Page 68 of This Is Love
“Right? Rya’s so nice.”
Ms. Mooreland shakes her head, coming in close, using a calm tone. “Hazel. That’s enough. It’s over.”
“You don’t understand. You don’t know her, Ms. Mooreland. She stole my ballet solo.” Hazel blinks rapidly, her lip trembling as she stares at the older woman right before she openly begins to sob. “Before Rya transferred into your class first semester,Iwas your favorite.” On a shuddered breath, she aims her hateful gaze on Rya as officers from the police department show up. Wild-eyed, she shakes her head almost violently, heaving out, “And then you came along, Rya. You stole from me! Well, you can’t have Logan! I knew he was meant for me as soon as we met!” The entire group of onlookers watching Hazel’s meltdown gasp as she lunges. Jaxon’s jaw tightens as she makes another hysterical attempt to get at me.
And fails.
“Stop,” he bites out, his strong arms restraining her against his chest as she flails. Not a chance in hell was that man of ours letting her get at either of us.
35
RYA
The rangeof emotion I’ve experienced in the last few hours would be enough to exhaust anyone. I’m scared. Overwhelmed. Pissed off. Sad. The list goes on and on. Add the trauma of the attacks—first the stairs, then the stage—and the physical pain itself, and I’m not doing so great.
Honestly, I’m disappointed—in Hazel for sure, but also in myself for not recognizing the signs earlier. The confirmation that she’d been behind everything I’ve been through this semester has gutted me. To know she harbors so much hatred toward me… well, it makes me feel sick. And why? Because we’d be competing for parts in future showcases and ensembles? Because I fell in love with my best friend who happened to be the guy she’d set her sights on?
It’s just not normal for someone to take the jealousy they feel and act out on it the way she had. I thought she was on my side, thought I had her support. Even before we were dating, she kept teasing me about how cute Logan and I would be and said she didn’t understand why we weren’t dating. But now, I wonder if she was simply feeling out the situation to find out if we were truly just friends. And the hell of the entire crazy debacle is thateven once she’d begun to stab me in the back, she’d remained by my side, suggesting we have girls’ nights and generally making me think we were besties. She didn’t want me to think a damn thing was wrong.
How she was able to look herself in the mirror, knowing what she was covertly subjecting me to, I will never know. If only I’d paid more attention, maybe I would have been more cautious with her. But instead, things had festered in her head, and I hadn’t seen it coming. As a result, I’ve lost my friend, my roommate, and quite possibly my entire ballet career. I will miss Hazel’s infectious laughter and the bond I thought we shared. But I will not miss feeling like someone was out to get me. Everything I’ve worked so fucking hard for… it could all be for nothing. It’s unbearably depressing.
Also depressing?Ugh. Having to immobilize my arm in this fucking sling.
I wonder if I’d known what was going on in Hazel’s head if I could have prevented this. Taking a deep breath, I blink back the hot rush of tears that sting the backs of my eyes and my nose—the nose that’s still sore from where my face smacked into the floor at the bottom of those stairs. I wince. And as a result, my cheekbone throbs. She did a number on me, I’ll give her that. The physical damage will heal. Hopefully. But the emotional pain will, no doubt, be with me for a very long time.
I drag in a shallow breath, my gaze traveling to Jaxon, who is asleep sitting straight up in a very uncomfortable hospital chair, his chin tucked into his chest. The way he’d kept that lunatic from continuing to come after me— I shake my head in wonder. He really will do anything to protect me from harm. My attention shifts to Logan, who is lying on his back on a narrow padded bench with his knees bent and propped up because he’s too tall to fit properly. In those moments when Hazel was shrieking insults at me and accusing me of stealingthings from her, Logan had been my rock. I would never have expected anything less from him, but I’d appreciated it all the same. Slowly, I exhale, the air jerking from my lungs. Who knew the act of breathing could be so damn painful? I hope both my guys already understand how much showing up for me in those moments had meant to me.
My phone buzzes several times in a row, and I wince, shifting to reach it on the rolling tray by my bed where it’d been charging overnight.Shit.I can’t get to it. Not without hurting myself. And I know exactly who it is because the only other people that’d be messaging me right now are snoozing across the room from me.
It’s my parents. They’d been at the showcase last night, but all the way in the back, and apparently when shit started going down, the audience had gotten to their feet and had surged forward, virtually blocking the aisle as they tried to find out what was going on behind the curtain. I feel terrible that my poor parents had been put through that, knowing something was very wrong, but unable to get to me. I clench my teeth. My mother is likely apologizing, yet again, within those text messages.
The phone vibrates again, and I stretch to the side, reaching with my good arm. My face blanches as pain jabs through my shoulder. “Ouch!” I suck in air through my clenched teeth, unable to stop the exclamation from hurtling free.
“Rya.” Logan lurches upright and is off the bench in a split second. “What’re you doing, baby?”
Jaxon jolts, his eyes popping open. He blinks hard, then stands, hurrying over to my bedside, looking for all the world like he might topple over. He sways on his feet as he rubs his eyes. Groggily, he rasps, “What happened?”
Logan snorts out a laugh. “She wanted her phone and decided to be stubborn and not wake us up.” His brow raises as he hands it to me. “Isn’t that right?”
“I’m sorry. I had my notifications set todo not disturbuntil nine, but then my phone started vibrating like crazy.” Making slow and deliberate movements so I don’t jar my shoulder, I accept the phone from him, then jut my chin toward Jaxon. “You didn’t even get to lie down. I can’t imagine either of you slept well.” With a weary exhale, I glance at the screen. “Oh. Boy.”
“What’s going on?” Jaxon rubs a hand over his face.
“Mom and Dad have been waiting in their car for me to respond. They want to be here when I’m discharged.” I wet my lips, scanning the rest of the texts. “Mom’s worried, Dad’s… I don’t know, actually. I think Mom’s purposely not saying much.” The way Logan is chewing on the inside of his cheek is mildly concerning, but I kinda chalk it up to him having to face my dad. “I’m nervous. They had so many questions yesterday, and I just couldn’t bear to get into it. And now…”
Logan’s mouth quirks into a half smile. “You deserve to be allowed to talk about it at your own pace. And I think they might have understood you needed a minute.”
“Are either of you nervous?” My eyes move from one to the other in turn.
Jaxon shrugs. “I think they assume I’m the new boyfriend, so I don’t know what to expect. Especially since that’s not exactly accurate.” His brows furrow. “We haven’t ever discussed how we’ll handle any of this.”
“Play it by ear?” I cringe at all the ways that could backfire, then shift my gaze to Logan. “You’re used to my dad. Are you nervous? I can tell something is on your mind.”
Logan steps close, bending at the waist to brush a tendril of my hair back. He looks steadily into my eyes, his expression so serious it makes my heart stutter with apprehension. “I have something I need to tell you—something I didn’t want to bring up last night because I thought?—”
“Wethought.” Jaxon puts a hand on Logan’s shoulder, squeezing.
“Right. We thought it might upset you even more and”—he shrugs—“we were in protection mode.”
