Page 60 of Tempting the Player
I wonder if Knox is better at getting Flynn to open up, or Archer or Brogan. Is this about me not knowing the right questions to ask or is this just Flynn? I should know something like that, right? I should be able to have a conversation with my baby brother without him completely shutting down at every turn.
“Did he provoke you by saying or doing something to you?” The idea of Flynn being bullied hadn’t occurred to me until now, but it makes icy-hot rage trickle down my spine.
“No.” He scoffs.
“All right. Did you say something to piss him off?”
This gets an eye roll, but it’s not quite as effective as it might be if his right eye wasn’t half-closed. “No. It wasn’t even about me.” His tone reaches an exasperation that finally breaks the truth free. “Randy was telling everyone that would listen about how he and Mariah hooked up last weekend.”
“O-kay.” I process this information and look for the next logical jump. “He hooked up with a girl you like?”
“No. I don’t even know Mariah that well. She’s a freshman.”
“Then what does that have to do with you?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.” With every word his shoulders creep up until he’s hunched, and his body is tense.
“Look, Flynn, I want to understand, but you might have to spell it out for me.”
“Randy is dating Hannah, okay? They’ve been together since last summer, but every weekend he’s hooking up with some other girl behind her back and then bragging about it to all his buddies. An hour later when it starts to get around school and Hannah finds out and confronts him, he plays it off like people are just talking shit and he’d never do that to her. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“You like Hannah?”
He shoots me a look that I’m sure is meant to say, ‘don’t be stupid, of course I don’t like Hannah’ but pretty much says the opposite. “So, Randy’s a prick and a liar and you hit him because he’s cheating on his girlfriend and then gaslighting her. That sum it up?”
“Pretty much.” His shoulders fall back to their relaxed position.
His bed is pushed back so the entire length is butted up to the far wall. I sit crossways so my back rests against the wall and my legs stretch out over the plaid comforter. “I got in a fight like that once.”
“You did?” Both of his brows rise in surprise.
“Yeah. I had this friend in high school whose boyfriend was just the worst. He was always talking down to her and stuff. I never understood what she saw in him. Then one day I caught him making out with some other girl in the stairway between periods. I don’t even remember throwing the first punch. Probably because I only got off one before he kicked my ass.”
“You got into a fightandyou lost?”
“Oh yeah, he was way bigger than me. It was freshman year, and I was still scrawny and short. He was a junior and captain of the wrestling team.”
Flynn laughs, really laughs, and the sound mixed with his smile makes me feel like Mom is here right now. He looks so much like her when he smiles.
“No way. How did I not know about this?”
“I begged Mom not to say anything.” I smile as I think back to it. “I knew Knox and Archer would give me so much shit, so I told them I got elbowed during practice.”
“And they never found out?”
“No. Mom kept her word. They were still in middle school and by the time Knox got to high school it was old news. And even if anyone had said anything, it was my word against a guy that’d already graduated.”
“They would have given you so much shit,” he says. “What happened with the girl after the fight? Did she break up with him?”
“Eventually, yeah, and we dated for a little while.”
Flynn laughs again, this time a little quieter. “I can’t believe you got your ass kicked.”
Noise outside in the living room grabs my attention. “Sounds like everyone else is home.”
“Do they all already know?” he asks with a whine.
“Knox has a big mouth,” I say with a smile. “But no, all they know is that something happened at school and the principal called. We were all worried.”
