Rival Hearts (Rival Love #2) (21 page)

I feel my eyebrows pulling together. “Ugh. Really?”

“Yes, really. I know what you’re thinking, he’s so gangly and weird. But since you left, he buffed out, got tall, and he’s like major hot stuff now that his braces are gone. Seriously, you should hang out with us one day. Maybe we can go play softball at the indoor park,” Mikia suggests.

Alex peers at me in the rearview mirror. Sam slaps my leg and says, “Yeah, it’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know.”

Alex winks at me. “You need to quit being all mopey at the shop. It’s really killing the vibe in my happy establishment. They order espresso from you and you had them depress in a cup.”

“Sorry.” But seriously, what does he expect from me? “I can’t switch my moods like a light bulb.”

“No, but it would help.” He laughs. “Or if you’d just tell me what’s got you like this.”

Mikia takes the lead on this one. “The love of her life got some chick preggers.”

“Seriously? That sucks, Sky. Still, you could have said something earlier.”

And have him ask me how I was doing every day? Um … no. But now that the cat is out of the bag I ask, “So, how’d you like the little mother-to-be?”

“Wait a second. Mr. Hottie on the couch is having a baby with
that
girl—in the pink yack-fest dress?” Sam practically yells.

“Yeah.”

“When’s she due?” Mikia asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. June maybe. Why?”

“So that would make her what?” Sam starts calculating on her fingers. “Four months pregnant?”

“I guess,” I say.

“She doesn’t look any kind of pregnant,” Mikia says. “I mean, my sister had some acne, and her boobs got way huge.” Sam nods. I honestly can’t remember Mikia’s older sister’s pregnancy, or maybe I just don’t want to. “Caleb’s girl just looks a little pudgy in the belly.”

Alex parks the car. “Sky, you’ll figure it out. In the meantime, don’t let it run your life. Have fun. Live a little. I promise everything will fall into place as it should,” he says with a smile.

I nod. He’s right. I need to just let things happen. Stop worrying about it. If Caleb and I end up together, great. If not, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like end-of-the-world type stuff at least.

Alex guides us all to the gate, where a bouncer checks our IDs and nods us in. Eighteen has its perks. The only one here illegally is Sam ’cause her birthday isn’t until April, but she’s had a fake ID since she was fifteen. Her older brother got it for her before he left for college.

Alex places his hand on the small of my back. At first I almost jump away, but he whispers, “Relax, I’m just making sure you get in safe.”

And I do. Relax, that is. It’s just Alex. I’ve known him for almost two years now. Besides, I know he’s not really into me.

The loud music makes it hard to have a conversation. “Want drinks?” he shouts as we all find a booth.

“I want a water,” I say.

Everyone eyes me like I have snot smeared on my face. “What?” I ask.

“You don’t want no damn water!” Mikia shouts. “Get her something strong. Help her lose her senses!”

I don’t want to lose anything. Last time I was drunk I woke up with a massive hangover and then walked in on Caleb and Danielle. I don’t want to feel that again. Let alone see anything like that when we return.

“All right.” Alex gathers the rest of the orders and walks to the bar.

Sam smacks my arm. “Water? Seriously? Alex is totally crushing on you. Something going on in that coffee shop that you haven’t told us about?”

“No!”

Sam and Mikia laugh. But I can feel a blush spreading across my cheeks. Thank goodness it’s too crowded with people, fog, and retro blue and white lights swirling about for anyone to notice. Some hip-hop mix is blasting while breakdancers take the floor, as well as the girls who like to twerk.

“Here you go, ladies.” Alex hands me a tall glass filled with red and orange liquid. It looks like a sunset.

“What is this?”

“A Tequila Sunrise. Drink up,” he whispers in my ear.

Shivers cascade down my spine.

I take a sip and I’m surprised how much I like it. I drink some more and slump back against the seat. The music fills me, and my feet tap to the beat. I need to dance.

Shuffling out of the booth, I grab Sam and we head to the dance floor. She
whoop
s and starts laughing as we shimmy and dance about. “That’s my Sky. Welcome back. We’ve missed you.”

I laugh. “I missed me, too.” We continue to dance and suddenly arms wrap around my waist.

I stiffen, especially when the grip tightens and my backside is pulled into what feels like a wall. Sam is in some guy’s arms next to me and is grinding against him like it’s normal. I glance up and smile at the tall, dark-haired guy that has me. “Hey.”

“Hey. I’m Jake.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, man, she’s with me,” a deep voice says. I look over and see Alex standing there, arms crossed.

“Sorry, man, I was just helping my boy out and didn’t want her to be alone.”

“She’s not.”

Alex grabs me from Jake and starts dancing with me. It’s a little weird at first. I don’t know where to put my hands. I don’t know how to dance with my boss. I can’t grind against him like Sam is clearly doing with the strange guy she’s with. Alex pulls me against him and starts to move me slowly from side to side, then he turns me and I don’t know, I lose myself.

By the time the third song is over, Alex and I are grinding against each other in a dirty way and I don’t care. I’m laughing, shouting words to songs, and having fun. Something that seemed so impossible to do before tonight.

When the next song dies down and another starts up Alex waves me down. “I need a drink.”

We head to the table and Mikia is giving me a look. “Just friends, huh?”

“We are.”

“Mmm-hmm. Sure you are.”

I chug the rest of my drink and Alex winks at me. “Ready for another?”

“Round of dancing? Yes.”

“I was going to say drink, but sure, I can do that too.”

The music flips to a slow song, and Alex presses me against him. His hands slide down my waist and cup my butt. “Um … ”

“Sorry. Hands, I know. It’s just … ”

I pull back. “Alex. Don’t say whatever was going to come out of your mouth, please don’t.”

“I know. Caleb. Look, I probably shouldn’t say this, but there are a thousand guys who would love to be with you. You shouldn’t be hung up on him.”

I smile and rest my head against his chest. I shouldn’t. It’s probably giving him the wrong signal, but I really want his friendship. It’s what I crave right now. And is that such a bad thing?

***

When Alex drops me off, he kisses my cheek and tells me he’ll see me tomorrow. Which he will, because I’m working. I smile and leave the car. As I hit Brian’s porch, a figure pulls from the shadows and startles me. “Jesus, Caleb!”

“Do you know what time it is?”

“I don’t know, one? What are you, the curfew police?”

He steps closer to me. I draw in his scent. Gosh, he smells so great. “Are you drunk?”

I push him back. “So what if I am.”

“Did he slip something in your drink? Did he do stuff to you? Why doesn’t he go out with some twenty-seven-year-old! You know someone who’s his own fucking age.”

I walk into the house in a rage. I don’t know why I’m so mad. Maybe if I weren’t trashed I could laugh about the fact he thinks Alex is way older than he is.

“Why do you care? I mean, we’re done. And you don’t want me.”

“The hell I don’t! You push me away. I’ve been telling you I love you and I want this but you keep shoving me away!”

He can’t have me
and
her. I’m not like that. I climb the stairs, or I attempt to climb the stairs. Caleb is behind me, scowling, cursing, but helping me up to my room. I try to tell him I’m fine.

He brings me over to the bed and says, “I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. I never will.” His lips brush mine so softly, sweetly, I can’t stand it. Doesn’t he know how much I miss his kisses? Miss him?

“You’re having a baby, though. I can’t. I just … why does everyone want me to do impossible things this year? You expect me, in spite of the fact you’re having someone else’s baby, to be all team Caleb. And I think Alex wants to date me. Which I can’t do.”

“He wants to what?” he asks with more venom than I’ve heard in a while.

“What, you don’t think people can find me attractive now?” Yeah, because when I’ve had one too many this is the person I turn into.

“Sky, I didn’t say that.”

“You don’t have to. It was implied by how you expressed that question.”

Caleb wraps his hands around mine, pleads with me. I snap, “Leave me alone. Just go. I wish I never met you!”

He nods, lets go of my hands, and makes his way out of my room. And there was the idiot version of me displayed for all to see. I vow never to drink again.

Chapter 38

Caleb

I give up. I have little to no interaction with Skylar for a few weeks. But my uncle guilt-trips me into attending her long-ass meets. Erie Conference, Sectionals, and now Sky’s at Districts. She’s competing for a spot at State. I swear I’ve seen the same event twelve times now. I literally want to beat my skull against these bleachers.

“Jesus, how many more of these before it’s her event?” I ask.

“Um, this is heat five. She’s in heat six,” Erin says.

What the hell is the purpose of all these heats? Why can’t they have two and say sorry to the other thirty-two swimmers? I mean, for shit’s sake, that’s why this bullshit meet takes so freaking long. I’ve been listening to her swim lingo for weeks and I’m still lost. “She’s up,” Erin says.

“Is she done after this?”

Erin shakes her head. “Not even close.”

I slouch as much as I can in these uncomfortable bleachers. And to think there are people who enjoy watching this.

Skylar steps up to the blocks. She’s in lane five. A person hits my legs and I look up to tell them off but the shock of who it is paralyzes me. Sky’s dad smiles at me and mumbles an apology while taking a seat beside my uncle. “I know, I missed some. Our flight was delayed,” her dad says. Erin smiles.

Lidia slaps my knee when she plops down beside me. “How’s she doing?” she whispers, and she sounds genuinely interested.

I smile because I know their presence will make Sky happy. “Good. She’s about to swim her five hundred free.”

“Five hundred?”

“Yards. Twenty laps.”

She nods. I’m pretty sure it went in one ear and out the other, though. “So, I’ve got a few questions for you.” She pokes me in my arm. “And if you don’t answer them now, I’ve got until Tuesday to get them out of you.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Okay.”

“How come my sister sounds utterly wrecked when I call? Want to tell me what’s going on? I mean, she used to be annoyed or busy when I called, which is typical. She and I have that kind of relationship. But for the past couple of weeks, she’s sounded depressed and mopey.”

“I … uh … I don’t really know.”

She eyes me up. “I call bullshit! I don’t know you very well, Caleb, but I can tell when someone is lying. And you, sir, are lying.”

“I accidently knocked someone up. So Sky broke up with me.” There, I said it.

“You got some other girl pregnant while Skylar was in New York?”

I shake my head. “Apparently it was before we started dating. Anyway, long story short, your sister loathes me.”

She laughs. “No, she doesn’t. If she hated your guts, trust me, she wouldn’t sound like her whole soul was ripped from her body. She certainly didn’t sound that way when she and Kevin broke up.”

I concentrate on the gorgeous girl swimming in lane five and wish with all my might that whatever her damn sister is saying is true.

“She’s better off without me.” I sigh. “Look at her. She’s got her whole future ahead of her. What the hell do I have to offer her? Nothing. I love her too much and all I do is hurt her.”

Lidia smiles. “Skylar is lucky. To be loved by someone like you.”

***

Skylar is swimming her final event for the evening then we’re heading out to eat and coming back tomorrow morning for round two. In her heat for the hundred backstroke, Skylar rises up out of the water, and the gun goes off. All the swimmers dive back into the water. Skylar races, swinging her arms like a giant windmill. One. Two. Three. She flips and keeps at it. The girl next to her is starting to catch up. Skylar looks like she’s coasting through the water, not at a fast pace at all, but the time on the board says differently.

“Come on, Sky!” Lidia shouts.

“Go, honey!” her dad shouts. I remain quiet. I want to cheer her on, I do. But I’m probably the last person she wants cheering for her. Not that she can hear me from this distance anyway.

Sky sprints to the wall to end the race and smacks it with what looks like the back of her head. I stand up. She pulls herself from the water but not as quickly as usual. I don’t wait; I react by running down to the pool deck, hopping over the railing separating the crowd from the swimmers. A couple of guys in white polo shirts try to stop me, but I use my football skills to dodge the one, then break the hold of the other by twisting my body and running to her.

She sways a little and I catch her just in time. Her eyes lock with mine and she mumbles, “Always my hero.”

“Babe, don’t go to sleep. Don’t go to sleep on me.”

“Caleb, did you see me?”

I nod. “Yeah, baby. I saw. You did so good. Hey, you can’t go to sleep, though. Someone is here for you. You’ve gotta stay awake for them.”

She nods, but it’s so overly exaggerated it scares me. I try to pull her away from the other swimmers and officials. I don’t want them to see her and disqualify her. I head to the stands. Coach Grim meets us right at the stairs, looks her over, and then asks me if she’s okay.

I lie. I’m not going to destroy her dreams. I’m not going to bring agony to her ever again, and honestly, she could be fine by tomorrow. So there is no reason to tell the truth. Not yet at least.