Breaking Away (Assassins, #5)(97)

Oh, thank God, she thought as she took the coffee that Phillip had out for her.

“Thank you,” she said, thanking him for way more than just the coffee.

“Sure, I think they are about to call Claire back, ready?”

Stacey asked, “Is Claire your daughter?”

Phillip looked over at her and smiled. “She is my niece.”

“She is phenomenal. We love watching her dance.”

“Thanks, I am very proud of her.”

“You should be,” Stacey said as Claire and Brian showed up beside them.

“Sorry to interrupted, but I go on in nine minutes according to the backstage lady,” Claire said.

“Sounds good, stretched?” Reese asked before sipping her coffee as she admired Claire. Her hair was up in a bun again with a big, black flower that had feathers coming out from behind to the side of her bun. Her outfit covered a lot more than her others. It was a dark red bra and booty short set with black lace covering the bra, her stomach, and her shorts. It was bedazzled like crazy with big, shiny stones and on the hip was a big red and black flower. It fit her like a glove and was really striking on her.

Claire grinned. “Yup, I’m ready.”

“Awesome, well if you’ll excuse us, it was great meeting you, Stacey,” Reese said but, before she could get away as quickly as she hoped, Brian stepped up with a look of awe on his face.

“You’re Kevin Edds, right? From New York, the Flash Forward Company?” Brian asked.

No, walk away, Brian! Ahh! There was no getting away so she looked over at Kevin as he nodded, reaching out to shake Brian’s hand. “Sure is, it’s nice to meet you. I really enjoyed your solo and your duet with Claire.”

Brian looked as if he was going to cry as he nodded his head quickly. “Thank you. Man, it’s amazing to meet you. I’ve applied to your company and hope to get in.”

“Is that right? I haven’t went through my apps lately, we are touring right now, recruiting students, but when I get home, I’ll make sure to put yours to the side. I really enjoyed watching you dance.”

“Wow, thank you! Are you touring in Tennessee? That’s where we are,” Brain said, pointing to him and Claire.

“Yeah, we’d love to have you at our studio. You’re like a dancing genius, right Reese?” Claire asked, her eyes bright as she looked over at her.

Refraining from telling her students that no, she would not love to have him at her studio and that she actually thought he was a dancing jerk off, she looked up at Kevin and said, “Yeah, you’re more than welcome to come any time you’d like. I know your tour is probably full now, but maybe next time.”

She was being fake but with the way Stacey and the kids were grinning, they believed her, which was great, but when Kevin said, “Actually, I have room on my tour now and would love to come to your studio.”

She wanted die right there. For f*ck’s sake, she thought as she smiled. “Oh, really?”

“Yes! We’d love to come. I’ve always wanted to come to Tennessee, but Kevin is really weird about that state, don’t know why! I’m so excited!”

“Me too,” Kevin said, looking Reese right in the eyes. “So I guess we will go straight to Tennessee after the rest of the senior solos. Maybe we can get together tomorrow, work out some stuff, and then have the class on Tuesday?”

Reese wanted to scream more than she wanted her next breath, but with Claire and Brian looking at her like she was holding the world in her hands, she nodded and said, “That will be fine.”

“Awesome, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Gives us both time to sleep.”

Reese could only nod as dread filled her. “Great.”



Phillip knew that Kevin coming to Reese’s studio was on the other side of great. It was from his understanding a f*cking nightmare but, for some reason, Reese was just standing there, nodding and saying yes, when Phillip knew she didn’t want to do that at all. He didn’t understand what the hell was going on, but he intended to find out.

“I’m so excited!” Claire gushed as Brian grinned beside her. Reese looked away, moving her hand through her long hair. She had it down today, only a pin holding back one side, and she looked sweet. In a pair of tight jeans that hugged every inch of her sexy legs, she wore a long, honey-colored shirt that brought out the color in her eyes. She had light makeup on, but that was his fault. He kept her busy most the morning, trying to fill the void of not having her for the last three weeks, so she only got to throw a little bit on.

“Claire Anderson?”

Everyone turned to see the backstage lady walking towards them. Her clipboard was in her hand as she pointed to Claire. “There are three numbers left, please follow me backstage.”

“Okay,” Claire said before looking up at him and smiling. This weekend was great for them. Not only had they finally talked about things that needed to be said, but also they had connected. She knew that he was proud of her, that he loved her, and couldn’t live a decent life without her. Dance had turned into something they both needed, and he hoped to God, she went up on that stage and killed the shit out of this dance. He knew she could do it.

Reaching out, he squeezed her shoulder. “Go kick some major ass.”

“That’s my plan,” she said with a cocky grin before looking over at Reese, who had pride shining in her eyes as she hugged her tightly.