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DC
I couldn’t wait to show Tori the studio. I was so psyched I couldn’t sit still during breakfast. A breakfast where she had joined us for the first time. I had another surprise for her but would only reveal it once she has seen the studio. Pixie and Joney had helped me with the second surprise and it arrived this morning, just in time for the unveiling of the studio.
Tori had lived through several excruciatingly painful experiences in the last year and I hoped that the studio would bring the fire back to her eyes she once used to have. I hadn’t been there for her after the bus crash that ended her career and took her best friend and partner but I was here for her now. She didn’t know it but we were all of the opinion that she needed to get back into a studio, and I had built one for her.
She had refused to enter the dance studios in Cape Town after people took photos of her with their phones and posted them online along with some really fucked up comments. According to Pixie she had been using the RW gym for workouts but hadn’t danced since the accident. And just as she was about to try again the incident at the dance studio happened.
Running up the stairs I grinned when I saw Sam outside her door. I had taken him into my confidence and he was waiting for me. I rapped on her door then pushed it open. She was where I had expected her to be, holding onto the windowsill and going through some basic ballet exercises.
“That’s good, you’re in training clothes already. We’re going on a little excursion this morning. Come on, grab whatever you need and let’s go.” I didn’t give her a chance to argue, not that she was going to. She was way too curious to see where we were going.
I led her through the quiet clubhouse and outside. Tori stopped and threw her head back dramatically and drew in a deep breath. “Aah, the smell of freedom.” She joked and Sam and I chuckled. But I didn’t let her stand around just beckoned her to follow me. A few of the brothers were standing around outside the garage shooting the shit and they watched as we walked across the compound towards the dance studio.
Yesterday Terror and I had put up a curtain rail in front of the doors and hung a black curtain so she wouldn’t be able to see what waited inside. Jagger had insisted on installing security and now there was no need for a key. As soon as I keyed my code into the keypad the locks clicked and unlocked and I slid the doors open. They moved easily and silently on the tracks and I turned to Tori before I opened the curtain.
“I did something, for you. If you don’t like it that’s okay, we can still use it, but essentially this is for you.” Tori frowned at me in confusion then looked at the curtain rippling in the slight breeze.
I gave Terror the nod to go ahead and he pulled the curtain open to reveal the studio. Tori gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth as she stared at the studio with wide shocked eyes.
“Oh. My. God. This...this is just...wow, DC. Why? Why would you do this for me?” She asked as tears filled her eyes. So I told her.
“Because I don’t want you to leave. I don’t trust the step-ogre and her minions and I don’t want to lose a friend to those bastards.”
The tiny little spitfire angrily snapped at me, her green eyes blazing.
“Dammit, DC. My life is in Cape Town, it’s where I planned to settle down and open my ballet school.”
I could see in her eyes that she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince me.
“No, it’s not. Your life is here, with Beast and his little girls. You know it and I know it. You can teach ballet here and when shit settles down we can look into opening a dance school for underprivileged children. The club is always looking at ways to reach out to the community. And as Beast’s old lady you are now part of the club.”
She shook her head and snorted. “All of you keep on insisting I’m his old lady but...”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear the excuses about time and club whores and shit. He’s yours, you’re his, end of story.”
I grabbed her hand and drew her inside hitting the light switches as I walked past. The studio was suddenly brilliantly lit and I led her to the table at the far end where I dropped my phone and keys. I hated dragging those damned keys around but Hawk insisted that we keep our room locked at all times.
“I wasn’t sure about music and Pixie said you like to dance to Evanescence so there are a few of their songs loaded plus I googled famous ballets and loaded a few piano pieces for you. The rest is up to you.” I pointed to the layout mounted on the wall. “It’s a very basic system and very easy to operate. Or maybe you want to use the music you have on your phone, if that’s the case you can just plug it in and there you go.”
Tori
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A studio. A brand new freaking studio. It called to me. It made me feel possessive. I wanted my feet to be the first to dance on that floor.
“I don’t know what to say, DC. This is the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me.”
But she shook her head. “No, it’s not. The most unselfish and amazing thing anyone has ever done for you was when Beast walked away from you. His unselfish act gave you the world of ballet and ultimately he’s the one who is giving you this studio.”
The damn woman was going to make me cry.
“You’re going to make me cry and I don’t want to cry. I want to be the first one to dance on that floor, but first we need to do my therapy workout and a warm up. I wish I had my dance bag with me. All the stuff I need is in it.”
I should have called Pixie to sneak into my place and collect my bag but with everything happening I had completely forgotten about it.
“Is this the bag you’re talking about?” A deep voice asked from behind me and when I turned Terror stood there with my dance bag held up. My eyes started burning.
“You guys really want me to start blubbering like a baby, don’t you?” I tried to joke as I took the bag from him, gave him a quick hug and set it on the table.
“Stop moaning. There’s a small dressing room over there. Take your bag, get your ass in some ballet shit and get back here. Time’s a wasting.” DC growled and pushed me towards the door I hadn’t even noticed.
“You’ll have to help me wrap my knee before I pull on leggings so stop pushing me.” I griped.
My knee was wrapped and strapped in the brace. I was dressed in a pair of tight black leggings and a white cropped racer back top. Both were made out of stretchy fabric that moved with my body. I had leg warmers I was going to pull on after we completed the therapy exercises and a thin fleece top to keep me warm while working through a ballet class. I would only take them off when I danced. If I could dance, that is.
I was so freaking nervous.
The physical therapy no longer hurt as much and we worked through it quickly and quietly. Once we were done I pulled on the leg warmers and fleece top.
DC sat on the floor next to me and watched as I meticulously wrapped my toes. My calluses had softened during the time I had been unable to dance. I was going to have serious blisters once I was done. I carefully pulled on my pointe shoes and tied the ribbons around my ankles and stood. I was almost ready.
Next was the music.
To very familiar piano music I went through the exercises I had been doing in class every single day of my life since I was three years old. I won’t lie, it was difficult at first. I was rusty and my body didn’t want to do as I wanted but soon muscle memory kicked in. I concentrated on watching my form in the mirrors. Correcting, over and over and over.
At the end of the class I took a break for water then pulled off the fleece top and leg warmers. I was as ready as I could be at this stage. No way could I dance a classical piece. I knew I wasn’t ready for it yet. And I wasn’t going to set my recovery back by being overly confident. I was going to dance a modern piece that Ilya and I had choreographed and performed. For the first time since the accident I was going to dance but it would be without my partner and best friend.
I selected Evanescence then tapped on the song Ilya and I had danced to many, many times before and pushed the volume up high in order for the music to punch through me as I danced. I would be dancing for him today. I missed him. So very, very much.
I ran to the middle of the floor facing the mirrors, took up my position and waited. And as the piano played the opening bars I felt it in my soul. The music swept over me and everything faded away with the solid beat of drums. I moved across the floor, alone, missing his hand in mine, his strong, sure arms around my body.
The sorrow of Ilya’s loss I had tucked down deep inside broke through the barriers I had erected. Unknown to me tears were running down my cheeks as I danced. The tears turned into sobs and I stopped moving, stopped dancing, my arms curling around my body and I started to fold in on myself. All I wanted to do was curl up into a little ball on the floor and cry my heart out because my heart was so very broken.
Strong arms curved around me and I sagged into them and of course it was Beast who held me as I cried
“Shhh, baby, I got you. I got you.” He whispered in my ear as he pulled me tight against his chest and I let him.
“I miss him, so much. He was my best friend and I’ll never dance with him again. It’s just not fair. It’s not fair.” I sobbed against his chest and he sank down to the floor with me in his arms and held me, rubbing his hand down my back, over and over until the sobbing slowly calmed.
“Life isn’t fair, baby, we learn to roll with the punches because there’s nothing else we can do but absorb them and move on. And you and I, my little red Ladybug, we are strong, we are resilient and we are survivors. So cry, my angel, I’m here for you, I’ll always be here for you.” He whispered and his words warmed my aching heart.
The tears subsided and I wiped my eyes, looked up at him and gave a small sad smile. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
His smile was equally as sad and small and a little uneasy. “Wasn’t ever the plan to stay away, baby. I was just pissed but I’m over it and I get it. It’s not easy being confronted with shit like you were last night.”
I nodded in agreement. “I’m just sorry Aunt Beryl’s lovely dinner was ruined.”
Beast snorted. “We weren’t the ones who ruined the dinner, Ladybug. Now, I’ve got my girls waiting over there dying to come over. Are you ready to meet them?”
Oh shit. He brought his girls to meet me. I swiped another hand over my eyes, drew in a deep fortifying breath and nodded.
I was as ready as I was ever going to be.
I looked over to where Wolf stood holding the hands of two sweet looking little girls in pretty little dresses. They were the image of their daddy. Dark curly hair, dark eyes with olive toned skin and big smiles. Taking my hand Beast was about to lead me over to them but I stopped him to pick up my fleece and leg warmers and quickly pulled them on. I didn’t want to let my over worked muscles cool down too quickly.
We stopped in front of the girls and Beast dropped down to his haunches. When he spoke to them his voice changed completely, it became soft and filled with love. He held his hand out to me and I took it and he pulled me down next to him. I sank down and sat on the floor, keeping my injured leg straight while crossing the other over it. My damned leg ached and my toes throbbed because as usual I had pushed myself too far. But at the same time it was a good ache and part of that ache was a well-remembered ache, a welcome ache.
Beast let go of my hand to take the hands of his girls and pull them towards us.
“Jossy, Ellie, remember I told you this morning I wanted you to meet someone who is a dancer.” Their little heads nodded, their eyes never leaving me. “What I didn’t tell you was that she’s my old lady and her name is Tori.”
Good heavens, the freaking old lady thing again. And he was telling his little girls I was his. Oh boy. Jossy, the eldest, frowned then looked back at her dad.
“Bettie wasn’t your old lady.” She stated and she used the ex’s first name. Oh boy.
“No, baby, she wasn’t. I claimed Tori as my old lady lots of years ago.”
“Why did Tori leave you all alone if she was your old lady?” That tiny frown was now even darker. Oh shit.
“She didn’t, baby. I sent her away but now she’s back and I’m not sending her away ever again.”
Jossy tilted her head to the side as her eyes shot between Beast and I. I could see something working in those dark eyes. The poor baby was trying to work this grown up shit, that even I was struggling with, out for herself. All the while his littlest baby’s eyes never left me. She had the tiniest little smile shyly curving her lips.
“Okay, Daddy. But you have to tell her we don’t like shouting and hitting, okay?” The last was said in a whisper but we all heard her. My freaking heart broke. It just broke wide open and those poor babies crawled right inside.
“She already knows, baby, and she doesn’t like shouting or hitting either. Someone hurt her badly and she needs some hugs and lots of loving, okay?” Beast explained softly and both of his girls’ eyes were riveted on him.
Jossy and Ellie’s little faces scrunched up before they nodded then looked back at me.
Beast let go of his girls and took my hands, his fingers squeezed mine before he let go and took his girls hands again. “Tori, these are my treasures, this is my big girl, Jossy and this is my baby girl, Ellie.”
“Hello, sweeties.” I said softly when in actual fact I wanted to shout at him and knock his block off. It was way too early to tell his babies I was his old lady. They smiled shyly and stared at me with those dark sparkling eyes for what felt like forever.
What happened nearly had me in tears.
His littlest girl let go of his hand and lunged at me. She threw her little arms around my neck and gave my cheek a loud kiss. I hugged her and resettled my legs and she immediately sat down in my lap. I looked at Beast and caught the shocked look on his face before he wiped it away and smiled.
Jossy looked at her little sister then looked back at me, frowned, then sighed. She slowly walked to me, gave me a quick hug and kissed my cheek then settled on the floor between Beast and I. She stared up at me with those dark eyes, just like her daddy’s, and my heart clenched. Oh boy, these girls were going to change my life, I just knew it.
“We know about old ladies. Duncan’s mumma is an old lady. We don’t have a mumma, just a daddy.” Jossy explained all importantly. “If you’re daddy’s old lady are you going to be our mumma now?”
Oh shit, shit, shit. I looked at Beast before looking into two sets of almost identical dark brown eyes that missed nothing. Those eyes were wary and hopeful at the same time.
“Jossy, I don’t think now’s the time to talk about this with Tori.” Beast said softly but I shook my head. No, these babies needed to be reassured and they needed the truth.
“Your daddy and I have some grown up stuff to talk about, Jossy, but I promise we will talk to you and Ellie as soon as we’ve talked about all that grown up stuff.” What else could I say?
Jossy frowned but gave a little nod then leant her head against Beast’s side. He curved an arm around her and lifted her onto his lap as he moved closer to me.
A little hand patted my cheek and I looked down at the baby in my lap, when our eyes met she smiled, so very, very wide, and then she totally knocked the breath out of me and crawled deep into my heart.
“I’s goin’a be a dansa.” She said very adamantly.
“You want to be a dancer?” I asked just to be sure and the little head nodded vigorously.
“Okay, sweetheart, you can be anything you want to be.”
Jossy picked up the conversation and oh boy did Beast have a huge problem coming for him. I swallowed the laughter that wanted to burst out of me when I looked at his shocked and ‘hell no’ face. He was going to have a rebellious tomboy on his hands.
“I’m going to be a biker, like my daddy, and I’m going to ride a Harley, just like him. And I’m going to have a gun and a knife for the baddies. I’m going to have a club but only girls, no boys.”
I grinned and she grinned as well. “Wow, that sounds like fun. Can I be in your club?”
Her little head tilted and she narrowed her eyes. “Do you have a bike?”
I shook my head. “No, sorry, I don’t, but maybe I can get one.”
She nodded her head sagely. “Okay, if you get one you can be in my club.”
The little one on my lap piped up. “I’s in Jossy club. I’s a sista.”
Jossy sighed and shook her head. “You are going to be a dancer, not a biker.”
“Oh, yes, I’s a dansa.” Ellie whispered, wrapped her little arms around my waist and relaxed against me. “Jus’ like Toreee.”
Oh fuck. Oh fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.
What could I do but wrap my arms around that precious little baby and hug her to me. Beast leant over and kissed her little head, then kissed Jossy’s, and then he kissed me. Soft and sweet, with closed lips and burning eyes that stared into mine.
I knew I was caught. Well and truly caught.
Beast
Jesus. His girls. His precious little babies just gave him his dream. He saw it in Tori’s eyes when it happened. Saw the moment she fell in love with his babies and accepted her new future.
It took one conversation with his old lady for his babies to know that Tori was a good woman. After living with their whore of a mother and the club whores she surrounded herself with they were far more experienced than he had ever wanted them to be in differentiating between good and bad. After he was given full custody of his girls he swore an oath that from that moment on there would only be good in their lives. The shit their fucking uterus donor had subjected them to would never touch them ever again.
Hell, he knew from bitter experience that life was unpredictable and threw you curve balls when you least expected it. But he would do whatever he had to, to give his girls a good life surrounded by good people who loved them.
While he had been caught up in his thoughts his three girls had started a soft conversation. It still blew his fucking mind that Ellie was talking, not well, but she was fucking talking.
“I like your dresses, they’re so pretty.” His woman said softly. And then he found out who had bought them those dresses.
“Aunty Genna bought them for us. She says girls have to have party dresses. She’s got lots and lots. She showed us.” Jossy said. “Do you have lots of party dresses?”
Tori nodded. “I do. I think Aunty Genna and I have the same ideas. I love party dresses and shoes. I really love shoes. I’ve got lots of them.”
Jossy frowned. “We don’t have lots of shoes.” She looked up at Beast with a little frown. “Daddy, we need more shoes.”
Beast grinned and shook his head. “Nope, sweetheart, you don’t. Your feet are growing so fast you’ll grow out of them before you’ve had a chance to wear them all. We’ll just buy you shoes when you need them, okay?”
His girl thought about it for a few seconds then nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
She looked up at his woman and smiled. “Ellie wants to spin. Can we spin?”
Tori smiled and nodded. “Sure, we can spin but first we must take off our shoes.” She patted the floor. “This floor is very special, we only walk on it in our dance shoes or with bare feet. We’ll buy you some dance shoes for next time. Today we’ll just dance with bare feet.”
She picked up his baby’s foot and undid her sandals and put them to the side.
“Daddy! Do my shoes! Quick!” Jossy lay on her back and waved her legs in the air. Beast grabbed her feet and pulled her sandals off and she was up and hopping around in excitement waiting for Ellie and Tori.
Lifting Ellie from her lap Tori set her on her feet next to her and stood up. Both his girls looked down at her feet.
“Those shoes look funny.” Jossy said as she bent to have a better look.
“They are funny looking.” Tori agreed as she led the girls on to the floor. She looked over at him and then grinned as she looked past him at someone behind him. “Come on, DC, get those shoes off and come dance with us.” She called out.
Behind Beast DC started swearing softly. “I should have freaking sneaked out when I saw where this shit was heading. I don’t do this shit.” She grumbled but she took her shoes off and joined his girls.
“Baby, choose some music for us, please.”
The way she said it, so naturally, as if she had never stopped, as if there weren’t ten empty years of not hearing that endearment from her lips, almost brought him to his knees.
He selected a song for his girls and watched as they twirled around the floor with Tori and DC. They were laughing, happy and carefree, the way they should have always been. It was an ache in his heart that his Ladybug wasn’t the woman who had birthed his girls. It would always hurt but she would be their mother in everything but biology, and in this case biology would mean fuck all.
Beast was having a great time watching his girls when Wolf tapped him on his shoulder.
“Brother, we need to get going. Sin got the truck and the brothers are ready to ride. What are the plans for the girls? Are we taking them to Bulldog’s place?”
Fuck. With everything happening he hadn’t made arrangements with Genna or Aunt Suzy.
“Hang on a minute, Wolf. I fucking forgot to call Aunt Suzy this morning with all the shit going down.”
Beast stepped outside the studio and called. He didn’t even have to ask.
“Where are my sweetie pies? When are you bringing them over?”
“Sorry I’m only calling now, Aunt Suzy. I brought the girls to introduce them to Tori, they are all dancing around the studio at the moment. I’ll drop them off in the next twenty minutes or so. I’m moving my shit from the unit to the house today so it will take a few hours before we’re done. Is that okay?”
Aunt Suzy clicked her tongue at him. “Of course it’s okay. Tell the girls we’re baking cookies today and putting icing on them too. They will like that.”
“Thanks, Aunt Suzy. See you soon.”
Now to get the girls out of the studio and into his bakkie. Not going to be easy.
And he had been right. It took a hell of a lot of persuasion to get the girls to leave. Only Tori promising to dance with them again convinced them to leave.
He kissed his woman long and deep and held her against his body before he left. He wanted her taste and body to be imprinted on him for the rest of the day.
