Red Masquerade by R. Saint Claire

Author:R. Saint Claire [Saint Claire, R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-23T23:00:00+00:00

Art

I awoke to a dark shadow crossing the room.

“Missy!” I sat up fast, a trickle of saliva streaming from my lips to the pillow.

“Nope. I’m not that pretty, unfortunately.”

“Kyle. Jesus, you scared me.” I sat up with my back against the wall, wiping the sleep from my face with the back of my hand.

Kyle flipped on Missy’s purple-shaded lamp.

“Girl, you stink,” he said, twitching his freckled nose.

“Thanks,” I said. “What time is it? Did I miss dinner?”

“Yup.” He flopped down on Missy’s neatly-made bed.

I groaned, my stomach eating itself. No wonder I felt so weak.

“But luckily,” he said, pulling a wrapped sandwich and a bag of chips from the pockets of his hoodie, “I’m good at stealing food. Just one of my many talents.” He tossed me the sandwich and then the chips.

“You’re amazing!” I said, hopping off the bed on my good foot to hug him.

Playfully, he crossed his fingers as if I were a vampire on the attack. “Not until you’ve bathed first. That’s my rule. Virgo, you know.”

I plopped back down on my bed. “You’re funny.” I opened the sandwich wrapper and took a big bite of the ham and cheese. It tasted rather dry, but I wasn’t complaining.

“Oh, I got you dessert too,” Kyle said, pulling two yogurts from inside his jacket. Strawberry. My favorite.

“I love you,” I said between bites.

“Me too you. How’s the ankle?”

In my famished state, I had forgotten about my injury. The melted ice pack made a wet spot at the foot of the bed. “Better, I think. At least the swelling’s going down. Is Missy still pissed at me?”

Kyle’s mouth twisted as if he was holding back the truth.

“I want to know,” I said.

His hazel eyes twinkled. “Missy will get over it.”

I took another bite, not entirely convinced.

“Both of us are transferring out of here as soon as we can,” Kyle said, his voice striking a rare serious note.

The bite of the sandwich stuck in my throat. I swallowed with difficulty and tried to quell the feelings of abandonment welling up in me. “Where will you go?”

“To the Royal Ballet in London if I can get in.” Kyle stood suddenly and stretched his right leg into the air until it was nearly parallel to his torso.

“And Missy?”

He groaned as he pulled his leg another inch closer to his head. “I think she’s smart about going into modern dance. Eventually, she would like to become a choreographer.” He lowered his leg to the floor and did a deep plié. “I think she’ll be fabulous.”

“Me too.” I set the remains of the sandwich on the night table, leaned my head against the wall, and tried very hard not to feel sorry for myself. “When will you leave?”

Kyle sat down next to me and popped open the bag of chips. He tilted them toward me, gesturing to ask if I wanted any. When I shook my head, he dug into them like a starving man. “I’ve been dieting like crazy because my audition is coming up next week, but one little cheat day won’t hurt me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.