Page 26 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Harper

I STARED AT MANDI, UNABLE to move, breathe, or even blink. I’d fallen into some parallel universe. Or maybe, unbeknownst to me, I’d died, and this was some warped afterlife. Because there was no way I’d heard what I just did.

I glanced around the empty changing room at Silverlight. There was nowhere for a camera crew to hide, so this wasn’t a prank. I double-checked that I wore my black leotard and joggers, confirming I wasn’t in my pajamas and dreaming. Even Mandi looked completely normal in her red leotard and black leggings, blonde hair in a perfect ballerina bun. No abnormalities in the reality around me, which meant …

“I’m sorry,” I said, clearing my throat and shaking the confusion from my head. “What?”

She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. She refused to meet my eyes and continued to stare into the space next to my head as she repeated quietly, “Will you help me with the White Swan portrayal?”

Holy shit!

It had been two days since opening night of Swan Lake , and we’d all seen the reviews and reactions. Most were positive and had no complaints, but the more respected voices in the ballet community had been unanimous on one issue.

Mandi was no Odette.

Even worse for her, many ended their critiques with a wish that the previous year’s Odette had taken center stage—aka, me .

I’d watched clips of her performance from opening night, and somehow, she’d gotten even more rigid and rough since the night I’d watched her during the final dress rehearsal. It was clear to a trained eye that she was thinking far too much and not feeling near enough when portraying Odette.

Knowing all of that left me even more speechless to be standing face-to-face with her now. I never thought I’d see the day when Mandi approached me without nasty intent, let alone in search of my help.

Which made me question what she was up to.

“You want my help?” I asked slowly, unable to hide my disbelief.

Her pouty lips twisted into a grimace, and her narrowed eyes darted in my direction like she couldn’t help getting one glare in. “That’s literally what I just said.”

I scoffed and closed my locker door before facing her fully. “Typically when you ask someone for help, you show a little bit of this thing called, ‘kindness.’ Have you heard of it?”

Her cheeks puffed out, and her shoulders nearly hiked up to her red ears as though she wanted to burrow down inside of her own body. I could practically see her fighting tooth and nail not to throw a snarky remark my way. Her need to learn must’ve been stronger than her need to be spiteful.

“Please,” she gritted out.

I could’ve told her hell no. I could’ve laughed in her face. I could’ve told her she didn’t deserve my help, listing out all of the awful things she’d done in the past as evidence for why.

But while she didn’t deserve my help, Samir, Carmen, Gretchin, and all of the other dancers involved in Swan Lake did. Mandi’s performance wasn’t solely hers. It painted a picture for the entire show. Not doing that role justice would reflect poorly upon the production that all of them had worked so hard on. It would reflect on Perseus, who’d cast her as the White Swan.

If there was something I could do to help the show be better, I had a duty to do so.

“Alright,” I finally replied, adjusting the top of my leotard. “I’ll help. When—”

“Tonight,” she cut me off. She quickly looked around the empty changing room before meeting my eyes. “Let’s do it tonight after work. And don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want people to know.”

I scoffed quietly and just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I assumed her pride kept her from wanting others to know she’d come to me for help. Or maybe it was the ugly competitive jealousy she’d always harbored toward any ballerina she thought was better than her. For her, having others know she needed my help would be like declaring defeat and admitting that I’d really been better than her all along. It didn’t matter that we shared a stage. She wanted the entire stage. She always had.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I relented. “You’ll need to text me your address so I can—”

“Your place,” she interrupted. “We’ll practice at your place. Don’t you have a literal ballet studio there?”

“It’s Aiysha’s,” I answered. “But yeah.”

She nodded. “Okay. We’ll do it there. Tonight.”

Before we could discuss it further, she dashed out of the room. Even after she’d gone, I couldn’t move, too dumbfounded over what had transpired. Eventually, I found the ability to finish getting ready for a day of practice and training.

My body burned only to be reborn as I worked on the choreography for Dancing in the Dark . Sweat lined my forehead, and my breath came out heavy as Elijah and I finished the coda from the third act pas de deux. My torso pressed into his shoulder as my arms curled out in the air beside me like the wings of a butterfly and legs arched back. Elijah had to catch his own breath as he set me on my feet.

“That was damn near perfect,” Elijah panted as the two of us grabbed a drink.

I smiled, unable to reply until I bathed my throat in the liquid goodness that was water.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Perseus chimed in.

He stood by Delilah, one of the répétiteurs. I was glad he agreed because I’d almost been too distracted by his presence to perfect the pas de deux. He really shouldn’t be allowed to wear his hair in a bun with that tight navy sweater and slacks. The numerous rings on his fingers flashed as he rubbed at his chin while studying me and Elijah.

“The only thing it needs to be perfect are the costumes,” Perseus noted, his pink lips curling into a grin.

“Thank you, sir,” Elijah beamed with an awed hand to his chest.

I ducked my head and barely contained my mischievous smirk. “You’re too kind, sir.”

His green eyes narrowed a fraction, and he cleared his throat before he turned to Delilah to discuss the next practice set. With a final goodbye to us, Perseus stepped out, but not before meeting my eyes with a single look I knew all-too-well by this point.

Biting my lip, I eagerly waited for lunch break where I casually wandered through the halls before ending up at Perseus’s office.

The moment I slipped inside, I found myself being hoisted into strong arms. Perseus’s lips sought out mine, and I clutched the back of his head as he devoured my lips, my breath, my very soul with his searching kiss.

“I can’t stay long,” I panted between sweeps of our tongues. “I do need to actually eat my lunch.”

“Not until I have mine,” Perseus chuckled against my mouth as he carried me to his desk.

I shivered with delight. Every time I remembered what he was, it added to the excitement that pumped through my veins. I was fucking a demon , and I loved it. I had no complaints about giving him his meals in whatever way he wanted them.

Instead of depositing me on the edge of his dark desk like normal, he dropped into his chair, allowing me to straddle his hips. I kissed him deeply and scraped my nails down his firm chest, wishing the sweater was gone so it was his actual skin under my fingers.

His own hands coasted up my hips, over my stomach, and up to my breasts, which I pushed into his palms. He didn’t hesitate to toy with my hardened nipples through the black fabric.

“Aiysha’s got class tonight, right?” Perseus asked as he peppered kisses and light nips along my throat.

I opened my mouth to confirm she had class and was staying over at a guy’s house afterward, but as the words began to form, I recalled the deal I’d made with Mandi that morning.

Don’t tell anyone about this.

I pressed my lips together and weighed what to say. Ever since Drake had broken in, I hadn’t gone or been anywhere alone per Perseus’s instructions. Even though it seemed safe, we wanted to air on the side of caution until Perseus found Drake to deal with him. With that in mind, I was always with at least one person. On the days that Aiysha wasn’t home because of night classes or something else, Perseus would come over or have me stay at his place.

Tonight was different, though. Mandi had asked me to keep our practice a secret, and for some reason, I didn’t want to betray that. Maybe it was because I hoped this would be a turning point, allowing Mandi to grow as a person and ballerina. Betraying her request could ruin that. I wasn’t sure if she’d really change after tonight, but for now, I wanted to protect our agreement.

“Aiysha’s class got cancelled,” I lied as Perseus pulled the top of my leotard down, pinning my arms to my sides but freeing my breasts for his viewing. “She’ll be home with me.”

“How unfortunate.” He leaned in and dragged his tongue up the crease of my cleavage while those lustful eyes stayed locked on mine.

I bit my lip to hide both my moan and gleeful smile. “She’ll be going to Brendon’s house later tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Those two dating, yet?”

“Who knows,” I managed to answer as Perseus lightly bit the top of my breast. “Maybe they will after she stays there tonight. I’ll text you when she leaves so you can come over.”

Or rather when Mandi leaves.

The smirk he wore could only be defined as sweet deviousness. “All you have to do is call out my name. I’ll be there.”