Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,41

stairs. Second floor, second door on the….

Oh. Even if she hadn’t been told that this was Nicholas’s room, Danni thought that she might have guessed. It just looked like him: dark blue comforter on the bed; shelves of books lining the walls…and yes, there was his Bible, resting at his bedside table just the way hers did. There was no dust on it, either; either he had just cleaned—which, from the look of the rest of the room, was probably not the case—or he genuinely did read his Bible regularly.

Lord, I hope that he does rest in your word regularly. I really like this man, she prayed. Her fingers lightly brushed over the top of the Bible, though she didn’t open it. Bibles were a private thing, especially if the user wrote in the margins. She had hundreds of little conversations with God penned in hers—sometimes revelations, things that had come to her attention; other times just references to what she had been going through at the time, or how the verse had helped her.

She’d read Michael’s Bible a time or two, and he had read hers. She didn’t feel even the slightest qualm about letting him read her Bible, nor did he hesitate to hand her his—because they were that close. They each knew all the other’s secrets.

What would it be like to read Nicholas’s Bible? It was evident that it was well-loved. Either it had been carried with him a lot, or he had read it frequently. Which one, Danni couldn’t be completely sure without asking him; but she suspected, from some of the comments he had made earlier, that he read it a lot.

Thankfully, Nicholas came in then. Danni wouldn’t have wanted to give in to temptation and peek—and she might have, if she had been left alone for much longer. She wouldn’t have wanted to read it; but the highlighting, the frequency of those penned comments…that would tell her something about the man she was now dancing with.

He gave her a crooked smile. “Yeah…you’re not the first to go straight there when you come in the room.” The grin changed, turned warmer. “First to understand it, though, I think.”

“Mine is in the same spot.” She smiled up at him. “So, um…you have a favorite spot to do this, or….”

“One that hurts less than the others, anyway.” Nicholas jerked several pillows off of his bed and shifted them, then eased down on them so that his shoulder was securely braced. He didn’t need to think about it; that, if nothing else, made it evident that he had done this before.

“How long have you been hurt?” Danni asked curiously.

Nicholas grimaced. “I’d really rather not talk about that just now,” he admitted tiredly. “Or anything that reminds me of the pain, actually. I just….”

“Sure.” She hesitated, then reached out and squeezed his hand like she would have Michael’s.

He turned it over trustingly, taking hers comfortably. It was only natural, really. They’d spent the better part of the day in each others’ company, and much of it touching. That comfort with one another transferred to their everyday lives; and put into a situation like this one, it could easily turn to taking comfort in one another.

“You’re a sweetheart, Danni.” Nicholas sighed. “Would you be offended if I asked you if this was the real you, or just some mask you’re putting on?”

Danni had to think about it for a minute. “No,” she said at last, her voice as steady as she could make it. “Because I’ve seen the other girls around here—and you’re right. About half of them would only pretend to be friendly and then turn around and stab you in the back later.”

“And the other half?” he asked curiously.

“The other half wouldn’t bother waiting until your back was turned.” Danni winced. “I didn’t meant to say that out loud,” she said quickly.

“You really didn’t, did you?” Nicholas laughed. “For what it’s worth, it’s a fairly accurate description—especially with all the competition for partners. It can get ugly.”

“Had any try to seduce you away from Katarina?” she wanted to know A couple of girls had tried that with Michael—to their detriment, since regardless of who he dated, his dance time had always belonged to her.

“Oh, yeah. Seduction…threats…a couple have even tried bribes.” He made a face. “Almost took a few of them up on it.”

“Why didn’t you?” Danni knew it was really none of her business; but it was clearly no secret that he didn’t like Katarina. If that