Breaking the Bro Code by Stefanie London Read Free Book Online Page A

giggling chaos.
    ‘What’s going on?’ Jasmine’s brows pulled together. ‘Do you need me to take over the class?’
    Elise nodded mutely.
    ‘Someone has decided that calorific intake is an optional part of her day.’ Col folded his arms across his chest.
    ‘Ellie!’ Jasmine scowled.
    ‘Oh, don’t you give me any crap.’ Elise held up her hand in warning. ‘What were you like when you were fighting with lover boy a few months back?’
    ‘Leave the class with me,’ Jasmine said, looking behind her and ordering the students back into position. Her wary gaze hovered on Col momentarily, while she figured out whether or not to trust him. ‘Can you take her to get some food? And make sure she eats it—don’t leave it with her. Watch every mouthful.’
    ‘You have my word.’
    Jasmine rounded up the students and set about conducting the class in her long skirt and bare feet. Taking a deep breath, Elise got up from the chair but her arms wobbled and Col had to help her stand. She closed her eyes, forcing away the swishing sensation in her head.
    ‘When did you get so skinny?’ he said, his large hand around her upper arm as she steadied herself. ‘I feel like I’m holding a chicken bone.’
    ‘Don’t start.’
    She was a nervous under-eater. Whereas some people reached for chips and chocolate when they were upset, Elise felt ill at the sight of any and all food. It wasn’t as if she habitually starved herself; she just couldn’t stomach anything in times of stress. Was it her fault that those times were frequent these days?
    ‘Hey.’ Col’s hand came to her cheek, brushing back a strand of her hair behind her ear. ‘I’m worried about you, Ellie-girl.’
    ‘You’re a little too late for that.’ The lack of food was making her emotional; she could feel the pain simmering beneath the surface, churning her stomach and making her heart thump. Luckily for her she was unable to cry, and that meant she could keep herself in check.
    She shrugged herself out of Col’s grip and walked through the studio, behind the class, and avoided Jasmine’s gaze as she left. She waved a quick goodbye to the mothers without stopping; the last thing she needed was anyone asking questions.
    ‘This is karma, you know.’ Col followed her outside.
    The last rays of sunshine threw golden light around the ballet studio car park as the glowing giant orb dipped in the distance. How was it that she was suddenly noticing the weather, the inherent beauty of summer, when normally she rushed to her car without giving the view a second glance?
    She shook off the strange thoughts. ‘Karma?’
    ‘Yeah, for your silly lesson tonight.’
    A smile tugged on the corner of her lips. She’d rather have him joking with her than pitying her. Joking was squarely in the realms of her comfort zone along with its good friends denial and repression.
    ‘Col, you’re paying me for my expertise. Why don’t you let me handle the lesson planning?’
    ‘If you try a stunt like that again I’ll make you pay for it.’
    She stopped at her car and he stood close to her. Awareness ran through her veins at full speed; she could hear nothing but the sound of his breath coming a little too quickly, the scrape of his palm across his stubble-covered jaw. She could swear she heard his heartbeat, or perhaps it was the insistent thumping of her own. Like many times before she failed to see where she ended and he began.
    * * *
    Elise turned to him with a slow movement carefully designed not to upset her delicate balance. Her cheeks were stained rose-pink, her grey eyes hooded by dark lashes. The urge to kiss her roared in him at full force, his weakness for her as unsettlingly brilliant now as it had been all those years ago. He’d never met another girl like her, not a one that could compare to the layers of maddening complexity and uniqueness that drew him to her like a magnet. She was fiercely independent and yet he knew that beneath the sarcasm and the