Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(52)
“I’m sorry,” I told Cord and then he really did hug me, awkward as it was.
I shouldn’t have betrayed his trust and I was worse than garbage for hurting some innocent girl just because I could. Cord may have executed the deed but I was the architect of the plan. I was awful. I was a Gentry.
And yes, I was sorry.
“Steph,” I whispered in the darkness, pulling my head out of the past. I’d been lying there staring at the ceiling for hours while Stephanie slept beside me. I kissed her shoulder, then moved my lips over her breasts. We’d rocked the walls tonight, just like I said we would. It had driven me nuts all evening, watching her get sexed up in her red dress as I saw other guys glancing her way, and knowing she was mine all the while. Mine! Now I wanted her to wake up, to hold me and tell me the things I only wanted to hear from her. She grumbled in her sleep and pushed me away.
With a sigh I got out of bed and yanked some boxers on, intending to head for the kitchen. I was suddenly hungry.
My brother’s wife was sitting quietly at the table, a glass of milk in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking a chair across from where she sat.
Saylor winced. “Heartburn. Can’t sleep. I was afraid all my irritable rolling around would keep Cordero awake.” Her green eyes surveyed me. “You okay, Chase?”
“Yeah. Just feeling a bit restless I guess.”
She squeezed my arm gently. “Because of your argument with Creed? Or is there another reason?”
I exhaled. “All kinds of reasons.”
“Well I can name one thing you’re sure about.” She smiled. “Stephanie. In fact I’ve never seen you so sure about anything.”
“You can tell me the truth, Say.”
“I always do, Chasyn.”
“You think it’s good between me and her?”
She was confused. “What the hell difference does it make what I think? It doesn’t. Look,” she said, leaning forward. “I wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass what anyone had to say about me and Cord. I knew I belonged with him.”
“I belong with her,” I said firmly. “I do.”
She gave me a stubborn look. “Then you damn well don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
My brother had married gold. Pure gold. I gave her a brilliant grin. “You’re awesome, Saylor Gentry. Now what are you thinking about naming those babies? I want right of refusal.”
We talked a little while longer and then Saylor started yawning. “I’m gonna give this sleep thing another try.” She poked at her stomach. “Now you guys cooperate or I’m telling Daddy.”
She started to shuffle to her room but I called her back. She looked at me questioningly. I had told her before, months earlier, that I was sorry about what I’d done to hurt her so long ago. I had the sudden urge to say it again. But I knew it would be more for me than for her. It would dredge up long finished pain just so I could scrub my conscience a little bit cleaner.
So all I said was, “’Night, sis.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Stephanie
I had to tell him.
I couldn’t tell him.
Every day something happened to make me fall more in love with Chase. Often it was a tiny act, like the way he took my backpack from my shoulder and insisted in carrying it himself as we walked across campus. Chase never looked at other girls, no matter how doggedly they tried to get him to respond to them. We fought sometimes, but always about trivial things that seemed designed for us to clash over only so we could passionately reconcile almost immediately.
But then came the night when I scared him. I did something he’d never seen me do before. Chase figured out there had to be a big reason why.
I had already started my waitressing job at Cluck This. It sucked. I didn’t know how the hell Truly could pull it off so cheerfully; dealing with the chronic whining about the degree of crispiness of the goddamn chicken or the demands for a specific brand of Tabasco sauce that only exists in countries near the equator. A few hours of that would be enough to make anyone feel slightly violent.
After our shift ended I said good night to Truly and headed over to Chase’s place. We’d started spending almost every night there since things hadn’t really cooled off between him and Creed. It was quietly assumed that he and Truly would be at our apartment while Chase and I slept several blocks away in Chase’s bedroom.
“Miss you, Steph,” said Truly before I took off. “We should have a girls’ day soon; just you, me and Saylor.” She smiled. “No Gentry boys allowed.”
“It’s a date,” I told her and then I waved before climbing behind the wheel of my Buick. When my phone buzzed I assumed it was Chase. It wasn’t.
“Hey, Uncle Rocco,” I said into the phone. Rocco Colletti wasn’t really my uncle. He’d been my dad’s friend since they were both boys on the loose in a tough Queens neighborhood. He wasn’t just into gambling. He was into other stuff too. He’d been keeping tabs on me since my dad went away and I knew it was at Nick Bransky’s request.
“Sorry to be bugging you so late, Steffie.” His voice was hoarse from years of hard living and he used my childhood nickname.
I glanced at the time on the dashboard. “Jeez, it’s got to be one in the morning on your side.”