Always There

Chapter Ninety-Six

She looks beautiful and graceful and so alive.

And that smile on her face is just so fucking gorgeous that even though I don't like Knox touching her, I can ignore those thoughts because she's radiating joy right now.

"You're doing that thing with your hips again," Knox says bluntly, still holding Blossom up in the air.

Her smile falters just for a moment. "I am not! I've been practicing since you told me to fix it!"

Knox rolls his eyes before gently lowering Blossom to the ground. I watch the way her toes gracefully hit the floor first before she gently flattens her feet. She adjusts one of the straps of her leotard with a huff before twirling around to face him. As soon as Knox gives her a small smile, she plants her fists on her hips and scowls at him.

"I'm just teasing, Lexi," Knox says, placing a hand on Blossom's shoulder and giving her a gentle squeeze. "You've improved so much since you started dancing again. It's quite impressive, and I'm very proud of you. You've also gotten much better at this lift since we started rehearsing it, and I really appreciate that you've been practicing, but I just want to help you perfect it. Can we try it one more time?"

Blossom lets out a little sigh. She then nods at Knox and says, "Yes. Of course. I'm sorry for getting frustrated with you. Can you help me fix it without lifting me, like how you always teach me?"

Knox nods at her, and I watch as she spins around so that her back is to him once again. One of his hands finds her waist and the other wraps around her thigh and lifts her leg up into the air in a similar position to when he had lifted her whole body up.

My vision then suddenly goes blurry as I watch Knox's hand move up Blossom's legs and to her hip, which is dangerously close to other parts of her body that I really don't want to even imagine him touching.

I must make a move to stand up from the floor because suddenly Kennedy is pushing me back down onto the ground.

My back hits the wall and I scowl at her, but she simply blinks at me and then turns to face Blossom and Knox again. Knox's hand is still on her hip, and I have to take a really deep breath to stop myself from walking over there and punching him in the eye.

"Don't even think about it," Kennedy hisses into my ear. "Can't you see how happy she looks? Don't ruin this for her."

"But fucking Knox is touching her!" I retort.

Kennedy pinches me in the arm. "Too bad. This makes her happy."

I huff, but reluctantly, I remain seated on the floor.

Kennedy gives me a small smile before she turns back around to watch Nathan, who's now performing a series of complicated leaps.

And so for the next little while, I watch Blossom and Knox dance together in silence, offering Blossom a little smile whenever she looks over her shoulder at me for approval.

Knox helps her with a few turns and jumps, and she looks beautiful as ever while she performs them. Every movement is so graceful, and she truly looks so happy and alive as she jumps up in the air and twirls around on the tops of her toes.

Fuck, she's pretty.

Some time goes by where I'm able to watch Blossom dance by herself, but eventually, Knox cues up the small speaker one of them must've brought before beginning to play a slow, romantic song for him and Blossom to dance to.

Disgusting.

Nathan decides to take a break, and I watch as he crosses the room and takes a seat on the floor beside Kennedy. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and she instantly leans into him, resting her head against his chest with a content sigh.