My laughter came hard at Tobias’s comment. “Are you kidding? My dad would never loosen the reins on his baby.” I shook my head. “No. Quinten Clark will never give up control. But work for him?” I nodded. “Absolutely. He always thought I’d make a great face for his company.”

  “That sounds horrible.”

  I shrugged. “It’s not as awful as it sounds. His parents were in the business too. He’s always been a family-company type of man. I promised him I’d still try to make it to the big parties, but that was the best I could do.” I flashed him a smile to help relieve some of the tension that had grown between us.

  It seemed to work, though silence fell again and lasted until we were a mile away from the off-ramp.

  “The exit is up ahead,” I warned. After guiding him to the front curb of the tall brick building that had become my second home, I got out and held the door open to speak to him. “You don’t have to wait. I can find a ride home.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I’m taking you home, Amelia. When should I be back?”

  “Um…” My eyes floated to the dash, where I read the time. “It’s hard to say. If I make it all the way through, I could be here until ten tonight.”

  He nodded, signaling for me to shut the door. “I’ll be back at ten, then.”

  Is there any use arguing with him?

  With a subtle sigh, I gripped the door. “Ten o’clock it is. Thanks, Tobias.”

  He didn’t respond, so I shut the door. As he drove off, I couldn’t help but wonder where he would go… and if he really would come back.

  CHAPTER 3

  Amelia

  In my rush from the registration desk to the main dance studio, I felt my very first heartbreak.

  “Amie, wait up.”

  Janelle, one of the choreographers of Gravity was jogging toward me with my headshot in her hands. My heart sank instantly. I didn’t know why she was about to turn me away, but I knew by the apology written into her expression and her sorrowful eyes that I’d made Tobias drive me to LA for no reason.

  “Everything okay?” I asked, unable to shake the nerves from my voice.

  Her head tilt and sigh knotted my insides. “I’m so sorry, Amie. I know how badly you want this. And you’re more than talented enough to make it…”

  “But?”

  Janelle nodded. “But you’re only seventeen. I can’t even let you into that audition room.”

  My jaw fell. I knew there was a possibility I could get turned away, but I didn’t think my age would be the deciding factor. I can fix this.

  “No, it’s okay.” I scrambled to pull my ID from my phone case and handed it to her. “See?” My eyes lit, and relief started to spread through me. “I’ll be eighteen next week.”

  Janelle frowned and shook her head. “I’m just the messenger here, Amie. If it were up to me, you know I’d let you audition. But according to the NBA, you have to be eighteen by the time of this audition today. I am so sorry.”

  Her eyes lit up, and I knew she was going to try to cushion the blow. It was what she was good at in situations like these. Rejection was not an easy pill to swallow, and Janelle was often the bearer of bad news. Being a professional choreographer in the industry, she had to be.

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t still try out for the team this summer,” she said. “I’ll even write you a recommendation you can attach to your resumé. I’ve worked with the team before, and you’re good, Amie. You’ll stand out on your own.”

  Her encouragement should have lit up my insides like the Fourth of July, but I was too stuck in the moment of rejection. I’d had a plan. And that plan had an end result that was threatened because of bad timing.

  Long after Janelle left me standing in a puddle of my misery, I fled the audition space, found the first dance studio, and slipped inside. The class was in mid-choreography, but no one stopped me from taking a spot on the floor and joining in. I didn’t know what else to do for the next eight hours before Tobias got there. I couldn’t call him to pick me up. That would require calling Trinity to get his number and having to explain why he’d taken me to LA in the first place. I’d rather drown in a puddle of my disappointment.

  Besides, dance had always been my therapy. One shattered dream wouldn’t change that, and I needed dance now more than ever. Quite simply, I could get lost in dance. So I did.

  I hopped from one class to the next, learning choreography from all styles of dance. I threw every ounce of frustration and passion into each routine, splattering it all on the gloss-stained wood floors.

  “Damn, girl, you are on fire tonight,” said Arnie, another dancer who was entering class behind me. It would be ten o’clock by the time this one ended, but I was still riding on whatever adrenaline rush I’d caught earlier in the day.

  Before I could respond, my eyes caught on my friend Lance, who was nuzzling noses with Vivian Gray, the choreographer for Hot Heels, my last class of the night.

  When did that happen? I hated how much I missed not living in LA. It was like a completely different world, one in which I belonged more than I ever felt like I did in Malibu.

  The lovebirds were still crowding the door when I slipped past them and found a group of familiar faces. It looked like several regulars, or Lifers as we called each other, were taking this class. I pulled my bag from my shoulder and sat beside Arnie, who was focused on the way his shaved calves looked when they glowed under the studio light. I laughed, catching his attention.

  He shot me an amused glare. “Don’t stare too hard, girl, or those big eyes might just go falling out of that skinny head of yours.”

  “I wasn’t staring.” I pulled my shoes out of my bag with a grin. “Just admiring. You get a cleaner shave than I ever could.”

  He barked out a laugh. “Shave? Oh, hell no. I lasered that shit off last year. Best investment of my life.” He stood then popped his hip in my direction before strutting toward the front of the room.

  “Ohhh, let me see those.” Another dancer, Mandy, plopped down beside me. Her eyes were huge on my knee-length, heeled denim boots. “I need these.” She ran her hand up and down the material, inspecting every seam, every manufactured tear, and every angle. “Where did you get them?”

  “Some Etsy store. I’ll send you the link tonight. Hey”—I nodded to the door—“when did Lance and Viv start up?”

  Mandy flipped her braids over her shoulder as she sneaked a glance at them. She immediately turned back in my direction and made a gagging face. “It’s recent. We were at Carter’s a few nights ago, and it just happened. One second, they were laughing together like normal, and then the next second, they were dry humping on the couch for all to see.”

  “No way.” I laughed with disbelief. Surely, she was exaggerating.

  Mandy shrugged. “You should have been there to witness it yourself. It was soft-porn action, and we didn’t even have to subscribe.”

  I laughed. “Okay, okay. Enough about Lance and Viv. Why didn’t I get an invite to this red-room party?”

  “Like you would have come,” she replied with a scoff. “You say no whenever you’re not already in town.”

  “Do you blame me? The drive is painful as it is. I can’t do that twice in one day.”

  Mandy’s eyes twinkled. “Not long until you’ll be in LA. Then you won’t have to worry about that stupid commute.”

  Ugh. She was right. I couldn’t wait for the day I lived closer to Gravity. I’d been counting down since last summer.

  “Strap up, you sexy beasts,” Viv called as she leapt across the dance floor. “It’s time for a showdown if you know what I mean.” She wiggled her eyebrows at us, but I didn’t know what she meant until the music started a few seconds later and Britney’s song “Showdown” blasted through the loudspeakers.

  I could feel the energy of the class spike instantly. There was something about the pop diva’s tunes that hyped a dancer. I forgot everything except for the beat that pumped from deep inside me. I felt like I was in a dark room alone with the music.

  Viv started with a slow cat walk on the first eight counts, followed by a few sexy counts to bring us to our knees for the start of floor work. Usually when I took a heels class, I assumed we would be on our knees a lot. At first, it had been painful, but I’d learned quickly how to balance my weight in the right positions to avoid the strain that could mess my body up.

  It always blew my mind when anyone challenged the fact that dancers were athletes. I couldn’t think of another profession that combined more muscles, more brain power, and more energy than dance.

  We’d completed the dance and had run it a few times from top to bottom when Viv stopped the music and shouted, “Performance time.”

  The room broke into a collective cheer. That was what we looked forward to in every class—a chance to take everything we’d learned and go all out, putting our own flair into someone else’s creation. It didn’t matter if someone was an introvert outside the studio; when he or she walked onto the dance floor, they were transformed. And Viv was an incredible creator.

  Viv searched the room, examining each of us. “Let me have…” She tapped her chin one more time. “Mandy…” Mandy shot forward with a squeal. “Dustin…” His buddy clapped him on the shoulder before he took off to join Mandy. “And…” Her eyes connected with my hopeful ones. “And Amie.”

  I kind of loved that they called me Amie at Gravity when no one did back home. It felt like I was a completely different person among my peers, with whom I shared a mutual passion.

  Viv clapped her hands. “Pick your groups, and then let’s do this, yeah?” She knew the three of us well enough to know we understood the drill. She’d just chosen us to lead each dance, which meant we were allowed to pick backup dancers to join us for our performances.

  Even though my focus in the mirror had been on myself, I’d caught sight of a few dancers that had impressed me. I went to them first and asked them to join me, and it was as simple as that. I had my team.

  But when I turned around to face the first group, led by Viv, I noticed the crowd beginning to gather outside the room. Lance was there too, staring in with a grin on his face as Viv began to move. He watched her like she was the only female on earth, like he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen her sooner. It created an ache in me I could only define as envy. I wanted that. I wanted someone who I made sense with, someone who shared my same dream, someone who understood me like no one else.

  I’d always told myself I would end up with a dancer, someone who could understand the grueling schedules and the unbridled passion for the arts. Sure, it could be difficult when we left for a gig, but jobs didn’t last forever. And I was certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I would meet that someone at Gravity.

  “You’re up, Amie,” Viv called.

  I winked at my group and nodded to the floor. “Let’s do this.”

  We were in the last two eight-counts of floor work during the freestyle at the end of the dance when I made the mistake of glancing back at the window. I didn’t know why I did it. I wasn’t searching for Tobias, but a feeling in my gut told me to look anyway.

  The moment my eyes crashed into his, something else awoke inside me, something I’d never felt, even on the dance floor. My head spun, and my heart whirred wildly in my chest. And for a second, I forgot that I was executing a sexy combination, one in which I was wearing nothing but knee-high boots, an oversized cream sweater dress, and black spanks.

  I saw him. And deep down, I knew for the first time ever that he saw me too.

  CHAPTER 4

  Tobias

  I’d known Amelia a decade before I truly saw her. I wasn’t blind to her good looks, but there was something about hearing her talk about her love of dance that sparked a fire in me.

  I began to crave her, and not in a creepy stare-at-her-through-her-bedroom-window sort of way. I wanted her in a way that fueled the spark she’d already lit within me. I wanted to hear her laugh, watch her smile, and catch her fruity scent as she breezed down the hall past my room. It was all bait that lured me in to what I ultimately had to have. Her. In every sense of the word. Because Amelia Clark was the girl who gave me a reason to stay.

  And that was exactly why one week after driving her to and from LA, I packed my things and planned to get the hell out of town as soon as possible.

  “You haven’t disappeared yet.”

  I was buried under my truck in the middle of an oil change when I heard her stroll into my garage. Her voice was muffled, but I would’ve known that sweet song anywhere. It was her.

  After adjusting the oil pan, I rolled out from under my truck to find Amelia standing there in one of her midriff-baring dance outfits, her hands on her hips. A smile lit up her face, but her eyes were what held me.

  I’d always considered my truck and I alike in many ways. Once upon a time, I was the talk of the town—star athlete, catching eyes wherever I went. My dreams had been in the palm of my hand. The fire inside me had been fierce and unstoppable. But after all the bullshit went down, I neglected myself. I sat too long, and eventually, all the parts that had fueled me gave out. No matter how many times or how hard I tried to repair it, there was no going back to original condition.

  Is that how she sees me too? Broken and no good? And why do I care?

  I continued to stare at her as she moved from the entrance of the garage to the red toolbox on my right. She looked so innocent and curious among my mess of vehicle parts, like she knew she didn’t belong, yet there was nowhere else she would rather be.

  “How do you know how all this stuff works?”

  It was then that I realized I hadn’t spoken a word since she’d arrived. “My dad taught me. We used to spend a lot of time in here before…”

  “Before what?” She was so nonchalant as she asked, I wondered if Trinity had told her anything. They had been best friends forever, but Trinity had a sort of lioness pride that she risked for no one, just like our parents. Trinity’s image was far too important to her, especially when it came to Amelia. Those two were stark opposites, and from the way Trinity spoke about her, I got the impression my sister harbored a deep jealousy.

  “Just… before.” I wasn’t in the mood to set up a conflict between those two.

  Amelia nodded, signaling that she wasn’t going to push it, as she continued to inspect every gadget and surface with a graze of her finger.

  Her eyes drifted to mine as I stood. “Are you leaving again soon?”

  “Is that any of your business?” I should have felt bad when her cheeks turned pink from my question, but I felt something else instead—a desire I hadn’t felt in a long time.

  “Guess not,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

  I hadn’t meant to come off so abrupt. It had just been a long time since I’d flirted with anyone.

  Is that what I’m doing? Flirting with my sister’s best friend? Because it feels like I’m being a complete jackass.

  I leaned against my truck and folded my arms. “Trin left for New York with our parents for spring break.”

  Amelia nodded as she averted her eyes. They were glued to a hammer drill when she spoke. “Yeah, I know.”

  “You don’t usually stop by when she isn’t around.”

  She gazed up with a shrug. “Guess I was just curious.”

  “About the type of oil I use on my truck?”

  She glared at me. “No, smart-ass.” She gestured to the oil dripping into the pan beneath my truck. “I saw you working on her and thought maybe you were leaving again. And…”

  My curiosity peaked. “Spit it out, Amelia.”

  She was chewing nervously on her bottom lip. “I thought maybe I could come with you.”

  “No.” My response was instant. I didn’t even have to think twice about it. “There’s no fucking way. Your parents would freak. My sister would kill me. And I’m pretty sure the cops would have every reason to arrest me for kidnapping an underage girl without her parents’ permission.”

  “My parents are out of town. Trinity doesn’t even have to know about it. And I’m pretty sure turning eighteen today puts me in the legal range to do what I want.”

  My heartbeat sped. “It’s your birthday?”

  She nodded, and it was then that I saw something else in her eyes—a sadness she’d masked with her smile and her sexy strut up my drive.

  Shit.

  “So, can we go?” she asked again, her eyes bright and hopeful.

  I let out a sigh, hating my instinct to give the girl whatever she wanted. Amelia Clark made me weak, and I couldn’t succumb to her power.

  “I travel alone.”

  “Why?”

  I grew anxious at her insistence and at my desire to give in so quickly. I wasn’t in my right mind. That was the only explanation. It didn’t matter if Amelia was of legal age to do whatever she damn well pleased. She couldn’t do those things with me.

  “I don’t know. To get away from people. To think.”

  She took a step closer to me. “We don’t have to talk.”

  I narrowed my eyes, silently calling her bluff. “You’ll be bored out of your mind.”

  “I won’t,” she argued.

  “There aren’t any cell phones where I’m going.”

  “I wasn’t planning to bring mine with me.”

  “You won’t even last one week out there.”

  “Try me.”

  Stubborn, stubborn girl. Maybe if she knows where I’m going, she’ll drop it.

  “How do you feel about camping? And I’m not talking about a cottage in the woods, Amelia. I’m talking about a tent in the middle of nowhere.”

  She shrugged, clearly determined to agree to any condition I laid out. “I’ve never done it before.” Then she tilted her head. “Sounds like fun.”

 

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