Page 18 of Dance of Madness

Eveline turns red again. “Oh myGod, Brooklyn!” She blurts. “Eww! He does not!”

“No, that’s pretty much exactly what I meant,” Val grins.

Evelina rolls her eyes. “Roman isstraight, Val. He has sex with girls.”

Val shrugs. “I have sex with girls too.Andguys. It’s called having your cake and eating it too,” Val smirks. “I highly recommend it.”

“So,” Brooklyn interjects, pointedly shutting down the other two as we all head to the changing room. “What did you take and what did you leave?”

Nothing. My sanity.

“A book,” I lie, shrugging. “And I left a buck.”

“What book?” Val asks, following us in.

It’s not like he makes a habit of it, but Val often ends up using the women's changing room. It’s not a “Val frequently dates men so la-di-da we can all get changed with him because he’s safe” thing. It’s more that he’s like a brother to all of us.

“Is this about you breaking into Greymoor Manor the other night?” Naomi interjects as she pulls a hoodie over shower-wet hair.

“I didn’t…” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “Never mind.”

“Yeah,” Val says, peeling off his t-shirt to reveal his chiseled, inked chest. “She had to leave something and take something for a dare from the one and only Alicia.”

Naomi makes a face. “What a cow.”

Again,zerotears.

“So… You took a book?” Naomi grins. “Bet I know which one.”

I shoot her a look.

“What?” she giggles. “Dude, you’re predictable. You’ve looked for that book every single time I’ve ever been in a bookstore with you.”

Brooklyn frowns. “Wait, what book?”

“The Sorrows of Young Werther,” Naomi says with dramatic fanfare. “By Goethe.”

Val arches a brow. “Wasn’t Goethe German?”

“Yes, but it's been translated into English,” I sigh. “And for the record, I love it because I read it right after my mom died, and it's always felt comforting to me.”

I’m about to ask Naomi how her day off was—she and Nico were planning on driving out to Long Island to visit Nico’s dad, Vito. But before I can do so, I’m distracted by the sight of Brooklyn turning away from me to peel off her leotard, revealing someveryugly-looking bruises on her ribs.

“Duuude—”

I whirl and shoot Val a hard look, shutting him up. He gets the message, and the two of us exchange another worried glance before I shake my head and silently mouth “I’ll talk to her.”

Evelina ends up leaving with Naomi. I linger, waiting for Val to finish up, while Brooklyn showers.

“Is she still seeing that motherfucker?” he growls quietly as he yanks on a sleeveless sweatshirt.

“I’ll talk to her,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, you do that,” he mutters. “If she says yes, tell me and I’ll go snap the little fuck in half.”

Bless his heart. Val really is like a protective brother sometimes.

He’s gone and I’m dressed when Brooklyn finally steps out of the shower with a towel around her.

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