Broken and Screwed (BS #1)(34)

“I am. I have a whole day planned tomorrow.”

“What? Eating? Maybe sleeping? Whoop de doo, Miss-Party-Girl-That-You-Used-To-Be.”

She wasn’t far off, but I puffed my chest out and ignored the painful reminder of my old self. “No, I was going to watch Jesse’s game tomorrow. It’s being televised.”

“Well, guess what?” Her eyes gleamed at me with purpose.

I was suddenly nervous.

“You can actually go to his game. They play in Vegas, and Marissa’s already got tickets for us. She said Cord owed her and he’s on the team, so what’s your next argument with that?”

She’d beaten me. Or the idea of seeing Jesse again had done the trick. I swallowed over a knot from anticipation and tried to tell myself that I was going to pack a bag because Angie had won this argument. Then I shook my head and my heart picked up its pace. I couldn’t lie to myself. I was going to see Jesse. The idea had my hands sweating already.

“Fine.” But I said it slowly and oh-so-reluctantly.

She smirked. “And don’t even try to pretend that you’re not excited about seeing your guy again. We all know differently.”

I froze. What did she know?

Then she admitted, “I’m a little excited to see him play. He’s our hometown celebrity. Maybe we should ask for his autograph.”

Justin frowned. “I don’t like that idea.”

Angie laughed before she draped herself over him and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Then she pressed a kiss to his cheek and hugged tight. “Oh, come on. I love you, but Jesse Hunt is gorgeous.”

A small grin escaped his frown. “I have a little bit of a man crush on him. I’m man enough to admit that.”

As I went up to my room, I couldn’t hold back my smile. I was excited. I wasn’t even going to try and stuff it down. It was the first time in a long time I’d felt that emotion. When I checked my cell phone, I got even more excited. It was a text message from Jesse, but then I read it.

‘U in Vegas? Your folks are here, said they stopped in for a few days before some trip? U here? Call me.’

I plopped down on my bed.

Everything went numb. The phone fell from my hand and I couldn’t do anything. I sat there. And I didn’t know how long I was there until Angie poked her head around the door. She had a wide smile on her face, but it vanished in a heartbeat. She pushed through the door and sat beside me. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.

Then she bent and lifted the phone from the floor. After she read the text message, she studied me for a moment. Her voice was so small when she asked, “You didn’t know they were going there?”

I shook my head. I still couldn’t speak.

“How long has this been going on?”

Everything in me throbbed. My heart ached. My head hurt. I couldn’t get my fingers to work, but I rasped out, “What?”

She lifted my phone. “Your parents. They upped and left you. Now they went to see Jesse and you didn’t even know. Or did you?”

I shook my head. Why did everything hurt? It always hurt.

She sighed. It was a soft sigh, one that spoke of so much emotion. “I’m sorry, Alex. I really am.”

I jerked a shoulder up. What did it matter?

Then she asked the question I’d been dreading. “How long have you and Jesse been texting?”

My eyes closed.

She watched me. I felt her gaze. And I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to push that button. And she expelled a ragged breath. “Okay. I’ll leave that one alone, but I’m going to ask you later. You know I will.”

I nodded as I bit my lip. Even that slight bit of pain was welcomed. It distracted from the other pain inside of me. I was helpless against that form.

One of Angie’s hands caught the side of my head and she pulled me against hers in a side-ways hug. We stayed there, with her arm around my shoulder and then she said, “I’m sorry, Alex. I really am for what I can’t even imagine has happened.”

My eyes clasped shut. The tears were there, they wanted to cascade out, but I couldn’t let them. It’d be over if I did. I’d been holding everything in so well until then. I couldn’t let it happen now. Not now.

But my hand grasped her arm and I held on tight. I didn’t want to move away, not in this lifetime.

CHAPTER TWELVE

My stomach was in knots the entire time in the plane, so when we landed in Vegas, I was barely able to stomach the idea of food. Angie and Justin suggested food, but I shook my head and they grabbed something on the way from a food cart. It didn’t take long to get our bags and then we were in the taxi and headed towards Marissa’s hotel. As we got closer to the Tropicana, my heart was pumping louder and louder. I couldn’t believe Angie or Justin hadn’t heard it.

When the taxi got to the hotel and we walked into the lobby, Marissa and Eric were waiting for us. She jumped up and down, waving her hand. As she lifted her arm each time, her white dress inched down a centimeter with each wave. As we started in their direction, she grabbed Eric’s hand and dragged him towards us. We were met halfway. Marissa kept bouncing up and down, hugging each of us. When all of us had been greeted, she repeated the process and repeated it again.

“You’re here! You’re here.” Marissa clapped. “Yay, yay!”