The Bad Boy's Dance (6 page)

Chapter Five

So What if it Could Probably Solve the Country’s Debt Problem?

“Let me get this straight- you’re going to his house tomorrow?”

Dana was in shock. We were lying on the floor of my room, surfing the internet and chatting. When I’d nonchalantly- in my opinion- informed her of why I couldn’t go with her and Caleb tomorrow, she’d spilled the nail polish over her hand.

She wasn’t happy that she’d have lobster fingers for the weekend.

“Yes! But it’s only for the project Mrs. Knut dumped on us.”

Suddenly, Dana grinned slyly. “You’re going to be all alone with the school’s-hell, the city’s- bad boy? What if tries to woo you, Ives?”

“Ouch!” she rubbed her arm where I’d smacked her.

“It’s not like that Dana!” I patted my warming cheeks. Thanks, Mom, for giving me the gene that made my own face turn against me. “And hey, I thought you hated the Plastics!”

She shrugged and propped herself up on her elbow. “Asher Grayson isn’t really a part of the Plastics. He’s not easily categorized. Actually, I’m starting to think that the Plastics just started following him around and he went with it.”

              “Ivy!” my mom called.

              I opened the door to my room and stuck my head over the banister to find her standing at the foot of the stairs. “What’s up, Mom?”

              “Honey, Paul is coming over on Sunday, so make sure you have no plans that day, alright?” she checked, wiping her hands on a dish towel. Behind her, I could see my Dad grumbling as he vacuumed the carpet. Tonight was the baseball game he was anticipating, and if Mom let him, he’d be sprawled on the couch with Spencer eating us out of house and home.

              “Sure, Mom. I’ll get everything taken care of on Saturday. I can’t wait to see Paul!”

              She sighed happily. “Me too. Go on, it’s not polite to keep Dana waiting.”

              Dana was sitting upright when I found her. She beamed at me. “Paul’s coming home?”

              I hid my smile. Dana had a huge crush on Paul, although you’d have to drag her through the gritty part of a barn to get her to admit it. Dana was a girl of many tastes, and many crushes.

              “Yup. Sunday, according to my mom.” I was excited. Paul was older than me and Spencer, and he was finishing graduate school in Colorado. We hadn’t seen him in months.

              “Hmm, guess that means you’ll have to spend the entire day with Asher then, if you want to free your Sunday,” Dana snickered. Dang, and here I thought I’d distracted her!

              I hauled my laptop to my knees and chose a movie on Netflix. “Shut it, Dana. I love you and all, but I have no problem duct-taping your mouth closed.”

              “Okay, okay! Just be careful, Ives,” she said with concern. “Asher Grayson is dangerous.”

              I frowned at her, and defended Asher. Why? No clue. But it didn’t seem right that she was judging him based on his reputation. “He’s not going to hurt me, Dana. He’s not an animal.”

              She clicked ‘Play’ on the movie I’d chosen. “That’s not what I meant by dangerous.”

              And that was all she said about that.

              My alarm was currently my favorite song, but if it kept blaring every morning, I was going to start hating it.

              I switched my iPod on and hummed along as I brushed my teeth and dressed in a turquoise hoodie and faded jeans. Dana had slipped out sometime during the night. She claimed that the worst part of a sleepover was the morning, so she’d vanish before I woke up every time.

              I grabbed my favorite polka-dot tote bag and slipped the book I was reading into it, along with my phone, wallet, and gum. After some thought, I unplugged my iPod and stuck it in there as well.

              Saturday always put me in a good mood. Not even the thought that I was going to be spending the glorious day with a certain guy was enough to rain on my parade.

              Dad and Spencer were already eating while Mom tended to my little sister. Jodi was adorable, with baby blonde curls to her shoulders and plump cheeks, but she was like a mini- Godzilla, destroying everything her chubby little hands touched.

              “Ibbeee!” Jodi butchered me name, but she was too cute to resist. I scooped her onto my lap and ate my cereal one-handed. Jodi pushed her palm against my nose like she was paying Jeopardy and my nose was the buzzer.

              “Where are you going?” Dad asked, scribbling something on a sheet of paper. He hated Saturdays because the agencies he worked for wanted the paperwork in before Sunday.

              It was pretty unusual for me to be up before the afternoon on a Saturday. Spencer had tried to rouse me several times, and each time had resulted in a heavy object sailing towards him.

              “Um…I’ve got a project due Friday. I’m working on it with a partner.” There, that was truthful. No way in hakunna matata was I telling my parents the identity of my partner. Mom was a nurse, meaning she’d probably met some of the people Asher put in the hospital, and Dad was a lawyer. Maybe he’d even convicted Asher to his time in juvie!

              Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. I was in the arts, and my imagination ran away with me. He wasn’t on FBI’s Most Wanted or anything.

             
Yet.

             
What I- and most of Darwin High’s student body- couldn’t understand was why would someone who didn’t care about pretty much anything be willing to sacrifice anything for his future? Asher went above and beyond in school, but that was the only area he showed any amount of effort. I was pretty sure he was the top of our class. Probably why Mrs. Knut could rope him into this so easily.

              “Ivy!” Spencer flicked a Cheerio in my face. “Earth to Ivy!”

              Jodi took the Cheerio from my cheek and popped it into her mouth. “Ew, Jodi, no!” 

              She smiled at me. Mom took her from my lap and stuck her in her high-seat, where Jodi promptly knocked over her food.

              “I’ve got to go,” I bid my family goodbye and headed to my car. Asher had texted me his address at four in the morning- why he was awake at that hour wasn’t something I wanted to know- and I typed it into my Dad’s GPS.

              It wasn’t hard to locate Asher’s house- pardon me,
mansion.
The dude was loaded! The neighborhood was ritzy, with manicured lawns, jumbo-pools, and Pomeranians wearing bedazzled shirts.

              Asher’s place might have been the grandest of the entire street. The lawn stretched endlessly, and the house was painted a rich mahogany color and lined with gold. The door was ornamented and heavy.

              I almost turned tail and went home.

             
Relax, it’s not a big deal. So the house could probably fix the country’s debt problem- so what?

             
My phone buzzed. I answered it absently, still fixated on the mansion in front of me.

              “Are you planning on knocking soon or do you want to stare some more?” a deep voice rich with humor asked.

              I looked from the phone to the house. Was that curtain drawn a little bit? “Are you watching me?”

              “Yes,” he answered unashamedly. “You’re on my property, remember?”

              “Well, if it’s not a problem with you, I think I’ll stare some more,” I huffed, hanging up.

              Slowly, I locked my car and made my way to the front door, clutching my tote bag to my chest like a shield. The door swung open before I could knock.

              “Thought you were going to stare some more,” Asher smirked.

              “And give you the satisfaction? I think not,” I replied. He gave me a wide berth to enter, but I was still unmoving. It was sinking in that I’d be all alone with Asher Grayson in his house, with the nearest house like an acre away.

              His smirk grew at my hesitation. Hitching my tote bag higher on my shoulder, I stomped in, hoping I left dirt stains on his spotless marble floor.

              My breath caught as I walked into his house.

              Oh…wow…

              Spiral stairs curved upwards, like a path to heaven. Marble hallways branched to different rooms on the lower floor, and I spotted the edge of a screen door leading to another jumbo pool.

              That wasn’t what left me astounded, though. Instead of a roof, the house had a curved into a glass at the top of the columns. Basically, his roof was made of glass that let light stream in, making everything sparkle.

              “Wow…” I murmured. “What do you guys do when it hales?”

              Asher was watching me with interest. “Nice, huh?”

              “It’s lovely,” I answered truthfully. I’d never expected Asher Grayson’s house to be so…opulent.

             
That’s because you judged him based on what you heard.

             
True. I hadn’t even been sure if he’d lived in a house. I’d been under the impression he resided in a lair.

              Guilt swarmed me, and I made a mini- vow to try to be nicer to Asher. He was right. I didn’t know him well enough to call him names. I didn’t think I ever would, but that was besides the point. For now, we were stuck together, and until our project ended and we went our separate ways, I’d have to tone it down.

              “We’re never going to finish if you keep this up,” Asher broke me from my thoughts. He fit in perfectly with the grandiose house. He was wearing a simple white shirt and dark-washed jeans, but he was gorgeous, just like everything else in here.

              “Lead the way, then,” I gestured.

              He beckoned me after him as he walked down the hall. I followed a few steps behind him, admiring the artwork hanging on the walls.

              And I was kind of checking him out, but only a little.

              Dana would be ecstatic to know she was rubbing off on me. Asher sauntered down yet another hallway, and I was completely lost. How did he find his way around this maze?

              He opened a door on the right and walked in, not glancing to see if I was following. The loud noise my sneakers were making on the floor was enough.

              The room was a small theater. He had a freaking cinema in his mansion! It was circular, so the seats curved around a huge screen on the wall. There were twenty seats or so, but Asher sat in the highest row. Picking my way up, I left a seat between us and sat down. He slid me an amused glance, but didn’t comment, thankfully.

              “What do you want to watch?” Asher asked. “Pick any dance movie. Even if it’s in cinema,” he added.

              Lifting a remote from a compartment under his seat, he stretched his legs on the back of the seat in front of him.

              “Save the Last Dance,” I decided. I’d seen the first half of the movie, but Jodi had gone and spilled apple juice on the electric outlet and fried our cable.

              “Why that movie?” Asher asked, turning his head to peer at me.

              I shrugged, stretching so the bones in my shoulders popped. “Why not?”

              “Right,” he said in response to my vague answer.

              He clicked a button on the remote, and the room filled with light. Asher found the movie on whatever network he used, and the quality was unbelievable. I wished Dana was here to see this.

              Julia Stiles played the role of an angry teenager perfectly. I found myself rooting for her and on the edge of my seat during the dancing. She fought to overcome her past that wouldn’t leave her.

              That was certainly something I could relate to.

              Asher stayed quiet the whole time. I peeked at him a few times, but he seemed as wrapped up in the movie as I was. It was only the last time I glanced at him that I found him watching me. I kept my eyes on the screen after that.

              The credits rolled, and it took me a few minutes to yank my brain from the movie. Asher stretched, revealing a slice of hard abs.

             
Avert eyes, avert eyes!

             
Look at that lamp. What a pretty lamp.

              “Want something to eat?” Asher inquired, getting to his feet.

              I checked my watch. It was lunch time, and now that he’d mentioned it, I was pretty hungry. “Yes.”

              Standing, I almost collided with Asher, who’d been moving forward. I stumbled a few steps, and his caught my wrist, keeping me from tripping.

              “Leave it to you to be a dancer, but a complete klutz,” he stated. I retracted my wrist and strode haughtily down the aisle.

              “Unless you want to get lost, don’t try to find the kitchen alone. It’ll be a huge waste of time if I have to find you,” Asher called from behind me. I halted. He had a point. It would be sixty times more humiliating if I got lost in his house. Crossing my arms over my chest, I followed him through the maze to the kitchen. Granite counter, state of the art cooking gear, and everything was stainless steel.