Page 151 of Dance of Ruin

She pauses, smirking.

“If you weren’t the best, Naomi, she wouldn’t have made me your understudy. She would’ve straight up given the part to me.”

From anyone else, this might sound arrogant, or like a veiled threat. But from her, it just soundshonest.

Matter of fact.

Like she’s giving a weather report.

Dove doesn’t smile, exactly. But her expression softens a little.

“You don’t need to hear from me how good you are. You need to believe it yourself.”

She turns to leave, then glances back over her shoulder.

“Know your worth, Naomi,” she says.

Then she’s gone, just as quietly as she arrived.

I start moving again, half-heartedly. My body remembers the steps even if my mind doesn’t, but my focus is shot, and Dove’s words linger on me like a ghost.

Know your worth.

I’m still trying to puzzle that one out when I sense that unmistakable presence. That shift in the air, like gravity tilting off kilter.

I turn to stare into the darkness of the auditorium, my breath caught in my chest.

A figure slowly makes his way down one of the aisles, past the rows of empty seats toward the stage.

Towardme.

I don’t have to see his face to know who it is. My very skin remembers the energy of his nearness. The fine hairs on the backs of my arms prickle and reach for him.

The scent of leather, smoke, and masculine cleanness sweeps over me as Nico materializes out of the darkness. My pulse skips, my heart sliding up into my throat and my body stiffening as he climbs onto stage and stands at the edge of it, facing me.

Wordlessly watching me, drinking me in.

He’s in his usual dark jeans and black t-shirt, stretched over his firm chest and sculpted shoulders. His piercing blue eyes cut through the dimness between us like a blade, slicing into me, flaying me open.

Laying me bare, like always.

He takes a slow breath and starts to move toward me. I feel the air vibrate between us, the heat of the lights growing warmer as my skin flushes.

My breath catches quietly, my eyes going wide and lifting to his as he stops right in front of me.

God, I’ve missed him.

Everything I’ve been feeling comes rushing to the surface all at once. I want to hold him, and kiss him, and neverstopkissing him.

But I don’t even know what we are anymore.

…What we everwere.

He swallows once.

“You’re everything to me, Naomi.”

My mouth goes dry. My heart twists in my chest as my brain short-circuits.

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