to angle my head so he can take our kiss deeper, closer, our tongues and teeth making an appearance.

He exhales, and I inhale. He attacks, and I retreat. His hand kneads my back, sparking a thousand little fires inside my body.

An icy gale blows by and I know I should be cold, but instead, I’m burning hot for the man holding me to him like I’m a life jacket in the middle of the ocean. I moan as he rakes his teeth down my neck, eliciting a pinch of pain that is a direct caress to my clit. I need more. I need—

A car honks in the distance and we spring apart, belatedly realizing we’re still standing outside the door, in full view of everyone. Thankfully, the crowds have thinned out, but out of the corner of my eye I see Sir Ian’s eyes widening as he steps into the van with the other dancers. Carla sneers at me and Lisa has her mouth on the floor as Dev smirks and pushes her inside the vehicle with the others.

The cat’s out of the bag.

Ishouldcare about this. Ishouldworry about what other people will think.

But I don’t give a fuck.

A small smile appears on Charles’s face as his eyes dart to the company van as well. He arches his brow at me, as if daring me to complain.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” I mock shove him. “You knew they were watching.”

“You pounced on me, minx. I haven’t moved from my spot.”

I cringe as I remember running toward him—he’s right.

“Don’t get used to it, mister.”

He chuckles and tugs me to his side. “Let me take you back to the hotel. It’s cold out here. And I think we have more to talk about, don’t you think?”

Chapter 42

Minutes later, we sitin the back seat of the town car, the center divider up, so we’re enclosed in this small cocoon of privacy. My feet bounce on the ground. Perhaps it’s because we’re shrouded in the darkness in this small space, I’m compelled to do something I’d never done before.

Another first with him.

“Charles,” I whisper, my eyes staring at the black divider in front of me. “I w-want to tell you what happened to me.”

His breath hitches, and he reaches toward me, gently clasping my hand in his. Before I draw down the bridge and let him storm the castle, I want to tell him the truth, the story I’ve never told anyone other than Alexis, Camden, the cops, and the school therapist.

I want to be brave…and I want to know if he’ll look at me differently.

If it is a mistake to open up to him.

He links his fingers with mine and gives it a squeeze before pulling me to his side, but I feel the tension radiating from his frame.

Blowing out a breath, I begin, “When I was sixteen, I was a trainee at a top ballet academy. I was a scholarship student, because back then, it was just Mom, Grace, and me. Mom wouldn’t tell us who our father was, so it’d always been just the three of us. Mom worked a lot. Grace also took on additional jobs outside her classes because fuck…everything in New York City was expensive, even if we lived in the shittiest place in the Bronx.”

My nose prickles as I think of the past, which seems a world away, and yet I can remember as clearly as if it happened yesterday. “I wanted to quit ballet too. It was expensive even with the scholarship. The shoes, the outfits. The extra fees. I could’ve gotten a job to help my family out. But Mom and Grace insisted I continue, because I had talent and I loved to dance. And I do…it was…ismy life.”

I focus on the reassuring graze of his thumb on my hand as I get to the next part. “Things were going well. We didn’t have much, but we were happy. I was doing well in ballet. My instructor thought I was going places. But everything changed one night.”

I rake out an exhale, nausea starting to swirl in my gut. “There was a celebration—the end of a successful season. Like ABTC, we relied on the funding from rich sponsors and this was an event all of us were expected to attend. After all,” I scoff, “the sponsors wanted face time with the people they were spending money on.”

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