Page 16 of Playing for Keeps
It was now or never and she really shouldn’t feel anxious about saying what needed to be said. This whole situation was his fault, not hers. She took a deep breath and released it slowly.
“For instance, maybe you were sitting here tonight expecting to see MercedesGirl926. And because she obviously didn’t show up, now you’re going to head home, sit in your favorite chair by the window in your bedroom and pull out your phone. What will you say, “Missed you tonight?” Or maybe not, since, as it turns out, she did actually show up.” Her words stopped then, although her heart continued beat rapidly.
She lifted her arms again, this time folding them on the table as she leaned in to look closer at Del.
“I showed up to meet GCSports18 face-to-face,” she said and waited for his smart-ass response.
But it didn’t come.
Instead, a look she could only attribute to stark terror crossed Del’s face. His eyes widened, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something and then snapping shut as he began to shake his head.
“What? You didn’t think I was going to figure it out?” She huffed. “Well, I’ll admit I may not have, at least not for a while. But your bestie was kind enough to share your screen name with me tonight at the bar. So now I know.”
“You…know…what?” he asked, that ridiculous look of shock still plastered on his face.
“I know that you’re GCSports18. Or rather, you’re the big fat idiot who thought it would be cool to play another sordid joke on me. Even though we’re both grown and too damn old for your antics! Was Lance in on this too? Of course, he was, you’re twins and this is your niche.”
“Rylan, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said and then stood. “And I came here tonight to tell you to cut it the hell out! This was by far your cruelest joke yet. Making me…getting me to send you that picture and then…,” She paused because she couldn’t actually say the rest. She’d thought she was prepared to really let him have it, but the way he was looking at her, the churning of her stomach now that she was confronting him, and the stupid shaking of her hands, had her ready to bolt.
“Just stop it!” she continued. “I’m not going to be the butt of your jokes anymore.”
Rylan did walk away at that point, but she did it slowly and as normally as she could manage. She wasn’t running from Del or the embarrassment he’d made her feel. She was leaving him to stew in the fact that she’d found him out. And for a minute she’d thought she made a grand escape. She was halfway to her car when she felt his hand on her elbow, turning her to face him.
“What the hell are you saying?” His question coupled with the intent look on his face was more like a command.
“You heard what I said,” she countered and yanked her arm free of his grasp. Even though the warmth from the spot he’d touched had already begun to spread.
He was shaking his head again. “You’re MercedesGirl926?”
She stepped to the side and pointed at her car. “Mercedes.”
With both hands she gripped her breasts, a gesture she would later question. “Girl.”
“And my birthday is September 26th,” she told him as if her identity was a no-brainer.
It was then that she noticed his gaze had fallen to her breasts, which coincidentally were still being palmed. She immediately pulled her hands away and propped them onto her slim hips.
“Look, I’m not amused by this joke, Del. How could you do that to me? Whose idea was it to make me do those things and why did you think it was funny? It was cruel and—”
“Whoa. Wait a minute.” He took a step back, holding his hands out in front of him as if he thought she was going to move closer to him. “Stop. Just stop.”
She didn’t say another word because he actually looked as if he were ready to pass out. He’d stopped shaking his head as if the disbelief was finally wearing off, leaving what in its place? And why the hell wasn’t he laughing? That’s what she’d expected him to do.
“I didn’t do those things,” he said.
“Really, Del? That’s your defense? You’re going to stand there and deny it, even after Rock told me your screen name?”
“No,” he said, and then went back to shaking his head. “I mean, yes. Look, I didn’t know it was you. I had no idea that you were the one I was chatting with. Dammit! I knew I hated social media for a reason! Dammit!”
Wait.
He was serious.
Rylan knew the Greer twins very well, almost as well as she knew her own blood sister. They were guilty of doing a lot of things in their time but lying wasn’t one of them. Whatever they did, in the end, Lance and Del always owned up to it. That’s the way they were raised. She took a step back now, grateful for her reliable car that caught her from falling to the ground with dread.
“You didn’t know you were talking to me and I didn’t know I was talking to you,” she said quietly.
