Page 88 of Flirty Dancing

Archer swallowed hard and continued in a low voice. “I’m sure you got my text, and I know you don’t want to talk to me, but… fuck, I’m so sorry. Caleb was way off base, saying all these things that weren’t true, so I only tried to explain…” He trailed off, knowing exactly how pathetic it sounded out loud. “Mateo, I would never—”

“Never what?” Mateo snapped, whipping around to face him, voice raw and rough. “Hurt me? Betray me? Humiliate me? Because you did all three. Christ, I told you about my parents—” He took a step backward,shaking his head. “Leave me alone, Archer. We are not friends.”

The blood drained from Archer’s head. Dizzy, he reached for a chair to steady himself. “That’s fair, but… I want you to know I’ll never mess up like this again, I swear. You can trust me.”

Mateo’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile. “You know, it’s my own fault for believing that in the first place. Turns out you and Caleb are perfect for each other.”

It was a knife through Archer’s heart. He nodded, holding back a fresh wave of tears, tongue thick in his mouth. “Okay. Got it.”

Betty had come in behind him, and the sympathetic look she gave was enough to send Archer fleeing. He turned and crashed directly into Caleb in the doorway. The shock of hitting him was nothing compared to the wave of anger that swamped his senses.

“How could you do that?” The words exploded out of Archer at the same time as his tears. “How could you sell out Mateo like that?”

He realized he was shouting in a silent room. Mateo watched from his locker.

“I only told them things that were true.” Caleb’s reply was quiet, and his eyes stayed on his feet.

“But it was no one’s business!” Archer yelled. “Why would you go out of your way to hurt someone like that?”

Caleb’s head snapped up. “Hurt someone? You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Archer?”

Archer blinked as he processed, the anger fading as rapidly as it had exploded. “Was this… was this whole thing about getting back at me?”

The silence between them stretched on. Caleb looked away.

“Look,” Mateo interjected, voice weary. “We have a show to do. Can we be professionals and just… fucking dance?”

Archer wiped at a tear and nodded. Caleb nodded too, at least having the decency to look a little ashamed. You could hear a pin drop backstage as they got ready. Most of them were mad at Caleb, some seemed to be mad at Archer, and in general, Mateo, Caleb, and Archer were given a wide berth.

Unsurprisingly, it was another terrible show. Archer couldn’t even look at Mateo or Caleb, and he was on the verge of tears half the time. He knew his dancing was substandard—heavy and joyless.

After the second show, he threw hisRetrojumpsuit in the approximate direction of his costume rack and hightailed it out of there. He had already showered and buried himself under his blankets by the time Beau and Ben came back.

A few hours later, once he had mentally tortured himself to the point of exhaustion, he fell asleep, wondering how he could possibly do this for another five weeks.

He was still in bed the next afternoon when Beau suggested going for a swim.

“Yes,” Archer said, attempting to muster up some enthusiasm. “That sounds great.” The idea of plunging into the cool depths of murky green water was actually appealing. Anything to shut the world out for a few minutes.

“Not me,” Ben said with a yawn. “I’m going to grab a nap before the show.”

“Okay, love.” Beau gave him a quick kiss. “See you in a bit.”

They found Dominik, River, and Gage down at the dock, too, and Archer was happy to be distracted by their anticsin between deep, refreshing dives. He held his breath until his lungs burned, then pulled himself back up toward the sunshine.

The afternoon was winding down when Archer climbed out of the water and his shorts snagged on a wayward nail, leaving a long, ragged tear down the front panel.

“Shit!” he said, examining the damage. He held the fabric together with one hand over the expanse of exposed thigh.

“Oh man, that sucks,” Beau said, but he was distracted by his phone. “Message from Betty in the group chat,” he told Archer.

Archer dried his hands on his towel and retrieved his phone from his bag to check.Meeting at 4:30, everyone! Stewart’s back! Let me know you got this.

Archer sent a quickGot it. Stewart. Hopefully that meant everyone would be better behaved again, although he wasn’t sure there was any coming back from the current disaster. Mateo would probably never forgive him. Archer’s throat squeezed as the guilt that had been washed away by the lake water came flooding back.

“Ben hasn’t replied.” Beau frowned at his phone. “He’s probably still asleep. I’d better go wake him up.”

“It’s fine,” Archer said. “I’m going to head up now anyway to change. I’ll make sure he’s up.”

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