Craig eyes narrowed. “You have no right to even think you’re good enough to join Annihilation.”
Or maybe not…
“You don’t even know me, you asshat!” she snapped back.
I bit back the smile. Usually I’d jump in to “save” anybody in Craig’s orbit, but somehow I knew Aurora didn’t need saving. She could stand on her own.
“You know what I do know? That you will not be joining my crew. So I suggest you leave or—”
“Or what?” she growled.
He shrugged. “It’s obvious Mitch only wants to bang you, so why don’t you save us both grief and just go ahead and do it.”
“Hey!” This time I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “What the fuck, man? You know that shit ain’t true. I told you about her yesterday—”
“You know what, Kickwit? I am done with this conversation.”
I should have kicked him out of the house. Hell, I should have just locked the fridge or hid the remote. Call me a pussy, but I just didn’t want to deal with Craig’s bullshit and found myself letting his shit slide once again.
Aurora’s mouth opened and for a brief second I thought she was about to cry.
“You both are fucking assholes!” Her voice cracked and her nose reddened.
Shit. Okay, she was totally crying.
Before I could respond, she ran toward the door and threw it open, running out without bothering to close it behind her.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I yelled at Craig, who merely shrugged, flipping on the TV. Furious, I sprinted out the door going after her. “Hey, wait!”
Aurora
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, trying hard to contain the tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks. I hadn’t cried in a long time. In fact, I don’t ever cry. Even when I was stuck in the hospital for weeks on end, I did not shed a single tear. Yet here I was on the verge of letting my best Kim K. face loose.
“It’s just tears of anger,” I reminded myself. “Tears of fucking, furious, I’m going to blow a gasket anger.”
Craig was the biggest asshole I had ever come into contact with. Clemence was right; his b-boy name was perfect. Craig was as cruel as they come.
I paused in front of my car, waiting for Mitch. His footsteps thudded behind me as he called after me. He screeched to a stop and glanced over at my Nissan in surprise. “Whoa, I didn’t expect you to drive a car like that. What color is it? Aquamarine or something?”
“It’s electric blue,” I snapped, clearly not in the mood. “And what kind of car did you expect me to drive? A fucking pink Barbie convertible or something?”
Mitch stepped up beside me. “Hey, hey, hey! I’m not the sexist one, Craig is. I just meant you looked like a Wrangler type chick. You’re tough as nails; thought you’d go off-roading and stuff.”
I instantly calmed, but was still fuming at being embarrassed out of my mind. “Is what Craig said true?”
He looked aghast. “No! I know you could be part of Annihilation.”
I smacked my tongue and rolled my eyes. “Not about that. About you only trying to get in my pants? Is that why you were feeding me all those lies about joining your crew? Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s never going to happen.”
Mitch looked as if he I had just flashed a bright spotlight at his face. “No! Of course not! And I wasn’t lying.”
I threw him a doubtful look.
“I swear.” I sighed in exasperation and bent my head forward. “Don’t listen to Craig’s BS. He’s really just full of shit.”
“You can say that again,” I muttered.
He lifted his head to reveal an amused smirk on his face. “Honestly, I tried to recruit you because I know you can kick some ass, not so I can get some…besides, if I just wanted to get laid, I wouldn’t be tryingthishard.”
And just like that, he reminded me why even with a cute face he annoyed the crap out of me.
“You’re cocky as hell, did you know that?” I mused.
He shrugged. “You have to be in this lifestyle. Without confidence, you’d never win a single battle.”
“There’s a difference between arrogance and self-confidence,” I told him, quickly looking away. I bit my lip, unable to fight the humiliation that was still brewing in my stomach. “So, you didn’t want to sleep with me?”
“No.”
Make that slight disappointment as well. I fidgeted uncomfortably. “Well, did you at least know that Craig would react that way? About me joining the crew and stuff?”
His silence was answer enough.
“Oh my God! You did know! You could have warned me, jerk!” I practically screamed.
“Hey, I didn’t expect you to literally show up at my door. Craig’s a bit hard to approach about these sort of things so I wanted to butter him up a bit first; not just blurt it out to him like you did!”
Okay, well, he got me there. Not knowing where to look, I dropped my gaze so I was staring down at my turquoise beaded cowboy boots, which suddenly did seem tacky. “I…I didn’t know…” I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. “I acted a bit on impulse. I wanted to let you know that I’d like to take you up on your offer before I chickened out again. It’s the only reason why I sort of rushed over here.”
“What do you mean by ‘again’?” he asked curiously.
“Forget it.” I quickly unlocked my car and grabbed the door handle, intent on climbing right in the car and driving away forever. To my shock, Mitch placed his hand on top of my mine and pushed the door shut. I wiggled my hand free and shot him a dumbfounded look. “What are you doing?”
“You can’t expect to just walk up to a crew and say ‘I want to join’ and be invited in with open arms.” He lifted his thick eyebrows at me and smirked.
“Well, that’s what you kind of made it seem like.”
“Okay, I’m sorry if I led you the wrong way, but when it comes to Craig, you need to come prepared. You need to show him exactly what you can do and though your gymnastics background already puts you above the rest, you need something more than acrobatics.”
I lifted my eyes, staring up at him. The sun had shifted so it hung low in the sky, making the disk look almost like a halo behind his head. My mouth suddenly felt dry. “What do you mean?”
“You can dance. It’s obvious you know how to move your body.”
For some reason that comment made me blush.
He cleared his throat and added, “All we need to do is polish your moves up.”
“What do you mean by we?” I squeaked. “What makes you think I even want to go along with this anymore? I fucking embarrassed myself back there.”
I motioned toward his apartment and quickly stuck up my middle finger, imagining Craig’s face peering at me from behind the window.
Mitch stifled a laugh. “I know Craig can be a dick sometimes.”
“Um, you think?”
“Isn’t that reason enough to do this?”
I shot him a doubtful look. “I’m not following.”
“All we need is to train you. We just have to smooth out your transitions and then we can approach Craig again…along with the rest of the crew.”
“The rest of the crew?” I squeaked.
“It’s not a dictatorship. We need the other members to agree on taking you in too.”
“Great,” I muttered. “How many more of you are there?”
“Including me and Craig, there are six of us in the crew.”
“Shit.” I paled a bit.
He chuckled, smiling kindly. “Wouldn’t it be great to show Craig what you can do? To shove that foot that seems like it’s permanently in his mouth up his ass instead?”
“First of all, that is disgusting.” I lifted a finger and wagged it toward him. “Second of all…”
He leaned forward, extended his arms to the side. “Yes?”
My voice trailed off as I imagined Craig eating every single one of his words. I’d dealt with critics before, but for some reason
he felt like my biggest one ever. I’d never backed down before and I wasn’t about to start.
Without any more hesitation, I nodded my head. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Mitch’s face broke out into an excited grin.
As hard as I tried I couldn’t help but giggle. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Mitch
Motherfucker. She said yes!
If I got this excited about a girl agreeing to be trained by me, I wondered how I’d feel one day when I actually asked one to marry me. I mean, not her…I mean hypothetically and shit…I mean…oh forget it.
I walked back to my apartment beaming from ear to ear. Craig was finally going to get his and I was going to be damn happy watching it happen. When I reached the door, I turned at my waist just in time to see the weirdest painted car fly by. I lifted my hands to say goodbye, but a high pitched giggle distracted me.
“Oh, you have got to be shitting me.” I glued my eyes shut and softly hit my forehead against my door. How the hell did June get inside without me noticing? I was only standing a few feet away from my condo the whole time! I mean she could have snuck through a window, and honestly I wouldn’t have put it past her, but still…
Probably hearing my strained breaths, June flung the door open, causing me to stumble inside. Laughing, she caught me mid-way through the foyer and wrapped her thin arms around my waist.
“Hey, baby! I missed you. Why haven’t you called me?” Her nasally voice was just as annoying as I remembered. Call me a jerk, because I frankly don’t give two shits, but it was partly the reason why I “lost” her number.
“June,” I coughed, eyeing the curvy brunette. “What are you doing here?”
She licked her cherry colored lips and motioned toward the living room where her friends, Karen and Bea, were sandwiched in between Craig and Anthony. Dressed in weird little half shirts, it was completely obvious what they were here for.
Usually, I could have overlooked her ear-piercing cackle and also ignored the fact that she had followed me around all last semester after we hooked up. But I’m being serious and am speaking to all women out there when I say there is nothing more unattractive than desperation.
June rose on her tiptoes and leaned into my ear, almost pressing her lips against my skin. I instantly froze, but not for the reason she probably thought.
“I’m in the mood for some fun…want to join me?” Not caring that her friends were watching us, giggling like a bunch of freaking idiots—seriously, they looked like a couple of weird bobble heads—June ran a blue colored nail, which incidentally matched the color of Aurora’s ugly car, down the side of my thigh.
“What do you say?” she prodded, eyeing the hallway leading to my room.
“You know I don’t mess around in my bedroom.” I sighed, thinking of all the times I’d somehow persuaded my random hookups to drive me to their place as opposed to coming to mine. It was a weird quirk, but my room was my sanctuary. Filled wall to wall with different breaking posters, old vinyl records, and a turntable, my room was my getaway from the real world. I wasn’t about to tarnish it with the bad juju of a hookup gone wrong or something.
June’s eyes brightened. She had obviously taken it the wrong way. “It’s cool. I drove separately.”
How the fuck did I not notice her? Then again, whenever I was with Aurora I did get a bit tunnel-visioned…but only because we were talking about breaking. Yeah, that had to be it.
I pushed her hand away from me. “I’m actually busy today, June. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Her bottom lip jutted forward, making her look like the spoiled little brat that she was. “But I haven’t seen you since…well, you know.”
Yeah, there was a reason for that.
“That’s not entirely true. Don’t think I never noticed you trailing after me all last semester.” Hey, if she was gonna play this game, then I was through being nice. I ignored her shocked expression and walked toward my room, flicking my hand in the air. “See you around, June.”
I could almost hear her fuming.
Once I was safely inside, I began to cuss Craig out under my breath. I’d show his power tripping ass exactly who he was messing with.
Aurora
The vaulting board loomed in the near distance, calling out to me. Sweat dripped from my forehead and traveled down the bridge of my nose until one lone drop fell to the floor.
This was it.
I was going to do it.
I broke out into a quick run, but for some reason the board seemed to grow further and further away. I continued to sprint, feeling as if my lungs would burst at any moment, but I ignored the feeling of suffocation.
Run. I just needed to run.
Just when I thought I’d never reach the vaulting board, I felt my feet hit it at full force, but due to my odd angle and speed, I flew through the air, going higher than I anticipated.
“Ahhh!” I flailed my arms in the air and shut my eyes, preparing for impact. The moment my body hit the floor, blaring sirens screamed in my ear.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
I sat straight up, completely drenched. I rubbed at my chest and immediately grabbed onto the hem of my camisole and fanned myself.
I was in my dorm room and most importantly, I was safe.
“Can you please shut that thing off? What time is it, anyway?” Clemence grumbled from her bed. She pulled her covers over her head and sighed. “My first class isn’t until eleven. You’re killing me.”
I reached out and swiped my phone, turning off what sounded like a nuclear reactor. Setting my phone to the side, I laid down for a quick second, trying to steady my beating heart.
It was only five in the morning and everything in the room was still dark. Waking up early to practice wasn’t anything new to me, but after my nightmare I couldn’t shake off my nerves and wanted nothing more than to crash for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I knew Mitch would never let me hear the end of it, and honestly, I didn’t want to disappoint him.
Still shaking to my core, I pushed my legs over the side of the bed and grabbed the workout outfit folded over my desk chair. Call it OCD, but it was a ritual I always partook in before every training session. Clothes laid out the night before, complete with my packed gym bag, a few protein bars, and water. Of course I doubted that whatever Mitch had planned for me would need all those, especially since most of the b-boys at the battle just rolled in with the clothes on their back. Still, I couldn’t be too careful.
***
I winced when the bright lights of the yoga studio hit my eyes. For some reason it seemed more ominous that morning, unlike my first experience with the room. I shuffled inside quickly to find Mitch waiting for me in the center, wearing a muscle shirt and a pair of baggy sweats, which didn’t leave room for imagination. Though I tried not to gawk, Mr.Woodwas in full swing.
I dropped my gaze until I reached his side, throwing him a chagrined look.
“You’re late,” he grumbled in annoyance.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, sliding my gym bag across the floor. “I woke up on time, I promise, but I ended up falling back to sleep for a while…I had a bad dream.”
He didn’t care. “Aw, poor baby dream of the boogeyman?”
“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes and picked up my back leg, pulling it up into a quick stretch.
“I am a firm believer of efficiency, honoring engagements, and punctuality,” he shot back. “Only day one of training and you’re already screwing it up. Can’t expect to get into Annihilation this way.”
“I’m usually early to everything,” I began to argue before realizing it wasn’t going to change the fact that I was latethis time. Bowing my head slightly, I mumbled, “It won’t happen again.”
“Good.”
He walked off to the back of the room along the wall of mirrors and began flipping through his iPod. Picking a familiar 90’s jam, he turned up the volume and quietly walked back over to me.
Though I hated being re
primanded, he was a lot easier to deal with when he was mouthy so I decided to engage him a bit. “I’m surprised you wanted to meet so early.”
“Why? Not a morning person?” He peered into my eyes questioningly as if he were trying to get a read on me.
I shifted uncomfortably and glanced away. “I’ve been waking up at the crack of dawn to practice since I was in elementary school. If I’m being honest, you don’t seem the type to…well…you know.”
“Type to what?” he asked suspiciously.
I shrugged. “Forget about it.”
“No, what were you going to say?” he demanded.
I shifted uncomfortably. “I knew guys like you back in Ohio and they’d rather be drinking, fucking, or getting high.”
“Well, I’m not like those guys and I’m definitely not from Ohio.” He pushed his thick eyebrows together and scowled slightly. “Did you ever consider the time and effort that goes into b-boying? As an athlete, you of all people should know the dedication and passion needed to do something so physically strenuous.”
I held my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Just trying to make conversation.”
Mitch paused, as if considering something, but thought better of it. Without another word, he spun around, bending over to do a few quick flares.
I couldn’t help but smirk. “Okay, no need to show off. I already know what you can do.”
“That’s not what I was—” He sighed, rubbed his forehead a bit, and sighed again.
“By all means don’t hold back,” I scoffed.
“You know how to do flares.”
“And the sky is blue,” I shot back, curling the upper corner of my lip.
He rolled his eyes. “What I mean is, there are a bunch of other b-girls who could do that move. What we need you to do is something not that ordinary.”
“Um, okay…” Having flipped and jumped all my life, nothing about acrobatics used to scare me…until recently. I gulped. “What do you have in mind?”
Grinning from ear to ear, he lowered himself into a handstand and somehow twisted his body in the air, repeating the same flare motion, only this time his body was bent further back. He hopped with his hands and did it again effortlessly before jumping back onto his feet.
Breaking Promises (B-Boy #1) Page 5
