Chapter 29

I pushed Frank away. He stumbled back and looked at me in bewilderment.

“Ava?” He held his hands up. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you doing?” I demanded, thinking back to Mr. Dillon, my previous supervisor, and the way I misconstrued his advances for praise in the beginning. Was this happening again?

“It’s a dance lesson,” Frank reassured me, taking a step closer. “Ethan told me you struggled dancing. He asked me to teach you.”

My heart thrummed hard in my chest, the fear subsiding and being replaced with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” I bowed my head. I felt bad for assuming the worst of Frank and thinking he would act similarly to the gross men I knew before. Frank was no such kind of man, he was practically an angel.

I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, he was too professional for that.

Frank laughs a little and knocks my shoulder lightly with his fist in a playful manner.

“I’m flattered you thought I was flirting with you,” He chuckled.

My cheeks blazed red and I averted my eyes, “You never know sometimes.” I admitted through a mumble.

Frank shook his head with a smile, once again holding a hand out to me. This time, I took it and allowed him to lead me with no assumptions or hesitation.

“Now, we will start with a waltz,” Frank told me, showing me the square-patterned movements to make it fall in line with the dance. It was easy once being shown, but I still kept stepping on his toes whenever he tried to lead me.

“Relax,” He whispered in my ear, “You’re too stiff, you’re doing too much work.”

I didn’t know what he meant. Aren’t you supposed to do work in a dance? I can’t just stand there. I tried to listen to his advice, but the improvements were slow and small. I was learning, but it took a while.

As far as dances go, the waltz was more fun and lively. Frank started teaching me the slower, more intimate ones. Though, I still misstepped and tripped up more often than not.

“If you ever have any enemies, you can ask them for a dance and render them powerless by stomping on their feet.” Frank teased me, eliciting a wide smile and a laugh. I tried looking down at my feet to see where I was going, but Frank said that was wrong too.

I didn’t see what I was doing wrong, but Frank did everything in his power to make me laugh at my mistakes and see them as nothing more than improvements to make in the future. I appreciated his teaching methods.

During one of the last dances he wanted to teach me, he spun me around and pulled me flush at him. Our cheeks were red with exertion, smiling at each other as we panted over the song ending.

“How are the lessons going?” Ethan barged in, his face stoic.

Ethan’s Pov

Walking down the hallway, I spotted the room where Ava had been spending most of her time as of recently. She was dedicating herself to her lessons, working hard to become the Luna I knew she could.

I was proud of her. I enjoyed watching her succeed because I knew, out of everyone else, she deserved it. I approached the door to the library. It cracked open a notch, to see what they were working on today.

My blood boiled beneath my skin as I saw Ava in Frank’s arms, laughing and blushing. No wonder she was spending so much time on her lessons. She obviously had some silly little crush on her tutor.

Without much thought, I barged into the room. My sudden noise startled them and they separated from each other. Good, I thought. Stay away from her.

“How are the lessons going?” I asked, crossing my arms to get a look at the candle-covered room.

Ava stuttered, looking between Frank and I, and gave a simple answer.

“Good.” She looked away.

“Good, I’m glad everything has been working out for you so far,” I gave a tight-lipped smile to the both of them.

“Ava,” I turned my head to the side to beckon her over. “I need your help immediately, can you end your lessons early today?”

Ava nodded, bidding a quick farewell to Frank, and left the room with hasty steps. I peered over at Frank, he didn’t look the least bit ashamed. I couldn’t read his expression at all, but I had a feeling I knew what he was doing.

“Clean these candles up, will you?” I asked him, putting on my nicest, most cordial smile.

“Of course, I was always planning to,” He smirked at me, looking me up and down. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just turned and started to blow out the candles scattered around the room.

I decided then and there that I didn’t like him. Ava had no business being around a man like that. I blew a puff of air from my nose and followed Ava out of the room.

“Are you okay?” I found her waiting for me in the living room. She kept avoiding my eyes, looking down at her lap as I came to sit by her on the couch.

“Fine!” She chirped, voice higher than normal.

“Do you like him?” I asked, sounding a little more accusatory than I meant to. “As a tutor I mean. Do you like him as a tutor?”

She shrugged, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and fire him on the spot.

“In the future,” I continued. “I’d appreciate it if you would have your lessons in the living room.”

“Why?” She questioned, finally looking up at me. A smile crept onto my face despite myself, I couldn’t help it when I saw her face. I didn’t know why.

“I don’t want those candles to burn all my books,” I teased, getting a small giggle from her. Her shoulders relaxed, and I felt normalcy starting to return to us again.

Things have been weird since we kissed a few days ago. Things always got weird when we kissed. I didn’t understand, it was like I went into a daze every time our lips touched. Almost as though I wasn’t me anymore, I was running off pure instinct.

We sat for a little while on the couch. She recounted all of the lessons Frank was giving her. She told me about the eating etiquette, dinner conversation, and now dancing lessons that she had received so far.

I listened intently until she told me she was tired and needed to sleep for tomorrow’s lesson. I bid her goodnight and called Tristan the moment she disappeared up the stairs.

“Tristan,” I called through the phone, “Find me everything you can on Frank EnFurter, he’s a tutor for alpha clients. Get me some information I can use against him.”

Mars told me the man was the best of the best, coming from a friend I did not think to research anything more about him. I realized that was foolish of me considering Mars scheming personality and his affinity for troublemakers.

Tristan started working on it right away. He was quick with his information, fast at figuring things out - It’s why I liked him so much. And, why he was my second-in-command.

It took him exactly twenty-four hours to find me what I needed.

“What did you find?” I asked him as he came into my office.

Tristan laid out several folders of information about Frank. I raised an eyebrow at him, silently telling him to explain what I was supposed to be looking at.

“He’s a gambler,” Tristan crossed his arms and shook his head. “He’s got hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and he’s notorious for getting into fights at casinos.”

I pursed my lips to keep myself from smiling. I was glad to be rid of him, but I didn’t want to appear overeager.

During Frank and Ava’s next lesson, I walked into the living room. He was teaching her the steps to a fast-paced song and kicking their legs out.

I stopped the music and approached the two of them.

I handed Frank a file that contained statements from numerous debt collectors and a pink-slip. Frank’s face paled as he looked up at me, worry etching into his features.

“You’re fired, Frank.”