Breaking Away (Assassins, #5)(101)

Walking towards him with her remote in her hand, he said, “You’ve picked a song?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” he said as she hit play. He listened for a moment and then scoffed. “Really?”

She shrugged. “It’s a good song. This is my favorite version.” And it was. Madilyn Bailey sang the female version of Bruno Mars’ “When I was Your Man” and it was stunning. They listened to the song the whole way through and then started. When he reached for her, pulling her into his chest, she looked into his eyes and felt nothing. She thought this was going to be hard, feeling his body against hers, but it wasn’t because he meant nothing to her. It felt like he was just another partner, not the man that she loved for so long, and she had a feeling that he felt nothing, too. She hoped that the hard times he went through with his wife made him fall back in love with her. She deserved all of him, and she hoped that Stacey got that.

Moving together like it wasn’t the first time in years, Reese put her heart in the dance. She not only wanted to impress her students but also Phillip. Thinking that made her heart stop but she ignored it and kept up with Kevin, making sure he didn’t outshine her. They worked for three hours straight and when they were fully satisfied with what they had, Reese backed away and nodded. “I think we are good.”

“Good, everyone should be here soon, huh?”

Reese looked up at the clock. “Yeah, in about two hours.”

“Cool, I’m gonna run and get a shower. I’ll be back then.”

She laid the remote to the stereo down. She fully expected him to walk away, but then he said, “I hope that you’re happy, Reese.”

She looked over her shoulder. “I am.”

“Good, because I want you to be. I hope he does all the things I should have done.”

She didn’t want to talk about Phillip to Kevin, hell, she didn’t even want to accept the words she was about to utter, but she surprised herself and probably Kevin when she said, “He is ten times the man you will ever be.”

Kevin nodded slowly. She knew that was a low blow, but it wasn’t like her not to speak her mind. “Good. I’m glad. Because you deserve a man like that.”

She stood up tall on her heels, her eyes locked with his as she declared. “You’re right, I do.”

He stood there a moment, a look on his face, somewhere between regret and acceptance, before turning and leaving. She let out a long breath, glad that he was out of view, out of her space. She knew she was wrong for misleading him, making him think that Phillip and her were serious, but it was so easy to make it seem like that. Reese wanted to analyze that, figure out why that was, but after the morning she just had, she figured she’d do that later.

Way later.



Apparently, this Kevin guy was a big deal in the dance world.

Even on short notice, the studio was packed with dancers. They circled him, firing questions left and right, while Reese leaned against the wall, looking bored, but Phillip still thought she was hot as hell. She had on tight black shorts, and a black sports bra with a large, black lace shirt that came to mid-thigh. Her long, luscious hair was in up a bun, and she wore no makeup. He was starting to think he liked her best like this. All homey and comfy looking. He wanted to cuddle, hold her for hours, but that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

Sir-douche-a-lot, aka Kevin, seemed to like the attention he was getting and was talking way more than Phillip liked. He knew that Claire was excited, she was hanging on every word the guy said, but Phillip knew it pained Reese for him to be here. Since the urge to eliminate all things/persons that hurt the woman he loved, he needed this guy gone. Quick.

Along with the fact that the guy had hurt Reese, Phillip just didn’t like him. He was standing like his shit didn’t stink and what was up with these guy dancers not wearing shirts? Phillip didn’t care if the guy was ripped, because Phillip could run circles around this guy in the gym, but he needed to wear a damn shirt. There were young girls in here; they didn’t need to see all that crap. Scowling, Phillip crossed his arms and hoped the guy knew that in Phillip’s head, he had a hockey stick and the guy’s balls, and he was going to town, shooting over and over at the net.

As Phillip ruined any chances of this guy having kids ever again in his head, he watched as the dude taught some dance moves to the kids. He was leaning against the wall outside the door to the studio. He never knew that the wall that was between the parents’ waiting room and the main studio collapsed up into the ceiling, but he thought that was pretty awesome. It provided a lot of space. Dancers sat along the side of the studio as the guy took groups of dancers and worked on their technique. Pulling out his phone, he recorded Claire getting tips. He always liked to have video of him learning new things and figured that Claire might like that, too.

When he was done, Claire smiled up at him like he was the God of dance before running towards Phillip.

“Did you see that? Ugh, Kevin is amazing,” she said in awe.

Phillip rolled his eyes and decided not to say his opinion about the guy as he handed her his phone. “I recorded that for you.”

“OMG, you rock! Thank you!”

“No problem,” he said, resting his arm across her shoulders as she watched the video he recorded.

“Okay, now, I have something super special planned for you guys.”