Summer Heat (Cruel Summer #1)(21)

Brax elbowed me while Jackson coughed out, “Ray’s fault.”

I almost threw what remaining bacon I had at him.

He grinned from across the table. “Smile any wider, and it’s going to freeze on your face.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Mature,” he rasped. “Also, don’t tempt me, I’m already waiting for the day our friend Marlo screws this up and you come running.”

“Not happening,” I said quickly. “You remind me too much of my ex.”

“You mean drop dead sexy? Hilarious? Gives multiple orgasms in multiple positions, that kind of reminder?”

“Oh, my ex?” I said in a flirty voice. “Nah, he had limp dick and often referred to sex as let’s get some.” I stood and did a little bow while next to me, Brax clapped.

Jackson’s smile didn’t fall. Instead, he just nodded as if he was accepting some invisible challenge and winked.

While I dumped my trash and walked on wobbly legs out of the mess hall and stared out at the lake.

Dirty Dancing.

I’d seen the movie.

I’d been in the musical once.

I hadn’t played the role of Baby.

I’d been cast as her sister.

Didn’t matter though, I knew the choreography, and from what I didn’t know, I could learn every night before I taught the sessions to the campers. It wouldn’t be too bad.

As long as I could reserve one of the studios.

“What do you think?” Marlo’s deep voice washed over me.

I didn’t turn around, just stared straight ahead. “I have a lot of work to do, that’s what I think.”

“You’ll be fine.” He said it so casually I turned and looked at him with disbelief. “What?”

“Was that a semi-compliment?”

He pulled the rim down on his hat and smirked. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“How very non-committal of you,” I mused.

“That’s me, the very face of vague conversation.” He shrugged. “Let me know if you need any extra help.” He turned and walked off.

I narrowed my eyes after his disappearing body. “Wait, why would I come to you in the first place?”

“Because,” he called over his shoulder. “Senior year of college I was the lead…” He turned and started walking backward. I prayed for a root to jump to attention so I’d have a reason to focus on the nerd I used to know not the sexy man smirking back at me. “Off Broadway.”

Son of a…

“Great.” It was a faint great. An oh shit great. An I’m totally going to mess this up great.

He had more experience than me.

He’d been the darling of the theatre.

And now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.

In what world would I ever be better than him?

In what world did I even stand the chance of getting an agent with someone like that standing in my way?

One thing was certain. I should have never danced with him in the first place, because now it felt personal.

Now it felt like a story of us.

When it was just him yet again trying to prove me wrong, like I wasn’t good enough, like I didn’t belong.

“We’ll see, Marlo,” I said to myself. “Watch me.”





IT WASN’T A proud moment.

Standing by the window, watching her excitement, feeling it wash over me while it washed over all the campers in that room. Had she always been so animated? I turned away. It wasn’t my place to keep checking up on her. Plus, I had another class I needed to teach.

I was just walking away as class was ending.

Campers shuffled out in fits of laughter.

I waited and listened in.

“This is gonna be interesting. Our choreographer isn’t even familiar with the lead roles, except for Baby crawling on the damn floor.”

“Classic,” another camper said. “And our chances at Hollywood go up in flames!”

“Hey guys, she said to trust her. She’s our choreographer for this, we trust her,” a nice girl added to the noise.

They all passed me by wide-eyed, like they’d just noticed I was standing there. One of them stopped and crossed his arms. “Sorry, but it’s all true.” It was a tall lean guy who looked like he needed multiple cookies and maybe an orgasm for good measure. “She’s not the most experienced teacher here. You are.”

Shit.

It had never been my intention.

Yes, I typically taught this class, but since she had some experience it freed me up to do other things that, being Director for the first time, weighed on me. Like making sure nobody got drunk or drowned in the lake, that sort of thing.

“Guys, trust the process, all right?” I shrugged. “We have the best staff in the world, that’s why you’re here, right?”

Nobody said anything.

Finally, tall guy sighed. “I still wish you were choreographing.”

Such shitty timing that she would round the corner and hear our conversation. Her face paled as she forced a smile at me and then walked off.

Fuck my life.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Then again, the steps forward, were they even genuine? Or based on this insane need to fuck her and make her feel like shit? I wasn’t even sure anymore.