Page 28 of Foolish Games

“Dick wad,” she says, looking unimpressed by my best efforts at charming her.

“How’s my best cheerleader?”

“How’s our limp-dick linebacker?” she asks with a smirk. “Don’t look so surprised. The squad tells me everything.”

I glance at Vivienne, since I definitely don’t want her getting the idea there’s anything wrong with my dick. But she’s not even looking at me. She’s staring over my shoulder, her face frozen and her mouth slack with shock. I spin that way, ready to kick some ass, and see her boyfriend walking over, hand in hand with the chick I thought was his girlfriend.

“Chaz,” Vivienne gets out, her voice choked. “What are you doing?”

“Not you,” Chiclet says with a nasty little grin.

“What?” Chaz asks, licking his lips nervously and glancing around at the other tables, about half of them with only a tutor, the rest with both students already seated.

“Now you’re holding hands with her?” Viv asks, standing from her seat.

“You broke up with me,” he points out.

“You did what?” I ask, turning to Viv. I was pissed when she left the quarry to be with him, even though I knew she couldn’t stay without Rob catching on that something was going on.

“Oh damn,” Keisha says, catching my eye. “Nerd drama.”

“I didn’t break up with you,” Vivienne says, her voice raw with hurt that stabs right into my chest. “We had a fight.”

“During which you said you couldn’t trust me, and that you couldn’t have a relationship with someone you couldn’t trust.”

“Because you said you and her were only friends,” she says quietly. The other tables have all filled up, and everyone’s watching. I want to punch them all for witnessing the hurt and shame written across Vivienne’s face as she stares at Nerd Boy Chad and Chiclet.

“We were,” Chiclet says, leaning her head on his shoulder and giving Vivienne a triumphant smile. “Now we’re not.”

“So I did have a reason to worry,” Viv says softly, her eyes filling with tears.

The sight is enough to split my ribcage open.

“You broke up with me,” Chad points out. He puffs his skinny chest out like a defiant child who knows he did something wrong but is fighting for his life to convince himself he didn’t. “You don’t get to say who I date after that.”

A tear spills down Vivienne’s cheek, and I push back from the table and stand, circling to stand beside her. I put an arm around her shoulder and pull her in. There’s no way I’m letting this puny little nerd make this gorgeous girl cry while I stand back and do nothing.

“It’s okay, babe,” I say, bending to kiss the top of her head. “Now we don’t have to hide anymore.”

“What?” she asks, blinking up at me through her tears.

“You said we couldn’t tell anyone because it would hurt him to know you moved on so fast,” I say. “But if he’s already with her, then we don’t have to hide.”

She swallows, staring at me.

“That’s why you didn’t want Diana on you Saturday night?” Keisha asks, barely containing her laughter. “You are so dead. This is some scandalous shit right here.”

Fuck. I wasn’t even thinking about her brother, my best friend, which is the only person I should ever be thinking of when I’m in Vivienne’s presence. But seeing her cry over that little douchebag made me lose all sense.

“You’re not together,” Nerd Boy says after a long pause. “No way.”

I tip Viv’s face up and brush the tears from under her eyes with both thumbs. “You okay?”

She nods, her dark eyes searching mine like she’s looking for an ulterior motive for me being nice to her. That shit hurts. I haven’t been that much of a dick to her over the years, have I?

I pull her into my chest protectively, and she turns to face them now that her cheeks are dry.

Chaz looks like someone just shoved a pickle up his ass. “Like you’d ever date one of us,” he mutters. “We’re your enemies.”

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