Page 29 of A Deception of Massive Proportion

Jalen took off his gloves, then took her hand in his. He scooped out the pills. The contact with her skin sent a wave of teenage-hood giddiness through him. Was it bad that he took pleasure in the pink that rose to her cheeks?

She pulled out some water. “This is the last one. Should I run to your room and get more?”

“In a minute.” He took the water and downed his pills. “How are things at home?”

“Fine.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Just fine?”

“My mom didn’t come back, so that’s good,” she said under her breath, and she rolled her eyes. “Sorry. Don’t know why I brought her up.”

Jalen didn’t have a ton of experience with women, but whenever his mother needed to talk about something she would make small comments here and there until he asked about it, and then it would come out. “Sounds like you want to talk about her.”

She sighed and tossed her bag on the floor of the tent. “I shouldn’t want to talk about her. She’s a mess.”

He didn’t know much about her mother, other than what cryptic things she’d said the other day, but if she wanted to talk, he was more than happy to listen. “Is it drugs?”

Riley dropped her gaze. “Gambling.”

The heaviness of that one word weighed down on him. He had not known anyone who struggled with that, but he knew it had to be difficult. “I’m sorry.”

“You know, I probably would be able to understand more if it were drugs.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. The warmth of her skin could be felt through her creamy blouse. “Gambling is an addiction, too.”

She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I know. I guess it’s just hard to understand why your mother would continually choose something like that over her own family.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

Riley swallowed, obviously getting emotional. “I’ll tell you what it’s like. Imagine standing outside your school waiting for your mother to pick you up while all the other kids leave with their moms. And you wonder when your mother is going to get there, only to have her never show up. And they take you in to the office, and you sit there, waiting. And finally your father comes and tells you that your mother is gone, because something else was more important than you.”

Jalen sucked in a breath, the image of a young girl standing outside of her school, alone, seared onto his brain. “Oh, Riley.”

Tears filled her eyes and spilled over down her cheeks. “Imagine seeing her show up at your house after that, and the excitement that you feel thinking she missed you and came home, only to find out she wasn’t there for you. She was there to beg for money. And after she gets it, she leaves again. Imagine this happening over and over giving you disappointment after disappointment, until you decide it’s too hard to have hope that your mother is going to be there for you, and you build a wall around your heart so she doesn’t dash it to pieces again.”

Jalen didn’t know what else to do except encircle her in his arms and pull her to him. She buried her face into his chest. His heart beat loud in his ears as he held her close. “I’m so sorry.”

Riley let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. And now I’m getting your shirt all wet and snotty right before you have to go out on stage.”

He held her closer, rubbing her back to calm her down. “I don’t care.”

She pulled back and fished around in her bag until she pulled out a tissue. “You’re too kind. Now I’ve embarrassed myself.”

He reached out and took her face on his hands. “Don’t be embarrassed. Never be embarrassed for sharing your honest feelings.” He brushed away her tears with his thumbs.

She closed her eyes and nestled into his palm. “I shouldn’t have dumped on you.”

“Please don’t feel like you did that. Since the moment I first laid eyes on you, I’ve wanted to know who you are. You may not understand when I tell you this, but I don’t usually connect with people. But…things are different with you.”

Riley gazed at him, and for a moment, he thought he saw guilt enter her eyes. What she had to be guilty for, he didn’t know, but she dropped her gaze, and the look disappeared. “I feel it, too.”

An overwhelming desire to kiss her enveloped him, and he leaned closer, taking in the almond-butter smell of her hair. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t object to the kiss, but he had to admit he didn’t have a lot of experience with that kind of thing. He didn’t want to mess it up or do anything she didn’t want him to. Hesitating, he waited to see if she would pull back.

The tent unzipped, and Colby stepped in. Riley jumped back from him. Jalen shot Colby a death stare. “What?”

Colby grinned, his gaze bouncing from Riley to Jalen. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You didn’t,” Riley said quickly, standing. “I was just going to run and grab more water.” She skittered past Colby and out of the tent.

---