Breaking Away (Assassins, #5)(19)

“Why do I talk to you? You’re always nagging me,” Reese teased, “but really, I know what I’m doing. Successful dance teacher, remember?”

“You’re right,” Piper agreed.

“I know, now you go do what you’re made to do, and I will make Claire a dancing star.”

Piper’s laugh rang over the line, causing Reese to smile.

“Okay, I’ll take a hint and butt out.”

“Great idea,” Reese agreed, receiving more laughter from her sister.

“Talk to you later.”

“Bye,” Reese said, hitting the end button and leaning back to push up into a bridge. She had always been flexible. Not only did other choreographers love that, but so did a lot of the guys she slept with. Letting herself fall onto the cold floor, she rolled over and stood up, shaking out her stretched muscles. As she placed her phone down and went to turn on the music, the door opened. She turned to see Claire with Harper behind her. Ally was on Harper’s hip, grinning as she waved.

“Reese Pieces!”

“Hey, sweetie,” she said, coming over to kiss Ally’s cheek. “How are you?”

“Good! Claire gonna dance!”

Reese smiled over at Claire and nodded.

“I know! I’m so excited!”

Out the corner of her eye, Reese saw Claire cross her legs, looking very uncomfortable. Ally started to bounce, wanting to get down, but Harper shook her head.

“No ma’am,” Harper said to her before looking over at Reese. “How long do you need?”

“Um, probably an hour.”

Harper nodded. “Ok, I’m going to go to the grocery. If you get done early, call me.”

“Will do,” Reese said with a bright smile, but Claire wasn’t smiling.

“You okay, Claire?” Harper asked. Claire looked over and shrugged.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, y’all have fun.”

With that, her sister left. The room was dead silent as Claire looked down at the ground, her bag falling from her shoulder. She wore black sweatpants and hoodie, with her hair pulled up in a bun, and she was working her lip with her teeth.

She was nervous.

“Let’s get started,” Reese said, turning to go to the stereo. When she looked back, Claire was dropping her bag and undressing to normal dancer clothes: tight, black booty shorts and a green tank. The green made her hair brighter and her eyes shine. She really was a beautiful girl. She watched as Claire stretched before crossing her legs. Looking up at her, Reese smiled before saying, “I downloaded that song you were dancing to the other day. I want to see what you can do.”

She shrugged her shoulders, crossing her hands over her stomach.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Reese said, finding the Boyce Avenue song she downloaded. When she hit play, she turned to find Claire standing in the middle of the dance floor, looking back at her. The music played for only a couple seconds before Claire started dancing. Leaning against the wall, she watched as she sailed through the air, moving her body as if it were the words to the song. She had the flexibly, the talent, and the musicality. She was stunning and breathtaking. When she crumbled to the ground as the end of the song talked about being young, Reese came off the wall and restarted it.

“Again.”

“Again?” she asked, taking in deep breaths.

“Yes, this time I’m gonna call out what you can do to make it better, so don’t get startled when I yell, okay?”

She nodded, moving a stray piece of hair out of her eyes before going back to the middle of the floor. Reese reached for the play button and again, Claire started moving. Reese was in awe watching her. When she yelled out her first correction, Claire didn’t even flinch, and when the trick came up again, she nailed it like a pro, showing Reese that she took direction great. She only had to yell out a few more before the song ended with her crumbling to the ground again. Stopping the music, Reese looked back at Claire, and crossed her arms under her breast.

“Who choreographed that dance for you?”

Claire shook her head, folding her own arms across her stomach.

“No one.”

Shocked, Reese asked, “So it’s your piece?”

Claire only nodded as she flexed her toes against the floor.

“Do you do that a lot?”

She looked up at Reese.

“All the time.”

Reese smiled, hoping Claire would smile back, but she didn’t. Holding her gaze, Reese asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

She asked the question of all her probation kids. She loved the answers she got. One would think that it would always be a dancer, but it wasn’t. One time a girl told her that she wanted to be a princess. That had Reese laughing her butt off, but she wrote it on her file. When the kid graduated from her studio, she gave them the file so they could keep it forever. She wrote little notes of encouragement and, last year, when one of her seniors graduated, she said that her favorite thing was the file from Reese.

With a smile still on her face, she looked back over at Claire.

Claire said, “It doesn’t matter what I want.”

Reese’s brows came together as she took a step closer.

“Why?”

“Because it won’t happen. I’ll more than likely end up a drug addict like my mom.”