3
Kaia
I stand just to the left of the stage, my heart in my throat. My pointe shoes are laced up, I’m in pale pink tights and a stark white leotard. I’m sweating so profusely that I can almost feel the dampness at my lower back. I’m not even under stage lights.
I just never thought I would get this chance again. When I applied to be a dancer at Emerson, it was a hail mary, an outside shot. And yet here I am, stretching my hamstrings, ready to dance for their hiring panel.
“Kaia?” the stage manager asks. When I nod she waves me onto the stage. “Break a leg.”
She says it with a wink, hurrying off the stage. She’s encouraging and warm to me even though she doesn’t know me from Adam.
What a difference that is from New York Ballet and Calum’s stage managerial style.
I stiffen my posture and walk out onto the stage, beaming. Inside I am a mess of nerves and doubts. But ballet has prepared me for the pageantry of this moment.
I smile easily under the bright lights. Walking to the little X marked with black tape, I look out at the audience. It’s all women from what I can see. Another huge difference from NYB.
One of the women calls out to me. “What’s your name, please?”
“Kaia Walker,” I say, projecting my voice into the theater.
The woman glances down at her clipboard, scribbling something. Then she clears her throat.
“Kaia, you were most recently at New York Academy of Ballet?”
My smile falters for a spilt second. Should I reveal my brief tenure at their competitor?
No. Let them judge me based on my dancing alone. I nod my head. “Yes.”
Another of the three women chimes in. “What will you be dancing for us tonight?”
My heart beat starts to race. “Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Act Two, Scene Two.”
Eyebrows rise. The judges look at each other for a moment. I’ve chosen a very difficult part with a particularly hard solo as my audition piece. Hoping to wow them, I guess. The first woman speaks up again. “Go ahead whenever you are ready.”
I raise my arms in a delicate arch as the music begins to play. A wide smile teases my lips. My heart in thundering against my ribcage.
I start dancing, quickly and flawlessly executing the pirouettes and jetés. Under the bright stage lights, time stops altogether or maybe speeds up to hyper speed. It’s really difficult to tell.
I try not to dwell on it. Kaia fades away for a few moments. In her place, I’m Aurora, seeking her true love.
I finish with the biggest grand jeté possible, flying and floating across the stage. I have that same thought, that I’m actually a good dancer.
Not the best, maybe. But I should be able to get a part as a member of their corps de ballet with this performance. Right?
I strike a pose, lifting my eyes toward the three women that stand in the rows. One is whispering to another. The third frowns as she makes furious notes.
The first woman straightens and applauds very briefly. “Very nice, Kaia. Thank you. I think we all would like to see you back for another audition…”
Another audition. That’s the process when you aren’t fucking one of the stage managers, I guess. I curtsy deeply and mumble my thanks, turning and rushing off the stage. Already, the stage manager is calling the next girl.
I hear her voice call faintly. “Brigid?”
Slowing my exuberant footsteps to a walk, I turn the corner. I’m expecting maybe a stagehand or a costumer to look up and distractedly point me in the direction of the changing rooms.
But no. Instead there is a lone man dressed in head to toe black. His dark hair is ruffled. His blue eyes pierce right through me. His shoulders are ruggedly large, his hips slim, his expression unreadable.
I halt suddenly, my hand flying up to cover my heart. My heart hammers in my chest. My lips part, a question forming.
“Calum?”
It comes out gentle and soft. But my fists ball up, my fingernails biting the delicate skin of my palms.
He stands there, his blue eyes pinning me in place. For the longest time he doesn’t say a single word.
Anger starts building deep inside me. My smile slips away, only to be replaced with a scowl. In the static silence between us, I hear a quiet echo of his last words.
I no longer need your services.
The sour taste of bile rises in the back of my throat. I turn and try to rush past him. To be as done with him as he is with me.
He reaches out, grabbing my elbow hard so that I can’t get past him. I look up into his handsome face, my expression twisting with the physical pain his touch brings me. His fingers burn into my skin like red hot brands.
I give my arm a yank. But of course, I’m much less strong than he is. He looks down at me, his five o’clock shadow grown into scruff, his ice blue eyes chilling me with one hard glance.
“Don’t,” he rumbles, giving me a shake. “I just came to check up on you.”
I screw up my face, this close to spitting at him. “Let me go, Calum. You gave up the right to check on me when you walked away a month ago.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. His lips thin. His eyes are electric and alive with the raw energy that seems to course between us. For a second, he pulls me closer. Like he’s hovering on the brink of violence.
His eyes dip down to my mouth, setting me ablaze. Just that one little thing is enough to remind me of how those gorgeous lips once nibbled at my neck, how those big hands made me burn with need.
I lick my lips, jerking my arm again. “Go to hell.”
He releases me suddenly. I almost tumble backward because I am leaning away from him as hard as I can. Catching myself, I smooth out my expression.
Make it as cold and unfeeling as him.
I turn away, moving down the darkened passage.
“Kaia!” he calls after me. He sounds aggravated.
He has no right to be, though. He has no rights where I am concerned at all.
Calum’s hand lands on my shoulder, spinning me around.
I hiss at him, bristling. “What are you doing? Can’t you see that I don’t want to talk to you?”
His eyes narrow. I could be crazy, but I swear that for a second, he looks guilty. “I want to know why you won’t take the money I am offering you.”
I fold my arms over my chest, protecting myself. “Maybe I don’t like being told what my affections were worth. Maybe I don’t like the feeling of being paid to keep quiet. Either way, what does it matter to you?”
His brow furrows. “Kaia… you don’t understand. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
A cold little laugh bursts from my lips. “You have the strangest way of showing it.”
His lips twitch. “It’s not about you at all. You’re…”
Calum’s eyes travel down my body. I can sense his hunger as he takes in my tits, my hips, the vee between my legs. And god help me, when his gaze stops and stays right there where my pussy is, I subconsciously clench.
Damn if I don’t experience a little thrill of being wanted again, even if it’s by someone as cold and cruel as Calum. I know what he can do. What he can make me feel. How he can make me come and come and come.
Apparently my body hasn’t gotten the message that Calum and I are through because though I press my thighs together, I feel my pussy growing wet for him.