Sweet Naivety

Chapter 68: Actions and Reactions

Chapter 68: Actions and Reactions

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Grimmjow slammed the door behind us and turned me to face him, his grip on my arm tightening. "What the fuck, Juna?!"

I blinked, torn between confusion and alarm. "Wha-"

"Dammit!" He let go of me and went over to punch the wall, leaving a fist-sized hole in it. "You don't even know what you did, do you?!" He turned to glare at me, sky-blue eyes raging with fury. "I can see it on your face! You're too fucking clueless!"

I wrapped my arms around myself, not knowing how to handle the situation. Clearly, I in particular had done something to upset him. And not knowing what I had done was even more upsetting for him. So how could I possibly make this better? When I couldn't even ask...

"Dammit, Juna!" He picked up a lamp from the desk and threw it, causing it to shatter against the far wall. "You can't go fucking around with other guys like that! Especially not in front of people! In my own damn club!"

I took a slow breath, trying to stay as quiet and as small as I could while I figured this out. I ran through my head about all of the different things that I'd done during the night. And I assumed he must be talking about while I was on stage, since he had said in front of people. I'd touched the hands of a few reaching audience members... I'd posed for some pictures... I'd danced and performed... that was it. It must have been when I danced with Renji and the guys. I forced myself to look up from the floor, meeting his furious gaze head-on. "Grimmjow, that was just a performance."

"You don't get to perform like that! You're not a damn hooker!" He had stopped destroying things, but he was still shouting.

I resisted the urge to point out that hookers didn't really perform... they just had sex. At least, that was my understanding of them. "No, I'm a singer. And a dancer. And a musician."

"Only because I let you play here!" He snapped at me, raking a hand through his wild, blue hair.

I felt my jaw clench. But I managed to take a breath and speak calmly. "I'm all of these things because my parents taught me to be." I had never mentioned my parents to Grimmjow. In fact, I hardly talked about them at all. And I watched as Grimmjow's eyes widened as he registered my words.

He took a breath of his own, his hands relaxing at his sides before he reached out and cupped my face with both of them, his skin warm on my cheeks. "Your parents taught you?"

I nodded, trying not to think too much about the memories... the memories that always made me miss my parents and my old life. "My mother loved to dance. And my father could play any instrument."

Grimmjow's lips tugged into a small smile. "That explains why you're so talented." He let out another breath, the feeling warm across my face. "I still don't want you dancing with other guys, Juna."

I tilted my head, trying to understand that maybe, if he hadn't grown up the way that I had, how he might see it differently. It occurred to me that in spite of all of the time that we spent together, Grimmjow and I still didn't really know much about each other. "Before I came here, I went to an all-girls school where I was able to focus on performance art. I never really spoke to boys... unless it was for dance lessons and performances with the guys from our partnered school. That's why I'm comfortable dancing this way. I don't see it the way that you do, Grimmjow."

He was staring at me intently, his sky-blue eyes studying me with an indiscernible expression on his chiseled face. After a moment, he spoke. "And that explains why you're so naïve." His hands moved down to my waist, where he gripped me tightly and held my body close to his. "You're mine, Juna." He leaned down closer to me, so that his blazing, blue eyes were staring directly into my green gaze. "No one else gets to have you the way that I do."