Dangerous Dancer

I pulled my lips into my mouth, forcing myself to keep a straight face. Max’s face turned sour as he gave him a slight nod of his head and practically turned his back to him. The corner of Nikoli’s mouth raised up into a sneer and for the first time I was seeing him truly angered, but damn he looked hot. I needed to get out of here. This was too much for me to handle, having both men in the same room and within feet of each other.

“I second what Niki said, your wife is a very good dancer. She has signed up for four lessons of Ballroom and two lessons of Latin per week, I trust that won’t be an issue?” Nikoli said.

Max’s mouth turned downwards and he nodded his head slowly. I could hear the cogs turning in his brain and I knew he was trying to work out how much this was costing. Or so I thought. I glanced at Max and my stomach tightened. I caught the power behind his eyes, the power that was as reckless as a tornado. His blue eyes flashed bright and for a moment they looked full of warmth but were careless as hell. “Raine will attend Ballroom only, she has no need to learn Latin, so don’t be expecting her back here for it. And after the 21st of next month your services are no longer required,” he replied. He shot me a warning look to keep my mouth shut and not embarrass him.

His glare was freezing my bones, I felt like I was naked in the middle of a blizzard. I swallowed hard and glanced towards Nikoli who was stood clenching his fist rhythmically, his face positively seething at Max’s attitude. “Let’s go, Max,” I said trying to keep my tone light as I stooped down and grabbed my bag, but inside I was screaming bloody murder.

“I can assure you Raine will benefit from taking the Latin classes,” said Petra sternly.

“Please, Max. I’m really enjoying these classes,” I begged, clamping my hand on his arm.

He turned towards me with a look so dark and so swift, I automatically flinched and took a step back, mentally cursing myself for speaking out against him. His hand reached out and clamped onto my shoulder, from the corner of my eye, I noticed Nikoli take a step forward and my heart lurched in my chest in panic. “We can talk about it later sweetheart, okay?” He said calmly, but there was something about way he had said it that made my skin crawl.

I stared at him vacantly as I tried to recall when was the last time I’d told him I loved him and meant it. I tried to remember when he last made me feel special, paid me a compliment, made feel sexy, made me feel anything at all that wasn’t growing contempt. The stark truth was, it had been so long that I couldn’t remember.

As I walked past Nikoli, I heard him whisper my name, his hand brushed against mine discreetly and as cliché as it sounds, I felt the static energy sizzle and butterflies broke out in my gut. I raised my head and walked from the studio without uttering a word to anyone.

I’d made my decision. I was going to say goodbye to this miserable existence of a marriage.

I was going to leave the great Max Peters.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

This morning I had woken up with a feeling of foreboding. I knew the instant I set foot out of bed, today was going to be a day of treading on egg shells. No matter how much I tried to think of Nikoli and bring some happiness to shine through the misery that shrouded me, Max seemed to be going out of his way to dampen my spirits.

“I’m away this weekend,” he announced, standing in his boxer shorts, brushing his teeth. My eyes glanced towards him and I bit back the loud yes that was threatening to roar from my mouth, instead I opted for a casual nod of my head as I continued trying to style my hair.

“Am I coming with you?” I asked.

He shook his head as he spat out the toothpaste in the sink, “Not this time. I have to take a deposition in Atlanta.”

“Atlanta?” I questioned, as I battled the curling iron through my hair.

“Yeah, the witnesses won’t come here so Ray Roberts and I are going there. I’ll only be gone one night, I’ll be back Saturday evening.”

Instead of feeling sad like I normally would be, where I’d follow him around and moan about him leaving me home alone, bleat about how lonely I would be and then sulk until he took me with him, my mind was working overtime at the endless possibilities a night away from him could bring me. A whole night of possibilities with Nikoli. I caught a lazy smile on my face and placed the curling iron down on the sink. I quickly frowned to remove it. Then he had to open his mouth and knock the wind straight from me.

“I know how your anxiety gets when I have to spend nights away, but I’m not leaving you alone, Savannah Roberts is coming over and spending the night here, you can have what she called a girl’s bonding session,” he hollered over his shoulder as he headed back into the bedroom.

Are you freaking kidding me! “Uh, that won’t be necessary Max,” I called back. My fingers were gripped onto the sink, my knuckles turned white with the pressure as I imagined it was Max’s neck I was throttling.

“Sure, it will. I know Savannah is looking forward to it, she can stay in the guest room and when I get back with Ray we can all go out to dinner,” he replied nonchalantly.

Relaxing my grip on the sink, I ambled in to the bedroom in a slight daze as my mind frantically raced with excuses to get out of this but nothing was coming to mind. I had no doubt that Max would have an answer to every excuse that poured from my lying mouth anyway.

“Oh, and before I forget, next Tuesday evening we are hosting a dinner party so you’d better reign that mouth of yours in. It’s for the speakers of We Are People Project.”

I shook my head slowly, my eyes pinched into slits as I gawped at him, “Tuesday evenings are my Ballroom classes.”

Pulling on his sweatshirt he turned to face me, “Well not next Tuesday it isn’t, this is more important.”

I dragged my body to sit on the edge of the bed and pulled on my sweats, “Ballroom is important to me,” I whispered.

“You are already taking two extra lessons as it is, one night away will not hurt, now stop sulking

over it,” he snapped pulling on his sweats, then took a seat at my dressing table and fired up the laptop. “Why have you curled your hair?” He asked me abruptly without looking my way.

I took a deep breath and shrugged it off, “I thought you liked my hair in ringlets?” I replied sweetly.