Page 24 of Playing for Keeps

“So,” she said as she stalked toward the table, “tell me about Aaron.”

Shrugging, I shrank back from her as she came closer. “There's nothing to tell. You know him better than I do.”

“Yeah, but I'm not the one he’s been having lunch with nearly every day for the past two weeks.”

I wrinkled my nose and took a sip of my coffee before grabbing my phone to shut off my music. “You say that like he's only going out with me. Rhys has been there, too—”

“Sometimes—”

“And, you've been invited along.”

Kelly swatted her hand between us like she could shoo away my words like a pesky fly. “Something going on between you two?”

Dipping my head instead of answering, I poked at a clump of pink cream cheese that hung on the edge of my plate.

“Do you want something to go on between you two?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don't know, Kelly.” I took another bite of my bagel and chewed slowly before swallowing. When I glanced back at her, her aqua eyes were barely visible under her narrowed lids.

“You're still hung up on Vinny.”

“I am not.” I so was. I took a sip of coffee and my hand shook so much I would have had it all over my lap if my mug were full.

Kelly placed her hand over mine. “Why’d you break up with him if you still feel this way about him?”

My heart lurched to my throat and I swallowed hard before I could speak. “I don't know.” It came out just a whisper, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “I was worried about Corey.”

“You broke up with Vinny because you were worried about your brother?”

“No, I...” I shook my head and rose from the table. “You wouldn't understand.”

“Then help me understand, Jen,” she said, following behind me. She cornered me at the sink, her eyes flaring with her own brand of anger and concern. “You broke up with him over a year ago. You mope around all the time but put on this show that there's nothing wrong. Help me understand why my best friend is so miserable.”

I raised a shaky fist to my lips. “He scares me.”

“Vinny?” Her anger built, her freckles standing out against her quickly reddening skin.

I had to stop her before she got the wrong idea.

“His money,” I told her, my voice barely audible through the pounding of blood through my ears. I'd never told anyone what I was about to tell her, and I couldn't help worrying she’d end up laughing in my face. “Corey and I... We didn't grow up like that. We didn't have money. Mom and Dad, they used to buy strawberries in the summer and they wouldn't eat a single one, because they wanted us to have them. There were nights when we had popcorn for supper and watched old movies on our beat-up TV. It wasn't because it was fun. It was because they had so little that the popcorn was the only thing we could afford until their next paycheck came in.”

A sigh wheezed out of my throat. “But then Corey made it big and all hell broke loose.”

Kelly stared at me, lips pursed, like she was waiting for the punchline of a stupid joke. I sighed again and forced myself to continue.

“With his signing bonus, he paid off our parents’ house and bought us all new cars. He gave us everything we never had growing up. And he started meeting people who aren't from our world. They don't understand what it’s like to grow up with nothing.”

“You mean Corey’s fiancé?”

I shook my head and pushed past her, sitting back down at the table. “Not just Frankie, or her family. But all his teammates and... Madison and Tina.”

Kelly sat down at the table next to me, but she didn’t speak. She knew how much my brother meant to me, and she knew how hard it was for me to speak of Madison and Tina. Tina was the psychopath that nearly murdered my brother because he chose Frankie over her, and Madison was the rich neighbor who brought the woman into his life.

“I thought you loved Matt and Ramon,” Kelly said, her brows raised and her face full of fiery attitude.

“What? Of course, I do. Matt’s one of my best friends.” He was my brother’s teammate and best friend, but he’d become like a brother to me.

“So, you hate Frankie now?”