Page 95 of Foolish Games

“You have an invite,” I say, seizing his hands. “I’m your invite.”

The corner of his mouth rises in a rueful smile. “Nah, Princess. I belong on my side of town, with my friends. They get it.”

“If you told me, maybe I’d get it.”

“I told you from the start,” he says, reaching up and gently stroking a strand of hair off my cheek. “My friends care more about fun and fucking and fast cars than status and family names and high society. I’m not like you, Viv.”

“I only care about that stuff because I have to,” I insist. “You’ve seen me at school. I’m not trying to capitalize on my name to be popular. None of that matters to me, Sebastian.”

“Then what does?” he asks. “You gonna check my pedigree like I’m a fucking dog?’

“I just want to be with you,” I say, my lip starting to tremble. “Like we said. In the moment. As long as we’re having fun, what does it hurt?”

“Yeah, well, this isn’t what comes to mind when I think of fun.”

Pain spirals down through my heart. “You’re not having fun with me anymore?”

“No. It’s not fun being kicked out of your parties because I’m not good enough for you,” he says, his tone turning bitter.

“You are,” I say, a tear spilling down my cheek. “How can you say that? Everyone at school thinks you’re too good for me. That’s why they can’t believe we’re dating.”

“Viv,” my brother calls. “Come on. I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

“Everyone in town knows it’s the other way around,” Sebastian says quietly, ignoring Rob. “No matter how high my star rises on the football field, they don’t give a fuck about me. I’m disposable.”

“That’s not true,” I say, my insides twisting with pain for him. “Faulkner loves you.”

“They love what I do for them,” he says. “They love that I put another W in the books every week. You think they’d spare a single extra thought for me if I got hurt? If I was off the team? No.”

“They care about you,” I insist, squeezing his hand. “They made sure you had a tutor so you could play, so you could go on to play in college. They’ll watch you next year and be proud that you were a Wampus Cat.”

“They gave me the best tutor in school to make sure I kept performing. I may have clawed my way onto the throne at school, but to this town, to your families, I’m the help, just like the Darlings said.”

“The founding families have it backwards,” I say, tears spilling freely down my cheeks now.

“No, they don’t,” he says, pulling his hand from mine. “I’m never going to be anything to this town but a commodity. I may perform on the field instead of at your fancy shows, but at the end of the day, I’m just another dancing monkey.”

“You’re not,” I say. “And if you want to go somewhere else, we’ll go. Let’s go to your party. I don’t want to be here if you’re not.”

“You’re killing me, Smalls,” he says, a pained expression settling over his handsome face as we wipes the rain off my cheeks.

“Viv!” Rob barks. “Get your ass back here. I’m freezing my balls off.”

I glance over my shoulder and see him standing in the brightly lit doorway of the Darling manor. He’ll be pissed at me for making him miss some of the party, but he won’t leave. He’s my brother.

“Go on,” Sebastian says. “Go back to your party.”

“What about this?” I ask, knowing I sound desperate but not caring. “What we have right here, in this moment. Like we said.”

“There’s nothing here,” he says. “There never was.”

“You’re wrong,” I say, shaking my head. “You may not have taken it seriously, but I did.” I want to tell him it’s real, that it’s always been real, but I can’t quite bring myself to be that pathetic. He told me it wasn’t real from the start.

He drops his head back and rakes a hand through his wet hair. “You’re the one who didn’t take it seriously,” he says after letting out a loud breath. “You never took me seriously, Viv. You still call me an idiot every fucking day. But I’m not an idiot. It means so little to you that you don’t even notice when you do it. But I notice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“One day, you’ll see,” he says. “You’ll see that I’m more than the fuckup you thought you could slum it with to get it out of your system before you go marry some scrawny little nerd with a stick up his ass like Chaz. But I guess that’s what you wanted. If you want him back, go get him. He’s yours.”

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