Chapter 235: Penny
The studio smells like resin and rosin, sweat and resolve. Soft shoe taps echo against the worn wood floor, each dancer sliding into her own warm up space like falling puzzle pieces. The music hasn’t started yet, but it thrums under my skin already, a promise waiting to break open.
I tug my leg warmers higher over my thighs and glance toward the corner of the room.
He’s here again.
Boomer sits on the same bench he did last time, hands cradling a thick paperback–something with a military–looking cover that contrasts starkly with the pale–pink fog of tutus and slippers all around him. His forearms are bare, his sleeves shoved up to his elbows, and every time he turns a page, the veins in his hands flex just enough to make something tighten behind my ribs.
But he isn’t really reading. I know it. He hasn’t turned a page in fifteen minutes.
He watches.
Mostly me.
And sometimes Luc.
Especially when Luc touches me.
“From the top,” Madame Loretto says from the front of the studio, her French accent slicing through the chatter like a scalpel. “Act One. Just the pas de deux. Penelope, Luc take your places.”
Luc and I glance at each other and move to center.
I position myself in fourth, arms high in a soft arc, chin lifted, heart thudding. I feel Boomer’s eyes land on me like a second spotlight. Focus, I tell myself. Don’t think about the heat crawling up your neck. Don’t think about the way Boomer looked when he walked you here this morning, or how his hand brushed the small of your back when he opened the studio door.
The music begins.
It starts slow that haunting, melancholic string line that always makes my ribs ache with something unnameable
and I move.
I let my body do the talking. That’s the thing about dance: you can lie with your mouth, fake a smile, say you’re okay. But not here. Not with this.
Every movement is a confession.
Luc lifts me, and my body soars – legs extended, arms fluid, weightless for a heartbeat. Then I’m back in his hands, spiraling into a partnered pirouette, our timing just shy of perfect. He grips my–waist tighter than necessary, his fingers biting into the spot Boomer always watches.
I don’t have to look to know Boomer noticed.
Luc sets me down, and I stumble a little. Not much- Alive!”
– a toe scuff, barely noticeable. Madame calls out, “Again. You must be alive in the fingers, Penelope.
I nod and reset, chest heaving,
–
It’s a hard scene. Emotionally loaded. The duet between the girl and the boy who isn’t quite who he says he is full of tension, chemistry, false promises. It’s a little too close to home.
This time, I dance harder. Not for the mirrors. Not for the performance. For myself.
For all the things I can’t scream out loud.
I leap again, this time higher, my body arching through the air like a ribbon caught in wind. Luc spins me out into a pose, and I nail the landing, ankle wobbling only slightly. We bow at the end, breathless, both of us shining with sweat. My ribs ache with the effort. My legs tremble just slightly.
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Chapter 235: Penny
Madame claps once. “Better. Again.”
I exhale and press a towel to my face. My eyes drift toward the corner. Boomer’s still watching, elbows on his knees, jaw clenched.
He doesn’t look impressed.
He looks worried.
Every time Luc grips me, he shifts. Every time I stumble, even a bit, his mouth presses into a thin, hard line. And when Luc gets a little too wobbly during a lift, adjusting me in a way that definitely isn’t necessary, Boomer mutters something under his breath and snaps his book shut.
He doesn’t get up. But he leans forward.
Like if Luc makes one wrong move, he’ll vault over the row of portable barres and put a stop to it.
For a moment, I feel protected.
Then the guilt creeps in.
Because it’s not Asher who’s sitting there watching me.
It’s been three days since the attack.
Three days since I saw him.
Three days of silence.
Not even a text.
Not a single message.
Just… gone.
I push the ache down and focus on the music.
We run it again, then again, and then a final time before Madame calls break. I wobble my way bottle, towel, and phone. My fingers fumble. My breath still hasn’t evened out yet.
The screen lights up.
my
No messages.
Nothing.
Still.
Boomer’s suddenly there, crouched beside me like a shadow materialized. “You okay?”
I don’t look at him. “Yeah. Just tired.”
“You looked solid this afternoon. Better than the morning.”
I smile at my water bottle. “Thanks.”
“I mean it.”
to the side of the studio and sink down, grabbing my water
His voice is low, earnest. I glance at him.
He’s close
–
too close, His hand is on the floor between us, fingers spread wide, calloused and steady. His eyes are soft. Concerned. A little stormy, like he
Chapter 235: Penny
holding something back.
He always looks like he’s holding something back.
There’s a slight scrape on my wrist from when Luc caught me wrong in a landing. It’s pink and tender. Boomer sees it. Reaches out and brushes his thumb just barely over it.
“Here.” He pulls a small square of antiseptic from his jacket pocket like he’s been waiting for a reason. “You’re not bleeding, but this’ll keep it clean.”
I laugh softly. “Do you carry medical supplies everywhere?”
“Only when I know I’ll be watching a girl launch herself through the air five times in an hour.”
The silence between us stretches.
It’s comfortable.
Until I glance at my phone again.
Still nothing.
Boomer notices. “You want to head home?”
I’m about to nod. To say yeah, sure, let’s just go back and sit in his apartment and pretend the world isn’t cracking open in slow motion. But something
stops me.
I don’t want to go home.
Not to that empty couch. Not to the silence.
Not to the ache in my chest.
“Actually…” I swallow. “Would you mind if we met someone for dinner instead?”
Boomer tilts his head slightly. “Someone?”
“My best friend. Mila.”
His lips twitch. “Is she the one who made that collage of your ex on fire and tagged him on Insta?”
“The one and only, yup. She hates Tyler with a passion.”
His eyes brighten. “I like her already.”
I smile for the first time in what feels like days.
Boomer leans back on his heels, “Call her. I’ll drive.”
I reach for my phone.
And dial.
She picks up on the second ring.
“Penny! Where the hell have
you
been?”
“Rehearsal. Wanna meet us for dinner?”
“You mean now?”
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Chapter 235: Penny
“Yes. Boomer’s coming too.”
“Oh, now I’m interested.”
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