“Go.”

He kissed her nose before backing away. “Bye, friend.”

She rolled her eyes. “Bye. Text me when you land.”

“Of course.”

She waved quickly at him and then turned to go back into her car. He turned, a grin sitting on his face, as he fell into step with Shea. Shea looked over at him and shook his head.

“So that’s the reason you’ve been grinning like an idiot?”

Phillip nodded. “Yup.”

“Was she the one in the shower?”

No reason to lie. “Yup.”

Shea shook his head again before taking hold of Phillip’s arm, stopping him. He knew this was coming. Shea was insanely protective over anyone Elli loved, and Reese was basically Elli’s little sister. “Don’t hurt her okay? She’s been through enough.”

“Won’t happen,” Phillip promised before starting for the plane.

“Good, and another thing,” he said, stopping Phillip again.

“Yeah?”

“Be careful. She’s been through a lot, and I wouldn’t doubt it if she breaks your heart. She’s a cold one.”

Shea didn’t wait for Phillip to respond. Instead, he walked up the stairs to enter the plane. He didn’t expect that because that meant that Shea cared about him, something he probably always knew, but it was still nice to know. But what he said also bothered him. Reese wasn’t cold, she just had walls up, and once Phillip took a sledgehammer to them, Reese would be fine. He knew that to be true. Trusted that everything was going to be fine.

He just hoped he wasn’t wrong.

Chapter 20

IT HAD been four days since Phillip had left and yeah, she missed him, but what boggled her mind the most was that neither her sisters, nor Elli, had called to say anything about her being at the sky yard with Phillip. She knew damn well they saw her, but still no one said anything. What did that even mean? It was super weird and freaked her out. She felt like at any moment her mother was going to call, or maybe they would all show up and attack her, bombarding her with questions. She didn’t know what it was, but she couldn’t kick the uneasy way she was feeling.

Leaning against the mirrors, she reached for her phone to text Phillip before her next class came in.

Busy?

Not for you, what’s up?

She smiled. Something is up.

What do you mean?

I know people saw us at the sky yard, but no one has said anything.

Okay?

Okay… that’s bad. They are scheming.

Lol. You’re nuts.

She made a face. This is not the time to joke around. I’m serious!

Reese, no one cares. We are grown adults. Everyone knows we are just fooling around, so no one cares.

She scoffed. Do you know Elli Adler? Hell, do you know my sisters? They are scheming little bitches! They are out to get me pregnant and married.

The song goes first came marriage and then came Reese with the baby carriage.

She rolled her eyes before throwing her phone down. He was no help. Her phone went off, but she ignored it as her group team came in. Claire smiled at her as she passed and dropped her bag to stretch. Glancing down at her phone, she saw that Phillip said:

Stop stressing about it. We can’t have fun if you’re stressing.

She wanted to text him back but he would have to wait, she had a class to teach. Then she would bitch and moan about how her sisters were plotting against her and convince him that they needed to be worried. Knowing them, they were already picking the bridesmaids dresses and the colors of the nonexistent baby’s room. Ugh! They drove her nuts. She wanted to call them, but what if they hadn’t seen them? Then she would be putting light on something that didn’t need a damn life. But she needed to know what they were doing!

Ahh! She needed to let this go! Like Phillip said, it wasn’t a big deal… ugh, but it was!

Shaking out her arms and then bending her neck to each side, she looked out at the girls in her group class, trying to ignore the fact that she wanted to run and call Elli, Harper, and Piper. She had been dreading this class since Mallory got hurt. Mallory was the lead in this dance. She killed it and was fierce but now she wasn’t here, and it scared Reese to replace her. She had two dancers in mind—one who could do it, but she wasn’t sure she would be what Mallory was. In a way, Reese wanted to pull the dance but couldn’t bring herself to do it. The other girls had worked so hard.

As the girls took it to the floor to stretch, Reese cleared her throat and said, “Hey all, as y’all know, Mallory is out with an injury, because of this the solo part needs to be filled.” They all nodded as Reese continued, “So any takers?”

When Aria Chapmen raised her hand, Reese wasn’t surprised and was glad when Claire’s hand went up too. Despite that face that Claire was the only sophomore in the class, everyone else were juniors and seniors, Claire could dance circles around these girls. She was actually Reese’s first choice, but she knew that the other girls would throw a fit if a sophomore took the lead. However, if she could prove she could do it better than the other girls, then no one could be upset. Ultimately, she knew it was her choice but still, she tried to be fair.

“Okay cool, only Aria and Claire?”

Everyone looked around, waiting for someone else to volunteer, and that was when Aria looked over at Claire and gave her the evil eye. Claire paid her no mind, and that made Reese proud. Aria was a little hard to deal with according to the other girls, but she was always nice to Reese and worked hard. That was all Reese cared about, but she sure didn’t like her looking at Claire like that. Reese knew that Claire could handle herself, but she wanted to protect her because Phillip wasn’t there to do it. Plus, she really did care for Claire.