Page 96 of Dance of Devils

“Beat him to a bloody fucking pulp in the men's room?”

Her head snaps around, her eyes finding mine and widening.

“How do you—” Her mouth forms an O shape. “You?” she gasps.

My jaw tightens. “Nobodyfucks with you,” I growl tensely. “Ever.”

A huge grin spreads over her face, her hands tightening in mine.

“I…” She blushes and looks down before she drags her eyes back to mine. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

I smile. “I want to kiss you, too. But if I do, it won’t stop at kissing.”

Her face heats. “And that’s a bad thing?”

My smile turns hungry. “No. But after something like earlier…” I shake my head. “You’re still in shock. Even if you don’t think you are, trust me,you are.”

She nods, raking her teeth over her bottom lip.

“Next question. Where’s all your money going, Brooklyn. You must take home a ton of cash from that place.”

Her shoulders collapse. “It’s…complicated.”

“I’ll decide that.”

She smiles a little, lifting her eyes to mine. “It’s my stepdad, Derrick.” She sighs. “He’s in prison awaiting trial for grand larceny. Iknowhe's innocent.”

I frown. “He's in prison awaiting trial?”

She blows air through her lips. “He’s gottonsof priors.” She shakes her head. “Look, he screwed up in the past. Like, a lot. But after Mom died, he was the only family I had, and hereallytried with me. I mean, he wasn’t a world-class parent, but he gave it his all until the system finally took me.”

I frown. “The foster care system?”

She nods.

Fuck me. She’snevergotten a break, ever.

“So… You’re paying his legal bills.”

She exhales slowly. “Yeah.”

Not anymore, she’s not. But we’ll get there, slowly. Brooklyn is clearly not one for handouts or even mentioning her troubles to people. She’s got a large, close-knit group of dancer friends at the Zakharova, and she’s been living out of her car for a fucking year instead of swallowing her pride and asking any of them if she could crash on their couch.

I’m going to guess not one of them knows about The Mirage, either. It's probably why she was working way the fuck out in Greenpoint instead of in Manhattan.

She didn’t want anyone to know.

Brooklyn glances at me. “Was that it for questions?”

My head slowly shakes. “Just one more.”

I take her hands in mine, lifting them to my lips and kissing her knuckles softly as my gaze locks with hers. I know this last one will be painful.

“Who hurts you?” I murmur. “Not those fuckers at the club, there’s someone else.Who is it.”

There’s zero hesitation. Her face darkens and her mouth pulls to a cold line.

“James,” she blurts venomously. “He…” She grits her teeth. “We used to date.”