A few beats passed before she spoke again. “They’re giving you forty-eight hours to make a decision, but I wouldn’t test them, Kai. They could rescind the offer.”
Every stubborn bone in my body reacted to her threat. “Let them. You’re acting like this is the last opportunity I’ll ever receive. It’s not. Besides, this gig doesn’t even pay as much as that shitty dancing-waitress job you got me.”
“Listen here. That dancing-waitress job didn’t give you the opportunity to work with Sebastian Chase and Dirk Lane.”
I scrunched my nose in frustration. Even Sheena idolized the Bad Boy of Broadway.
“But I made tips.”
Sheena let out a scream on the other end of the line before shouting, “Then maybe you’re on the wrong career path!”
I was done. With Sheena. With Sebastian. With Angst and Grace. “Then tell them I kindly reject their offer. Oh, and you’re fired too.” Then I hung up.
Ugh. After switching off my phone so that I wouldn’t have to hear another word from my ex-agent, I tossed it into my bag. I hated being backed into a corner. Sheena should have never pressured me like that, especially before even seeing the contract or putting together any type of negotiation. If this was the way she wanted to work, through threats and scare tactics, then I didn’t need her. I’d figure my shit out just like I always had before.
Whatever path I chose next would be better than choosing to entertain someone as obnoxious as Sebastian Chase, anyway. And on a cruise ship, no less. I scoffed. Just the thought of sailing around over deep water made me shiver.
I’d just come from a yoga class that felt pointless now. My energy was depleted, and my chakras were broken. As I stood on the crosswalk outside Gravity, I debated my next move.
Just then, Wayne jogged down the steps, and I started to call out to him, to bum a ride home. But then I noticed the man beside him, his friend and long-time crush, Shane. My jaw dropped as they laughed and Shane nudged him playfully with an elbow.
There went the option of asking for a ride. The two men barely spent any time together, and Shane appeared to be finally seeing what everyone around them already knew: they were made for each other.
I smiled as they drove off into the sunset—cliché, but the sun was literally setting—then I sighed and started to walk home. The rain had stopped, and construction in the area was still going strong. Reaching my apartment would take me at least an hour, but I didn’t have anywhere else to be. I could use the time to figure out what came next because at the moment, I was lost.
Think, Kai, think.
I hated feeling like this—restless, out of control, like the adrenaline pulsing through my body and my mood were at completely different ends of the Earth. I couldn’t figure out why I suddenly felt disappointed. It wasn’t about the paycheck. Everyone knew that nobody became a professional dancer for the money. Dancing was an art, one artists bled for day in and day out. We danced for the pure joy of telling stories through movement. We thrived on the challenge of pushing our own bodies’ limits. So why did I feel like I was making a horrible mistake?
I’d just rounded the corner of my apartment complex when the familiar roar of an engine pulled up beside me. My entire body tensed. I was thankful that the surrounding puddles had dried out, because this felt a lot like the day before, only… different.
Sebastian yanked off his helmet and held it out to me. “Get on.” His voice was gruff, demanding, immediately causing my walls to shoot up.
I shook my head adamantly and took a step back. “You’re out of your mind. Are you forgetting that you almost ran me over yesterday? I’m not getting on that thing with you.”
His glare was so intense that I could feel its heat penetrating my body in more places than I wanted to admit. “Just get on the damn bike, Kai. We need to talk.”
I folded my arms across my chest, wedging my hands in my armpits and squashing my boobs like that was enough security to ensure everything stayed put. “No.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes dramatically, infuriating me further. “Fine.” After putting his helmet back on, he rolled back the throttle, gunning the engine.
For a second, I thought he was going to leave me alone and go back to wherever he’d come from.
No such luck.
He drove into the lot of my complex, parked, and hopped off his bike. After pulling off his helmet again and hanging it on a handlebar like it was a coat rack, he cocked his head and stared back at me with a challenge.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
His glare narrowed. “Wanna take a guess?”
I barked out a laugh. “Is this your attempt at asking me out on a date? Because the answer is ‘Hell fucking no.’”
One corner of his mouth tipped up in a sneer. “Well, it’s your lucky day because”—his eyes flicked up then down in dismissal—“you’re not my type.”
“Thank God.”
He blew out a breath. “You turned down the offer?”
After a second, I realized he’d said “offer” instead of “offa.” My jaw dropped. “Wow, good news sure does travel fast.”
“Cut the shit, Kai. You have no clue what you did.”
I stepped up to him and looked up at him dead in the eyes. “I know exactly what I did, Sebastian. I said no to a shitty opportunity on a shitty boat in the middle of the shitty Pacific. Get over it.” I planted my hands on my waist. “What is wrong with you people? Why does everyone around me think this is their decision to make and not mine? This isn’t some democracy. The people don’t get to choose who gets to star in Sebastian Chase’s new venture. This is my life and my decision.”
He laughed, making me squint at him like he was insane. Maybe he was. “You want to know something funny?”
I shook my head, but something in his amused expression told me he would tell me anyway.
“You sound a little bit like me when you’re angry.” A corner of his mouth tipped up in a smirk as he looked me up and down. “It’s kind of hot.” He stepped forward, closing the last inch of gap between us. He was so close that I could smell mint on his breath and the leather of his jacket.
“I’m glad you turn yourself on,” I shot back, feeling my walls reverberate around me. He was too close for comfort, testing my barriers like a cat pawing at a fish tank.
“What will it take to convince you to take the part, Kai?” He leaned down, his eyes glued to my lips like he’d answered his own question. Oh my God. He wanted to kiss me.
What the—
“Ew, stop!” My hand flew across his cheek so fast that I could have sworn he felt it before I even made contact.
His eyes widened in shock. “Did you just slap me?”
My breaths were coming in pants as I tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. “You were going to kiss me.”
His brows pulled together in the center. “And ya didn’t want me to?”
Maybe an ounce of me felt bad for his obvious confusion. I was sure he didn’t get rejected often, but that gave him no right to take something that wasn’t his.
“Go away, Sebastian. I have shit I need to deal with right now. This might surprise you, but I have my own problems, bigger than whether I’m going to join your stupid musical.”