Shall We Dance?

Chapter 25 - The New Partner

MADISON

The last days flew by and even after the incident with my brother, things seem to have gone back to normal. Cadence and Ale are still on friendly terms and Fer and I are carefully dancing around whatever it is that's happening between us.

We've also been working hard at refining his tango steps for today's show. It isn't a difficult dance, but he finds it boring. To keep him interested, I've mixed practice with steps from different dances. He enjoys the ones that are fast and energetic the most. I'm still afraid he will let me fall, but I try my best to hide it.

Cadence and I make it to CTO Network and after the usual security checks, we head to Studio One.

"Oh crap, I left my phone in the car. Not that I'm waiting a call from anyone, but you never know if Maurice needs one of us," Cadence says and sprints back to the parking lot.

As we are parked all the way at the end of the lot, I continue without my sister. Chatter and music comes out of the open studio door. I check on my phone to see if I have any messages from Fer saying he is on his way, and then I bounce against someone's back.

"I'm sorry, it's quite dark in here," I say to the person.

"Mae..."

The voice fills me with a mix of anger and anxiety. I feel as if I'm going to faint when the man turns around. Roman is here... He cackling laughter brings bad memories, one moment he would be choking me and growling profanities behind a door, and the next, he'd laugh with his students in the same way he does now.

I take unsteady steps as my body trembles with fury. Once in the safety of the locked dressing room assigned to Cadence and myself, I call Fer.

"Hey, Mae!" He answers in a happy tone. "What's up?"

"I have a problem," my voice sounds shaky and my mouth feels dry. "Roman is here."

"Roman? Your ex? Where are you?" Alarm and a hint of anger mixes in his voice.

"I'm in the dressing room at the studio. I don't dare to come out for fear I will do something I'll regret."

"Stay there. We are almost at the gate. I will find out why he is around. Don't you worry, I won't let him come near you."

I hang the call and wonder if I did the right thing. What if Fer reacts in the same way Ale did? He's shown irritation before but never anger.

What is Roman doing here? He moved out of town not long after I left him. What if he comes looking for me and I'm all alone in this room? A knock on the door makes me jump and I place my hands over my mouth to contain a scream.

"Madison? Are you in there? It's Cadence," I hear my sister say from the other side of the door.

After unlocking it, I pull her inside and lock it again.

"What is that asshole doing here?" She points towards the studio direction.

"Sandy," a few angry tears escape me and I clean them roughly. "He must be her new instructor. Of all the damned people they could hire, it had to end up being him. My fucking luck!"

"Did you talk?"

"No, I walked this way as soon as possible. I'm so angry, Cadence. I only want to make him feel the same pain he gave me."

Cadence places her arm around my shoulders to comfort me.

"You better get in line, we all want to teach him a lesson."

"He's an excellent dancer. He won't lose easily and I'll have to see him every week, unless I lose today."

"You aren't thinking about sabotaging your dance to get out of this, right?"