It’d been over a month since the break-in at the San Francisco house and I haven’t heard anything from Volkov or any of his men. Dimitri Volkov was still being kept underneath the Russo building in what I felt was far too comfortable of a cell for him. He was under constant watch by Gage’s security team. I wish they’d just get rid of him but Leon refused to even think about that option. He kept saying that the Russo’s ‘didn’t do that anymore’. So Dimitri was ours to keep for a while I guess.
I was hoping that my involvement with Volkov would forever remain a secret and I was going to fight tooth and nail to keep it that way. Especially since I was finally being treated like a member of Pack Russo. I’d even managed to convince Eloise to come out with me tonight—which was a definite win in my book.
“You are going to be fine, just hang onto me and I won’t let you fall.” Eloise, despite her ballet abilities, was no better than a newborn fawn on roller skates. I skated backwards, holding both of her hands in my own as she acclimated to moving.
“Try to bring your legs together, I know that it seems like you have better balance with your feet spread so far apart but you are less flexible that way and the fall will hurt worse.” As we moved Eloise scooted her feet together and we began to move faster.Septemberby Earth, Wind and Fire began to blast through the speakers and the other people in the skating rink began to cheer as they zoomed past us.
“Are you ready for side by side skating?” I asked as I pulled her around the circular rink. I kept having to look over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t going to run into anyone accidentally.
Eloise nodded, “I think so.” I grinned and spun around, using my left hand to grab Eloise’s and moved from in front of her to skating next to her in one smooth motion.
“You know,” Eloise had to shout over the music to be heard, so I leaned close to listen, “You’re very good at this, where did you learn?” Her breath washed over the side of my neck, raising goosebumps in its wake.
“Mygrand-mere—grandmother—used to take me to the local skating rink in Cannes when I was growing up. Despite being in her seventies she’s still as sprightly as ever.” The song came to an end, providing much needed relief to my ears as we continued around the rink.
“She sounds like a lot of fun! I never met any of my grandparents growing up so I have no idea what that’s like.” Eloise gave my hand a squeeze and I could help but think of how gorgeous she looked even though she was just dressed in a pair of light wash jeans and a white t-shirt. She had a closet full of clothes now, courtesy of Ric, but still gravitated towards more comfortable clothing. It reminded me of my grandmother who could be found most days in a pair of overalls in her garden.
“She’s my favorite person in the world,” I admitted as another song started in the loudspeakers,YMCA, I realized with a laugh. This playlist was definitely your typical skating rink playlist. “My parents were never very interested in raising a child. I think they did it just because society told them that was what was normal. But once I was born I was too rowdy for a pair of beta parents. So they dropped me off at grand-mere’s house.” I only saw my parents every few years, they tried to be more in contact now that I was an adult but half the time it was like speaking with strangers.
“Wow, I know that I was also raised by beta parents but I thought it was pretty rare to have an alpha or omega from a beta pairing.” Eloise said as we moved to avoid a group of school-aged children who were skating in a clump.
“It is usually but my grandfather was an alpha. I do not know how the genetic side of it breaks down but I can guess I received my designation from him.” I answered with a shrug. I was just about to tell her a story about my grandfather when a small child came out of nowhere and barrelled into us, sending us sprawling onto the hard floor.
“Sorry!” The child squeaked before skating off to join his friends. The skaters around us, for the most part, ignored us on the floor and chose to skate around us instead. Americans.
Eloise groaned and I flung myself up into a sitting position, “Are you alright?” I began patting her arms and legs, looking for I didn’t know what, but I knew that if she had truly hurt herself I was going to spend the next week kicking myself.
But thankfully Eloise burst into a loud laughter that drew looks from the skaters around us. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and continued to laugh, wiping tears out of the corner of her eyes before looking over at me.
“It’s okay Dominic, you don’t have to look like I’m going to keel over and die just from a little fall. Come on, help me up.” She held her hands up and I scurried onto my feet, trying to keep my skates under me as I tugged her to her feet and we skated to the edge of the rink and stepped onto the carpet.
“I don’t think roller skating is for me Dominic, I’m sorry.” Eloise said as we sat on one of the benches and untied our skates.
“Understandable, youwerea bit shaky on your feet. I feel that I’m going to have to start calling you Bambi if we keep going.”
Eloise elbowed me roughly in the side and I held up my hands in surrender, “Okay it was not that bad for your first time.” I acquiesced, “Would you like to head home then?”
She checked the time on her phone and shook her head, “Nah we’ve got a few hours until they send the cavalry for us. How about I pick the next place?”
Well color me intrigued.
One quick search on my phone later and we were pulling into the parking lot of a bar.
“Are you sure thatthisis where you wanted to go?” Dominic asked as he looked over his steering wheel at the bar. It was your typical dive bar, made to look like a western style pub. It even had a wagon out front—it was adorable and I loved it.
“Yep. How do you feel about dancing?” I waggled my eyebrows at him and was pleased when his concerned look smoothed out and he flashed a dimpled smile at me.
“I was raised by my grandmother, Eloise, I am an expert dancer.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” I teased as we exited the car and entered the bar hand in hand. The bar was already packed full of people. The room was one long rectangle. The bar was on the left side and was the first thing I saw as we came in. People packed along the counter, calling out to the several bartenders who were busy making drinks and taking orders. Twenty or thirty high top tables were situated around the bar area and patrons stood shouting over the music at each other.
The dance floor was a step down from the bar area and featured a nicked wood floor and not much else. A stage was placed in the corner where a DJ was currently standing behind the booth, nodding his head to the thumping bass music.
“Not quite ballet is it?” Dominic shouted into my ear, and I shook my head with a grin.
“No, definitely not.” I shouted back. My heart was already thudding in my chest with excitement. I was finally getting to do something that I’d always wanted to: go to a bar and dance until my feet hurt.
I turned to look at Dominic who was hovering protectively behind me, glaring at a group of guys who brushed past me.
