“Welcome to the class, Ruben,” Petra said. She gave me a dark stare in warning when I turned around to face her. I took her hand and continued as if nothing had happened. “Okay, so the man emulates the role of the matador in the bullfight. He keeps his center forward, creating an optical illusion as he turns his body in different directions,” I explained, showing the class.
“And the woman in the dance,” Petra took over as she danced around me, “typically represents the cape, moving with graceful curves that emulate the flow of a cape around the man.”
The class broke out in applause when we finished our steps and as Petra ordered them into pairs, I caught Ruben hold his hand out towards Raine. I quickly searched for J
ared to pair her with but he wasn’t visible. Resentfully, I reigned in my dislike and growing jealousy towards Ruben and let him pair with Raine. With one eye on the rest of the class, my other never strayed far from her, watching like a hawk as he tried his hardest to strike up a conversation with her, but shy, timid Raine was in the room and it warmed my insides to see her act like he was invisible.
I waited for him to make his first mistake and give me an opportunity to swoop in and separate them. That came when I caught him move his hand from hold and brush it casually down her neck. I noticed her stiffen up and she began to move like a robot, slow and mechanically. I became the matador and he was now the bull when a blaze of red mist swam in front of my eyes and I made my way towards him.
“Are you okay?” I asked, forcefully breaking their hold, and pushing myself in front of her.
“Yes,” she whispered with a nod. “I need to speak with you and it can’t wait.” Dread wrapped around me like a blanket at her words. Her tone was sharp and curt and I wondered if she was regretting what happened between us yesterday. My fear was short-lived when I noticed her eyes scintillate with a mischievous glint. She arched an eyebrow and smirked as she waited for me to close my gaping mouth and respond.
“Wait in my office,” I gruffed out loudly in front of the class, trying to make it sound like her request would be an inconvenience to me, secretly I admired the fact she had the balls to be so brazen to demand time alone with me.
As I watched her walk away, I then turned towards Ruben, “Follow me,” I snapped, leading him out of the studio and in to the hallway. “If you’re here to learn dance then fucking learn, if you’re just here to hit on women and put your hands where you damned well please, then you and I are going to have a serious problem,” I snarled, grabbing him by his top and pinning him to the wall.
His hands automatically raised in mock surrender, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to touch her. She had something—”
“Save it! You’ve been warned. If I see you inappropriately touch any of the women in this class again, you’re out!” I let him go and marched back in to the room, straight towards the office.
The second I closed the door, she was in my arms, her legs around my waist and I had her back pressed up the wall. Without giving her chance to catch her breath, let alone speak, my mouth was on hers, my tongue pressed against the seam of her lips as I begged for entry and as she grabbed my hair nearly ripping it from its roots and reciprocated my kiss with the same frantic hunger for me, my body shook, my mind went in to meltdown and I lost all grip on reality. That’s when it hit me. I was obsessed and addicted, I couldn’t bear not to be with her and I could barely breathe when she was around.
“I needed that,” she whispered while my kisses moved along her jaw and down to my favorite place, her neck.
“I missed you,” I mumbled. I dragged my tongue along the delicate skin over the throbbing pulse in her neck and playfully grazed my teeth against her ear.
“You looked tired out there,” she whispered. I moved my mouth to lavish the other side of her neck. I was tired. All thoughts of her had kept me awake half the night and the other half I’d spent jerking off to my indecent, dirty thoughts of her body.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I replied, finally pulling my head back to look at her.
“Me either,” she said with a coy look. Her eyes were aglow with humor and playfulness and the sight made me grin from ear to ear.
“Myshka,” I whispered. Then kissed her again. I was oblivious to the door barging open as she assaulted my every sense, until I heard a loud clearing of a throat and the door slamming shut. Quickly, I dropped Raine to her feet and stepped away.
“We have a problem,” snapped Petra completely disregarding the situation she had just walked in on.
I glanced at Raine, her cheeks were flushed and her breathing heavy as she pulled her sleeves over her hands nervously. We locked eyes briefly, her playful ones were gone and now they possessed sorrow. “What is it, Petra?” I asked curtly. She glanced between myself and Raine then dropped her eyes to the floor. With my day deteriorating and Raine seemingly my only saving grace, Petra’s next words were like the stab of sharp blade that pierced straight through my heart.
“Max Peters is here.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
I gasped at Petra’s words. What is he doing here?
I felt my knees buckle from underneath me and I slid down the wall, forgetting my surroundings and who was present. My lungs burned for air as I tried to take a breath through the white spots dancing in my vision, I felt the pressure building up in my head and it began to pound incessantly causing me to grab at my top.
“Get her bag, quick!” Nikoli snapped.
He was in front of me in seconds prizing my fingers from their tight grip on the material. His hands cupped my cheeks and brought my head up from my knees. “Look at me, baby, look at me,” he said quietly, pushing my head up further so my eyes could try and focus on him. “Listen to my voice. I need you to take a breath and hold it for ten seconds, do you understand?”
My lips were clamped shut and I felt the heat of tears begin to trickle down my cheeks as I tried to shake my head.
“You will hold your breath for ten seconds and I’ll count, it will prevent the dissipation of carbon dioxide and stop you from hyperventilating. Ready?” He nodded as if to answer his own question for me, I closed my eyes and shook my head as the crushing sensation in my chest became more severe, and I started to feel dizzy.
“Damn it, Raine! Do it for me, open your eyes and take a deep breath, now!” He barked. I opened my eyes and took in a deep breath, keeping my eyes focused on his mouth as he counted to ten. “Again,” he ordered. I could feel his thumbs circling my cheeks soothing me in to a calmer state. “Last time, Raine. You’re doing so well,” he encouraged. I took another lungful of air and watched his mouth move as he repeated the numbers.
“Is she okay?” Petra asked.