Page 11 of Keeping Score

“You gonna get that?” Crue asks when my phone begins to ring again.

“Uh, no, I’ll call Cody back later,” I lie, hating that I have to do this to these guys when I’ve known them most of my life, but I don’t have a choice. I don’t have the money to pay him, notthat he needs it. If I did, I wouldn’t be in this position right now! Crue’s phone rings and I’m so grateful for the interruption.

“Yo,” he answers. “We’re just getting some grub then we’ll be back so an hour or so tops.” He pauses for a beat listening to whoever is on the other end of the call. “Sweet, see you soon.” He ends the call and then says, “Corv says we need to have a meeting about… work.” His cryptic words have me turning to peer over the seat at him and Saint, neither of them will meet my gaze, I slump back in my chair and look to Beck.

“What do you guys do for work?” I hedge.

“We help out at Saint’s dad’s company,” Beck answers. Call me crazy but I feel like he’s lying to me.

“Why don’t I believe you?” I retort. Beck flicks his gaze to me for a second before turning back to the road.

“You need to ask Corvin,” is all he says, then pulls into the carpark of the local pizza shop. It’s run by a beautiful Italian couple that must be in their sixties. All the students come here to eat as they make the best pizza in town, that is for damn sure! Beck parks the car and we all clamber out to head in to fill our faces with some yummy pie!

I’ve been sitting on the porch steps since we got home twenty minutes ago. I’m a coward and don’t want to go inside and see Darius with her. I’m not a jealous person but when it comes to Darius Lockhart, I become this possessive woman who would throw hands if some woman thought they could touch my man.

Worst part?

He isn’t my man, not anymore. I grab my phone and unlock it, four missed calls and three texts, I ignore the calls as I bring up the messages.

Piece of shit

You’re running out of time!

Piece of shit

Don’t ignore me, you either pay up or I go public with this.

Piece of shit

Out for a bite to eat are you?

A shiver runs down my spine, he was watching me and I had no fucking idea. Fuck. How the hell did I get myself into this mess? I didn’t do anything wrong, but because of the fucking tape I have no choice. He knows he can do this to me and there isn’t a fucking thing I can do about it. I should have gone to the police but I didn’t out of fear. When a guy like him takes the stand against a middle class girl like me, who the hell would you believe?

“Hey.” I snap my gaze up to see Garrett standing there on the sidewalk. I smile wide, thankful to see a friendly face that isn’t team Darius. I hop to my feet and rush over to him. He hugs me and sue me, I return the friendly embrace before pulling back and smiling up at him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I was out for a run.” I run my gaze over him and sure enough, he’s decked out in runners, loose basketball shorts and a white tank.

“Of course, sorry,” I mutter. He bends down so we are eye level and smiles kindly.

“You look like you need to get out of here, want to hang out?” I don’t even hesitate to answer.

“Yes!” He beams, then we walk side by side back toward campus, talking about nothing and anything all at the same time, which is nice. Don’t get me wrong, Cody and Katie aregreat but right now they aren’t the people I need to be around because they are teamDa-Leahand right now, I’m not. Garrett heads toward the coffee cart and orders us a couple coffees before telling me to grab a seat at one of the tables. I do as he says and look around the quad. During school it’s bustling with students but after hours it’s empty and quiet.

“Here you go.” I smile my thanks as I grab my coffee from Garrett. He slips around to his side and sits down taking a sip of his coffee. “Why the long face, beautiful?” I deflate and drop my gaze to the tabletop unsure how to answer or even if I should. The need to talk to someone wins over rational thought, knowing I shouldn’t be telling him, but he’s my friend and the opinions of the guys shouldn’t matter.

“Darius and I had a fight. Corvin and I are drifting apart because I keep pulling away from him. My mom and dad won’t speak to me.” It rushes out of me so fast that I have to take a deep breath. Garrett doesn’t look put out by my verbal diarrhea.

“Okay, one thing at a time. Why aren’t your parents talking to you?” Now that I’ve started I can’t seem to keep my mouth closed.

“I lied to them. I told them I got kicked out of my last school but the truth is I dropped out and transferred here which caused them to have to put off their retirement so they could pay for me to go here.” Saying it out loud makes me feel even worse than I do already. I don’t blame them for being angry with me. I wanted to tell my mom the truth so many times but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If they knew, they would go to the police and I can’t relive that shit, I just can’t!

“Okay, I’m guessing the reason you haven’t told them why you dropped out is that it’s something that is embarrassing for you?”

“Yeah, something like that,” I mumble.

“Okay, next thing on our list. Why are you pulling away from your brother?” I narrow my eyes.

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