Page 69 of Scoreless Nights

“Step brother!” I tried to fix it quickly. “I barely know him.”

“Something must be important if you barely know him, but he’s calling out of the blue.”

“Yeah, probably,” I mumbled, not answering the second call that was coming in from Cruz. I also took a moment to pat myself on the back for using Cruz’s real name in my contacts.

On the third call, Jackie grabbed my phone and pulled it away from me so I couldn't reach it. “I’ll answer it.”

“No!”

“Hola!” My heart was beating out of my chest, and not the way Cruz made it do. This was more of a heart attack feeling and I considered rushing myself to the hospital just in case. “This is her friend Jackie, who’s this?”

There was a moment of silence then Jackie’s eyes flew open and she looked at me. “Her boyfriend?”

“Oh no,” I whispered, while Angel’s eyes went between the two of us.

“You have a boyfriend?” She squealed.

“NO!”

“She said you were her brother,” Jackie practically purred. “I think she was just keeping you a secret.”

“He is my brother,” I snapped, trying to grab the phone from her. Jackie laughed like she was innocently having fun, but she had no idea she was talking to the guy to whom she just offered a blow job. Thankfully she didn't appear to recognize his voice.

“I have to get out of here.” I took another drink of my margarita because it was all I had to help my dry throat, but I immediately regretted that when I felt the tequila in my veins.

Jackie hung up the phone and tossed it back across the table, making me realize I missed the last of whatever they spoke about. I scooped my phone up and tucked it into my purse so that wouldn’t happen again, and then took another sip of my margarita.

“He sounded sexy,” Jackie winked. “Now I just need to know if he’s your brother or your boyfriend.”

“Both,” my tequila-fuzzed brain bit at her.

“Right,” Jackie rolled her eyes. “That'd be disgusting.”

“Why haven't you said anything?” Angel asked, a little more hurt that there was something she didn't know about me.

“He’s a complication,” I said truthfully. “Someone my mother always wanted me to be close to, but we just never were.”

“I still feel like I should have known you had a stepbrother,” Angel laughed, but it was half-hearted and weak.

“There’s a lot we don't know about each other,” I tried to reason. “There is a lot you don't know about me yet.”

“I guess,” Angel mumbled.

Jackie just looked at the menu, as if nothing had happened, making me steam in anger. For just a second, I thought about calling Cruz and telling him to come kiss me, right in front of her, just so I could see the look on her face. But that would make my life harder. Angel would never forgive me. And like Jackie had said, everyone would think it was disgusting.

“I need to go,” I slurred a little. “I need to check in at home and…” What else could I say to excuse myself? They were both looking up at me as I stood, waiting for me to say more, but I couldn’t think of anything. So I turned and walked quickly from the restaurant and started fishing for my keys.

Right when I found them at the bottom of my bag, I was no longer on my feet, being carried off into a dark alley behind the restaurant. Kicking and screaming, I was scared to death. Being kidnapped would serve me right, though. Lying, and asking everyone else to lie for me as well. Drinking, and then thinking I would drive home.

When we were no longer where the sun was slowly setting, and hidden in a dark part of the alley, I was finally let down on my feet and looked up, ready to scream. But before I did, my mouth was covered from someone behind me, and I was being dragged toward a car.

ChapterThirty-Four

Cruz

The things I did to stay on Lily’s good side. Like hanging out in the kitchen until I saw her leave, and then practically kidnapping her so her friends didn’t see her leave with me. There was no way I was letting her drive after having any amount of my mom’s margarita.

“Calm down,” I whispered, hoping she would stop screaming. Of course, I hadn’t realized how bad it looked until I started forcing her into my car. “Hey. It's me.”

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