Page 12 of Playing for Keeps
Rylan couldn’t continue typing the screen name. Her fingers were shaking.
“Del is GCSports18,” she whispered.
Of course, he was,GameChangersSportsBar and Del’s number on his football jersey in high school was18.
It was a joke. It had to be. A very cruel and horrifying one.
Every message, from the very first one had to be a joke. Del and Lance used to play them on her and Camy all the time when they were younger. Rylan could recall numerous occasions when she’d slept over at Camy’s and the guys had done things like put a box of frogs in Camy’s closet so when they opened it, the frogs all jumped out scaring them half to death. Or the time when the twins had actually dared the then eight-year-old girls to watchScreamalone and then dressed in that dreadful costume for Halloween to continue scaring the crap out of them. It had been an ongoing and hilarious effort on the twins’ part to torture Camy and Rylan, until Mr. Greer passed away and Mrs. Greer began crying instead of inviting Rylan over and setting up cute little tea parties for her and Camy.
Dammit!
What if Del really was playing a joke on her now? What if he knew exactly who she was all along and just continued this little prank for…for what? What would he get out of it now, except for some dirty conversation and a picture of her bare leg? An orgasm. That’s what Rylan had gotten out of it? But what about Del? Had he been jerking off while she’d been playing with herself this morning?
Her face felt flushed and she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking.
“I gotta go,” she mumbled and then turned to slip off the stool.
“You okay?” Rock called behind her. “I can step out for a few and drive you home.”
Rylan shook her head hard enough to exacerbate the headache she’d been nursing.
“I’m fine,” she lied and headed for the steps.
She was anything but fine. She was mortified and pissed off.
And she couldn’t wait to get out of this bar and to get home where she could…what? What was she going to do when she went home? Yell? Scream? Hate herself for falling for another one of the Greer Twins’ stupid stunts?
Rylan had no idea. She just needed to get out of there. She walked fast, not really seeing anyone and pushing past the people who did end up in her path. When she pushed against a particularly hard chest and felt the slight grip of hands on her shoulders in response, she snapped out of the red haze of fury in time to look up into Del’s dark brown eyes.
“Hey, kiddo. You okay?” he asked.
Was that concern in his tone or laughter in his eyes?
Rylan yanked out of his grasp. “I’m fine!” she shouted for what seemed like the billionth time and circled around him to get to the door.
The cool air immediately smacked her in the face as she pushed through the doors and started toward the spot where she’d parked her car.
“Rylan!”
He was right behind her. Shouting her name as if she didn’t know it. But she knew her name and she knew his…GCSports18.
Del caught up to her just as she put her hand on the car door handle.
“Hey. Did something happen in there? Talk to me,” Del said and something shifted in her chest.
No. He wasn’t concerned about her. It was all a joke.
She took a deep, steadying breath and then found the courage to look him in the eye. But even that was different. She’d known Del forever and had thought he was a good-looking guy. That was it. Now, staring up at him after learning that he was the one she’d been waiting up every night to chat with, she saw someone totally different. His jaw seemed stronger. The dark hair of his lightly trimmed beard and mustache appeared more pronounced, giving him an edgy and sexy appeal. Even his eyes were darker, masked with desire. Oh no, she sounded just like Camy, being fanciful.
Correction, she was being an idiot!
“It’s nothing. Work stuff,” she mumbled and shifted from one foot to the other.
He nodded but didn’t look as if he totally believed her.
“Yeah, your dad was in a couple nights ago and he talked a bit about the body shop. I’m sorry things aren’t going too well,” he said.
“Really? You’re sorry. Because I seem to recall you frowning and judging me each time you brought your old clunker into the shop and realized I would be the one working on it,” she snapped and hated how petty she sounded for bringing up something so far in the past.
