Page 39 of Rival Hearts

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I wished Lila wasn’t peering at me quite so closely.

“Oh my God. You have! When?”

“It’s not what you think.”

Silence draped around us. Expectation practically vibrated off Lila while she waited for me to cave, to explain, but I planned to hold strong. This was the piece I hadn’t told her about the night Trent was arrested. After months of Grady and I dancing around each other, he’d come home drunk to find me in Trent’s room. Like so many other times, I’d gone to the Castillo house knowing Trent was out. It hadn’t been him I’d wanted to see. When Grady had seen me sprawled across Trent’s bed, he’d flirted from the doorway and then invited me to look through his bookshelf.

In his room, I’d moved the conversation from books to his songwriting. When I’d taunted him, he’d given me a wry look and dug his guitar out of his closet, settling on the bed, patting the spot beside him. I’d sat, watching him strum away while he walked me through how he came up with lyrics and melodies. Intoxicating. Being there, with him, seeing him do it. A secret unfolding right in front of me. When I’d glanced up, his look had been raw with hunger, and without thinking I’d stretched up and pressed my lips to his.Trent and I aren’t what you think.Those words had hung between us for a beat before sending us spiraling out of control. His guitar sliding to the floor, me falling into his arms.

“You’re really not going to tell me?” She huffed.

My phone rang in the living room, and I left Lila to answer it. One of my loyal supporters from Grady’s street was so irate, I could barely understand her. I half listened as Mrs. Hernandez complained about the two campaign signs which had gone missing, and how Tyler needed to get her another one, buthe wasn’t answering his phone. That meant she’d called Tyler and me at seven thirty in the morning. Some people had no boundaries.

After I’d appeased Mrs. Hernandez and hung up, Maggie turned to Lila. “Do you think he knows what Sabrina is doing?”

She shrugged. “You know Grady better than I do.” She smirked.

“No point in guessing when I can just ask him in person.” I headed down the hall toward my bedroom.

“Do you want me to come?” Lila called.

“No!” I didn’t need her to witness the sinking of my stomach if he knew what Sabrina was doing and didn’t have a problem with her taking the signs. We’d been starting to thaw. This next conversation might lead to another cold snap, possibly even frostbite.

I slammed the obnoxious brass knocker on Grady’s door and then rang the doorbell right away. Patience was a virtue I usually possessed. Sabrina’s car was in the driveway, and it made me want to tuck my tail between my legs and leave. Cowardliness wasn’t my style anymore, and the realization Grady could make me feel that way, that Grady’s actions mattered, fanned the flames of my rage.

The only thing I cared about was getting my signs back. Whether he was sleeping with Sabrina Kim or not was none of my concern. The coffee in my stomach swirled.

The door swung back, and he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Maggie? Is someone dead? Why are you here so early?”

“I’m feeling a bit murderous, but no one is dead yet.”

“Grady?” Sabrina’s high-pitched voice sounded from behind him. “Come back to bed. It’s too early.”

“I know you don’t have a job, but doesn’t she have one?” I hissed. “Or, I don’t know, three small kids she needs to get to school?”

He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “It’s Saturday. Why are you here?”

“Some of my campaign signs have gone missing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But you should probably be knocking obnoxiously on Tyler’s door. He’s the one who orders those, right?” He stepped back from the door to ease it closed.

“Someone has been stealing them.” I shoved my heeled foot in the entryway, cringing at the thought of it getting caught in the door. The two dogs poked their heads into the gap, helping my cause.

“Grady!” Sabrina whined from inside the house. “Tell them to go away.”

He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, and the movement made my heart squeeze in my chest. Such a familiar pose, and it never failed to make my insides flutter. At one time, seeing him like this had churned my insides to butter. I gritted my teeth, and the beat of sexual attraction throbbed between us, unwanted, at least by me.

Hate. That was all I felt.

“All right, I’ll bite, Maggie May. Who’s been stealing from you?” There was a tenderness in his gaze I tried to ignore, as though he found me more amusing than infuriating. One of his hands strayed to stroke the dog beside him. Clearly, he had Sabrina Kim in his bed, and that told me all I needed to know.

“You know the thief quite intimately.”

He chuckled and rolled off the door to stretch his arms along the top of the frame. “Doesn’t exactly narrow it down.”

“Gross.”

Amusement played across his features. “Quit playing games and spill it.”

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