Page 51 of Freestyle (Academy of Stardom 1)

“You motherfucker,” Xeno snarls, but he doesn’t try to stop him.

York squeezes Xeno’s shoulder. “Sorry man, but our girl needs me and I’m not going to deny her.” Stepping close, York looks at Dax over my head. “I like you a lot Dax, but would you mind…?”

Dax chuckles. “Sure thing,” he says, releasing me from his hold and stepping back.

My cheeks flame as I tip back my head and stare up at York. The overhead light catches his white-blonde hair and pale skin and for a moment I swear he fucking sparkles. Then again, that might just be the bang to my head.

“From the second I saw you wet and shivering in the rain, I knew we were done for. It’s taken these muppets two years to figure out the same thing,” he says, resting his hands on my hips and gently pulling me close to him. “Also, you’re gorgeous and you don’t even realise it.”

“What?” I mumble, my brain has frozen up and is unable to articulate anything right now. This is so surreal.

“You’re Titch to me,” he says, brushing his lips against my forehead. “Tiny to Xeno, Pen to Zayn and Kid to Dax. Don’t you see? We’ve already claimed you as our own, even if that’s harder for some of us to admit. Why do you think all the girls we’ve brought back have such an issue with you? It’s because they know what you mean to us.”

“Always so fucking insightful,” Xeno growls, but York just smiles.

“Oh,” is all I can manage to say. This was not what I was expecting. “Are you saying…”

York leans down, the tip of his nose brushing against the bridge of mine. “Yes, Titch, I’m saying wealllike you. I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”

“Okay,” I mutter, the word ripped from my lips as his pillowy mouth presses against mine. He holds me close against his body and my toes curl inside my trainers as his tongue parts my lips. Stars sparkle behind my eyelids as my body breaks out in goosebumps. I reach up and pull at his hair, tugging him closer. He chuckles into my mouth, smiling and kissing me with a talented tongue that soothes as well as taunts. By the time he’s finished, I’m giddy.

“Xeno?” I question when York eventually steps away.

We all take a collective breath as Xeno looks beyond me to the rest of the Breakers. “You bunch of goddamn arseholes,” he grinds out. Then his gaze focuses on me.

“I’m not going to kiss you, Tiny. Not because I don’t want to, but because someone has to keep their head tonight, and I guess that someone is going to be me.” He presses his mouth into a hard line, thinking for a moment. Then he wipes his hand over his face and focuses his attention back onto me. “What I’m about to say might upset you, but I have to do this…”

“Do what?” York asks before I can.

“Tiny, you have to choose.”

“Choose?” I repeat.

“Yes, stay as we are, a dance crew,friendsand that’s it, or…”

My throat closes over. “Or?”

“Or pick one of us and walk away from the crew for good. No more dancing together.Ever.”

“Xeno, man, you can’t make her do that,” Dax grinds out, understanding implicitly what I was trying to explain with my fumbling words.

“Shehasto choose, it’s the only way. Whatever choice Tiny makes we have to agree to it. No questions. No going back,” Xeno continues.

My mouth goes dry. “I don’t know if I can do that…” I whisper.

Didn’t he hear what I said? I love them all, and yet, I also love to dance… with them.Allof them. If I pick one of the Breakers as my boyfriend, then I’m no longer a part of this dance crew and all the happiness it brings me will be gone. If I choose the dance crew, then I’ll never have any of them the way I want and will be miserable watching them all with other girls. Either way, I’m fucked.

“You’ve got no choice. You’ve got until your seventeenth birthday, the night of the crew battles at Rocks, to figure it out. Spend time with each of us. Make your decision.”

“Why then?” I ask, looking helplessly between them all.

“Because whoever you do choose will want more than just a kiss, Pen, and I sure as fuck won’t allow any of these arseholes to sleep with you until it’s legal to do so.” Xeno grabs his coat from the sofa and pulls it on, not even considering that I might choose the Breakers dance crew over one of them.

“The legal age to have sex is sixteen, Xeno. Not to mention that’s both a dickish and possessive thing to say,” York says.

“I don’t give a fuck. None of you arseholes are fucking Pen until she’s made her choice,” he growls back. “Come on, I’m walking you home. We’re done here tonight.”

I don’t have time to say goodbye, let alone fully comprehend what Xeno just said, as he grasps my hand and pulls me out of the basement. Part of me is shocked at his outburst. How dare he decide when I choose to give myself to somebody. This is not the nineteen bloody fifties and I’m not his property. On the other hand, that fierce kind of protectiveness has me feeling all warm inside. It’s a strange combination.

By the time we reach my flat, I’m coiled so tightly with anxiety that I can barely look at Xeno. He’s been quiet the whole way home, and I’ve not been able to say a word. When we step into the dimly lit entrance to my building, he pushes my back against the brick wall, shoving his thigh between my legs and pressing it against the spot that’s been throbbing all night long. With his forearms resting either side of my head, he boxes me in. His breathing is harsh, his chest expanding and contracting as he presses his forehead against mine. My stomach ties up in knots at the look on his face, like he’s fighting something within.

“I’m taking myself out of the equation, Tiny. You and me, it can’t happen.”

“But…” I’m unable to articulate my feelings around the sob lodged in my throat. “Why?” I manage to squeeze out.

He refuses to answer, instead he brushes his lips over the bump on my head, his lips lingering over the spot. “I’m sorry.”

Acting braver than I feel, I capture his cheek in my palm. “We could have it all… the crewandeach other,” I whisper, wanting to believe that so much. Wanting to believe in my heart that love will conquer all and we don’t have to live bound by ties that society and religion place on us.

“No, Tiny, we can’t. Our world just doesn’t work that way,” he replies, his voice catching as he pushes off the wall and walks away, taking a piece of my heart with him.

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