Fallen Stars and Broken Dreams - C.C. Masters Page 0,16

love drama,” I told him firmly. “And this is some TMZ level drama playing out right in front of you.”

“I love to watch drama,” he corrected me. “Preferably from a distance and with popcorn. I don’t want to be a part of it.”

I gave him an exasperated look and turned to Mrs. Logan with sad puppy eyes. She stepped in, just like I knew she would.

“Ryan,” she scolded him. “It’s just dinner.”

He sighed. “Fine. But it better be a restaurant that’s too fancy to think about carding me before serving wine.”

“Ryan!” Mrs. Logan cried out as she swatted his arm.

He rubbed his arm sheepishly. “I’m joking. Katya and I are going to get changed, and then we’ll meet you back here?”

We said our goodbyes to the Logans and went back to the dressing rooms. I sat in front of the mirror and peeled off my fake eyelashes before I wiped my face free of stage makeup. Makeup remover wipes were fine in a pinch, but I couldn’t wait to get home and scrub down in the shower. My adrenaline from our performance and my mother’s ambush started to wear off, and I yawned.

Ryan smacked my arm playfully for the yawn. “That’s contagious.”

The pain in my feet and soreness in my muscles started to set in, and I found myself relaxing into the pain, savoring it. God, I was fucked up. The physical pain eased the anger that burned inside me at the sight of my delinquent mother, and I felt myself sliding back into the comfortable void that left me blissfully numb of any inner turmoil.

When I opened my eyes again, I slid my happy Katya mask back on, hiding everything that lay beneath the surface.

“Sorry,” I groaned. “These past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and this is the first night we can finally relax. We’re done.” I attempted a happy smile for him.

“Are we going to ignore the fact that your new dad is a famous billionaire?” Ryan asked curiously.

“Yup. And he’s not my dad. Nina just called him her ‘companion.’” I made a face to show him what I thought about that.

“She was wearing an engagement ring,” Ryan pointed out. “And the hotties called you their new sister.”

I shot him a dirty look. “Let’s just forget all the weirdness and pretend it never happened.”

Ryan shrugged. “Okay.”

That’s what I loved about Ryan. No matter what, he would always have my back and support me in any decision I made. I was even more grateful later that night when he didn’t say a word about how I took a little more Benadryl than I should to help me get to sleep. I added some pain meds along with it to help my aching body. Ryan was already really good at ignoring the things that neither of us wanted to be forced to discuss.

Chapter 6

Katya

I was shocked when both Ryan and I managed to sleep in Monday morning. We had been in class, rehearsing, or nursing our sore bodies for a few weeks straight to get ready for our performances. Now that it was all over, we had a week of lounging around ahead of us. We would usually catch up on all the Netflix we had missed out on during the semester and eat all the unhealthy stuff we had to avoid during the performance season. A chocolate milkshake in your tummy would only weigh you down when you were trying to increase the height of your jumps. The only thing I had to worry about now was sitting on the couch.

Ryan and I slept in until almost noon, and I stayed in bed for as long as my bladder could stand it. I hobbled to the bathroom on aching legs.

“Let’s do yoga today!” I yelled at Ryan. “I need to stretch out my muscles.”

What I really needed was a workout, but after the intensive program we had just finished, we were due for a light week to let our bodies recover. Unfortunately for Ryan, my brain only calmed down when I was too tired to think. He was going to be in for a busy week.

Ryan hadn’t moved by the time I got back to our room, so I pounced on top of him and tried to pull away the pillow that was hiding the sun from his eyes.

“C’mon grumpy bear,” I teased him. “You’ll feel better once you get some food in your stomach.”

“Come back with an omelet, and I’ll consider it,” he said with a muffled