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My father hardly looks at her. The fact that he’s married wouldn’t be an obstacle, just like it wasn’t an obstacle when he was married to my mother. She’s just not his type, at least a decade above his preferred age bracket.
“Let’s go,” he growls and I don’t even think about disobeying.
Besides, I’m more than ready to exit this scene. A three day vacation doesn’t sound half bad right now.
But before we’re out of the building my father makes a shocking statement. “We’ll need to stop at your house so you can pack.”
“Pack?” All the alarm bells start ringing in my head. “Where am I going?”
“You’ll be spending the rest of the week with me.”
I can almost feel my jaw dropping. Lita and I haven’t spent a single night under the same roof as our father since he moved out three years ago. “What’s Mom going to say?”
“This ismydecision.” He clicks the unlock button of his Ferrari. “Haven, you are intelligent and you seem to know how to handle yourself. It’s possible you might have a role in the family’s future so you ought to see what that future will look like. Now get in the car. Front passenger seat. I’m not a fucking chauffeur.”
This is a shock. Glimpses of Aric Marchenko’s professional world have always been forbidden but I’m aware that it’s a boy’s club. My baby brother will someday be welcomed with a seat at the table but Lita and I are excluded.
I don’t know what to think. Yet the sudden rush of happiness is real. I’ve craved my father’s attention for so long. I never thought I would actually have it.
This is almost enough to take the sting out of the Conner situation. Almost. As for my sister, she’s got her friends and her social calendar and her girlfriend. She’ll certainly be glad to get rid of me for a few days.
As I click the seatbelt in place my phone goes off again. This time I haul it out, look at the screen and see the flurry of texts from Lita. I switch the phone off and stuff it back into a zippered pocket.
Our mother is sure to have hysterics over this visit with her despised ex. Lita will certainly get an earful. My whereabouts will not be a mystery to her so I don’t feel the need to answer her call.
The cold reality is that Lita and I won’t miss each other, not even a little.
My father checks his own phone, hisses out a curse and throws it on the dashboard before backing up. He’ll just get annoyed if I ask him the reason. I say nothing.
Instead, I take a look out the window at the pretentious school I hate and discover that I’m being watched.
Conner stands in the shadow of the science building, beneath a shedding willow tree. He is not supposed to be out here and he is alone. Today is a game day so he’s allowed to dress in his team jersey instead of the starchy school uniform. The number twenty-nine blazes from the center of his chest like an insult.
“I’ll remember that. In fact, someday when I make varsity it’ll be my jersey number. For real. I swear it.”
He did use the number. But the part that included me was erased. Even if I told him the story of why he wears that number, he probably wouldn’t believe me.
Our eyes meet. I smother the usual rush of giddiness that has the power to steal my breath.
I’d rather feel nothing for him. It’s not easy.
He lifts his hand and waves. I turn my head away without waving back.
The whole school believes that I fucked Conner Wiseman in a spare bedroom at Gage Silvestro’s party.
Let them keep believing that.
I haven’t told any lies.
I just don’t give a shit when everyone draws their own stupid conclusions.
The truth is, I didnotlose my virginity to Conner at Gage’s party.
We kissed. We took off our clothes. Wealmostdid it all.
But Conner refused to have sex with me, even when I asked him to. Knowing his reputation, I thought that part must be important, like he felt something special was happening.
Wrong. So very wrong.
