Turning Pointe Read Online Free Page B

bringing me into your head game with her, you have to brief me beforehand. What if I say something that fucks it up?”
    “You can’t fuck up something that doesn’t exist,” I remind him.
    “That is not true,” he says, pointing his finger at me. “Besides, don’t lie. It’s not that it doesn’t exist. It’s that it doesn’t have a name.”
    “It’s not a thing. We’re friends,” I insist.
    “Okay, clearly I need to break something to you. Yeah, you and Alyona are friends. But you’re not just friends.” He drops his voice even lower. “Whether you two are sleeping together or not has nothing to do with it.”
    I watch Aly tilt her head back and laugh at something Sakura says, the long line of her throat, the broadness of her smile, her blond hair swinging. How she’s walking around a death trap of a plane without fear. In the least sexual way possible, I want to climb inside her skin just for a day, to see what it’s like to be so fearless. Okay, and maybe in a sexual way, too, but with different goals and outcomes. “Maybe. But I am not compromising our friendship to put a name to it.”
    “That’s the risk, though,” he says. “You’re going to have to roll the dice on that at some point, my friend. That’s exactly the risk for you.”
    I blink at him. “Is there a different risk for her?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe.” He nods. “Here she comes.”
    Aly sinks into the seat next to me and tucks her feet beneath her. “Sakura asked Johan for us. Our first company dinner is at a sushi place near the hotel. We’ll have time to go to the studio if we want.”
    “Alright,” I say, watching her closely. I always thought she also feared losing what we had now. But maybe it ran deeper than that. Maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time. “Let’s see how we feel.”
    She leans against me, closing her eyes. “I already know what I feel.”
    I can hear my heartbeat. “Yeah?”
    “I feel like dancing,” she whispers, and falls asleep with a smile on her face.

Chapter Four
    Aly
    I stretch in my flats, bouncing on the balls of my feet in the hallway. Every inch of my body screams from the tension and stiffness acquired during the long flight. My stomach growls, the only noise in the hallway, until I turn and knock on Zed’s door again. The hotel hallway doesn’t smell pleasant and my room smells like smoke, despite it theoretically being a non-smoking room. If he’s not ready, I’m not spending another moment here. I’ll walk to the studio by myself, if I have to.
    Adrian pulls open the door and gives me an easy smile. “He’s doing his hair for you.”
    “Oh, God,” I mutter and then yell over Adrian’s shoulder, “Zedekiah! I don’t care what your hair looks like!”
    “Now I know you’re lying,” Adrian stage-whispers and I grin despite my anxiety about getting to the studio on time.
    “What? Oh, for fuck’s sake, McKinley,” Zed yells back from somewhere inside the room. “Aly, give me a hot second.”
    “What about a cold second?” I say, but I’m not sure if he hears me until he appears, breathless next to Adrian in the doorway, and shakes his head.
    “God, that was almost a joke. Look at you trying to keep up with me, the master of puns,” he teases, then leans forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead. Adrian smirks at my blush, and I shoot him a warning look. Zed, oblivious, bends down to tie his shoes, his ballet bag slung over his shoulder. “Adrian, you’re sure you’re not coming?”
    “It’s not even an official class. You two are just nuts,” he points out, like he’s not surprised that we’re dashing off to steal a few minutes of dance from the day before the company dinner. “I’m taking a nap.”
    “Your body adjusts to travel better when you don’t take naps upon arrival in a new time zone,” I remind him. “It’s like staying hydrated on a plane.”
    Zed laughs and takes my hand, lacing our fingers together. “He knows, Kitten. Come on.