Breaking Away Read online

  When he looked up at her, waiting for her response, all she could do was nod. He didn’t deserve her forgiveness, and she couldn’t trust herself not to give it to him. A part of her, the small one that still had feelings for him, wanted to forgive him. The rest of her wanted to flick him off but, instead, she cleared her throat before saying, “What I said still stands. We have no reason to talk once you leave this studio.”

  “I understand.”

  She looked down at where she played with the hem of her sweatshirt and said, “But thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Nodding, she turned again and took a deep breath, collecting herself. She thought she had felt good saying what she had, hearing Kevin’s words was ten times better. Looking back at him, she let out a breath. “Let’s do this.”

  Walking towards him with her remote in her hand, he said, “You’ve picked a song?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay,” he said as she hit play. He listened for a moment and then scoffed. “Really?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a good song. This is my favorite version.” And it was. Madilyn Bailey sang the female version of Bruno Mars’ “When I was Your Man” and it was stunning. They listened to the song the whole way through and then started. When he reached for her, pulling her into his chest, she looked into his eyes and felt nothing. She thought this was going to be hard, feeling his body against hers, but it wasn’t because he meant nothing to her. It felt like he was just another partner, not the man that she loved for so long, and she had a feeling that he felt nothing, too. She hoped that the hard times he went through with his wife made him fall back in love with her. She deserved all of him, and she hoped that Stacey got that.

  Moving together like it wasn’t the first time in years, Reese put her heart in the dance. She not only wanted to impress her students but also Phillip. Thinking that made her heart stop but she ignored it and kept up with Kevin, making sure he didn’t outshine her. They worked for three hours straight and when they were fully satisfied with what they had, Reese backed away and nodded. “I think we are good.”

  “Good, everyone should be here soon, huh?”

  Reese looked up at the clock. “Yeah, in about two hours.”

  “Cool, I’m gonna run and get a shower. I’ll be back then.”

  She laid the remote to the stereo down. She fully expected him to walk away, but then he said, “I hope that you’re happy, Reese.”

  She looked over her shoulder. “I am.”

  “Good, because I want you to be. I hope he does all the things I should have done.”

  She didn’t want to talk about Phillip to Kevin, hell, she didn’t even want to accept the words she was about to utter, but she surprised herself and probably Kevin when she said, “He is ten times the man you will ever be.”

  Kevin nodded slowly. She knew that was a low blow, but it wasn’t like her not to speak her mind. “Good. I’m glad. Because you deserve a man like that.”

  She stood up tall on her heels, her eyes locked with his as she declared. “You’re right, I do.”

  He stood there a moment, a look on his face, somewhere between regret and acceptance, before turning and leaving. She let out a long breath, glad that he was out of view, out of her space. She knew she was wrong for misleading him, making him think that Phillip and her were serious, but it was so easy to make it seem like that. Reese wanted to analyze that, figure out why that was, but after the morning she just had, she figured she’d do that later.

  Way later.

  Apparently, this Kevin guy was a big deal in the dance world.

  Even on short notice, the studio was packed with dancers. They circled him, firing questions left and right, while Reese leaned against the wall, looking bored, but Phillip still thought she was hot as hell. She had on tight black shorts, and a black sports bra with a large, black lace shirt that came to mid-thigh. Her long, luscious hair was in up a bun, and she wore no makeup. He was starting to think he liked her best like this. All homey and comfy looking. He wanted to cuddle, hold her for hours, but that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.

  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 r