15. Dropped
Dropped
Nicole
“ A gain,” Felix practically growls. The hair on the back of my neck stands at attention, and my stomach drops. I know he won’t hit me, but he sounds angry and irritated.
“I’m doing the best I can.”
He scoffs and walks to the record player to start the music again while I adjust the black bodysuit Dex bought me for practice. I guess he was tired of me complaining about my clothes being uncomfortable and not disco-inspired. It’s hard to disco when you don’t look like disco.
It’s been almost a full week of constant training with Felix, and it has been…not fun. He grunts whenever I do the thigh sit, like my one-hundred-and-ten-pound frame is too much for him, or he picks apart every single maneuver I do. When I dare ask him why he’s being so picky, he barks at me about not half-assing this performance, and he’s not going to coddle me to save my sensitive little feelings.
I know he’s annoyed, but I’m also frustrated beyond belief – partly because he’s right, and I don’t want to admit it. I can’t half-ass this if we want to win.
I run my eyes up Felix’s body as he drinks from his cup of water on the table. His pants couldn’t be any tighter, and I have to peel my eyes away from the front of his trousers. When he turns around to get a towel for his face, I don’t restrain myself from checking out his ass. He may be in a jerk mood, but I lick my lips at the idea of just reaching out and cupping his…
The needle scratching across the record interrupts my thoughts of Felix’s ass. He hurries back to me and pushes his forehead to mine in the start position. “Get it right this time,” he mutters. “We have two weeks.”
We move together in perfect unison for the first part of the song and break into our behind-the-neck hand sequence. Felix hisses when I don’t bend my elbow, but I quickly pick up the rest of the sequence and execute it flawlessly. He picks me up, and I sit on his thigh for a moment as he dips me before putting me into a single spin around him. He dips me again as we look at each other like we’re in love.
Well, we’re supposed to look at each other like we’re in love. I smile at Felix. He glowers at me.
“Move,” he grunts. “You’re like a sack of flour today, Nicole. ”
We move into a complicated footwork sequence, the one I’ve been showing Dex every single night whether Felix is there and staring at me or not. Dex thinks I’m making improvement, but Felix picks apart every step. This time, I do it flawlessly, and I smile to myself as I move in front of Felix to do a trust fall.
I’m supposed to fall back, and he’s supposed to catch me under my armpits. I fall back, but Felix doesn’t catch me. My ass hits the floor, and I fall all the way onto my back, hitting my head against the soft wood in the process.
“What the hell, Felix?”
“Don’t nag me. God, Dex should have taught you how to fall properly.”
I squint from my spot on the floor. He has to be screwing with me. “How does one fall properly?”
“Gracefully with a little roll,” Felix says. He smiles like he’s on the verge of laughter, and he makes a rolling motion with his hands. To finish it off, he does a jazz-hands movement.
I can’t speak. Felix doesn’t help me off the floor. He just walks to the record player and watches until I get up, rubbing my sore ass.
“You could say you’re sorry.”
He smiles a sarcastic grin. “But I’m not, sweetheart. You have to learn to do things properly.”
“You dropped me on purpose.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Come on.”
He looks at me and sets his jaw. “Prove it. ”
I roll my shoulders and set my own jaw. I don’t glare at Felix often, but he’s pressing my buttons. I thought we were getting along better. Sure, we haven’t been physical since the night Dex took my virginity, but we’ve danced together, hugged in the hospital, and I’ve even made the bastard laugh a few times – and not at my expense.
“Again,” he says, hurrying into position.
He presses his forehead to mine, and our eyes connect. Something breaks then. Maybe it’s me glaring back at him. Maybe he’s realized he’s been an insufferable asshole. Maybe it’s just our touching. Whatever it is, his eyes soften for a moment, and I know all my problems with him amount to one big pissing contest. So much is communicated in that look. He doesn’t want to be mean to me. Somewhere deep inside Felix is a nice person. It’s the jealousy that eats at him, and it’s suddenly so clear.
He has to prove to the world he’s better than me. More importantly, he’s trying to prove it to Dex.
I’m not going to let him win. He may have a piece of Dex’s heart, but I won’t let him make me feel like crap.
I blink and start my routine in perfect tandem with him as the music starts. He grunts a sound like huh when I nail my foot sequence this time, and he doesn’t even grunt when I do the thigh sit.
I turn and start the sequence into the trust fall, and I brace for it this time. I know he missed on purpose before, and part of me knows he’ll do it again. I know he has better hand-eye coordination than to miss my armpits twice.
He expects fear. He wants me to turn and look or falter before the fall so he can say I’m hesitating – that I’m screwing up the routine. He wants to go home and tell Dex I’m not confident.
I won’t give him the satisfaction. He gets everything. He got Dex first. He has Dex’s ear. He has a stake in Dex’s business. He will not get my pride or my trusting nature. I also have a hunch that the surest way to put him in his place is to not play his game.
I blindly fall back, and he misses…again.
My ass hits the ground with a grunt. This time, I don’t look at Felix or even turn around. I didn’t fall all the way down. I sit for a moment, blow out a breath, and get up like I’m just getting up after I had a nice picnic on a warm sunny day.
He holds out his hand like he’s making an effort, and I ignore it. “Start the music again, Felix,” I say, dusting off my black leotard.
He stalks back to the record player and starts the music again. We move through the routine and get to the trust fall this time. Expecting it again, he doesn’t drop me this time, but the next lift is a jump into him. I’m supposed to jump, he catches me, and then I slide down his body before he catches my hands, pulling me up from the floor.
I jump.
I slide.
I lean back.
He misses my hand .
My eyes widen, and my mouth opens when I realize I’ll hit the ground in another millisecond. He puts his hands on his hips and bends over me as I’m sprawled on the floor. “Who has bad hand-eye coordination? Seriously, Nicole, catch my damn hand next time.”
I giggle. I can’t help it. It’s not my normal laugh, and it sounds downright maniacal. This jerk actually thinks he’s going to get rid of me by dropping me. I laugh so hard that I clap my hands like Felix is the funniest man on the planet. He even takes two steps away and furrows his brow like he’s watching me finally snap.
Eventually, I stand and grit my teeth, then remember I shouldn’t let him see that he’s getting to me.
“Looks like you had an accident there,” I taunt.
“Me?” he scoffs. “I’m the pro here, Nicole.”
“My mistake. We can try again.”
He saunters over to the record player once again, a smirk creasing his face, and I have the urge to smack it right off him. A scream sticks in my throat because I want to lash out and rage at him that I’m doing my best. I’m doing all of this for the man we both have feelings for. This is for Dex. Not for my ego. Not for Felix. If this was about Felix, I’d already be out the door the first time he dropped me.
Dex said to stay calm and Felix would show who he really is.
Is he really an asshole that drops me the first time Dex isn’t looking? Is he looking for the first opportunity to run to Dex and tell him I’m an unhinged shrew with an anger issue ?
That’s exactly what would happen.
I set my shoulders and smile as he quickly returns. When he presses his forehead to mine this time, we glare at each other, both of us grinning wry smiles like we refuse to let the other get the better of us. Something hums between us, and if I wasn’t so damn angry with him for dropping me, I’d press my lips against his and see what he tastes like.
We do the routine flawlessly, and he doesn’t drop me this time. I get so confident that he won’t drop me, that I miss steps in the side-by-side footwork sequence that sends him stomping to the record player, seething in silence.
“Sorry,” I say, meaning it. He got so in my head, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He doesn’t acknowledge my apology. He only stomps back over to me in such an un-Felix-like way that he makes me take a few steps back until he wraps his arm around my waist and drags me to the center of the floor.
“I told you before. I’ll never hurt you,” he seethes.
“Liar. You dropped me.”
“Accidents.”
“Bullshit,” I say with a smile as the music starts.
We move into the behind-the-neck hand movements and spin. When it comes time for the trust fall, I fall back without looking for him, only to land on my ass.
I fall all the way back since I was expecting him to catch me like he did the time before. When I look up, I find him leaning over me, his brow scrunched with fake concern. “Oops. Sorry. ”
I push off the floor, pull my shoulders back, and look him in the eye. I’m about to let him have it when I notice something. His head is tilted, and his eyes are soft. The space between his eyebrows is crinkled like he’s upset or lost in sudden thought.
I turn away from him so I won’t look at him anymore.
I clear my throat. “Again, Felix. I won’t stop until you stop fucking up.”