Page 26 of Home Run Fiancé
My cheeks turn red at his effusive attention. Laughing, I pull him up and give him a hug. “You’re so silly.”
Jake clears his throat and glares at Damon, who raises his hands in peace and backs off to sit back down.
“Oh my goodness, Rhys, honey. These are so good!” Susan manages to respond after eating an entire brownie.
“You want more? Here, have another.” I reach over and put another on her plate.
“Jeez. Rhys is going to singlehandedly make us all fat,” Jake teases me as he finishes off his own brownie.
I roll my eyes at him and address Susan. “Ignore the jerk over there. Eat as many as you want.”
Jake mutters about how he was just kidding and grabs me around my waist, pulling me down to sit on his lap. My cheeks grow hotter at my proximity to his warm body.
“I know you’re going to school, Rhys, but are you considering going to culinary school too?” Susan smiles at us, enjoying seeing her oldest son happy with his fiancée, not knowing how uncomfortable I am sitting on his lap.
Well, not uncomfortable exactly. It’s actually quite nice, but definitelytoonice. Like I could stay there for awhile, nice.
“Oh, um, well, I’m getting my business degree. No culinary school.” I rush to answer and then change the subject. “What’s your major, Damon?”
I can feel Jake staring at the side of my head while we chat, his fingers absentmindedly playing with the huge ring on my left hand. I glance at him briefly and see he’s looking at me like I’m a puzzle. That face makes me worried. I don’t want him asking questions about my school or life plans. That’s not part of our deal. We may be friendly, but we aren’t actual friends, sharing all our life details.
“Want to go for a drive?” Jake interrupts the conversation, his question directed at me.
I look at his mama to see if I can get out of it, but she’s just melting at the two of us wanting to go off alone together.
“Um, sure. That would be nice.” I smile at him and hop up from his lap when he finally lets go of my waist. “Let me just go get a sweater.”
I flee to the safety of the bedroom Susan showed me to earlier. I find a sweater quickly, but then stop to check my laptop. When Jake was gone at his meeting with the Sliders, I’d taken the time to upload my latest video and I wanted to see if it was done uploading.
“Rhys?”
I twirl around to see Jake in the doorway, staring at my screen.
11
Jake
I feel like I’m in a pinball game. Damon and I used to run down to the local arcade when we were kids and I loved that game. Surprised I never broke the paddle on that thing with how much force I’d flick that little metal ball. I loved to see it fly around everywhere, relishing the chaos while I racked up the points.
Today felt like a game of emotional pinball. I was scared to meet with Bobby, scared for Mama, then elated when things went well with Bobby. A feeling I couldn’t even name was expanding my chest while I watched Rhys with Mama. Rhys fit right in with my family and it had me all confused. Damon started flirting with her and I’d wanted to punch him in the face, the jealousy coursing through me like a wild fire.
Now I felt like everything I thought I knew about Rhys, which wasn’t much, was all wrong. She’d been evading my mama’s questions at the dinner table, that much I knew. Now here she is hiding in her room doing who knows what with a video on YouTube. And if my eyes don’t deceive me, that’s her lovely face on the video.
“Rhys?” She spins around, seeing me standing there, eyes wide. “What are you doing?”
Her face pales and she bites her lip, wearing an expression I’ve never seen before. She glances down at her computer and then back up at me, but still doesn’t say anything. I take a few steps into the room and grab her arms. I don’t mean to scare her speechless, but I do want to know what’s going on.
“Rhys, are you okay?” I whisper the words, hoping she can tell I’m not trying to upset her.
She finally blinks and then shakes her head quickly. “Sorry, yeah, I’m okay.” She looks over my shoulder, no longer giving me eye contact and my stomach sinks. I can tell this isn’t going to be good. My mind is racing, thinking through all the scenarios, but the only one I can latch on to is that she might be making a video about me. Which would mean she does want the publicity of being with me. Which would mean she lied to me all along.
“What’s with the video?” My voice comes out harder than I intend. She hears it, her gaze flying back to mine, eyes wide again. I can feel her trembling, but I can’t seem to gather the sympathy necessary to soften my expression. I need her to explain.
She swallows hard and finally speaks. “I have a YouTube channel. I—I dropped out of college.”
Of all the things I expected her to say, that was not one of them. I squint, trying to make sense of it. “Come again?”
She pulls herself up taller. “I dropped out of college after last semester to work on my YouTube channel full time. I’m making fairly good money with it and I want to explore making a full-time living off of it.” She winces. “I just haven’t told Asher yet.”
