Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

I would rather keep my heart and body safe. I’d said no distractions while I was here, and Penn was distraction number one. I needed to get past this and forget about him.

It amazed me how easily we had fallen back into the routine we’d adopted. The fact that he actually kept to his word. He hadn’t made another pass at me. We hadn’t even been close to each other. We’d just passed each other’s existence with Totle as the ping-pong ball.

A few days later, I was out on the back deck, trying to figure out where I was in my story and absentmindedly throwing a small tennis ball for Totle, when my phone rang. The interior decorator had left earlier that morning, so I wasn’t expecting to hear from anyone.

Definitely not my sister.

“Melanie?” I asked in surprise as I picked up the phone.

“Nat,” she blubbered. “Thank god you answered.”

Then she immediately broke down into a hysterical fit.

“Mel, are you okay? What happened? Is it Mom and Dad?”

“No, no, everyone…is…fine,” she stammered through her tears.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Michael…broke…up…with me.”

“Oh, honey,” I whispered.

Michael and Melanie had been inseparable since, basically, the day that they met on the playground in third grade. They’d dated all through middle school and high school. I’d figured they would graduate together, get married, and have the requisite two-and-a-half kids.

“I can’t believe…he did…this,” she said.

“Me either. What happened?” I stood from my seat and walked to the edge of the deck.

Melanie and I had never really been close. We liked different things, and with the age gap, we’d never bonded. But I loved her fiercely and I was glad that she’d called me about this.

“He said that he just didn’t…love me like that…anymore. That…that we’d always be friends. And oh, I don’t know,” she gasped. “I don’t know what he was going on about. But, now, he’s taking Kennedy Mathers to homecoming this weekend.”

“Wait, isn’t that your best friend?”

“Yeah.” She broke down into sobs again. “Ex-best friend.”

“Ugh, Mel, I’m so sorry. What an asshole. I can’t believe he would do that to you after all the years you’d been together. And then to take your best friend to homecoming. What are you going to do?”

“What…do you…mean?” She hiccuped. “What can I do?”

Sometimes, I forgot how young Melanie really was. She’d only ever had one boyfriend, and she’d never been broken up with before. I, on the other hand, knew all about breaking up and being broken up with.

“Well, first of all, you can’t text or call him from now on.”

“What? How can I do that?”

“Second,” I continued on, “you have to hide him on all social media. I’d tell you to block him if I thought you could handle it.”

“I can’t block him!”

“Third, you should come up to New York City this weekend with Amy and visit me. Then you won’t be there during homecoming to bear witness to the bullshit he’s about to unleash on you.”

Melanie hiccuped one more time. “You want me to come visit?”

“Yeah, I do.” And I found that I really did. She was my sister. She was family. “I don’t want you to have to deal with Michael and Kennedy alone. I’d rather you be here.”

“I don’t know if I can get out of dance.”

“Claim a family emergency or something.”

“Okay,” she said, already sounding stronger. “Okay, I’ll come. I think…that’d be a good idea. But I’ll have to convince Mom and Dad.”

“Let me handle them. I’ve got this.”

“Thanks, Nat. I’m glad I called.”

“Me too.”

I chatted with her for the next hour until she cried herself hoarse but didn’t sound like she was going to keel over. I hated that some douche could bring her down so much. Michael should be glad that I wasn’t in town. I’d go to his stupid mansion and give him a piece of my mind.

After a quick call with my parents, I got the details confirmed for Melanie to come up to the city this weekend. Though it cost a small fortune, which I pitched in for. It was only Amy who groaned in dismay that Melanie was coming along for the ride. But Amy was like that about everything, so I didn’t take it to heart.

The real question, the one I’d been putting off, dealt with a certain blue-eyed devil. I took a deep breath and then wandered back inside to find Penn. He was standing in the kitchen, prepping steaks for the grill tonight.

“Medium or medium rare?” he asked me when I entered.

“Uh, medium.”

“Wrong answer. Medium rare is the correct choice for good-quality beef.”

“Then why ask?”

He glanced up at me and smiled. My heart fluttered. I carefully reined it in.

“It was a test, not an opinion.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Guilty.”

“So, I have a question for you. My little sister just went through a terrible breakup.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah,” I said, sinking into the seat at the breakfast nook. “They’d dated forever, and he just broke up with her to take her best friend to homecoming.”