Tap.
Greg, their instructor, crouched in front of her. “You alright?”
“Fine, Prof.”
Just a tad pissed that upstairs had congratulated her, then wondered if it was ‘cleaner to wait until April, when Griffin’s name will be on her contracts.’ She’d earned that promotion; she didn’t need Rafael’s signature on it.
Greg brushed a single knuckle along his nose. “You’re fighting the floor instead of your partner.”
She opened her mouth.
“Go shower. You’re done for the night.”
Bea didn’t argue; it would have made it more humiliating. She grabbed her towel and headed for the showers. By the time she emerged, hair damp and pulled into a knot, a new class had started on the mats.
Manny, the gym manager, was locking up the office, keys jangling. “Saw you left the floor early.” He tossed a grin her way. “You’re either improving or you’re making the same mistakes faster. It was hard to tell from the desk.”
“Encouraging,” Bea muttered.
“That’s my brand.” His expression shifted when she didn’t bite back. “You okay, Scholarship?”
“I’m fine.” The lie was automatic now. “See you next week, Manny.”
She pushed through the glass doors into the warm Northgate night.
Rafael stood just outside. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
For a second, neither of them moved. The street hummed around them, ordinary and indifferent.
He took a step toward her. Bea shifted back, just a fraction. It stopped him cold. The space between them held, fragile and intentional. “You’re mad.”
“Of course I’m mad.”
“About something specific?”
“Yes,” she said. “But I’d rather not talk about it yet.”
Rafael’s jaw flexed, the impulse to close the distance written all over him. For a beat, she thought he would anyway. He considered her for long, tense moments. Then he exhaled. “Okay. Not tonight.”
Her relief was sharp.
They moved, close but not touching. When he drifted closer, she adjusted her pace enough to keep the space. He didn’t comment.
“I’m flying out tomorrow for Thailand,” he told her. “Anurak called in a favor.”
Rafael’s Thailand partner. The deal he’d secured by winning a Muay Thai match, while she’d watched with her heart in her throat.
“When will you be back?”
“Tuesday.”
Her heart sank. Four days without him. Physical distance, layered on top of the emotional one. But she needed the space, because thinking clearly with Rafael close by had never been her strong suit. “Alright.”
He stopped walking. “That’s it?”
She glanced at him. “What do you want me to say?”
