Sir-douche-a-lot, aka Kevin, seemed to like the attention he was getting and was talking way more than Phillip liked. He knew that Claire was excited, she was hanging on every word the guy said, but Phillip knew it pained Reese for him to be here. Since the urge to eliminate all things/persons that hurt the woman he loved, he needed this guy gone. Quick.

Along with the fact that the guy had hurt Reese, Phillip just didn’t like him. He was standing like his shit didn’t stink and what was up with these guy dancers not wearing shirts? Phillip didn’t care if the guy was ripped, because Phillip could run circles around this guy in the gym, but he needed to wear a damn shirt. There were young girls in here; they didn’t need to see all that crap. Scowling, Phillip crossed his arms and hoped the guy knew that in Phillip’s head, he had a hockey stick and the guy’s balls, and he was going to town, shooting over and over at the net.

As Phillip ruined any chances of this guy having kids ever again in his head, he watched as the dude taught some dance moves to the kids. He was leaning against the wall outside the door to the studio. He never knew that the wall that was between the parents’ waiting room and the main studio collapsed up into the ceiling, but he thought that was pretty awesome. It provided a lot of space. Dancers sat along the side of the studio as the guy took groups of dancers and worked on their technique. Pulling out his phone, he recorded Claire getting tips. He always liked to have video of him learning new things and figured that Claire might like that, too.

When he was done, Claire smiled up at him like he was the God of dance before running towards Phillip.

“Did you see that? Ugh, Kevin is amazing,” she said in awe.

Phillip rolled his eyes and decided not to say his opinion about the guy as he handed her his phone. “I recorded that for you.”

“OMG, you rock! Thank you!”

“No problem,” he said, resting his arm across her shoulders as she watched the video he recorded.

“Okay, now, I have something super special planned for you guys.”

Claire handed back his phone as she looked towards the center of the room where the guy stood. Phillip tucked his phone in his pocket and listened as he said, “As a lot of you know, Reese and I used to dance together in New York.” The place erupted with applause for Reese as she grinned widely at her students before walking to the middle of the floor with him. “Now we haven’t danced together in what, three years?” Reese nodded, not looking him in the eye as she bent her toes into the floor. “Yeah, three years. Today we trained for three hours, and I want to show you what we came up with.”

The room fell quiet as Reese turned to the guy, and he took her hips in his hand. Leaning back, Reese looked as if her back was broken and then the music started. It was a girl version to “When I was Your Man” by Bruno Mars, but Phillip couldn’t pay attention to it if he tried with all his might because watching Reese move across the floor was something short of magic. The guy was good, amazing even, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Reese. Her heart and soul showed while she danced, and if she weren’t careful, everyone in that room would know that Kevin and her had a history. There was so much emotion in their dance that jealousy bubbled inside Phillip as he watched. The douche’s hands were in spaces that only Phillip’s hands needed to be. When he held Reese’s face in his hand, his lips hovering over hers, it took everything for Phillip not to come off the wall and take the guy by his neck. He didn’t like the way they were dancing, but he sure did love watching Reese move.

He only wished it were with him and not the douchebag.

When the song picked up and Reese pushed Kevin away, he ran after her, holding her up as she did splits in the air before kicking away from him and rolling onto her back, where she arched her back before wrapping her arms around her legs. A stricken look was on her face as she got back to her feet, turning slowly before moving out of his reach. Phillip figured if he actually watched the guy, he would see the emotion from his side, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Reese.

She held his complete attention.

When dude fell to his knees and Reese turned her back to him, she let her shoulders fall before letting out a long breath as the music ended. When the place erupted again, Phillip didn’t realize how deafening a bunch of girls could be until that moment. Blown away, Phillip clapped loudly, whooping and hollering with Claire as Reese’s brown eyes shined the brightest he had ever seen them. When her eyes met his, she shrugged, shyly, and he threw her a wink, hoping that she knew how impressed he was with her. Yeah, he was jealous and hated the dude even more but, most of all, he was impressed and in awe of her talent.

Pushing off the wall, he decided he was going to tell her that, but everyone swarmed around her and the dude. Then the guy’s arm wrapped around Reese’s slim waist. Phillip paused mid-stride and his nails bit into his palms as he watched them together. They looked like they belonged and that bothered Phillip.

A lot.

“Let’s go, this place is a nut house,” Claire complained as she shook her head. “I got my time with Kevin, I’m good. I need to study, too.”

“Alright.”

“Unless you want to say bye to Reese, I can wait.”

Phillip shook his head. “No, I’m good, I’ll text her. Let’s go.”

He looked back one last time to see Reese grinning, and a knot formed in his stomach. He knew the thoughts he was having of the two of them getting back together was ludicrous, but he couldn’t help but think so and then he wondered if she had ever smiled at him like that.