“You act all innocent and contrite now that you’re back, but nobody believes it. You’re still the same vicious harpy you were in high school. And one of these days, Tucker will figure it out and drop you, exactly like you deserve. You’re not worth his time.”
“Look, lady—” Malika started, but Corinne put a hand on her arm.
Reeling, she struggled to find the right words to salvage whatever she could of this situation. “You don’t have to get help from me. You don’t ever have to speak to me again, Whitney. But get help from someone. Before it’s too late.”
Whitney squinted at her as if trying to reconcile the woman standing in front of her with the girl she remembered. Then, without another word, she turned and fled.
Malika laid a hand on Corinne’s arm. “Honey, are you okay?”
Abuse always started somewhere. Not fighting back was a learned behavior. And for Whitney, it had started in high school, with Corrine. She’d done this. She’d made her former friend into this. Into a woman who was too afraid to fight, too afraid to leave. This was on her.
Heartsick, horrified, Corinne said, “I need to find Tucker.”
Chapter 14
As Tyler and Cam took the floor for their rumba, Tucker looked around for Corinne. She’d gone off with Malika quite a while ago. Maybe they’d gotten caught up talking test or catching up, but it seemed odd that she’d miss this last performance. They usually preferred to deconstruct their competition’s performance after the fact.
Beside him, Myles leaned in. “You know, the Babylon has a pretty epic romance package.”
Tucker arched a brow.
“I’m just sayin’. Eliminating the drive saves some time.” He only grinned as Tucker glared at him.
“He’s not wrong,” Piper added, not taking her eyes off Tyler and Cam.
“I really don’t need to hear about your honeymoon,” Tucker said. But now that the idea had been planted, it began to take root. They wouldn’t have all night—he knew that—but if he could get a room, have the hotel set something up while they finished up down here, he could give Corinne some romance. She’d had little enough of that. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Champagne, some music, maybe flowers. And maybe he could sweet talk her into trying out the swank bathroom with a bubble bath or shower for two. Either way, it’d be some pampering she wouldn’t get otherwise.
As the judges raised their paddles—two tens and a nine, exactly as he and Corinne had earned—Tucker slipped away to the front desk. The desk clerk, Jenny, had a gooshy, romantic heart and put a rush on things, assuring him everything could be ready in fifteen minutes. Tucker slipped the key card into his pocket and went in search of his lady.
It took nearly the full fifteen minutes to find her amid the mass exodus of the audience. She and her friend were in the staging area. Catching sight of him, the unusually serious Malika pointed in his direction. Corinne turned. The corners of her mouth tipped up, but there was something wrong with her smile.
Tucker hurried over, sliding an arm around her. “I was starting to think I’d lost you.”
She leaned into him, and that quieted the alarm that had begun to sound when he’d seen her. “Just been talking about the test. Three days left. Less, really. Today’s mostly over.”
He rubbed at the tension knotted in her shoulders. That hadn’t been there during their performance. First order of business up in the room would be easing the stiffness out of her.
“You’ll do great. You’ve been studying your butt off for weeks.”
“Y’all did great tonight,” Malika told him.
“We did, thanks,” Tucker agreed with a grin. “Helps to have an amazing partner.”
Her dark eyes flicked from him to Corinne and back again.
Something there.
“You take good care of her now, you hear?”
The spurt of protectiveness from her friend pleased him. Corinne needed someone looking out for her besides him. “Oh, you can count on it.”
Evidently satisfied with his answer, Malika gave Corinne another quick hug and made her farewells.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Her tone was off, and she didn’t quite look at him.
“Corinne? You okay?”