Page 24 of Rebound

“Walk where?” I ask as I finish the cookie.

“Hunts Point.” When I gasp at his response he says, “Where do you think? Central Park.”

My eyes narrow as I look at his profile while I drink from the bottled water. I drain half of it in a few huge gulps. He’s not looking at me. He looks straight ahead while he wipes his mouth.

I’ve only recently started to appreciate how full his lips are. They’re a nice shade of pink too. I clear my throat and wonder why the hell this apartment is so hot. “How do you know about Hunts Point?” I cross my arms and look at him up and down in disgust.

“It was a joke. You need to get a personality, not to mention a sense of humor.” He stands and stretches, raising both hands above his head. His shirt rides up and I see a happy trail of soft blonde hair on his defined stomach. I look away. “Come on.” He offers me his hand.

“But people might see us in public together.”

“I know. Lucky for you, ain’t it?” He wraps his hand around my wrist and gently pulls me from the chair. “You might want to stop scowling.”

I pull my wrist and go into the half bathroom that’s down the hall. He’s putting the leftover dessert in the fridge when I return. I walk to him and hold out my hand.

He looks surprised, but he extends his hand as ifto hold mine.

“No,” I tell him. “Here.” I open my hand to give him the gold chain and his championship ring. “I don’t want to lose it.”

“You can wear it,” he says. “I don’t wear them. They’re too bulky.”

I shake my head and put the jewelry on the counter. “Let’s go,” I tell him. He shrugs and opens the front door for me. We don’t speak while in the elevator or while we walk through the lobby to go outside. We walk out the front door and into the stifling summer evening. His building overlooks Central Park, and tonight it’s filled with people, music, and vendors.

“You want something?” he asks while pointing at an ice cream truck.

“Um, no thank you. I’m full.”

He shrugs and we continue to walk. After a while, he’s spotted, and a bunch of kids crowd around him. He stops, shakes hands, and takes selfies. I sit on a bench and watch him. Someone hands him a sharpie, and he signs their shirt. For the next fifteen minutes, he talks to everyone who approaches him. After a while, I buy two bottled waters and wait. Eventually, he manages to move away and joins me on the bench. A few seconds later, a boy who appears to be about eleven approaches us.

“Is that your girlfriend?” he asks, pointing at me.

I open my mouth to say fuck no, but Seth talks first.

“Sure is,” he says while putting one of his long arms across my shoulders. Then he shocks me by kissing my cheek. If the kid wasn’t standing there watching, I’d punch him. Instead, I try to pull away, but he slides closer. The kid giggles before he runs off.

“Sorry about that,” he says.

“If you don’t get the hell away from me, I’m going to punch you in the teeth, Whorekowski,” I hiss.

Chapter 15

Seth

I hate that name, but I don’t say anything. I have to finesse this as best as I can. If I show my hand now, she’ll slap me in the face and never speak to me again. It was a surprise to find her in my bedroom after getting out of the shower, but the way her eyes widened when she saw my naked body, you’d think she’d never seen a man and his naked dick before.

I’m comfortable being naked. I thought she would have gone screaming out of my bedroom, but she stayed. Not only that, but she also followed me into the closet and watched me dress. She wants to be repulsed by me, but she’s not. She doesn’t want to be turned on but she was.

“Here,” she says, handing me a water bottle. “Having to be nice to people like that all the time would annoy the living daylights out of me.”

“I don’t mind it.” I open the water and drink the whole thing in a few seconds. “It’s nice to be liked.” I bet she has no idea what it’s like to be a nobody. The boy whose birth mother died. The one whose stepmother left behind. The skinny lanky kid whose clothes were always too small or too short. The boy no one noticed until he showed a talent for basketball.

I bet everyone loves her. I bet her family showed up for all her special occasions. And she might not live in a great big house,but she didn’t grow up in a trailer. She had love in abundance, and she didn’t have to take care of her parents. She had several people there to take care of her.

“Well, I still don’t like you,” she mumbles, but then she laughs.

“How about my naked body? Do you like that?” I tease. Her water bottle stops halfway to her mouth. She gasps before she looks away from me, but I don’t miss the blush on her face. “No need to be embarrassed. Admit it.”

She clears her throat and says, “Oh, please. I don’t want something that everyone else has had.” She turns her head.

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