Page 84 of Play For Keeps

“I’m going to miss you too, Birdie-girl,” he says with a sigh, pulling her into him for a hug. “But I’m just a phone call away, okay? And we’ll see each other as much as we can. Now, are we going to play a game of Mario Kart before you need to get to bed?”

“Yeah!” She jumps out of his lap to grab the controllers. “I’m gonna beat you this time.”

Jake is quiet the rest of the time I’m packing, and once Birdie is asleep in her bed, he turns to me, his hands moving to my face. “I already miss you. Is that weird?”

His admission makes me want to weep. “It’s not weird. I feel the same way, Jake. You know how much I hate this.”

“I know, and I’ve already cleared my calendar for next week. I told the team I’m away.” Jake brushes his thumb over my jaw. “I want to be with you and Birdie.”

My heart seizes in my chest as my eyes blur with tears. “You don’t have to. I know you’re busy at work. We’ll be fine.”

He lowers his face until his lips brush mine. “I won’t be fine.” He kisses me, and I melt into his arms. It kills me knowing this is our last night together.

“I’m sorry my life is so difficult.” My gaze drops to the floor before my wet eyes flicker back to meet his.

“Baby, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay. I promise.”

“I know.”

“Good girl,” he says with a look in his eye that levels me. Goosebumps break out over my skin.

“You know I love it when you say that.”

“I know everything you like.”

I smile through the tears.

“Let me prove it to you.” Jake pulls me up from the floor. “Tonight is our last night in this apartment. I need you.”

He takes my face between his palms and kisses my jaw, my chin, and my mouth as he backs me down the hall into my bedroom. We take our time undressing one another, both painfully aware that we are running out of time together.

I’m leaving our perfect little bubble.

And somehow, I will have to learn to live without Jake.

TWENTY-SEVEN

FILTHY THINGS ON FACETIME

Everly

“Late night?” Miranda asks as she takes the coffee cup that I hand her. “That is the second time I’ve seen you yawn in five minutes.”

Of course, she would point that out. Typical of Grant’s overly critical mom. Fuck my life. I wonder what she would think if I told her the real reason I can’t stop yawning— that I was up all night doing filthy things on Facetime with my boyfriend.

“The move has kept me busy, and Birdie isn’t sleeping well.”

Miranda frowns. “Is she not happy to be back at Brentwood Academy?”

I look at Birdie on the couch in the other room playing with her dolls. It’s been three weeks since we moved. Three weeks of reminding myself daily that things could be worse. “She’s having a hard time with some of the girls.”

“Birdie? I find that hard to believe.”

Miranda knows very little about her granddaughter. She’s seen her a handful of times in the past year, and even then, she rarely really talks to her. “She does get along well with others, but that doesn’t matter to mean girls, and Brentwood has its fair share.”

Miranda harumphs. “There are mean girls everywhere. It’s just a part of life. It will toughen her up. Birdie can be a little sensitive like…”

She stops before finishing her thought, but I know exactly what she’s thinking. Why did I invite her here? She’s been over for all of 15 minutes, and I already can’t wait for her to leave.

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