Page 38 of Players Love Hard
I glance over at the house across the street where a group of girls are sitting on their porch staring at me. A few of them wave at me. One says, “Hello.” Annoyed, I raise my hand to wave, and then turn around to rush past Preston and into the house.
“What’s up with her?” Preston asks.
“She found out about Cece,” Tucker says from the couch in the living room.
“Shit, that sucks,” Preston says. “But you’re not with Cece… right? You better not be back with that bitch.”
“No, I’m done with Cece.” My tone is defensive. “She kissed me. I didn’t kiss her back. I told Shannon Cece is a friend from my past. She went through my desk and found some old pictures of me with Cece. And that’s what all the drama’s about.”
“You shouldn’t have lied,” Preston says, following me upstairs. “Women always sniff that shit out, and then it comes back to bite you in the ass.”
“Tell me about it,” I shoot back.
I enter my bedroom with Preston on my tail and go straight to my desk. Digging through the open drawer, I flip through the pictures of Cece and me that Shannon left on top. Just seeing Cece’s beautiful face makes my stomach do somersaults. My heart aches as I recall all the good times I had with her. But they never lasted long.
Every time I see Cece at an event, it reopens the old wounds. She claimed my heart so many years ago that sometimes it feels like it’ll never repair itself. We share a special connection, one I can’t deny.
Shannon’s amazing, beautiful, smart, and everything I ever wanted.
And nothing like Cece.
I need time to process my feelings for Shannon. Maybe the break will do both of us some good. On the one hand, I have a girl who really gets me even though she’s the Devil. But on the other, I have a girl who’s incredible, and I’ve slowly been falling for her one day at a time.
Until I saw Shannon running out of the house, I didn’t understand how I felt about her. I need her in my life, but I’m torn between two women. Is it possible to love them both? Cece can crush me as she has done every time we get back together. And that’s also a problem because I need to get over Cece.
Preston rips the pictures from my hands and throws them in the trashcan next to my desk. “Forget about her, J. She’s a waste of time. The only person Cece cares about is herself.”
“My dad is merging with 10X Games,” I admit. Every instinct in my body wants to fish the pictures from the trash. “They’re absorbing my dad’s company.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it aloud. The news came as a shock, one I still haven’t adjusted to. My dad said it was a good move for our family and his company, but something was off about his explanation.
Preston gasps. “Why? That makes little sense.”
I sink down on the chair and run my finger over the mouse, waking the computer monitors. “I wish I knew. I thought about snooping around to see what he’s hiding, but I don’t want to violate his trust.”
“What about Mike or Grace?” He sits at the edge of my bed, the mattress dipping from his weight. “Can’t you ask them? Or your mom?”
“I already did. Mike wouldn’t even tell me about the announcement until I heard it from my dad’s mouth while he was on stage at 10X Con. All of them have the same rehearsed answers. It’s like my dad coached them.”
“I don’t get it.” Preston tugs at the frayed seam of his shirt and sighs. “Your dad has always taken pride in the fact his company is family owned and run. Why would he sell it to Cece’s dad? He hates him.”
“I know.” I bite the inside of my cheek and pull the keyboard in front of me, hitting each key in anger. “She rubbed it in my face at the convention right before she kissed me. Cece does nothing without a plan. She knew the cameraman was there. It was too convenient that we had our picture taken at the exact moment she kissed me. I have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach she’s somehow behind all of this.”
I do another Google search, what feels like the hundredth one since my dad made the announcement and scroll through the web pages discussing the merger. Before Christmas, I was leaning toward working for my dad after graduation. Now everything has changed. I’ll never work for Kevin Carmichael. I cannot tie my future to Cece.
Preston leans forward, resting his elbows on his thighs while staring at me. “How is Cece behind the merger?”
I roll my shoulders against the chair and scan the contents of another new article. “Maybe I’m just paranoid.” For the first time in what feels like days or weeks, I laugh. “I sound like fucking a lunatic.”
Slowly, Preston nods, a mocking expression on his face. “You haven’t been yourself. Ever since The Queen started posting about us, you’ve been… I don’t know… different.”
The thought of her alone causes me to grind my teeth together, and then something occurs to me. “A while ago when I was looking for The Queen, she sent me a video game.”
Preston’s eyebrows rise in curiosity. “What was it?” He gets up from the bed and moves toward me. “Let me see.”
“I can’t. As soon as my character died, it disappeared.”
He hovers over me, staring down at me with his hands on his hips, ticking his jaw. “Why would she send you a game?”
