FALSE 9: Red Card Series

by Erickson, Megan

  “I put a splash of milk in there for you. I forgot to ask, do you have any allergies? The waffles are gluten-free since Michael can’t handle it well. And the fruit is all mixed together, so I hope strawberries are okay. For waffle toppings, we have real maple syrup, honey, and dairy-free whipped cream.”

  Bianca looked at me with big eyes, and I just grinned at her. She took a sip of her coffee. “I’m not allergic to anything except poison ivy. And this all looks like so much trouble. I would have been fine with toast.”

  “Only toast?” Dad looked appalled. “Not in this house.”

  He ushered her over to the table and pulled out a chair for her. She sank down and I sat next to her. “Chopping me off at the knees here, Dad. I’m supposed to be the gentleman.”

  Dad waved his hands in the air, all flustered. “Oh shush.”

  Pop knew better and stayed silent, sat his ass down, and began to dish up the food. Once all our plates were filled, we dug in. I noticed Bianca took a good amount of food—two waffles, a heap of scrambled eggs, pile of fruit, and four strips of bacon.

  Dad had his fork full of fruit halfway to his mouth before he leaped out of his chair. “I forgot the orange juice!”

  He looked stricken. Before he could race off to the kitchen, Pop grabbed his arm, plunked him back into his seat, and ordered, “Babe, relax, you’re going to give yourself a stroke. If someone wants orange juice, they’ll get it themselves.”

  Dad’s back stiffened. “I will not ask guests to serve themselves.”

  “We have one guest,” Pop said. “If she wants orange juice, Lavin can get it for her.” He turned to her. “Sweetheart, do you want orange juice?”

  She flashed her megawatt grin at both Dad and Pop. “No, I’m perfectly fine. Everything is so delicious. I can’t thank you enough. I haven’t had a meal like this in a really long time.”

  Fuck, my girl could read a room. Dad instantly relaxed and ran his hand down his shirt, clearly preening. Pop shot her a proud grin, which then shifted to me. He winked and went back to eating.

  “So how did you two meet?” Dad asked.

  Bianca opened her mouth but I beat her to it. “I ate a burrito.”

  Her head whipped around, hair flying. “What?”

  “A burrito?” That was Dad.

  I grinned and explained how I’d stopped for a burrito and was late for class, which was how I met Bianca. “I’m sure she wouldn’t have noticed me if I didn’t get up and crash the whole thing.”

  “It was cute,” Bianca said. “You were adorable.”

  “I was a doofus.”

  “Yeah, but a cute one.”

  “What if I wanna be a handsome doofus?”

  She patted my cheek. “Okay, handsome doofus.”

  We were mostly all finished eating, except Pop who was on his second helping even with a stern glance from Dad. He shoved some fruit in his mouth and twirled is fork at us. “Explain what happened that last night that had you running here.”

  I met Bianca’s gaze and waited until she nodded with a nervous swallow. Once I had her permission, I filled in what information Pop didn’t know yet and focused on the flowers on her porch.

  Pop’s scowl deepened the longer I talked until I told him about the package on her doorstep. Then he cursed. “You tell your uncle yet?” he asked Bianca.

  She shook her head. “I need to call him after breakfast. He probably isn’t home yet.” She pushed around the last scraps of food on her plate. “We only had a private investigator involved, but Uncle Angelo said if one more incident happened, we were calling the local police.”

  Pop nodded and stood up from the table. “Be back in a minute.” He left the room.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Dad said, reaching across the table to give her hand a squeeze. “What do your parents say?”

  She shrugged. “Not much. We’re not close anymore, and they live in the Philippines. Not much they can do from there. They offered to fly here but they won’t accept my money, and they don’t have a lot, so I told them to stay put.”

  Pop returned holding two white boxes. He plunked one down in front of me, and another in front of Bianca. “I was going to give these to you and Theo for Christmas, but desperate measures and all that. Apple watches for you and Bianca. I’ll feel more comfortable if you have something to use in an emergency, plus I can track where you are. I don’t care if it’s intrusive, you’re both wearing them until the police figure out who this person is.”

  “Mr. Saint, I can’t—”

  “Michael. Or Pop,” he said firmly. “And you can. You will. Also no lip about paying me back.”

  “Damn, Pop.” I pulled the sleek black watch from the box. “This is awesome. Thanks.”

  “Thank you. Thank you so much,” Bianca’s head was down, her hair around her face, and I could tell from her trembling voice that she was close to crying.

  I mouthed I love you to Pop and he winked back at me.

  “B,” I said, needing to lighten the mood because this shit was too dark for a Sunday morning. Her head came up, but the fear was still there, lurking in the wetness of her eyes. “You done eating?”

  She nodded. “We need to head back?”

  “Not yet.” I stood up and carried my plate to the sink. “I want to show you something first.”

  She blinked, and anticipation began to overtake the fear in her expression. She brought her plate to me. “Oh? Is it fun?”

  “You bet.” I gripped her hand and pulled her from the kitchen. “Call your uncle and then I’ll show you. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  She went downstairs to the basement and called while I showered. When I came out, she was on the edge of the bed, her cell phone clutched between her legs. I pressed a kiss to her forehead before heading over to my dresser. “How did it go?” I pulled a pair of boxers on under my towel.

  “He’s pissed. Not at me. Just pissed. He’s calling the PI and the police. I’ll have to talk to them when we get back.”

  “Did you tell him you were with me?” Part of me didn’t care if Coach knew anymore. What was he going to do, bench me for the championship game next week? Actually, yes, yes he could.

  She shook her head. “No, I figured we had enough to worry about. I told him I’m staying with a friend from class and we got out of town for the morning.”

  I chewed my lip. “You could have told him the truth.’’

  “No, the last thing I wanted to do was cause more trouble for you right now. It’s fine.”

  “Okay,” I tugged on jeans and a shirt before tossing my towel in my hamper. “We’ll head back soon.”

  “I don’t really want to. Even though I know I have to.” She sighed. I hated to see her shoulders, usually so straight and proud, now slumped.

  I grabbed her hand and tugged her up to her feet. “Hey, it’ll be okay.”

  “I’m glad you think so, but I’m not so sure.”

  “Well at least we have a little bit of time to forget about it all for a bit, huh?”

  She smiled at that. “Yeah.”

  I fished around my closet for a pair of boots for Bianca and told her to put them on. We grabbed our jackets and headed upstairs toward the back door. “Dad. Pop. Heading out for a bit,” I called from where they sat drinking coffee in the living room.

  “Drive safe!” Dad called back before I heard their low voices murmuring to each other.

  I strode toward the back door, but slowed down when Bianca tugged in my grip.

  “But the car is out front,” she said.

  I grinned at her over my shoulder. “We’re not taking that kind of ride.”

  That’s all I had to say before excitement lit up her face and she eagerly followed me outside. It didn’t miss my attention how much she trusted me.

  Our large shed sat in the back of our lot near the edge of the tree line. I told Bianca to wait outside, and then walked inside only to return a minute later, rolling an ATV down the slight ramp onto the grav
el.

  “Are we riding that thing?” Her voice was a squeak, her hands clasped to her chest as she gazed at the vehicle with big eyes. She didn’t even wait for me to answer. She hopped onto the seat, planting her feet on the small footrests.

  I slid a helmet over her hair and then buckled it under her chin. “Don’t worry I won’t go fast. It’s not far, just a few miles.”

  She nodded with a grin. “I’m excited!” Her eyes were bright, and I was proud as hell I had adventurous Bianca back. She bounced on the seat, waiting for me to get my own helmet on. “Hurry up, slow-poke,” she said. “Or I’ll take off without you.”

  “Do you even know how to turn this thing on?”

  She bit her lip, eyeing the console. “I’m sure I could figure it out.”

  I snorted. “Sure, Jason Bourne.” I swung my leg over the seat and started the engine. “Hold onto me!” I yelled over the sound of the motor.

  “10-4!” She yelled back as she wrapped her arms around my waist.

  I shook my head with a laugh and we took off. She squealed behind her, whooping in my ear as we sped down the trail. “Faster!” She hollered.

  I ignored her, because while I was happy she was having fun, she wouldn’t have much fun if we crashed into a damn tree. It’d been a while since I drove the ATV. Still, I took some turns fast, letting the back tires spin out, enjoying her screaming glee each time and feeling emboldened. She gripped me tightly, almost too tightly, her thighs and arms squeezing the life out of me, but damn what a way to go.

  Finally we pulled to a small clearing and I brought the ATV to skidding halt, our bodies jerking before coming to rest. Her breath blew across my neck as she tore the helmet off and leaped from the back. “Oh my God!” Her mouth split into a huge smile, her eyes shining, hair all over the place as she gained her footing in my too-big boots. “That was so much fun!” She jumped up and down, clapping her hands like a kid. “I want one!”

  “You want an ATV?”

  “Yes!”

  “Okay, B, how about we downgrade to a golf cart and you can ride it around campus.”

  She crossed her arms on a pout. “Golf carts are for babies.”

  I rolled my eyes at her teasingly as I slipped the straps of our helmets on the handlebars. Throwing my arm around her shoulders, I tugged her toward a narrow walking path. “Come on, Andretti.”

  She wrapped her arm around my waist as we picked through the overgrown path. I was worried she’d slip on a root or rock with the ill-fitting boots, but she did well. I must have shown my worry because she shot me a look. “One time I had to walk in four-inch heels on a cobblestone runway. This is nothing.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Yeah, one girl fell and sprained her ankle. Badly.”

  “Surprised she didn’t do worse.”

  “Me too.”

  “How did you get into modeling?”

  Her gaze turned wistful. “My mom got me into pageants when I was little. Well, we call them beaucons, and they’re super popular in the Philippines. There I got noticed by some modeling scouts. My parents didn’t have a lot of money so we saw it as a way for me to do something with my life. And I did love it, for a long time. I made good money and now I can put myself through college. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.”

  “So, this is where I tell you that my Pop put me in pageants when I was a kid.”

  Her eyes got huge. “You’re lying.”

  “Am not. I was cute as hell as a kid. I had these chubby cheeks and big eyes. I’ll have you know I won best personality ribbons a few times.”

  She laughed, the sound echoing off the trees. “That might be the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “We’ll have a pageant-off sometime. See if I still got it.”

  “You’re on.”

  We walked for a few more minutes in silence as she took in the wooded area. Eventually, the ground to the right of the path began to dip and a stream came into view, running the opposite way we were walking. The sound of the running water filled the air, mixing with our footsteps and the occasionally skitter of a squirrel and chirp of a bird.

  “It’s so peaceful out here,” she breathed. “Is this your property?”

  “No, this is actually a public park. Our land butts against it. There are campsites, hiking trails, that sort of thing. Mountain bike paths too.”

  “Did you come out here a lot when you were a kid?”

  “Hell yeah. All the time. In high school, my friends and I would sneak out here sometimes and smoke or drink some shitty liquor that my buddy Garrett stole from his grandmother.” I laughed, remembering the burning in my throat and gut the first time I upended the bottle in my mouth. “It was terrible. Some Scandinavian shit called Akvavit that probably burned holes in our stomach linings. We thought we were so big and bad.”

  “Wait, run-a-marathon-a-day Lavin smoked?”

  “I did once. I inhaled an entire lung-full and coughed so hard I puked. I never did it again.” I shot her a glance. “Don’t tell anyone that. I have an intimidating reputation to uphold.”

  She giggled and ran her fingers across her mouth like she was a pulling a zipper. “My lips are sealed.”

  The rushing sound of water drew closer, and I brought us to a stop at my favorite place on the entire planet. A twenty-foot waterfall cascaded down, landing in a small wading area surrounding my large rocks. I led her over to my favorite one, more of a flat ledge that extended a bit over the water. I slid onto it, letting my legs dangle over the edge, and she mimicked my position. There was just about enough room for the two of us. I’d never sat here with anyone else, which was a weird feeling. The view was so familiar, I could draw it in my head, but it looked a little different with Bianca beside me. Everything was sharper, louder, brighter.

  She didn’t speak for a long time, and I didn’t either. For once, I didn’t babble inane shit like I usually did. Bianca didn’t make me nervous anymore. Maybe it was her words this morning, but I was starting to see us as equals in a relationship rather than me just assuming she was coming down from her golden tower to speak to me for a few weeks.

  She sat with her knees hugged to her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins. I wrapped my arm around her, and she placed her head on my shoulder, letting out a contented sigh.

  “I love it here,” she said.

  Maybe I was subconsciously testing her. Because as soon as she said those four words, I relaxed. I needed her to love it here, because it meant so much to me.

  “Every time I had a problem, I came here to talk it out.”

  “With who?”

  “Myself. The water. Every big decision in my life was made here.”

  “Do you have a big decision to make now?”

  “No.” I leaned back on the rock and clasped my fingers behind my head, staring at the sky. Bianca settled next to me, on her side, hands pillowed under her head. “Already made my decision about you. I showed up at the fair, didn’t I?”

  “That was before that package appeared up on my doorstep.”

  “That doesn’t change that I want to be with you, B.”

  She was quiet for a while, her finger lightly stroking the sensitive skin on the inside of my bicep. I shivered when she touched a ticklish spot. She grinned. “You’re a good guy, Lavin Saint.”

  “A good guy? That’s like the kiss of death. I thought nice guys finished last,” I teased.

  She stiffened and drew her finger away.

  I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Her expression was clouded. “I hate the words ‘nice guy.’ That was Mark. My ex. He told me all the time about how he was a nice guy, so because of that I owed him. Everything with him was an exchange to the point that I didn’t want him to do nice things for me anymore, because that meant I had to do something nice back.”

  “The fuck? B, what the hell?”

  She buried her face in her hands and shook her head. “Ugh, I hate talking about this.”

&nbs
p; “We don’t have to, but that’s fucked.”

  “I know that. Now. But then…he was a lot of firsts. I’d been sheltered and didn’t know better. Sometimes nice guys are the worst ones. Because they hide behind that niceness. They use it as a weapon. Or more like currency. They give us nice, and we have to be nice back.”

  I just stared at her, speechless for once in my life because I hadn’t known that. Maybe I was sheltered too, but I didn’t know this was a thing women had to deal with. And now I was paranoid. “Do I…did I ever do that to you?”

  Her reaction wasn’t what I expected. She rolled onto her back and laughed. “You know the answer to that, Lavin.”

  “I guess I might, but I’d like to make sure.”

  She gripped my hand. “Never. It’s why I like being with you so much. You are so fucking real. The realest guy I’ve ever met. What you see is what you get, and I love everything I get from you.”

  I felt like I couldn’t suck in enough oxygen as my heart pounded against my rib cage like a fist. Was this… goddamn… was this what it felt like to fall in love? Because I sure as hell felt like I was base jumping off a cliff. I swallowed and said hoarsely, “I like what I get from you too.”

  She shot me a brilliant smile, and my favorite place just got a whole lot brighter.

  Her head rested on my chest, and I ran my fingers through the ends of her hair as we listened to the soothing sounds of the water. Damn, there I went with descriptions like soothing. Christ, this girl was making me a sap. I grinned at the sky. I was okay with that.

  “I wish we could stay here forever,” she said softly.

  I yawned. Despite the chill in the air, I was warm with the sun on my face and her body pressed against mine. “Me too. But I gotta get back for practice. Coach gave us the weekend off, but the championship game is next Saturday.”

  She sat up with a jerk, looking horrified. “Oh shit, I really am selfish.”

  I braced myself with my palms behind me. “Will you quit saying that? What the hell?”

  She shoved her finger into her mouth, chewing on the nail. “Because I’m taking all your time worrying about myself when you should be focused on your game next weekend.” Her brows crashed in, like she was angry at herself. “Shit.”