Dare to Dance: The Maxwell Series (8 page)

I
blew
out breath after breath, feverishly wanting to hide or run. My heart leapt into my throat, thinking of how I should react or what I should say to him. The past few days had been busy, so I hadn’t rehearsed what I would say to Kross if I even ran into him. Honestly, I’d tried to push him out of my mind. I needed to focus on the ins and outs of waitressing.

I tracked his movements from the other end of the bar until he disappeared into the crowd. When he came back into view, my brain shut down. Actually, it shut down the moment I met his gaze from the other side of the bar.

As he started toward me again, a big-breasted blond girl, dressed in a silk top and shiny jewelry that screamed money, hooked her arm through his. I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the band, but thank God. She’d given me at least a minute to catch my breath.

I couldn’t say I was surprised to see Kross. After all, Tommy had said he would let Kross know that I was working there. I’d been so busy with learning the ropes of waitressing that I hadn’t had time to check with Tommy. I didn’t want to know anyway. The less I knew, the fewer nerves I would have. Yeah, like that worked. My nerves were singing a tune to a drummer’s beat in a metal band. In fact, I’d been jittery for the last two days, constantly dropping what I was doing to check each customer that entered.

“Something wrong?” the bartender, Pete, asked.

“No. Just nervous about serving so many people.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. I’d only been waitressing for three days. My skills were improving, although two customers would have argued that I was a screw-up. But serving drinks was the last thing on my mind at the moment. I scanned the room and found Alex waiting on tables. I kept searching until my gaze landed on Norma. She was also busy. I needed her advice, but I knew what she would say. “Talk to Kross.” The problem was that this wasn’t a good time. The club was hopping. Not only that, but I had to figure out what I would say. The truth came to mind. I certainly had to atone for the many questions Kross would have. I also had several questions for him. In all, I was terrified. What if he fought me for custody of Raven, especially after he found out the life I’d led up until this point? I’d also been fooling myself if I believed that the three of us would become an instant family. My muscles tightened as I thought of how I’d repeatedly called him. He hadn’t even texted back to say hi or to let me know he wasn’t interested. Instead, the man had ignored me as though we’d never had sex or even dated.

Pete’s warm hand touched mine. “Ruby.”

“I need to use the bathroom.” I had to collect myself, get my hands to stop shaking, my heart to stop fluttering, and my stomach to stop churning.

“Drinks first.” He set down the last drink for my order. “Can’t keep your customers waiting. Boss won’t like it.”

I sucked in air as I snagged a lime wedge. As I squeezed a bit of its juice into a gin and tonic, I peeked in Kross’s direction. He had his back to me, shaking his head at the blond woman who was pouting.

I breathed a sigh of relief until he cupped the girl’s face in an adoring gesture. She smiled. A pang of jealousy took root inside me. I had no reason to get all weird about some girl, who was probably his girlfriend. After all, I was trying to avoid the man. Still, I would have given anything to have him touch me like that.

“Get your ass in gear,” Pete ordered. “If the boss finds you standing around, he’ll give you and me the third degree.”

Pete had been nice to me when I’d spilled drinks. The last thing I wanted to do was get him into trouble or have Tommy breathing down my neck, especially not with Kross in the house.

I picked up my tray, turned, and
Boom. Crash. Splash.
The drinks smashed in between Kross and me. Bottles fell to the floor. The couple closest to me cussed as they checked their shoes, which took the brunt of my clumsiness. Suddenly, the room began to disappear. My stomach pitched and rolled. Alcohol soaked into my blouse. Not caring if I had a wet T-shirt vibe going on, I stared into the deepest blue eyes. They reminded me of Raven.
Keep it together, girl.
I wasn’t sure I could. Kross’s spicy scent tickled my nostrils, and those damn blue eyes nailed me to the bar. Butterflies scattered in my stomach.

“I’m s-sorry,” I managed to say.

“Just like when we first met,” Kross said. “Only you dropped your books and keys.”

Wow. He remembers.

Pete’s voice resounded from somewhere behind me. Other voices hummed nearby, and the music played, albeit softly, or maybe not at all. Maybe I was hearing the ballet music I’d danced to as Kross watched me practice.

One side of Kross’s mouth quirked up, displaying the lone dimple in his right cheek. “You look amazing.” His whiskey-smooth voice belied the hard look on his face. The rippling planes of his muscles strained against the tight long-sleeve shirt he was wearing.

My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth as my body heated in ways I’d never felt, or at least didn’t remember. I had the sudden urge to launch myself at him, hug him, hit him, kiss him, and tell him how much I saw him when I looked at Raven. A lone tear slipped out. I longed to be part of a family. I wanted Raven to know her daddy. I wanted to know her daddy. I wanted so much, but I didn’t deserve anything, not until I could prove I was a good mother. I quietly inhaled, praying my heart would stop trying to pound out of my chest.

“I’m sorry about this,” he said, bending down.

I licked the dryness from my lips and slowly squatted, never taking my eyes off him. When he placed an empty bottle on the tray, his hand brushed mine. My body reacted before my brain, and I started wiping beads of alcohol off his stark blue T-shirt. My fingers stopped over his heart. I glanced at my hand to make sure I wasn’t shaking as fast as his heart was beating. Then as though someone snuffed out the fire inside of me, my body went cold. He was trying to use his Maxwell charm on me. He was trying to get me to cave. He knew I had a weak side when it came to him, particularly if he started to recite
Star Light, Star Bright
.

Run now. No, tell him what he wants to know. Then get back to your job. Oh, shit.
My job.
As the voices in my head argued, I couldn’t move. In fact, my cheeks burned. I couldn’t even withdraw my hand from his hard chest. It had been way too long since I touched a man. But Kross wasn’t any man. Kross was the father of my child. He was my first love, the boy who made my palms sweat. The boy I gave my virginity to. Even now, four years later, I wanted to sit under the oak trees at Greenridge Academy and talk about nothing as he played with my hair. I was suddenly lost in the past, in his spicy scent, in the heat of his body, and the desperate longing in his midnight-blue eyes.

From far away, a gruff voice tried to cut through the bubble I had created around Kross and me.

“Ruby. Ruby.” Irritation colored Tommy’s tone as he said my name close to my left ear.

Kross dragged the backs of his knuckles over my cheek, the one with the beauty mark. He’d done that same gesture many times when we’d been together. I leaned into him, not wanting this moment to end.
You’re supposed to be mad at him.
I silently screamed at my inner voice to shut up.

“Ruby.” Tommy said my name again before he tapped on my shoulder.

My dreamy bubble burst. The music grew louder, and voices became clearer, especially Tommy’s.

I briefly closed my eyes before I jumped to my feet. I peered up at Tommy’s scowled face. Then I looked back at Kross, who was now on his feet with a similar sneer, but it was directed at Tommy, not me. I got a sinking feeling that Tommy hadn’t called Kross.

Tommy had his hands on his denim-clad hips as he eyed me then Kross. “I see you two have now talked. Good. Now clean this mess up. Oh, and those drinks are coming out of your paycheck.” Then he stormed off.

I pinched my eyebrows together. Tommy didn’t yell, and Kross didn’t punch him. But the line between Kross’s eyebrows was unyielding as he watched Tommy head back down the hall. Not a good sign.

“Ruby,” Pete called.

When I turned, I was met with a towel that Pete had thrown at me.

“Clean up. Then get moving.” Pete pointed a fat finger to another round of drinks he’d whipped up while I was skipping down memory lane.

I hurried and picked up my mess. Surprisingly, the glasses weren’t broken. On my way to the bar, Kross stormed down the hallway with his hands fisted. I’d seen him in a similar fury when we were at the academy just before he had gotten into a fight with a boy who thought he owned the school.

No. No. No.
I practically threw the lemon wedges, glasses, and cherries at Pete. I was not about to get fired because of Kross. I flew down the hall in hopes of stopping the imminent brawl.

“Ruby,” Pete yelled. “Get back here.”

Not a chance. I had to save my job. But as I skidded to a stop, I saw that Kross was in Tommy’s face, and Tommy had his back plastered to the paneled wall outside his office.

“You were supposed to call me if Ruby showed up.” Kross’s voice thundered down the long hallway. “Do you know what I’ve been through in the last week?”

“Fuck off, man. I don’t owe you squat. So get the hell out of here. This is my business, and you’re trespassing.” Tommy literally spat in his face.

I didn’t have time to stop Kross’s fist from connecting with Tommy’s jaw. Even if I could have, I wasn’t strong enough to intervene. Tommy’s head flew to the right.

Kross positioned himself to hit Tommy again.

“Stop,” I shouted.

Kross wiped the spit from his eye as he stalked up to me. “I’ve been searching every fucking place in this city, looking for you.” His voice was so deep, a chill zinged down my spine. “Every minute of the day and night, I roamed the streets, looking for you and our child. All this time, you’ve been here under this asshole’s nose.” He turned to Tommy, who was rubbing his jaw. “We’re not through yet.”

“Yes, you are.” My tone was firmer than the bunched muscles on his arms. “The fight is between you and me. But right now, I have to work. So if you want answers, get out of here until I finish my shift.” That was if I had a job. Tommy was a businessman that didn’t break deals, or at least I assumed he didn’t. I would beg and plead and do whatever it took to keep this job. This was my one shot at a better life. Granted, it wasn’t the greatest job, but it sure beat begging for change, eating out of dumpsters, and sleeping in dark alleys.

“Problems, Bro?” Either Kelton or Kody strutted up as though scuffles were an everyday occurrence with the Maxwells. Oh, wait. They were. The triplets had been hellions at the academy, always in trouble with a teacher for mouthing off or acting out. Still, after not being around them all these years, it was hard for me to tell the difference between Kelton and Kody. Not to mention, when Kross and I had dated, I hadn’t exactly hung out with his brothers, although Kelton had teased me a time or two.

Tommy did a double take. “Dillon didn’t tell me there were two of you.”

“Three,” Kross’s brother said in a light tone. He pointed to Kross. “But he’s the one you don’t want to fuck with.” He wasn’t as broad in the chest as Kross, and his hair was shaggier.

“Kody,” Kross said, his eyes fixated on me. “Can you make sure Penelope and her friends are okay. I’ll be just a minute.”

“Nice to see you, Ruby.” Kody sauntered off, leaving me alone with two angry men.

Kross glared at me as though I was the one who had never returned his calls. “You and I are talking before I leave here.”

“Oh, now you want to talk? Years go by, and out of the blue, I’m supposed to drop what I’m doing to talk to you? Yeah, think again. I have a job to do, and you’re interfering.”

“No, you don’t,” Tommy said. “We had a deal. You’re fired.” He held his bruised jaw.

Like hell I was. “As I said, I’m finishing my shift.” I glowered at Tommy then Kross. “We have nothing to discuss.”

Kross folded his large arms over his chest. “I’m not leaving, darling.”

“I’m not your darling. You lost the right to call me that when you all but ran like Freddy Krueger was chasing you.”

Tommy disappeared into his office.

Kross pushed up the sleeves of his shirt, exposing the head of a snake on his right forearm. He looked ready to rumble.

I laughed. “Is that move supposed to scare me?” The man I knew wouldn’t hit me. He was frustrated, but I wasn’t about to let him bully me into talking when he wanted me to.

“I said I was sorry for not returning your calls.” His voice was softer.

“Kross.” The blonde wiggled her curvy hips up to him. “What’s going on?”

I had a sudden urge to tell the girl to take a hike. But once again, she was the perfect distraction.

“I’ll give you time.” The hardness in his tone returned. “But don’t get any ideas of running because we’re talking tonight, even if I have to get my cop friend to put out an APB on you.” He grasped the blonde’s hand and stalked out.

My mouth fell open. I wanted to scream, shout, and tell him to fuck off. Instead, I stormed into Tommy’s cluttered office. I needed to save my job first, then I could deal with Kross.

“You’re definitely fired. I don’t want cops sniffing around this joint. Who the hell is Kross to you, anyway?” Tommy plopped down onto his couch. “He keeps asking about a baby. Care to elaborate?”

“Are you firing me or trying to be my shrink? I mean, why do you care?”

He moved his jaw from side to side. “The fucker can hit.”

“First, you started it by spitting in his face. Second, you don’t strike me as a whiner. You run a business. You set up illegal fights. You deal with bad men.” Maybe my last statement was a shot in the dark, but his business partner, Trent, was bad in my book. “Why are you afraid of Kross? Or is it that friend of his?”

“That dude”—he pointed to the door—“is wired to kill. If I were you, I’d tell him about his baby. Well, if there is one.”

“You can’t fire me,” I said as though I owned the club. “Look, I promise Kross won’t be a problem anymore. Besides, you need the help out there.” Alex had been right about the band drawing in a crowd.