Breaking Away (Assassins, #5)(96)

And Reese was beyond excited.

The next morning, Reese stood along the wall as she watched Claire and Brian stretch. Brian had already gone on but he was there for moral support, and Reese was sure that Claire liked that a lot. It had been a full morning of solos, and this was her last one. After awards, they were going to head home and she was actually excited for the ride home. It would be fun riding with Claire and Phillip, especially since Phillip was in a great mood after winning last night’s game. When he came to her room, he was jubilant, telling her that they were on a fourteen game win streak. She knew they were winning a lot but didn’t realize it had been that many. It was awesome, and they only needed four more straight wins for a new franchise record. He was very excited and sure they would make it. Reese completely believed in him, in the team, and she made plans to go to a game.

Reese hadn’t been to a game since Elli started dating Shea. It had been a while, and she was excited to get a new jersey, since she had borrowed one of Elli’s, and cheer for the home team. She was beginning to fit Phillip in her life, something she thought she’d never do, but somehow it had happened. She wanted to go do things with him and Claire, now that Claire knew about them, and for some crazy reason, she was okay with that. She also wasn’t worried about the dinner with her parents. Crazy huh? But all she could think was that Claire and Phillip were awesome people, her mom and dad would love them, and even if they thought something more about her and Phillip, they knew the truth. This was fun until it wasn’t. Then they would part ways as friends because since he had been in her life, she couldn’t imagine him not being there. Plus, she didn’t want to lose Claire, so she would work to be friends no matter what.

Moving her hair out of her face, she checked her Facebook as she waited for Phillip to come back. He went to get them Starbucks before Claire hit the stage. With her being last, Reese was really excited because she would be very fresh on the judge’s mind while they did the scoring. Reese’s other girls and Brian did well, probably their best, and even though Claire was mind blowing, she had a lot of competition today. Not only from the company but from other studios. Reese was really nervous. She wasn’t sure if the dance was strong enough. It was gorgeous, but was it award winning? Blah, she hated when she did this. Second-guessing something she knew was the best. They had worked hard on this dance, and she stood behind it completely.

So she needed to stop or at least have Phillip come to distract her.

“Hey, Reese, are you busy?”

Looking to the side, she took in a sharp breath. Kevin stood there, looking beautiful in a baggy sweatshirt and tight jeans. He had boots that came to his ankles, his hair was back in a ponytail, and Reese decided that this was not the distraction she wanted. She’d much rather go back to thinking her dance sucked than dealing with Kevin Edds. When a gorgeous blonde appeared next to him, with a little boy in her arms, Reese prayed to God that she wasn’t who she thought she was.

Cutting a look back to Kevin, she glared as she said, “My dancer is about to hit the stage.”

He gave her a pleading look before looking over at Claire and then back at Reese. “This will only take a second; my wife wants to meet you. Stacey, this is Reese.”

“Hi, Reese! It’s so wonderful to finally meet you!” she said with bright grey eyes. She grinned as she took a step forward, holding out her free hand. She had full lips, sweet, blushed cheeks, and was dressed in a very SoHo way. Looking deep into the woman’s eyes, Reese couldn’t figure out why Kevin cheated on her. She was breathtaking and had legs for days. She had to be a model or used to be, since she was very pregnant too.

Guilt flooded her as she looked into Stacey’s eyes. She never knew about her but still, she hated that she was involved in helping Kevin cheat. Not wanting to be rude, Reese took her hand, hating that she was shaking as said, “Nice to meet you too.”

“I’ve heard so much about you, saw you perform a billion times. You are simply amazing. I hate that you had to come home but apparently, it was the right choice. Every single one of your dancers has been outstanding.”

Reese had to swallow around the lump in her throat. “Thank you. I am very proud of them.”

“You should be. My favorite is her. She is astonishing and reminds me so much of you,” she said, pointing at Claire.

“I agree, she reminds me of you, too,” Kevin said, but Reese ignored him as her eyes stayed locked with Stacey’s. Something inside her wanted her to apologize, say that she never would have done such an awful thing if she would have known, but she couldn’t find the words.

“Thank you, I am very proud of Claire. She is my top student.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that! I’m so excited for her solo,” Stacey gushed as she leaned into Kevin.

“Me too,” she said before reaching out to touch the little boy’s arm. “He is a beautiful little boy, favors you completely.”

Stacey beamed. “Thank you, this is Braxton, our little man. I’m pregnant with a little girl, Bailey.”

Soon it was hard to breathe. Reese had so many plans with Kevin. She wanted to marry him, have a little boy and girl with him, when the whole time, he had that with someone else. When her lip started to wobble, she knew she had to get out of there but, before she could, a hand wrapped around her wrist. She turned to look up into a pair of stunning blue eyes and relief washed over her.