Hooked #4 (The Hooked Romance Series - Book 4) (2 page)

Other women had started to filter in. Through their
bags and conversations, through their smiles and greetings, I finally saw her:
Mel.
My assistant.
I rushed toward her and flung my
arms around her. I’d missed her, my only friend.

“Oh, gosh.
Mol.
This is beautiful,” Mel spewed, glancing around
her.
“Not as beautiful as the last place, certainly.
But we can build it up!”

I thought for a moment, my heart sinking. Where would
I get the money to fix the place up? The possibilities
laid
around me; it was like I could see the way I wanted the dance studio to look
afterwards. But I didn’t know how to proceed.

Suddenly, all the women had arrived. I clapped my
hands and greeted them all, my arms in the air. It felt so wonderful to have
them before me, blinking at me with such earnest happiness. Mel started the
music behind me, and the soothing classical music took us away. We churned our
bodies into stretching positions. We awakened our muscles. The women smiled as
the endorphins took hold of them. The sun skirted out from beneath a cloud and
enveloped us in bright sunlight, making us all grin with sincere happiness.

The class went so well. It was
like
I hadn’t lost a single step since I’d taught a dance class. The women asked all
the right questions and allowed me to help them, to position their legs the
right way. They cracked small jokes and seemed to want to include me, which was
rare. I think
Rhetta
had told them that I had fallen
on hard financial problems. For a fleeting moment, I thought surely the girls
had wanted to get back together just to try to support me. But it was more than
that, of course. They wanted to feel the glorious joy of dancing next to their
friends, to beautiful music. They wanted to feel like they were a part of
something. And they were, there in my studio.

After the hour passed I allowed them to go. The
sweat poured down their faces, and they smiled at me with such happiness. They
shook my hand; some of them pinched my cheek until it grew pink. “We’re so glad
our Molly’s back,” they all said. “You’re so beautiful, Molly. You make our
lives better, Molly.” They said these things over and over, making my heart
grow so full.

I padded over to the window after they all left and
began removing my ballet shoes. Mel, on the other side of the room, crossed her
arms and shook her head.

“What is it?” I asked her, smiling.

“It’s you. You seem so happy. I can’t put my finger
on it.”

I shrugged. “Of course I’m happy. I have a dance
studio again.” I shook my head, feeling the waves and waves of comfort from the
previous hour wash over me.

Mel laughed. “You’re over the moon.”

“What an old-lady expression. Don’t you go hanging
out with them outside of class,” I teased her. I placed my shoes in the bag and
tidied up a few of the things in the studio. Nothing was in its forever place
yet, of course. Nothing was perfect. But it would be, soon.
When
I built up enough money.
I didn’t have to reserve so much to pay back
the loan, now. So I could focus on other, more beautiful things.

“Hey. Mel. Do you want to run to the coffee bar? I’m
in the mood to celebrate,” I said to her, flipping my blonde hair left to
right.

She mimicked me slightly, making me smile. “I’d love
to.”

She followed me down the steps. I waved to Carol,
saying good-bye. “Why didn’t you join us?” I asked her.

“One too many pints, my darling,” Carol called back,
smacking her hand on the bar.
“Maybe next time.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” I said, winking at her.

Mel and I swept into the street. I wrapped my scarf
tight around my neck. “I can’t believe it’s nearly
winter
.”

Mel was tucked so deep in her own coat that I
couldn’t understand her response. We walked toward the end of the road, and
spun into the very coffee shop in which I’d met Drew for the first time. I
realized I hadn’t thought about him in the last three hours, which made me feel
strange, bizarre. I’d been caught up in a different world for a moment. And
now, the feel of his touch came rushing back. My face grew hot.

We ordered coffees and sat by the window, gazing out
at the huddled people in their broad, Alaskan coats. Mel started telling me
about
Jackson,
and about how he was trying to say
words—that the words always came up in spit-up and bubbles. “It’s disgusting,
but I think it’s his version of ‘I love you,’” she explained, sipping at her
coffee.

I laughed. Her life was so different
than
mine. “Listen. I have something to tell you,” I said
quietly, finally feeling like I needed to tell someone about all that had
happened the past few weeks. I swallowed.

“Well. It’s about time,” she said, shaking her head.
“Come on, now. Don’t leave me in the dark like that anymore.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I giggled. “Okay.
So.
First of all, my loan is paid for.”

Mel raised her eyebrow.
“What do
you mean, paid for?
By whom?”

“I have no idea,” I stated, shaking my head back and
forth. “I’ve never told anyone about it. I had this whole plan, you know. I was
going to set aside money every month for the bills. But now it’s just abruptly
disappeared.”

Mel
nodded,
a glint of
knowledge in her eyes.

“You don’t think—
“ I
began,
understanding what her expression meant. Mel thought that Drew had paid for the
loan. But that couldn’t be. Why would he care about me, even for an instant?
Sure: we’d shared each other; we’d shared our bodies. But he didn’t give a shit
about my business, about Molly Says Dance.

“I don’t know. It is mighty suspicious, though. You
start dating a millionaire, and then all of a sudden—WHAM. Your loan is paid
for. You haven’t talked to him recently, have you?”

I looked down at my hands as they wrapped around the
coffee mug before me. I bit my lip. I remembered that I’d ranted to Mel, over
and over, about Drew buying the dance studio. And then: I had agreed to leave
town with him, to go with him to a millionaire’s retreat and fuck him in a
Jacuzzi. I longed to tell her; but would she hate me for it? Sure, Drew was her
cousin. But she had morals.

“Um.
Something—something happened—
“ I
murmured.

Mel smacked her hand lightly on the table, coaxing
me to tell her. “What’s up?”

“Well.
He um.
He invited me
to go to Iowa with him. And I did. I went with him to a casino—“

Mel’s eyes widened. She knew all about my inability
to go to casinos without thinking of my father. “Was it—did you tell him?”

“I did, actually. He said his dad died a long time
ago, as well.”

Mel nodded, knowingly. “It was terrible.”

I brought my lips together, considering what to say
next. My heart was beating fast. I almost felt like he was watching me. I knew
that his new bookstore—Femme Fatale—was probably being built just at that
moment, at my old dance studio. I wondered what everything had looked like,
poised in rubble on the ground. “Well. He understood completely. And at first,
he told me I didn’t have to play. But then I wanted to, you know. Maybe I have
a bit of the blood in me, I don’t know. But I won all this money.”

Mel’s eyes widened. “You didn’t let him give it to
you, did you?” she asked me, her eyes large.
“Of course I didn’t. He’d put the money up, you know. I didn’t feel right about
it. But then, we went back to the hotel and we were kissing and we were having
sex in this Jacuzzi—
“ Again
, my face reddened as I
talked about it. I took another sip of my coffee. “He’s been all I’ve thought
of the past few days. I can’t get him out of my head.”

“Well. And now your loan is paid off,” Mel pointed
out. She placed her palm to the air and shrugged her shoulders, as if this were
an obvious statement to make.

I chewed on my lip. “I don’t want him to do things
like that for me,” I muttered. “I don’t want us to have that kind of
relationship.”

Mel waved her hand. “I know. I know you want to be
your own woman. But trust me.” She placed her hand over mine. “There will come
a time when you need to lean on someone. You can lean on me for words anytime
you need to, of course. I’m always here for a talk. But you’ll need more than
that. You know that, don’t you?”

I considered this. I had long been so proud, so
haughty. I didn’t want to feel like I was at the mercy of anyone else. And god,
I didn’t want Drew to take care of my bills. I shook my head. “I still don’t
think he would pay for it. He knows how much it means to me to be on my feet.
To be responsible.”

Just then, Mel received a phone call. She picked it
up and brought it to her ear, greeting her young husband, the father of her
child. “He’s got what—?
A fever?”
Her eyes darted
around the café. “Okay. I’ll be home right away. Do you need me to pick up
anything on the way home—“

My eyes narrowed. Her baby was sick. I brought my
hand to her shoulder, a comfort, and began helping her gather her things. When
she hung up the phone, she was already almost out the door. “It’s no big deal,
Molly. He just doesn’t know what he’s doing at home by himself, you know.
By the way.
Please tell me when the next class is. I can run
it; we can run it together.
Whatever.
The point is, I
had a blast today back at the studio with you.”

“Me too.”
I brought my face forward and kissed her on the cheek, allowing her to dart
back into the world and hail a quick cab. My thoughts went with her, back
toward the water.

It was still early, around six-thirty in the
evening. I walked back to my apartment, with my hands in my pockets and my mind
on everything else. I felt like I was spinning. I walked up my apartment steps,
thinking about Drew’s smile. It was making me swoon, a bit. I hadn’t felt this
way about a guy ever before in my life. In a way, I wanted us to just be a
couple—even if it lasted only a week, only a month. This way, I could have a
history with someone special. I would have something to show. I could say
boyfriend, and then I could say ex-boyfriend. And all would be right with the
world, in a way, because I’d have proof of my life.

I unlocked the door. Boomer trounced from the table
and onto the floor at my feet, meowing up at me. I patted his head, feeling the
softness of his fur. “
Boomy
,” I murmured as I reached
for his food and poured it into his small dish. I turned back toward the couch
and thought about what to do. I couldn’t just sit down. I couldn’t just rest.
My brain and my body felt so alive. They wanted to see more, to feel more.

Suddenly my phone rang in my pocket. I picked it up
swiftly, noticing that it was a call from Drew. My throat grew dry. I hadn’t
heard his voice in so many days. I swallowed, trying to practice what I would
say, what he would say. I needed this to work suddenly. I needed to woo him, to
make him mine.

“Hello,” I answered, trying to make my voice sexy,
husky.

“Well, hello, beautiful,” he murmured back. I could
hear cars whizzing by him; I could hear horns and beeps. I swallowed, picturing
him walking down the street, a million invisible faces around him. “How are you
doing?” he asked after a pause.

“You know, I’m doing fine.” I longed to tell him to
get in my bed, to get there now. “How’s your new apartment?” I longed for him
to live at my apartment complex once more,
like
he had
a mere few weeks before. I wanted him to be in arm’s reach. But he wasn’t.

“It’s beautiful, Mol. You’re going to love it. It
needs a lot of work, of course. I need an artistic eye. I’m not much for
interior design.”

I allowed my eyes to graze through my shadowed,
dusty apartment. I always knew what I wanted to do with it, of course. But I
couldn’t afford to renovate. I was a poor renter. I needed money for cat food.
“You know. I have a bit of experience with it, if you need a hand,” I spoke up
finally. I felt the coffee rollicking in my veins.

“Is that so?”

“If you just give me a chance to
see it, sometime.”

Drew thought for a moment. I could hear the whizzing
of another car skirt by; this one felt close.

“Where are you?” I laughed into the phone, trying to
dispel the seriousness of our current conversation. I felt like we were such
adults in that moment. I wanted it to be
over
. I
wanted to laugh with him, naked in a Jacuzzi somewhere. It didn’t have to be
life or death.

“I’m close to my apartment, actually. I was
thinking—I could pick you up. I could pick you up and take you to my apartment?
You can check it out, make a list of all the things I need to do? I’ll need to
buy lumber.
Or whatever people do.”
He laughed into
the phone, and the laugh was pleasant. It made me feel warm.

“Yeah.
That sounds nice,” I replied. “It’s already eight, you know that?”