Read Online Ripped by Lisa Edward - Free Book Online Page A

top-hat and tails.
    “This is beautiful,” Jaz sighed, as she took in the canopy of trees marking our way. The leaves fell softly as a breeze rustled the branches, and she cuddle in closer beside me. “This reminds me of home,” she whispered. “The color in the trees—just the fact that there are trees. I love New York but I miss Boston.” She glanced up at me. “Is that bad? To dream of being here for my entire dancing life and then when I finally get here, I’m homesick?”
    Shaking my head, I squeezed her into my side. “Not at all. I was homesick for a long time, but I knew I needed to be here for you. To set us up as best I could.” My jaw clenched. “I wanted to have a home for us, a job, and be ready for you when you moved.”
    Her bottom lip dropped as sad eyes pleaded with me. “I’m so sorry, Bax. Please don’t be angry with me. I wanted to come as soon as I’d graduated, I really did. My bags were packed and waiting. I had my ticket booked.” A stray tear rolled down her soft cheek. “I couldn’t leave my dad. I just … we were told he only had a few months and I couldn’t leave.”
    This was not how I’d wanted this evening to go—Jaz thinking I was mad at her and in tears over her dad. The driver was trained to be invisible to his passengers and to tune out conversations, but even he had one ear cocked, straining to hear what was happening in the back of his pristine carriage.
    “I’m not angry, Jaz,” I said. Her gaze dropped to the floor, and I tilted her head with a finger under her chin so she would look at me. “I’m really not angry, okay?”
    She nodded, but her eyes stayed wide and scared.
    “I’m upset. Sad that we lost so many years together. Sad that we could have been living together and dancing together and even married by now.”
    Her mouth fell open in surprise, making me smile. “Married?”
    I nodded. “Yeah, why not? We would have had six years together in New York. I’m guessing we would have been married after six years of living together.”
    Tears welled in her vivid green eyes, and I brushed them away from her cheeks with my thumbs.
    “Please stop crying, Jaz. What’s done is done. I went through the denial, anger, and acceptance years ago. You being here is like a gift I thought would never happen. I’m grateful that after all this time you’ve finally come and you want to give me a chance.”
    Laughter spluttered through her tears. “I’m giving you a chance? I think it’s the other way around.” The heel of her hand swiped the remaining tears from her face. “I’m the lucky one. I’m lucky that in a city the size of New York, in a crowd of people I bumped into you, Baxter Sampson. I’m lucky that after I’d hurt you so badly you instantly forgave me and helped me, and stayed with me through hours and hours of boring auditions.” She giggled. “I know they’re boring to watch, and you’re scoring big brownie points for being there every day.” A warm, soft, pale blue gloved hand cupped my cheek. “I’m lucky that after so long you are still single and still want to be with me.”
    “There’s never been anyone else, Jaz.”
    Her eyes widened in surprise.
    “I mean, no one serious in all the years I’ve been here.”
    “Oh, of course. No one serious, but there have been other girls. How could there not be?” A heavy frown furrowed her brow.
    “Sure. I mean, we’ve dated, right? It has been eight years all together since I graduated and you”—her head shook—“stayed on to finish your training …” The end of my sentence trailed off as I realized that for me there had been other girls, random girls I’d met, sometimes so drunk it felt wrong to accept their advances. For Jaz it was a different story. There’d been no one else for Jaz—no one but me. Had she felt that we were still together even though we had been apart for so many years? Did that mean in her eyes I’d been cheating on her? A knot formed in my stomach.