“What’s your name again?”

“Why?” she sort of snapped.

“Because I’d like to know,” she snapped back.

“Claire.”

“Okay, can you show me that fall out again?” Reese asked, taking a step back.

“Why?”

Reese rolled her eyes. Claire was hiding behind the shitty attitude, but that wasn’t going to scare Reese off. She wasn’t a bitch—she was hurt. She had raw talent, and Reese knew she could make her a star. Looking back down at the ground, Claire shook her head.

“I don’t want to.”

“Why? I want to see it again. I think if you strengthened your foot, you’d get better balance.”

“How do you know?” she asked with a glare.

It was obvious the girl didn’t like to be corrected, but then again, it could be because she didn’t know Reese. So, with the patience of a saint, she said, “I own a dance studio. I’m a dancer too. I know my stuff. I think that you could be something amazing, if you’d let me help you.”

“How do I know you’re qualified to help me?” she snapped.

Reese laughed.

“Wow, you’re a little bit of a brat, you know that?”

“I’ve been told, but it’s better than being a bitch.”

Reese’s laughter stopped as she held Claire’s gaze. She was challenging her, and trying to push her away, but little did Claire know, Reese loved a challenge. When Ally screamed that Mommy was home, Reese turned around and left the room without a word. Going down the hall, she found Harper hugging Ally close.

“Everything looks great. We are going to have a baby in eight months!” she said with a bright smile.

“Awesome! Listen, when do you have Claire again?”

“Claire? Why? Did you talk to her?” Harper asked, surprised.

“Yeah, when do you have her again?” she repeated.

Harper gave her a look before answering, “Monday through Thursday next week.”

Reese thought for a moment.

“Does she go to school or something?”

Harper laughed. “Yes, Reese. She’s a sophomore at Belle Meade Private Academy.”

“Okay, bring her to the studio every day after school. I’m putting her on probation,” Reese said, reaching for her bag and throwing it over her shoulder.

“Does she want that?”

“Sure she does, she just doesn’t know it. Or, she does, and she is being a brat about it. She is amazing, Harp, like super good.”

“I’ve seen her.”

“Bring her.”

“If I can get her to come.”

Reese nodded before kissing both her and Ally on the cheek. With a goodbye, she left as her mind ran crazy with things she was going to have Claire do on Monday. She couldn’t wait; she only hoped that Harper could get Claire there. If she couldn’t, Reese would drive over here and get Claire herself. She may have let go of a dancer for a bad attitude but Claire was different. She didn’t want to be hateful; it was just a wall she hid behind. A wall that Reese planned to knock down.

It was that simple.

Chapter 4

PHILLIP RAN his hands through his hair as he leaned back in his seat. Looking around the gray room, he let out a breath. Between him and Claire, he wasn’t sure who hated doctors’ offices more, but he was starting to think it was him. He felt like the walls were closing in, as he waited for Claire to get done with her session. Phillip wasn’t the most patient person. Add in the fact that everything about the doctor’s office aggravated him, and he wasn’t a happy person, but he still waited. This was for Claire. She needed this.

Pulling out his phone, he checked the time to see that he only had ten more minutes left to wait. They were going shopping for school clothes once they left, and then he would drop her off at Harper’s since he had to leave early to go to New York. Even though he wasn’t that stressed on the road anymore, since Claire wasn’t there screaming at him or trying to sleep with his teammates, he worried about her constantly. Harper reassured him that things were great, that she was quiet and polite, which he was sure was a lie. Claire, polite? Please. But even with the reassurance from Harper, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that Claire was going to take off.

It had a lot to do with the fact that she wouldn’t talk to him. He texted her constantly when he was gone, and all he got back was one word answers. When he picked her up after coming home from California, he asked how it was at Harper’s. She just shrugged her shoulders and said it was fine. That was all he got out of her. It was frustrating as hell, but he had noticed that in the three days since coming home, she hadn’t yelled at him once. They had gone to dinner, hung out, and she was actually civil, but every conversation he tried to have with her was one sided.

Letting out a sigh, he opened the Facebook app on his phone to read his friends’ statuses. When a picture of Rebecca Hartwit, one of his bedmates, came on the screen, he smiled. She was wearing hardly anything and posing in a way that had him shifting in his seat. He hadn’t been laid in months, and he was so tired while they were on the road trip that he didn’t call anyone over. He had females in every city and loved spending the night with them, but lately, Phillip had been emotionally and physical tired. It was very unusual, since nothing kept him from sex before. He blamed it all on Claire.

Nothing like an angry teenager to make a man’s dick not work.