The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1) by Ursula Sinclair Page A

been
here with Dante last night. That was interesting; they’d been going hot and
heavy for a couple of months now.
    “At her apartment I assume,”
Dante shrugged.
    “What’s up with that?” I took
a seat at the counter, Dante put a plate in front of me with a bacon and cheese
omelet on it.
    “Nothing. Just needed a
little space. Eat up,” he said, waving his spatula in my direction. “You need
protein. I’m going to work your ass off today.” And he meant every word of it.
    After classes, which the
entire cast took Christy tried to get my roommate to go back to her place. He
told her he’d catch her tomorrow. A few of us hung around after classes
chatting, but I was close enough to hear her question and his reply, that he
had a few things he needed to do. She raised her head, stared right at me, and
narrowed her eyes. It was not a friendly look. I frowned at her. Damnit. I wish
she wouldn’t hold me responsible because he blew her off. After she stormed out
of the room, I turned to Dante.
    “You know you could have
invited her to come hang out with us.”
    He frowned. “Why?”
    “Cause now she’s pissed at
me.”
    He shrugged. “Too bad. Things
haven’t been so great lately, we need to step back a little and I told her so
last night along with the reminder that we were just chilling together for now.
I’m not looking for permanency.”
    This was typical Dante. He
didn’t do long relationships. Since I’d known him, the longest he ever dated
was all of three months and the guy didn’t live in New York, he visited on
business trips. Come to think of it I never met him. Dante had never been
monogamous, he saw at least three other people at the time, all female. But in
truth I believe he told Christy what he did because it’s not what he wanted
from her. The truth was, I guess when it came to commitments and relationships,
he and I weren’t so different. We knew what we wanted we just couldn’t find it,
and were not about to settle. Although once I thought I did.
    Dante and I were the last to
leave the studio. We headed back to our condo to drop our stuff off, take quick
showers and changed. Of all places he took me to a movie, I think we both slept
through most of it; so I have no idea if it was good or bad. We grabbed a
couple of burgers afterward but I wasn’t ready to go home. I was determined not
to take my phone out of my purse to see if Maze had tried to text me. He never
called. I’d already checked before we left the studio, he hadn’t.
    “Let’s try that new club over
on the West side,” Dante suggested.
    “All right.” The funny thing
about dancers even after dancing all day, we still loved to dance all night. We
took a cab and there was a line to get into the place. Folks stood behind red
velvet rails. But it looked like the door guard was being selective, because
two of them walked the line and pulled people out sending them inside. One of
them got to Dante and me, who had his arm around my neck. The guard unhooked
the rail by us and said, “You two front of the line.”
    We smiled and walked to the
entrance, after paying an outrageous fee we were in. I was glad I was with
Dante cause I’d never spend that much money on a club. But it did have a nice
vibe and the music was danceable, Get Up
(Rattle) by Bingo Players rent the air. We made our way over to the bar but
only grabbed a couple of beers. Oh we drank harder stuff than that, but not
when we’re performing the way we were and taking classes to keep in shape. The
last thing either of us needed was a hangover the next day when we had master
dance classes.
    Made for an accident on point
or when Dante had to do a complicated lift, I didn’t want either of us breaking
our necks. But a couple of beers would be fine. We clinked our bottles together
and Dante grinned as he glanced around the club.
    “Ten o’ clock,” I said,
tilting my head slightly toward the girls I noticed checking him out.      
    He took a sip and