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I refrained for her sake and I walked them to the door to let them out before locking it again. I made my way back to the office where Giselle was throwing things in a bag and putting a jacket on over her leotards and tights. She was fighting with the fabric and seemed to be in a hurry so I helped her before she had a complete breakdown.
We quietly locked the doors and I took her hand in mine to walk her across the park to her building. It made a lot more sense why she was so scared. I now knew why she ran every night and didn't bother changing her clothes.
"Just on the nights I’m here," I said as the realization hit me.
Her steps stuttered and she squeezed my hand before nodding. "The night this first happened was the night I ran into Mr. Peyton in the lobby of our building. He had no idea what had happened. I ended up with a bruise on my cheek but that night, it wasn't very prominent yet. He saw me in my attire and asked if I taught ballet and the rest is history. He let me choose the day and time you came and offered me payment. I accepted the money but I really jumped on the idea of not being alone. I was scared but I never imagined them returning, not until the detective showed up and told me it was a ring and may happen again. By then, you were already a student. I debated on closing down but they told me just to keep my door locked."
"We didn't lock the door after Sam left, did we?"
She shook her head and looked to her feet as we kept walking.
"This is so fucked up," I breathed, looking at the sky. "What are you going to do?"
"I will do a better job of locking the doors and with the patrol cars around, maybe it won't happen again."
"What the hell do they want?"
"Just a place to hide, is what I was told. They seem to know the schedule I hold, too. When students are gone. I don't know if that is true but the detectives told me it was likely they did their homework."
I was still shaking my head in disbelief. It all seemed like a game. "They?"
"I don’t know, Ty," she breathed out my first name and shrugged. "I just don't fucking know."
"Hey," I tugged her hand and turned her to face me. We had just approached her building and were on the sidewalk. The light from the lobby was bright through the windows and I could see how worn out she was from the craziness of the night. I didn't say anything else, just pulled her into a hug.
"You scared me the first night you came in."
Fuck that explained so much. Why she jumped and lost her shit for a few seconds.
"I look scary," I had tattoos all over my body and a hardness around me from the life I had growing up. "But there is nothing scary about a guy that does classical walking and leaps two nights a week. Trust me."
She laughed and released our hug. Backing away toward her door, she smiled and asked, "Want to try again on Thursday?"
Did she mean ballet or the fucking we were about to do before all hell broke loose? It didn't matter, I guess. I would be there with my best socks on and my pal Chase Turner's favorite baseball bat.
