Page 10 of Smooth Moves
“Oh, right. Daniel, the kid who lives in a regular house in Fremont? The kid who does nothing but play video games all day long when his sister isn’t nagging him to stop? Even you said he was a hopeless nerd with no social skills.”
He flushed. “Well, yeah, but he’s making bank.” At her raised brow, he amended, “Well, he knows people who make bank. Besides, I don’t need a diploma to get a job.”
“Rafi, you’re smart. You know as well as I do that the majority of online gamers make nothing. We aren’t rich. You don’t have millionaire parents who are going to buy you a gaming system or a Porsche or pay for you to go to Stanford when the time comes.”
“Daniel doesn’t have any of that. And Stanford is a nerd school,” he muttered.
“Those nerds get high-paying jobs. Hello? Dad went to Stanford.”
“Um, Dad’s a nerd.”
“An employed, financially comfortable nerd,” she fumed.Idiot.
“Hate to break it to you, Jordan. But we aren’t rich.”
She clenched her fists. “That’s not the point—and what I just said! You have to work for what you earn in this life. I did. Mom did. Carl did. Leanne…” She paused. Bad example, which he quickly pointed out.
“Ha! Leanne does shit and gets whatever she wants.”
Sadly, that was true. “Watch your language.” She paused to regroup. “Leanne graduated high school and college with honors. No one gave her those grades.” Actually, her old PE teacher might have fudged a few because Leanne had been “sick” for a lot of those gym classes back in the day. “She has a great job and independence because—”
“Mom and Dad love her best,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I know. They’re always comparing us both to her. Just because she’s blond and pretty and has a rich fiancé, they think she shits rainbows.”
“Rafi!” She had to bite her lip to keep from agreeing because the kid was spot-on.
“It’s not fair. I try. I hate math! I hate science. It’s confusing. I just want to do other stuff, but they harp on everything I do that’s wrong.”
“They wouldn’t bug you about school if you weren’t getting in trouble so much, and you know it.” She noticed he didn’t argue that point. Her brother might be a pain in the ass, but he had intelligence and a smart sense of humor. Heck, he’d been reading at a college level since the sixth grade. If she could get him through this rough patch, she knew he’d turn out all right. She prayed… “Come on, Rafi—Rafael,” she corrected herself before he could. “Isn’t the tutoring making things easier?”
Another reason she had to work so hard. Tutoring didn’t come cheap.
He didn’t answer, but he seemed to be listening.
“Look. Get through summer school. You have to. I’m your last hope, buddy.” She drew him in for a hug. At first he resisted, but when she kissed his cheek, he relented, sagging in her arms. It continued to surprise her that her “little” brother now stood a few inches taller than her five-six frame. “I loved the military, but it’s not for everyone. If you want to do it, it should be on your terms. But honey, if you don’t get through summer school, what happens to you is out of my hands.”
He stiffened and pulled back, still holding tears at bay in dark eyes so like hers. Such a handsome young man. Smart yet rebellious. God, she wanted to shake him and hug him and protect him all at once.
“If they try sending me, I’ll run away.”
“Rafi, stop.”
“It’sRafael,” he said, swore, then stormed out of the tiny apartment.
Jordan felt awful, failing with her brother yet again. Tempted as she was to call her parents or her older sister, she knew they’d simply tell her to let him pass or fail on his own. To an extent, she agreed. But adolescents rarely made good choices if left to their own devices.
She wished Rafi had a better role model than Carl. Bless him, but Carl could out-stubborn a mule. He’d made up his mind about this tough love approach to parenting Rafi and refused to change it.
Which for some reason made her think of Cash Griffith. Cash would hold his ground under heavy artillery for sure. But unlike Carl, he at least had the sense to back off; she’d seen it. When dealing with Reid, Cash often argued, listened to Reid make sense, and at some point became reasonable. Or at least his version of reasonable. From the stories she’d heard Reid tell, Cash had been much less than an angelic youth.
Maybe Cash could help her with Rafi. She’d thought of asking him, but pride kept her from reaching out. That and the remembrance that she’d been burned before by trusting those she shouldn’t have. She’d learned that lesson the hard way. Ten years in the Army down the drain.
She scowled as she made her way into the kitchen, only to see Rafi had left an empty milk carton in the fridge and the bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly open on the counter. And near those was a crumpled-up printout of a science quiz with a D at the top of it. She crunched it tight and tossed it into the trash can.
Damn it all, she hadn’t planned on getting out of the service only to babysit her brother. But if Jordan didn’t help him, no one would. Her parents had given her the same ultimatum years ago, but she’d at least gotten herself through high school before enduring threats of reform school. Joining the military had been a decision she’d never regretted. She hadn’t been ready for college or living on her own back then. In the Army, she’d matured under the watchful eye of Big Brother.
Given health care, an allowance for quarters and food in addition to her paycheck, and structure, she’d been taken care of by a much sterner parent in the guise of her drill instructors and NCOs. She’d worked her ass off to earn her stripes, and she’d been proud of her commitment to duty and honor. Until it had ended, showing her a side of the command she’d wished to God she could unsee.
But Jordan refused to allow that situation to poison her against the military. What had happened to her best friend there could happen to anyone in the civilian sector as well. Dicks were dicks the world over.
Problem was she’d also seen the unhappiness that came from being forced into a lifestyle not of one’s choosing, met plenty of guys who hadn’t joined the service because they’d wanted to but because they’d had to for one reason or another.
To save her brother from a potentially damaging future, she’d do whatever she could.
And if it took sucking up to Cash Griffith to further that end, she’d play nice. She’d heard a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Cash seemed to eat a lot. Maybe she could make him dinner? Or if not, there had to besomethingshe could bargain the sexy jerk with in return for some guy guidance, right?
And kisses are off the table.
Sad she had to keep telling herself that.
