Deep Burn (Burned Duet 2)

“Hey.”

“Elodie,” she whispered, darting around the front desk. “I can’t believe you’re here.” She placed her hand on my arm, and that was all I needed from her to know she was here if I needed her. Sometimes the smallest of motions meant the most.

“Can I dance?” I asked, not able to keep the words in any longer. The smell of wooden floors and soft music called to me in a way nothing else ever did. It was the release I’d been craving for longer than I’d realized.

“It’s all yours.” She waved her arm at the studio doors, and I didn’t think twice about stepping toward them and into the studio. I still had on my jeans and T-shirt, so I walked across the wooden floor toward the changing room. I shucked off my clothes as fast as I could, pulled on my leotard and dance leggings, then headed back into the studio.

I could sense eyes on me, and a quick look over at the viewing window told me Aleste was watching with a grin on her face and her hands to her chest. I didn’t want to think too much into it, so I warmed up, stretched, then connected my cell to the sound system.

I strolled into the middle of the room, glanced at myself in the mirror, and waited for the first beats of the music. As soon as they vibrated around the studio, I lifted my hand, took a deep breath, and let my body speak the words my mouth wouldn’t.

ASHER

I wiped down my section as my second client of the day exited the shop and sighed at the sounds of the tattoo machines surrounding me. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the buzz of them until they weren’t around me. They calmed me but also made me itch to mark someone’s skin with artwork.

I pulled my black latex gloves off and threw them in the trash, then headed to the front of the shop. I didn’t have another client for at least an hour, so I’d have enough time to grab some lunch and—

The door whooshed open, and a red-faced Maverick slid to a stop in front of me. “I just…” He tried to pull in a breath. “I saw…” His took two huge gulps of air, then rushed out, “I just saw Elodie.”

“What?” I darted around the counter and grabbed ahold of his arms. “Where?”

He lifted his arm and pointed across the street. “She was going into the dance studio.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as I turned and saw her car parked in front of Aleste’s studio. She hadn’t been outside on her own since we’d come back from the lake house weeks ago. And she hadn’t told me she was going to the dance studio. Not that she needed to tell me, but fuck…what the hell was going on? She’d b

een stuck inside the house for weeks, and now she’d gone out on her own?

I pushed Mav aside and practically ran out of the shop and over the road, not stopping until I yanked the dance studio door open. Aleste snapped her head to the side, but when she saw it was me, she waved her hand to join her. “Come and watch her,” she whispered as if she didn’t want to talk too loudly to disturb Elodie.

My feet carried me forward and toward the window Aleste stood in front of. I wasn’t sure what I was going to see, wasn’t sure what I was going to be faced with, but it was so far from what I’d expected. My panic turned into wariness at the sight of her in the middle of the dance floor. She stretched her arms above her and let her head drop back, and I swallowed as she lifted onto her tiptoes, reaching as far as she could. You could see each movement of her chest with each breath she took, exactly on the beat of the music. She wasn’t just dancing.

She was the dance.

I’d watched Elodie dance at Pink Feather. I’d been mesmerized by the way her body flowed to the sexy music, but it was nothing like this. The sad tone of the violins in the music playing gripped at my heart, and the pain etched on Elodie’s features threatened to tear me apart. She was bleeding. Opening the wound she’d tried to heal and leaving it on the wooden floor of the studio for all to see.

My breath caught in my throat as she leaped in the air, did the splits, then landed on one foot and twirled on the spot. Her body collapsed in on itself, and I took a step forward, feeling the need to save her, but the music was still playing, and she wasn’t done with letting it all out.

I could barely stand to watch as she told the story—her story. She exposed herself in ways I’d never seen before, and with one final leap, she crashed onto the floor, wrapped her arms around her legs, and bowed her back, letting the final beats of the music fade into the background.

“She’s…”

“Amazing,” Aleste finished for me. I wasn’t sure that was a strong enough word, not for what I’d just witnessed. The silence echoed around us, but neither Aleste nor I moved from the spot we were in for several seconds. But the longer time went by and the more Elodie didn’t move, the more I needed to get in there with her.

I stepped toward the door but was halted by Aleste’s hand on my arm. “Shoes off first.”

“Right,” I choked out, pushing my boots off my feet.

The door swung open, but Elodie didn’t look up, not until I was crouched down next to her. “Fuck, sweetheart.” Her gaze met mine, her eyes glassy with tears threatening to fall. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” A lump formed in my throat, one I wasn’t sure would ever disappear. “You were…electric, fascinating, amazing.” I couldn’t help but reach for her, and as soon as my palm whispered over her cheek, a tear fell.

“I needed to let it all out,” she choked. “I had to get rid of it.”

“I get it,” I told her, letting my ass drop to the floor. I opened my legs, pulled her toward me, then cocooned her in my arms. Her hand grabbed my T-shirt, holding on as tight as she could. We sat there, in the middle of the floor for what felt like seconds…hours. I didn’t want to move an inch, scared I’d tilt the balance we’d created.

“I missed it,” she whispered. I tilted my head down as she looked up at me, the torment in her eyes replaced with fascination. “I missed dancing.”

“I could tell.” I ran the palm of my hand over her head, pushing some sweaty strands off her face. “This was the next step.” As I said the words, I realized how true they were. She still had more steps to take, but this one…this one was a huge leap she’d needed to do on her own.

Chapter Twelve