a kill; I just didn’t know that kill would end up being her mother.
“Well, maybe Dad and Mom still have hope on some grandkids.” Kohen smirks.
I flip him off. “Fuck you.”
Memories are a cruel reminder of what you don’t have anymore. I thought I wanted to know everything, be opened to all that was taken from me all those years ago, but as I stay rolled in a ball on my bed, squeezing my eyes shut, I watch that day over and over again on repeat. I have to force myself not to seek out Killian and demand he slam that box closed again.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang, bang!
There were five shots, and then I was running. I saw the car, and Dad climbed out. I was angry with King before I remembered, and now I’m livid. There’s just the small fact that when I opened that box of memories, everything I felt for him rolled in tenfold. Now I’m angry with him, but I’m also other things for him.
Nothing is going to change the fact he wanted me dead.
That he had tormented and stalked me for years. He was The Shadow, the man I feared. Now the man I feared is also supposed to be the man I loved? Fuck. That.
There’s a knock on my door, pulling me out of my panic. “Perse?” It’s Delila’s voice. “Can I come in?”
I don’t answer, and she takes that as a cue to enter. “I’m sorry.” I want to ask what she’s sorry for, but my mouth won’t open, and I can’t find the urge to ask.
Because I don’t care.
Bang!
“I know this might not help you right now, but I want you to know I have your RV here. I bought it before we got here, actually. You can decorate it however you like, and there’s enough space in there for five of you. It’s actually around the same size as this ridiculously overpriced hell on wheels.” I can just imagine her looking around my room. She sighs. “I’m not going to lie to you, Perse. I knew everything. I knew you when you were a little girl, and I knew the ratchet bitch who you thought was your mother. The witch.” Her hand comes to rest on top of my leg, pressing through the blanket. I swipe away the tears. “I had a feeling you weren’t Dove when I saw you dance. Dove was good at ballet, but you were always better. Your movements were always fluid. Your precision with dance has always been like art. Dove was the same, but there has always been something else about you. An edge to the way you moved. Like you’d take on a role while the song was played. Dove was always a little shy to do that, silenced by the voices that lived inside her beautiful head.” I remain quiet and still, not wanting to interrupt her obvious oversharing in case she pulls back. She stands, and a loud clink sounds out as she drops something onto my bed. “I understand you’ll need your space, so here are the keys. It’s all yours. When you’re ready, we can start on your recruits, and the tent is there for you.”
Once Delila leaves, I swing up from my bed and throw on a loose shirt and some tights and leg warmers. Snatching up my slippers, I head out of the RV and toward the tent.
I need to vent.
I need to dance until my feet bleed, and my muscles ache, to remind me why I’m here, alive, and I’ll do it finally with my slippers tied around my ankles.
I make my way into the tent, where I see Jay, one of the men who handles the DJ booth. “You want me to hit the switches on, Perse?” News must have traveled fast, and I’m partially thankful for him easing into calling me Perse.
“Yes, please,” I answer, tossing the keys and my hoodie onto the ground outside of the ring.
I tie my hair up into a high ponytail and push play on “You Should See Me in a Crown” by Billie Eilish. Lifting my hands into the second position, I roll my head around, closing my eyes and allowing my mind to drift into another dimension. Rolling into an alignment technique, I flick my foot up as the chorus kicks in, and then twist it out into a turnout technique before coming into a pirouette. I continue to dance until my feet ache, and sweat drips off me. Finally, as