Betrayed (The New Yorker)

by M. O. Kenyan

  “This is so unfair; I never get to have fun or get to meet any cute guys.” Catalella pouted.

  “You are going to college in the fall—you will meet the cute guys there.” Lisette turned toward her little sister. She had just graduated and had been accepted to five different Ivy League schools, some of which she hadn’t applied to. Catalella was now going to Harvard in the fall to follow in their father’s footsteps. Law never really interested Lisette—finance was her thing, and her uncle Dennis had taken her under his wing.

  “So what are you going to do, now that you have his number?”

  “I think I will call him. Or text him?” Lisette shrugged. She knew she wanted to communicate with Reno but she didn’t know how best to do it without looking like she was after him. She didn’t want him to think badly of her. But maybe if she did pursue him, he would like that go-getter attitude in her. She stared at the number and dared herself to make contact. She was going to ask him out, and if he rejected her she would move on. It wasn’t like she wanted to marry him and have his babies.

  “Go away, Catalella.” Lisette didn’t need an audience for what she was about to do.

  “But I want to listen in.” Her sister pouted.

  “Not today, baby girl.” Lisette chuckled as she ushered Catalella out of her room.

  “I’m going to call him.” She cheered herself on once she was alone. “And if he doesn’t want to go out with me, whatever, I won’t push the issue.”

  Lisette felt her heart thud faster and harder as the dial tone echoed in her ear. She wrestled with the spontaneous reflex to hang up. She wasn’t going to chicken out, she told herself, she was a Ross, and Rosses went after what they wanted, she reminded herself. But when Reno’s deep baritone voice filled her ear she forgot about being a Ross and felt like a fourteen year old girl.

  “Ha—” She cleared her throat. “Hallo?”

  “Yes, who is this?” The bass voice demanded.

  Get a grip, get a grip. “This is Lisette Ross. We met last night at the bonfire.”

  She heard him chuckle, then he said “I remember. How did you get my number? Did your brother give it to you?”

  “That doesn’t matter.” Liar, because it did. If Adrian found out she was snooping in his phone and was bold enough to ask a complete stranger out on a date she would get a hiding. “I was wondering where you lived?”

  “What?” The surprise in his tone was obvious.

  “I want to pick you up and take you out on a date, and I can’t do that if I don’t know where you live.” Remain firm, Lisette told herself.

  “I don’t remember you asking me out on a date, and I sure as hell don’t remember saying yes.”

  “You could just tell me your address right now, or I could get someone to find it for me.”

  His laughter knocked her off her game. Was he laughing at her? “What’s so funny?”

  “You are. Look it’s very flattering but I don’t think I want to go out with you. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

  Lisette stared at her phone when the line went silent. She had been dismissed and mocked. Rage and fury replaced the adoration she had for the man. She was going to show him—he wasn’t going to dismiss her like that and get away with it. The anger she felt helped her keep the fear of her next task at bay. AJ had to know something about Reno, and by the end of the day she was going to find out, even if she had to do her brother’s laundry for a week.

  * * * *

  Reno stared at his phone and couldn’t help but laugh. He saved Lisette’s number—he was sure he would need it in the future. Right now he had some business he had to take care of without dragging her in the middle.

  “Get geared up, son!”

  Reno turned toward his coach and nodded. He had gotten to NYU on a football scholarship. He had a mind to turn it down at first, but then his mother had died that senseless death and the need for revenge ached in him. It got even worse when he found out just how alike he and his ‘father’ were. But meeting Lisette had almost made him change his mind. He had decided to stay away from her, but apparently Lisette had other ideas.

  Reno picked up his helmet and ran out to the field. He needed to hit a couple of things, and then maybe he might just be able to keep the beautiful Lisette Ross off his mind and focus on his target, Dennis Kent.

  * * * *

  Lisette sat on the bleachers, her eyes focused on the football pitch trying to get the number of Reno’s jersey. No matter where she looked she couldn’t find the name Kanaloa on any of the jerseys. She shrugged and got up to leave. Maybe AJ was mistaken. Then she saw someone take a hit, and the gigantic body that had hit him, stood over his seemingly lifeless body.

  “Shit man, don’t kill him,” she shouted, and just then the hitter took off his helmet and there he was—Reno Kanaloa. Lisette smiled and waved but he didn’t seem as happy to see her. He helped his teammate up and jogged across the field. Lisette didn’t want to admit it but it looked like Reno was trying to get away from her.

  “Awesome job, baby!”

  Lisette turned in the direction the cheer came from. She spotted the blonde Reno had been with last night when they bumped into each other at the bar. She hadn’t thought it was anything serious, but her being here suggested otherwise. Maybe he didn’t want her around because of the blonde.

  “Hi, are you cheering for number six?” Lisette asked.

  “Uh-huh. Do you know they started the football team just for him?” She beamed. “This guy doesn’t want you, Lisette Ross.”

  Lisette sneered in disgust. She couldn’t take her cheery glow, or the way her blonde hair bounced in curls on her shoulder, or her tight top and shorts. Lisette just wanted to pummel her to the ground.

  “You just used my name,” she said, taking a good look at the girl, once more trying to get a recollection of them meeting. “I don’t know you, so how the hell do you know my name.”

  “The only reason I know your name is because your stepfather is rich.” Lisette sighed with acknowledgement and clicked her tongue. “But what I don’t get is why he picked up trash like you to live in his house.”

  Lisette shrugged off the insult and didn’t let it get to her, but Blondie’s next comment had her on her feet.

  “Maybe your stripper mother knows her trade well. She must have trapped him by getting pregnant with your ugly sister.”

  Lisette was seeing red. She took two gigantic steps toward her target. “What did you say your name was again?”

  “Victoria—”

  “Listen, Blondie—”

  “I said Victoria—”

  “I heard—my head just doesn’t absorb bullshit. If you ever speak about my family like that again, I will knock your teeth out.”

  Lisette had issued her warning and was just about to walk away when Victoria said “Slut—like mother, like daughter.”

  Lisette’s rage led her from then on. She put all her weight and strength into just one punch, and that was enough to have Victoria on her ass, nose bleeding. But the sight of blood didn’t make her feel like she had got her revenge. Instead Lisette wanted more. She sat on Victoria and began slapping her, interchanging hands with the move Victoria’s head made from side to side.

  She swore she was going to pull each and every single blonde lock of hair, and leave Victoria with a shinny bald head. But her attack was stopped when she felt an arm curl around her waist and pull her off her victim.

  “What is wrong with you?” She heard Reno bellow as he set her on her feet, and used his body as a barrier for Victoria. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

  Lisette’s rage was now replaced by embarrassment. Reno was making it clear to the whole football team and her new sworn enemy that he didn’t want her. She chuckled at how ironic it all seemed the one guy she wanted didn’t want her back. She smirked at him and looked past him to Victoria. She already had half the football team fawning over her. “Listen to me very carefully Bitch-toria, if you ever speak of my family aga
in, you won’t know what hit you.”

  Lisette turned on her heel in a huff and stormed off. She had reached the school parking lot when she heard someone run up behind her. She took a look over her shoulder and there was Reno. Not thinking her next action through, all Lisette knew was she wanted to get away. She began to run to her car. She unlocked and opened the front door, and jumped in. Lisette was just about to pull away when Reno planted himself in her path.

  She rolled the window down and shouted out. “You’d better get out of my way or I will run you over.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” His lips curled into a sly grin.

  “What do you want, my ego can only take so much rejection in one day,” she yelled again.

  “Get out of the car.”

  “Why, you want payback for your bitch of a girlfriend.” Just then she saw his face cringed as if he were in pain. Awesome Lisette, she chided herself. “I didn’t mean that you were going to hit me. But she deserved it.”

  Lisette watched as Reno walked to the passenger door. She rolled the window down and for a few seconds they just stared at each other.

  “What did she say to you?”

  “I’d rather not repeat it.” Lisette stared straight ahead as her fingers curled tighter around the leather steering wheel.

  “Nice car.”

  “Thanks, it’s supposed to be safe, fast and it looks good too.” She scanned the interior of her car.

  “You don’t seem to like it very much.” He grinned.

  “I would rather have a Volkswagen. You know those little cute ones. But my papa says this is much safer. Safety before luxury.”

  “Do you want to go out with me tonight?” Reno asked.

  Lisette stared at him, sure he was going to take back his offer, or tell her that he was just joking. But he seemed serious. Lisette smiled and almost said yes, but then a thought came to mind. “Is this a pity date?”

  “No.”

  “You told me to leave you alone.”

  “I know.”

  “But now you are asking me out?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you always answer questions with one or two words?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Fine. I’ll wait for you here.”

  Reno backed away from the car and turned toward the locker room without saying a word. He was strange and Lisette thought he was getting stranger with each encounter they had.

  Lisette had been keeping her eyes glued to the road and her knuckles were turning white from how hard she was holding the steering wheel. She waited until they were stopped at a red light to sneak a peek at him. He was beautiful, his black hair still damp from his locker room shower, his haircut somehow looking like a Mohawk, his dark skin peeking out of his white flannel shirt, sleeves pushed up to mid-arm and blue jeans held on tight enough for her to see how strong his thigh muscles were. He was delicious.

  She heard him clear his throat and Lisette’s eyes went back to his face. Her hormones distracting the rest of her body so much there was no nerve left for her to feel embarrassed about been caught checking him out.

  * * * *

  “Lisette, the light turned green.” Reno could feel the blood in his veins pump hard into one direction. He was trying to keep a clear head but with the blood heading south he couldn’t. He felt like Lisette’s eyes were picking him apart and the way her eyes roamed it was obvious she was yet to find her favorite spot. Reno didn’t think his groin could take much more inspection before busting. He had half the mind to convince Lisette to park under a bridge somewhere so that he could give them what they both wanted.

  However, as soon as that idea got into his mind, Reno realized how bad it was for him to be with her right now. The only reason why he left with her was because to his shame he had announced she was his stalker, and then there was whatever Victoria had said. He knew how it felt for people to look down their noses at his mother, and the hurt in Lisette’s eyes told him she needed comforting. But he needed something else. He was grateful she had worn a tight pair of shorts, hard to get out of. Her dark succulent thighs peeked from the denim fabric, and that got his heart racing.

  Stop it Reno, Dennis first, then you can have your way with Lisette. That is if she will let you after you destroy her godfather. What if I just focused on Lisette first? God knows when I will feel like this again.

  “You want to share your thoughts or are you going to keep staring at my thighs and licking your lips like the big, bad wolf?” Lisette asked, with a naughty look in her eyes and a sly smile on her lips.

  Reno chuckled as his head fell back to the headrest. He tried to shift his sitting position to accommodate the bulge in his pants struggling to get free.

  “I could park this car under a bridge somewhere and help you with that,” she teased.

  Reno sucked in a breath as his eyes were reduced to slits. “I wouldn’t let you do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you are special to me. I wouldn’t disrespect you like that, by taking you under a bridge. That’s not how our first time together will be,” he swore.

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “What, that I respect you?”

  “Nope—that you are thinking about ‘taking me’.” Lisette mimicked his strained tone. “Don’t worry, my mama taught me better than that. In my experience sex talk is an ice breaker.”

  “It doesn’t help with me.” Reno chuckled. “It would probably be best if you stopped looking at me like you do.”

  “Like what?” She turned to look at him for a second and the cool deep brown of her eyes were filled with humor…and lust.

  “Like you want to have your way with me.”

  Reno watched as she threw her head back and laughed again. Her hand pushing back her thick dark locks. He had dreamt about running his fingers through that thick hair. Reno gave in to the feeling that had been building inside him since the first time he laid eyes on her. He dug his fingers into her hair and let his fingers massage her scalp. That simple gesture earned him a smile that made his soul quiver.

  “Since I am buying lunch, I am taking you to McDonalds.” she smiled. “And since I like you and I don’t want my brother to kill you, I will stop tempting you.”

  “I agree with both suggestions,” he said. “I like you too.”

  “I’m glad, because I was beginning to feel like a stalker.”

  “Well, I have the sexiest stalker in New York.”

  “I really want to sleep with you, but maybe after the summer when we get to know each other better,” she breathed. “Hopefully by then we will be making love.”

  He whipped his head around to meet her gaze. Flames of desire lit her eyes and his heart fluttered at the expression on her face. He felt the strain claim his groin once more. There was a definite promise that she would be in his bed, but the timeline was too extreme. Lisette used the term ‘making love’. He was sure she wasn’t about to give up on the attraction they felt for each other and he realized that neither would he. Somehow he would have to fit in dating Dennis’s god-daughter into his plans.

  * * * *

  Lisette knew that she had shocked him. She had a habit of doing that. All through lunch she could see him sneak a peek at her. His eyes telling everything he felt, even the restraint he had put on himself. Lisette wasn’t about to let him make her break her promise to herself. She was going to wait until she found the perfect man, and sitting across from her, sharing a Happy Meal with her, was the perfect man. She didn’t need to wait for marriage or worse, for circumstances to separate them, before they were together. Reno Kanaloa was her man, her first.

  She stopped the car in front of his apartment building just outside the school grounds. An air of awkward silence hung over them that Lisette was desperate to break. They’d had a wonderful afternoon and now it was dark she knew they were both thinking about a departing kiss.

  “I heard they started a football team just for you,” she said.

  “I
don’t think that’s true,” he chuckled. “I think the school just wanted to have a football team again. I’m sure I had no bearing on that decision.”

  “Cool.” They fell silent again with only Lisette’s light tapping on the steering wheel piercing the silence. “How about you kiss me and we can put each other out of our misery.”

  She meant it as a joke. Not entirely though. She desperately wanted him to kiss her. She just thought putting their thoughts out there would kill this deafening silence. She watched in surprise as Reno got out of the car and walked over to her side. He opened her door and turned her whole body to face him. Holding onto her thighs he pulled her closer to his body, so that her thighs were cradling his waist.

  Her body begun to hum as his hand skimmed up her back and cradled the back of her head. Lisette’s eyes didn’t leave his. She saw his brown pools darken with lust and intent. She was nervous. A twenty-two year old girl about to get her first real kiss, a taste of what she would be getting at the end of the summer. His eyes burned with lust as he brought his face close, the whole time his eyes fixed on hers. Lisette locked her hands at the back of his neck as her eyes drifted closed. She waited for it, and when his lips touched hers she grew hungry.

  Lisette tightened the hold she had on him and pulled him even closer. She could feel his restraint slipping away as she demanded more from the kiss. She felt his chest heave and his breathing went silent as his hands hungrily roamed her body in wonder. She locked her legs around his waist and soon she found herself lifted off the seat and wrapped around him in desperate need.

  When they finally pulled away their breathing was quick and short, as if their lungs were desperately trying to fill themselves with the oxygen that they had missed for those few seconds.

  “I need you to get in your car and drive away.” Reno whispered in her ear, his voice strained and breathy. “Drive away—or I swear to God we won’t make it to the end of the summer.”

  “Call me, please,” Lisette said as he buckled her in and closed her door.

  “How long until you get back home?”