9781618858368ForbiddenDeceptionlLeveyNC (10 page)

Ash
is good, still playing the sad card. Dire went easy on her though. He came off
a bit gruff, took her phone and laptop. I talked to her about sex again and if
she needed to protect herself.

I
feel so bad for her. She’s such a sweet girl. Boys are something else. She
forgiven Rylan yet? I’m guessing Rex is dead in the water with how he acted.

Girl,
I have no idea. If it wasn’t for you coaxing that out of her, thanks for that
by the way, we wouldn’t know a thing. She used to be so open with me. Not with this
and definitely not with Dire. She is still mad at him for bellowing at the guys
and making her look like a quote—freak—no one will like after rumors start.

Ailyn
glanced up at the clock and at her students. All day testing made them antsy.

Give
her time to come around. Don’t you remember being that age? I do.

Don’t
remind me.

Too funny.
Gotta dash.
Restless testing teens on my hands.
Hugs.

 
She turned her phone on and quietly listened
to her voice mail. Eva needed new pointe shoes, and Seth wanted her to swing by
the station to see him. She bit her lip remembering what happened in his office
and let out a sigh. She texted him saying she’d be there as soon as she could and
put her phone away.

The
bell rang. “Don’t forget you’ll have a substitute tomorrow and next Monday we
move back to the school. Give the same respect to your sub as you give to me.
I’ll be requesting a report.” She stood and waited for her students to hand in
their tests. A lot of eye rubbing and hypnotized like gazes regarded her as she
was given the individual sheets before they shuffled out of her classroom.

Twenty
minutes later, she left the makeshift trailer and headed to pick up Eva.
Traffic took her twice as long to reach the gymnastics academy. By the time she
pulled up to the front door, Eva strode out with an annoyed expression on her
face.

“You’re
late, Mama.”

“Blame
it on the traffic. I can’t control the cars.” She leaned over and kissed her.
“How was class?”

“Good.
I worked on the uneven bars and my new floor routine.
Tio
Cord helped me pick out the music. Coach Sean was impressed. He
said I’ve improved already. He wants to talk to you about coaching me privately
for nationals. He thinks I can make the junior elite team.”

“That’s
good, baby. How was school?”

“Boring.
I’d rather dance though or tumble. You didn’t forget you’re chaperoning our
field trip tomorrow, did you?”

“Nope.
I’m all yours tomorrow, peanut.”

“I
can’t wait. No sitting at my desk all day. I can’t wait until junior high when
I get to change classes every hour and have different teachers. Hey, you never
told me why Ash is in such big trouble.” Her daughter switched gears like a car
changed lanes.

“You’re
almost there, peanut. Well, she broke a big rule and has to suffer the
consequences.”

“Oh,
well I hope she’s not going to be in trouble forever.”

“You
do know she’s six years older than you, right?”

“Well
duh, she’s in high school and is the most popular girl in her school. Being on
punishment must suck for her. Maybe we can make her a cake to feel better.”

“Punishment
sucks for everyone. You’re too
sweet,
I bet she’d like
that.”

“Mama,
can I ask you a question?”

“You
know you can ask me anything, peanut.”

“Can
you start dating again? I really like Ash’s stepdad, and it got me to thinking
since mine is lost out there somewhere, I could get a step one. What do you think?”

“I
think you are too young to be worried about my dating life.
Tio
Cord is there for everything you
need, right?”

“Yeah
but he’s my
tio
. When I take him to
daddy daughter days the kids snicker, well until he shows them his tattoos. Now
they don’t but still, he’s a
tio
not
a
papi
. They call him my
Tio
-
papi
and that is so weird, it grosses me out.”

Ailyn
coughed to avoid cracking up at the
tio
-
papi
context. “I haven’t really thought
about dating much, honey.”

“Well,
Tio
Cord said you were out on a date
this weekend, and that he was going to treat me to anything I wanted since he was
in town.”

“Your
tio
has a gigantic mouth. I would
love to date and find the perfect guy to be that father for you, but honey,
it’s not easy and anyone I bring in front of you has to pass muster.”

“Find
one before you’re too old. I’d still like a sister or a brother—and no, a dog
doesn’t count. Please.” Her daughter pleaded with her big green eyes.

“Let’s
just get home and ready for tomorrow. Did you eat?”

“Yep,
Tio
Cord brought me some sushi. He’s
at the gym now, said he had to start his new regime.
Whatever
that means.”

“Did
you look it up?” Eva shrugged, as if she needed to research everything. “You
know it’s always good to find out what a word means if you’ve never heard it
before.”

“Vocabulary
is for kids who want to be in those dorky spelling bees.”

“Eva,
watch your mouth. There’s nothing wrong with being in a spelling bee, and
vocabulary is necessary to learn as you grow. Expand your knowledge, it won’t
kill you.”

“
Okay
, Mom. I’ll look up the meaning of
regime online when we get home. After this show I found on our streaming
channel.”

Ailyn
scoffed and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. Eva popped earbuds
in her ears and played on her tablet. “Hey.” She plucked one of them from her
ear.

“Aw,
Mom, I was at a good part.”

“How
did your testing go at school?” Eva struggled with math, getting frustrated and
picking any answer instead of problem solving.

“I
guess it went okay. Ash’s tutoring helped.” She slipped her headphones back in and
closed her eyes. Figures, the tutoring would stick from the one person Eva
idolized, when she’d been giving her the same information for weeks and nothing
stuck.

Ailyn
drove the rest of the way home in silence. As she pulled down their street and
into her driveway, Eva gathered her bag and backpack. She barely put the car in
park, when her daughter rushed to get in the house.

“Take
your bag to the laundry room and your backpack to your room.” There was nothing
like tripping over everything dropped right inside the door. Every day, she
yelled the same mantra, to hear an overcompensated sigh of exasperation as if
putting her things away was too much of a hassle.

Her
daughter ran up the stairs to her room. The sound of the door being wrenched
open and then slammed shut met her ears. The cadence of her child skipping
steps to get down to the living room echoed through the house. Then all was
silent for mere moments. She walked into the living room to see Eva searching
for the remote.

“What’s
so important it can’t wait?”

“I
am missing my shows. I need the remote to play them on demand.”

Ailyn
tossed the pillows from the couches and plucked the remote from under the
cushion. “See, all it takes is patience.” She handed the remote to her daughter
and sat down next to her. “What are we watching?”

“Nine
Lives of Khloe King.”
Her daughter snuggled into her as
the next episode started.

The
sound of the front door opening and shutting woke Ailyn. She adjusted the
sleeping child on her lap and yawned. They’d both dozed off while watching
television. Cordero came into her line of vision still in workout clothes with
his duffle. “
Shh
.”

“I
needed to check on her after the other night. Here, let me get her to her bed.”
Cordero set his bag on the floor and walked over to take Eva from her, lifting
her as if she weighed nothing. Her daughter settled in his arms, stirring
briefly before curling her body into his.

Eva
followed them up the stairs. The clock in the hall read eight-thirty. She
hadn’t fallen asleep before nine in the evening in forever. Her brother
disappeared into her daughter’s
decked
out in all things pink
bedroom. He set her down, and batted the princess
canopy netting out of the way so he could slip her under her covers without
getting himself tangled. She stood at the doorway watching him interact with
his niece. One day he’d make a fabulous father, hopefully soon as their mother
was clamoring for more grandbabies. He moved past her and she shut the door.
“You are spoiling her. What am I gonna do when you leave again?”

“Let
me throw out a wild suggestion. Why not allow her father to tuck her in?”

Ailyn
wrapped her arms around her midriff, facing off with him. “Give it a rest. I
told you I’d tell him.”

“Then
call him over and tell him. Three people on his team know. And then there’s Mia
being forced to keep your secret, a secret. Soon it’ll be all about everyone
who didn’t tell him. He trusts his team, his friends and you are selfishly
putting them in a bad position.” His true words stung.

She’d
never seen her younger brother so ticked off. “Cord, I am going to tell him.
You need to realize this is a much bigger deal than you think. Have you even
weighed why I haven’t told him?”

“No.
As far as I’m concerned, from a male’s point of view, you should’ve told him
after you two reconnected.”

“Did
you know I can still go to jail, even after all this time? My not telling him
isn’t because I don’t want to. I have to protect my daughter and myself. He’ll
want to sign her birth certificate. She has his name, that’s no issue. But if
he pushes for DNA testing the state can arrest me, take my teaching license and
throw me in jail. They have up to one year to prosecute after receiving the
results.
Whether he wants it or not.
They don’t need
his permission.”

“For
someone so intelligent you are acting overly stupid. Can you honestly imagine
anyone in our family or his allowing you to get carted off to jail? That excuse
may have worked when you were twenty-one and scared, but sis, you’re a grown
woman. Act like one.” He cast a disappointed stare in her direction.

“Whatever.
I’m going to lock the house head out, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Her
brother left her standing in the hallway alone, fuming and mentally exhausted.
Something was up with
him,
he wasn’t normally so
asshole-ish toward her. Maybe he had a shitty workout. She looked in on Eva one
last time and kissed her head. Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She
retrieved it and stroked her thumb over the unlock screen, answering right before
the caller was sent to voicemail. “Hey.”

“I
thought you were gonna swing by tonight.”

Seth’s
whiskey honeyed voice tempted her to give in and meet him. “I got caught up,
tonight won’t work.” Aiyln cradled the phone to her ear with her shoulder as
she slid off her slacks and unbuttoned her shirt.

“I
was hoping to see you tonight.” Disappointment laced his tone. He let out an
aggravated sigh and then nothing. Dead air hung between them.

“I’m
sorry. My job is demanding, so is yours. Tomorrow I’m pretty busy but we can
meet later on after margarita girl’s night.” She didn’t know why she was explaining
her plans. “There are some things we need to talk about. Tomorrow’s the soonest
I’m available.”

“You
sure you can’t pop by? Have you had dinner?”

“It’s
pretty late for dinner.” Ailyn laughed. “I’m tired, Seth. All I want to do is
dive under my covers and pass out.”

“All
right.
You get a pass tonight, as long as you’re not
avoiding me.”

“
Ah
. Not avoiding you, maybe your mouth-on,
hands-on way of persuasion.” She rummaged in her drawer for a T-shirt, her
hands falling on the one she wore of his a few nights before and lifted the
cotton material to her nose. Inhaling his scent strangely comforted her.

“Distracting
you is fun, always has been.”

She
heard a rustle in the background and a loud sound. “You okay?”

“Yeah,
settling in the bunk to get some rest.
Just got back
from a call, one of the guys got caught under a falling support beam.”

“Oh
no.
Who? Is he okay?”

“Chandler.
Yeah, he’s lucky his partner wasn’t too far behind. We were able to get him
loose. He’ll remain at the hospital for observation tonight.”