Page 27 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Harper

A KNOCK CAME AT THE door as I headed to the fridge to grab two bottles of water. The sound made me draw up short and sent a slight shiver down my spine, but when I spotted Mandi’s blonde head through the window on the front door, I relaxed.

“Hey,” I greeted when I opened the door.

Despite my efforts, the apprehension was evident in my voice. This was the first time Mandi had ever come over, and it was definitely the first time the two of us had worked together privately like this. The whole thing still had me feeling slightly off-balance.

“Glad to see you’re ready,” Mandi said with a sweep of her eyes over my outfit.

I’d already changed into my gray sweats and pink leotard, the one Perseus had given me after Mandi ruined my original one. I wasn’t sure if she noticed it was the same. If she did, she chose not to comment or apologize, brushing past me to stand in the foyer with a curious look around.

“Where’s Aiysha?”

“She has a night class tonight.”

“Perfect,” Mandi’s shoulders slumped like she’d just released a huge sigh of relief.

I rolled my eyes and walked past her to resume my trek to the kitchen. “You really don’t want anyone to know that you asked me for help, huh?” I sighed. “Well, whatever. I don’t care either way. I’ll grab us some water, and we can get started.”

“No need.”

I looked over my shoulder at her, halting as I reached for the fridge. Mandi pulled a big white tumbler out of her bag with an additional bottled water. She held the bottled water close and looked me up and down briefly before holding it out.

“Here,” she grumbled as she averted her eyes. “I brought you a drink as thanks. I even added some of my coconut water to it for the electrolytes. See ? I can be nice.”

My eyebrows rose. Slowly, I faced her and accepted the outstretched drink. I stared at the bottle before smiling at her. “Thanks, Mandi.”

Preparing me a drink with added electrolytes while she prepped her own was the bare minimum, but I appreciated the gesture all the same. It was the little things, right?

Holding the bottle close, I asked, “You ready to get started then?”

She followed me down the hall to the ballet studio, and as she put her bags down by the door, I downed some of the gifted water. The slight sweetness of the added coconut water made my taste buds do a little happy dance.

Putting the water aside, I went to the stereo and connected my phone. “What do you like to listen to while doing warm-ups?”

She snickered quietly behind me. “Sinners Do It Better.”

My fingers froze over the phone. I knew she chose that to act as some sort of prodding at me since she suspected Perseus and I were close. Instead of giving her any reaction, I nodded and queued up a playlist of their most popular songs.

I went to the center of the room as the catchy and sensual music played over the speakers. “Warm-ups first.”

Facing the mirror, I began to roll and bounce on my feet, letting them prepare for more dancing. I let the motion reach my knees, and eventually, my hips. I even noticed at one point, I was bouncing and moving to the beat of the song, nearly forgetting I wasn’t alone. Mandi stood beside me and went through the warm-ups, all while staring at me through the mirror.

“What?” I asked her.

“I’m just trying to figure it out,” Mandi answered. “What is it you do that I don’t?”

Continuing the loosening of my lower muscles and joints, I rolled my shoulders and arms through the same warm-ups. “I wouldn’t say you don’t have something. Rather, you need to work on something. You’re a great dancer, Mandi. You wouldn’t have gotten the role if you weren’t.”

She frowned and stopped moving. After a moment of only the rock band playing overhead, Mandi asked, “Are you just saying that?”

“Why would I lie? Or better yet, why don’t you believe you’re good enough?”

Her eyes widened. She finally moved, dropping flat onto her feet and arms falling to her sides. She blinked a couple of times and faced me. “Do you think I’m good enough to be the swan?”

I dropped onto my feet, too, and turned to her. My body was definitely warming up, so I shed my sweatpants to get down to only my tights and leotard as I answered, “Of course I do. You’ve always been talented. Great stage presence, lots of energy, and amazing technique.”

“Not like yours.”

My gaze met hers again after throwing the sweats aside. Patting at my slightly damp forehead, I studied her for a moment. In her vulnerable stare, there was still a sliver of envy and anger directed at me.

“That’s why the Black Swan steals the show,” I said gently while pointing at her narrowed eyes. “You are the Black Swan. You’re so focused on this rivalry you’ve built between us. The need you have to prove you’re better shows on stage. You’re so focused on perfecting Odette, trying to perform her like me instead of showcasing her through you. Instead of feeling her through you.”

I went to the stereo and queued up “Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act 2: No. 11, Scene. Allegro moderato - Moderato - Allegro vivo,” one of the White Swan’s performance pieces. It wasn’t one of the more difficult sections of emotional portrayal, but seeing as how Mandi didn’t want anyone else here, there was no partner to help her in the White Swan pas de deux. Regardless, this section would allow her to glimpse how she represented Odette with a certain harshness.

Turning back to her, I gestured at the open floor. “Put on your pointe shoes, and show me Odette. The parts you can’t do without Samir, you can skip. Watch yourself closely in the mirror.”

She almost seemed dazed as she and I grabbed our pointe shoes and waited for her music cue to enter the floor. With a graceful fluttering of her arms and tapping en pointe, she began. As the soft and innocent sound of the piece took her through the dance, her features remained tight, and I knew she was once again focused on the movements and skill of the piece rather than her overall portrayal.

I stopped the music, and she halted. When she faced me, I didn’t even have to speak. Her sneer and tightly shut eyes told me she knew how she performed.

I rewound the music. “Again.”

“You didn’t tell me how to—”

“Again,” I repeated firmly.

She huffed but returned to the side of the room while I shook out my arms to fend off some of the warmth that I was feeling. I clearly had the heat on too high by mistake, but I wanted to wait until we were done with this to go adjust it.

This time, when the music cued Mandi’s appearance, I entered, too, falling right into a character I’d performed countless times. Mandi’s gaze left her own reflection to study mine as I mirrored her movements.

Side by side, we looked the same—almost. Where her movements had a sharpness like a fan cutting through the air, mine had a flowing gentleness like feathers in the wind. Where her face was tight in concentration, mine was furrowed in the portrayal of an alarmed swan who’d been stumbled upon by a hunter. While she moved through the piece, I was the piece.

She abruptly stopped dancing, and seeing her stop, I followed suit to face her.

“How do you do it?” Mandi asked quietly, all of the venom in her eyes replaced with a sad resolve.

“I feel it. You need to stop thinking so much about what you’re doing and feel it instead. When you’re on that stage, you aren’t Mandi competing with Harper. You’re Odette . You’re a girl under a spell, who’s innocent, naive, and longing for something you thought impossible.”

I paused the music, sweat really dotting my forehead now. I knew I’d just done a bit of dancing, but I wasn’t usually this hot so early on. Taking a few breaths and fanning myself, I grabbed my water and greedily drank more.

Mandi watched me, her gaze growing more and more solemn. I wanted to convince her that she could do Odette justice with a little more work, but before I could, she mumbled, “I have to use the bathroom before we keep going.”

I nodded and went to point out where she could find the restroom, but when I nodded, a wave of imbalance hit me and forced me to wobble where I stood. I blinked multiple times and quickly gripped the table beside me, trying to steady myself. Oblivious to the odd dizzy spell I was having, Mandi grabbed her belongings and left the room.

Alone for the moment, I slowly turned to brace both hands on the table. Nausea rippled through me as the world kept spinning, despite my standing still. I tried to take a deep breath and close my eyes to fight the sensation, but that only made it worse. My hands began to shake as I placed them on my head and stumbled back, nearly falling to the floor. The door reopened as I tried to find my balance.

“Mandi,” I huffed out shakily, peeling my eyes open. “Something’s wrong. I’m—”

The words cut off in my throat. The petite blonde didn’t fill the doorway, but rather, a disheveled, smiling Drake did.

“No,” I gasped.

Panic shot through me. I took a step to run, but my unsteady limbs wouldn’t cooperate. My legs gave out, and my head spun. I fell sideways and barely managed to catch myself, my hip screaming at me as it hit the ground.

Drake’s grin widened on his freckled face as he shut the door behind him and locked it. “You’re so beautiful, Harper.”

Disgust coated my insides as I tried to scream, “Mandi! Mandi, help!” But the desperate words came out as a weak whisper.

My heart raced as I fumbled to crawl away on flimsy arms. I couldn’t seem to properly grapple at the ground or make my arms and legs work, no matter how much I urged them to get up and move. The world, which was already tilted and wobbly, blurred as tears lined my eyes.

“You know,” Drake started as he went to the stereo. He pressed play, and the music Mandi and I had just been working on began to play. Drake’s dark eyes closed, and he smiled while his head tilted back, his greasy brown hair standing up in random places. “I remember the first time I ever saw you. You were performing to this song. Such a beautiful ballet. Such a beautiful girl.”

“Pweash,” I slurred in an attempt to beg him to spare me. “D-Don’t.”

I wanted to plead for him to leave, to stop whatever he was planning, but I only had the energy to squeeze those few, delirious words out. I continued my feeble attempt at crawling across the floor toward the door. If only I could reach it. If only I could summon the energy that evaded me. If only I could scream out to alert Mandi.

All you have to do is call out my name. I’ll be there.

My heart sped up as my dry mouth tried to form the name, but no sound came out. It was like my tongue had forgotten how the name sounded, and instead, I let out breathy, nonsensical sounds.

Drake laughed behind me and continued, “That was the night we fell in love. Don’t you remember? You looked right at me in the crowd. You were dancing for me after that. I knew you were. That’s when I came to work at Silverlight. You wanted me closer, so I went there for you. So we could be together.”

I flopped over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling as it spun like a merry-go-round. My tongue was weighed down, unable to scream for help again. But it would be fine. Mandi would surely come back any second now. She was just in the bathroom. When she returned, she could help me or call the cops or something .

Drake suddenly took a step in my direction with a frown replacing his delirious grin. “I know you didn’t mean to be with Perseus. He put some sort of spell on you. I saw him. He wasn’t normal. I know it wasn’t you, but him , who tricked you. I’m here to save you.”

My frame shook as a sob slipped past my lips. I wanted to scream, kick, and fight, but I couldn’t even lift my head. “Pweeze. D-Don’t … do … ish.”

“I know you regret being with a monster like that,” Drake rambled on. “I forgive you, okay? So let’s be together like we should’ve been from the start, yeah? I’ll make you forget about him.”

He advanced on me, dropping to the ground by my feet. His closeness sent a rush of alarm through me, and I managed to roll back over and feebly kick out in his direction.

“No,” I cried out as the frightened tears continued to roll down my cheeks. “Don’t … want.” My nails dug into the floor as I fought against the disorientation to scream Perseus’s name. Instead, the name got distorted on my tongue, coming out, “Purshis! Purshis!”

“Shh,” Drake said softly as he caught my foot and tugged me back across the floor.

My limbs were no longer my own. My arms stretched out above me with the inability to move.

Drake’s sweaty fingers coasted up my tights as he cooed, “I know you don’t want him. It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll replace what he did. Did you know? I saved myself for you. All for you, Harper.”

I opened my mouth as my voice ached to scream. Pitiful whimpers were all that came out while tears pooled under my cheek on the floor. I tried to shake my head and shrug off Drake as he grabbed the sleeves of my leotard and pulled it down. I tried to roar and fight, but the world was growing dimmer, even as my burning torso felt the coolness of air.

“Look how perfect you are,” Drake panted above my bare back.

Pink flashed in my blurry vision as my leotard landed by my useless outstretched arm. The sight made the revulsion and terror rippling through me spike, and I managed to squeak, “Pers—”

My desperate attempt at the name died out like a plug being ripped from its power source. The tights I wore were suddenly pulled down, getting caught on my pointe shoes. They stayed there, wrapped around my ankles as sticky hands gripped my inner thighs and parted them while a hot breath fanned across my spine. Wet kisses dotted my back while fingers pushed on my legs. Disgust contorted my mind with the feel of this man on top of me, and it only got worse when his body shifted to settle in the place he’d forced open. Already, moans and gasps of delight echoed around the room as fingernails bit into my flesh and a bulge prodded excitedly at my entrance.

Even in my delirious state, I knew what was coming, and I was incapable of stopping it. I was incapable of clenching enough to keep him from shoving inside of me. I was incapable of screaming for help as he began to rock back and forth, chanting my name. I was incapable of stopping him from touching every inch of skin on my body, staining it with his memory.

All I could manage was a twitch of my fingers. I snagged my pink leotard, the gift I’d been given. I clung to it as my eyes slipped closed and lips parted on a wet cry, a last attempt at help. But the name never came.

Only the pain.

Only the darkness.