Rival Hearts (Rival Love #2)

by Natalie Decker

  “Can’t, Sky. If she’s right about this, you and Caleb need to know. Especially Caleb.”

  “And if she’s wrong?”

  We hit the doors leading the large parking lot. Kayla turns to us. “I’m getting the car. You pay attention to what she’s driving and where she’s going.” Then she takes off before anyone can respond.

  Lance, Derrick, and I stand there on the sidewalk. Lance is watching Danielle’s every step.

  “You guys, I can’t do this. If we end up being wrong then I’ll literally hate myself for going through with something so crazy. This is the kind of crap jealous exes do, and I’m not going to be that person,” I say.

  Derrick nods. “Makes sense. How about this, we hang back while Kayla and Lance go play detectives.”

  I agree right as Kayla skids to a stop in front of us. “Hop in. We’ve gotta go, people!”

  “You two go. We’re going to hang back here,” Derrick says.

  Kayla frowns. “I’m calling you later, girly!”

  As soon as they speed away, I pull my phone out from my back pocket and call Caleb.

  “Hey, I need a ride.”

  ***

  Caleb pulls up and looks at me and then over at Derrick. “Um.”

  “Hey, man, I wasn’t going to leave her,” Derrick says, climbing into the car. “You’d beat the shit out of me. Besides, I think we should all head to Baby’us.”

  “That’s not funny,” Caleb snaps, glancing at me as I slide into the passenger seat.

  “I’m not laughing.”

  I press my hand against my forehead and sigh. “Derrick, don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Kayla and Lance just sent me a freaking pic. Look.”

  “What the hell are you two mumbling about?” Caleb growls while we leave the mall and turn onto Harper Lane.

  I look over at Caleb and study his face.

  “Sky and Kayla think Danielle isn’t pregnant,” Derrick says.

  Caleb peers over at me. “Really? And why is that? Because I’ve seen her lately. Her belly is getting bigger, and she showed me pictures of our kid. Christ, you were in the living room, too!”

  “I know it sounds crazy, just forget it,” I whisper.

  “No, don’t, man. Look at this shit. Tell me she looks like she did Friday.” Derrick practically shoves his phone into Caleb’s face, more than likely obscuring his vision of the road ahead.

  “Where are they?” Caleb asks.

  “The flipping baby store.” Derrick is not letting this go. Caleb looks pissed. He’s white-knuckling the steering wheel.

  “Right up here, this … Dude, easy with the turns.”

  Caleb skids into the parking lot of the huge Baby’us store. Before I can stop him or even protest he’s out of the car and storming into the place. I glare at Derrick and hurry after Caleb. Last thing I want him to do is hurt someone. Especially if it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. Or God, what if something worse happened, like she lost the baby but hasn’t really mourned it enough to tell Caleb?

  It doesn’t really explain the bags of maternity clothes, though, unless she was trying to exchange them. Oh my gosh, I’m going crazy again. This whole what-if bomb is making me crazy.

  Kayla sees us approach. “Hey, Caleb, what are you—”

  “Where is … What the fuck?” he says.

  A very skinny Danielle strolls past the line of cribs just a few feet in front of us and over to a very pregnant girl. “What do you think about this, Becky?”

  “I don’t want any more blue things. Aren’t there any cute greens or reds?” Becky asks.

  A guy with a woman walks in front of us and the woman, who’s super prego and looks like she’s about to burst, asks, “Do you know which is the best kind of diaper?”

  “Uh, I don’t work here,” I say.

  She smiles. “Great, I can’t even find a correct salesperson!” she wails as her guy glares at me then rubs her back as they walk away.

  “No, Danielle, I want something green or red. Not yellow. Ugh. For God’s sake, you’d think this damn store would have a place to sit down. My ankles are killing me.”

  Kayla smiles at me. “See. Told you she was the devil.”

  “I don’t understand what the hell is happening,” Caleb says.

  “Dude, you’ve been played by that little she-devil!” Derrick says. “Keep up.”

  Lance looks over at me and then Caleb. “You know, you should probably go confront her. Get to the bottom of this.”

  “I actually just want to go home,” Caleb says. He looks like he’s about to be sick. I should probably go too, but I’m so mad.

  I march over to Danielle and ask, right in front of her friend or whoever she is, “So, when are you due again? You know, to have Caleb’s baby?”

  “Skylar, um—what are you—uh, doing here?” Danielle sputters.

  “Baby?” the Becky girls says. “The only one having a baby in this family is me. You better not be knocked up, little sis. This is not a pet. You can’t give them back when you don’t like them.”

  “Oh, believe me, I know it’s not,” I state, squaring up in front of Danielle. “However, I think this one here thinks it’s fun to pretend she’s carrying someone’s child.”

  “Danielle?”

  She looks over at her sister then glares at me. “You tell Caleb, and you’ll ruin everything. He’s finally starting to like me. Why can’t you just back off? No one wants you here!”

  I take a couple steps backward as the last of her words replay in my head. Over and over. My back smacks into something hard, probably a wall, though I didn’t notice any when I stormed over here.

  “You lied to me!” Caleb snarls from really close. I look up and, sure enough, it’s him behind me, not a wall. “This whole time? Your freaking stomach was getting bigger!”

  “Caleb, no, baby, I wasn’t … Well, it’s not what it looks like. I mean … um.” She looks at me and growls, “You ruined everything! You just had to stop at McDonald’s. You should be in jail right now, or still in New York! I thought the message on your car was pretty clear, but no, you just wouldn’t leave! I tried having the school turn on you again, but you continued to stay! You’re like a leech that never dies.”

  I shove her. “You did this because he refused to be blackmailed into dating you anymore!” I tackle her to the ground and raise my fist, ready to let loose on her. “You’re such a fucking bitch! I’m going to kick your ass!” I drop my hand but am suddenly snatched up by my waist and carried toward the front of the store. “Let me go!”

  “Not now!” he growls. He hands me off to Derrick and snaps, “Don’t you dare let go of her.” He whips around to Danielle, who tries running to him, but he stops her. “I have no idea what’s going on with you or why you’re so obsessed that you had to concoct this fucking lie, but you better be damn lucky I don’t sue you. Fuck, you’re lucky I don’t let Sky beat you until you’re unrecognizable.”

  “No one is going to be laying a hand on my little sister,” Becky chimes in.

  Danielle sobs. “Caleb, you don’t—”

  “Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! Don’t come near me. Don’t talk to me. And stay the fuck away from me, my house, and Skylar, forever. Am I making myself clear?”

  Danielle throws herself at his feet and starts crying. “Caleb, please … We can work this out. I love you. Can’t you see I did this because I love you?”

  Caleb shakes his head and starts walking back to me. Derrick releases me back to Caleb, who hauls me out of the store like I’m a package. Once we’re outside, he releases me.

  I’m about to ask if he’s okay, but he throws up a hand and starts walking to his car. This is not what I expected. A hug, a kiss, an “Oh, yay, we can be together” kind of thing … Nope, nothing. Just Kayla giving me a ride home while Caleb speeds off.

  Chapter 42

  Caleb

  Instead of thanking Sky for relieving me of that horrible fate, I leave her in the parkin
g lot. I need to think. I need to plan. And I need to do this away from her.

  Danielle messed up everything. Well, that’s not true. I let her mess up everything. I could have told my uncle forget it and walked away from the deed to my dead parents’ house. I could have said no to the money.

  But it’s the only fucking thing I have left of them. Besides the memories in a photo album,, but that isn’t enough. So I held my ground. I decided to own up and be responsible.

  I’d rather have taken a few hits to my balls than deal with the mess I was going to face. All those colleges I turned away. And Skylar. Fuck, that’s possibly the worst. All that pain I helped cause.

  Driving up to my thinking spot, I let my thoughts fester. I get out of my car and take a seat on the cold ground. The dry leaves crunch underneath me as I take a seat at my parents’ grave. Usually I talk to them. Tell them my thoughts, about my day, sometimes my hopes for the month. But today, I just sit in silence.

  ***

  It’s almost midnight when I stroll into the house. Uncle Brian is watching some highlight reel on the TV in the living room. He pats the seat next to him and says, “So, did you have a good party?”

  “Not really.”

  “Something else bothering you?”

  I almost don’t tell him. What can he do about it? It’s not like Danielle made us pay for any doctor visits or anything. So she didn’t owe us money. She didn’t hold a fucking gun to my head and make me turn down those colleges.

  “Yes.”

  “Is it the whole Danielle thing? Look … I … ”

  I shake my head and stand. “Don’t mention her fucking name ever again!”

  He throws up his hands. “Calm down, Caleb. Take deep breaths and just tell me what happened without blowing up or cussing.”

  My eyes are glued to the floor. I have to focus on something before I snap and start breaking shit. “Danielle isn’t pregnant. And before you ask me if she lost it or whatever, you should know she wasn’t carrying one to begin with.”

  I finally pull my eyes from the floor and look at my uncle Bri. He stares at me, mouth hanging open, and then he swallows. “Caleb, why would she lie about being pregnant?”

  “How the fuck should I know? Do I look like I’m a basket case that needs a straitjacket?”

  He stands and starts to pace the room. “I’m going to call some—”

  “Don’t. Don’t call in favors, lawyers, I just want to never talk about this shit ever again.”

  “Caleb, you need to let me … ”

  “No. It’s my mess. I’m going to clean it up. It might take me a while, but I need to do it myself.”

  He nods. “All right. But we’re getting a restraining order against her.”

  I agree and walk up to my room.

  My hand rests on my doorknob. I look back at Sky’s door and sigh, then enter my own room.

  ***

  It’s been about a week. My uncle had me file a restraining order against Danielle. But she seems to have disappeared. I’ve completely immersed myself in baseball. It’s my backup plan to get myself into a top-notch school. And the cages relieve pent-up stress, anger, and hell if I know what else. I just can’t be at the house, not with Sky there. She probably wonders what’s wrong, but there’s no way in hell I can ask her to be with me, wait for me, when I’ve got no solid future plans. Before, I was going to Duke, but I told them I couldn’t after the whole Danielle incident.

  I need to have my shit together in order to be the person she needs me to be, that she deserves. I’m still waiting on a few people to return my calls. Of course, if I were them and listened to my story, I wouldn’t call me back.

  I take a swing at another fastball, and crack, the ball goes sailing into the netting way in the back. I’m about to hit another fastball, but lose my concentration when she yells, “Caleb Alexander Morgan!”

  The ball dings off the tip of my bat, causing a vibration to ripple down to my fingers and making me drop the bat as I look around the cages. Skylar stands outside my cage with her arms crossed.

  “Sky.”

  “No! You listen to me.” I shut up. “You’ve been pushing me and fighting me, telling me that you love me, telling me how we’re supposed to be together. Yet as soon as you can you just ignore me. If you need time, fine, but you need to tell me that. If you don’t want me anymore, fine, but again, you need to tell me. Because, honestly, Caleb, I’m sick of being the string on your yo-yo.”

  “Sky, it’s not you.”

  She shakes her head and snaps, “Save it. It’s me. I’ve got it. Never mind.”

  She runs off and I just want to beat myself with my bat. Seriously, why in the eff did I start off with “it’s not you”? Yes, it isn’t her at all. I want to be with her. I would be with her, but …

  My phone rings as I step out of the cage. “Hello?”

  “Mr. Morgan?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is Clyde’s friend Harold, I was told to give you a call.”

  ***

  The next day, I send Sky a dozen red roses. I sneak a peek at her face when the guy delivers them in third-period civics class. She doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t even read the card. However, as soon as the bell rings, she marches over to the trash can and tosses them in.

  Yeah, I knew this wouldn’t be easy. She’s super pissed. She has every right to be. I mean, I left her in a parking lot, ignored her, and then said “it’s not you” when she confronted me. I’ve got to step up to the plate or I’m going to lose her forever.

  The following day, I send her chocolates. Again, she doesn’t look at me. She tosses them into the trash and acts like I don’t even exist. Yeah, this is a kick to the nuts, my friends.

  I keep buying her things, and each day the damn shit ends up in the trash. What the hell does she want? I intend to go find Kayla, but she hunts me down first. “Caleb, you have to quit.” I’m about to ask her what Sky wants, but she clamps her hands down on my shoulders and shakes her head. “Stop buying her things. She can’t be bought. You have to think outside the box here. And just a heads-up, she wants to go to something.” Kayla points to the prom poster and then heads off.

  Chapter 43

  Skylar

  This whole week has been really weird. First, I turned Danielle in for the vandalism. Thank God for Kayla, she had the confession all on tape. Danielle’s uncle was so not happy when he heard her confession, but he did apologize to me. The school pressed charges against Danielle, but she’s still a minor, and the courts found her unstable. So, she’s in a twenty-four hour psych ward. Of course, that’s not really why my week has been so weird.

  I figured after the whole Danielle incident Caleb would be happy and want to be around me. He isn’t. He avoids me like I have the plague and, honestly, it hurts.

  I found him at the batting cages and demanded to know what’s wrong. But as soon as he started that sentence, “it’s not you … ” I knew exactly where the conversation was heading. So screw that, I was not about to listen to that nonsense.

  The next day in class I got this beautiful bouquet of roses. And any other time I would probably gush and be like, “Awww.” But I’m ticked off. He can’t just start that whole “it’s not you, it’s me” speech and then send me flowers so all is forgiven! I don’t want his damn roses.

  Then he sent me chocolates. And the next day, a cute stuffed bear holding a heart. I thought about beheading the bear and sticking the head on his desk. Instead, it ended up in the trash like all the other presents.

  But as I sit in class on Friday, he puts a box on my desk. It’s a small jewelry box.

  “That’s it!” I whip around in my seat in English and smack the box on his desk. “I don’t know what is wrong with you, but I don’t want your stupid apologies in the form of roses, teddy bears, or for God’s sake, whatever the hell this is!”

  Ms. Norris clears her throat while Caleb stares at me. His face has no emotion to it. “Miss Fletcher, please take the hal
l pass and go to the restroom, or possibly the guidance office. Just get some air.” I take the pass as my face heats with embarrassment. “Mr. Morgan, will you please stop making this poor girl uncomfortable? I don’t want to have to turn you into the office.”

  ***

  I head to the youth center after school. Playing basketball with the kids makes me feel better. Well, most of the time. But today it leaves me drained and unsatisfied. All I keep thinking about is Caleb.

  Later, I enter my room sweaty, gross, and ready for a nice shower. I drop my bag off at my desk and have started to strip off my clothes when I hear a throat clear. I turn around and see Caleb sitting on my window bench. “Hey. I wanted to let you know I was in here.”

  I bunch my top over my bra and, as heat spreads across my face, I ask, “Did you need something?”

  “I do.” He walks over to me, and I think, Yes, he’s finally going to kiss me. He does still want me. He pushes a strand of my hair back, and as I wait for his lips, he says, “I wanted to know if you still wanted to go to the baseball game. If not, I can take Lance.”

  My face falls. “Oh. Um. Yeah, go ahead and take Lance.” Guess I deserved that for my outburst at him in class.

  He nods. Doesn’t crack a smile or show me any kind of emotion. Again, nothing.

  ***

  My first softball game is in three days. Lidia is on spring break starting today so she’s coming. My mom said she could stay all week, and I guess Lidia is bringing Malcom with her. That should be interesting. I wonder if Dad knows about this? Pretty sure he’d flip.

  I’m on my way to go pick them up at the airport after school, traffic is thick. It’s annoying moving two inches every five minutes. In my cupholder my phone buzzes. “Hello?”

  “Hey, where are you?” Lidia asks.