Climb (Club Kitten Dancers 3)

“You all right, Bailey?” I ask the other dancer, who is standing close to Paige.

“Yeah,” she whispers.

“You sure about that? Did he hurt you?” I ask, trying to make sure I know exactly what went down before I arrived. The cops are going to want us to all give statements as soon as they get here. I want to know what I just walked into.

“No, he didn’t hurt me or touch me,” she says, but I can hear the tremble in her voice. I don’t look at her. I don’t want to take my eyes off the loser crumpled on the floor. Blood is slowly dripping from his mouth. I think it’s safe to say he bit his tongue, and his jaw is probably broken.

“What about you, sweetie?” I whisper, not looking up at Sassy, not wanting to meet her gaze just yet.

“You saved me,” she whispers. “You saved me.”

Chapter 3

Sassy

The cops come and go, and Elliott still hasn’t looked at me. Not really. The man he took down is hauled away in an ambulance and I’m blown away by how quickly everything happened.

The “altercation,” as the police called it, was over in a matter of seconds, but only because Elliott was here. If he hadn’t been here, if he hadn’t saved me, I don’t know what would have happened.

By the time everyone leaves, I’m exhausted and worn out and ready for sleep. I canceled all of the clubs evening classes because the police were everywhere, so it’s not like anyone could even get into the club, much less back to the dance rooms. I hate canceling classes and try not to do it, well, ever, but I didn’t have much of a choice tonight.

“Are you okay?” Elliott asks me, breaking the silence between us.

“Yeah,” I manage to say, suddenly feeling very weak and very vulnerable and very scared. Everyone is gone and it’s just the two of us in the lobby. “But I should lock up. Do you still want to hang out?”

Please say you want to hang out.

He was planning to take me to dinner, I think, but honestly, I’m just happy he’s still here. I’m just happy we can chat. I’m just happy we can be together and talk. Even if all we do is sit on my damn couch and watch a bad movie or share stories from the last six months, that’s fine.

It’s all fine.

I just don’t want him to leave.

Not yet.

Not when he just got here.

“

Sassy,” his hands are on my shoulders now, but this is different from when he grabbed the guy in the lobby. This is different, sweet, gentle. He’s not touching me like he’s going to throw me out. He’s touching me like he’s going to wrap me up.

Then he does.

He pulls me close and wraps his arms around me in a tight, wonderful, perfect Elliott hug.

And that’s when I finally lose it.

That’s when I’m not okay.

That’s when nothing makes sense, when nothing is fine.

When I’m safely in Elliott’s arms, I completely break down and let all the stress of the day wash over me, and I sob.

“It’s not fair,” I say. I wish I could stop, but I can’t. The words just start tumbling out of me, and I mumble incoherently.

“It’s okay, Sassy.”

“It’s not okay. Nothing is okay. None of this is okay. I was so scared. I was so scared and then you came.”