“Dad ”
“Leave her alone,” said Gabriel, right at her shoulder. His voice was even. Steady. “We were just playing ball.”
Simon signed the same thing, his gestures full of fury. We were just playing ball. You were working.
do you think, that I’m some kind of thug player who’ll screw anything in a skirt?
“You’re blushing.” His breath was against her neck, his lips whispering into her skin.
“You’re still stalling. We need to ”
She gasped. His teeth grazed her jaw, the sensitive area below her ear. His hands found her waist, shifting her toward him.
Everything suddenly felt ten degrees warmer.
“See?” he murmured. “Who needs math?”
That woke her up. She used her pencil to rap him on the forehead. “You do.”
He sighed disgustedly and drew back.
Then he went right back to glaring at his blank paper.
“It’s only ten questions,” she said, still feeling a bit breathless. “We’ll just work through these, and then . . .” She let the words trail off, but that open ending was just way too . . . open.
“Then we’ll talk.”
He nodded. But he didn’t write anything down.
“Look,” she said, “I can’t help you if you won’t even ”
“Jesus.” His eyes flared with anger. “I know. ”
Layne almost flinched then reminded herself that his anger had nothing to do with her. “Truth,” she said softly. “What’s wrong?”
His expression was locked down, and she had a strong feeling he wasn’t going to answer. Every time he did this, it made her feel vulnerable. More so now that her secrets were all out on the table and his weren’t.
“I need to pass.” His voice was low, rough.
“You will,” she said. “You’ll pass the test, get back on the team ”
“I don’t give a crap about the team.” He hesitated. “I mean, I do, but . . .”
She waited.
He kept his eyes on the book. “Nick told me last night that he wants to go to college. If I can’t pass math, I can’t even graduate from high school.”
She studied him. “Do you want to go to college with your brother?”
“No yes I don’t ” His pencil snapped. “God damn it.”
He dropped the pieces in the spine of the book.
Again, Layne waited.
Gabriel looked up, meeting her eyes. “I never even thought about college. The only reason I bother getting halfway decent grades is so I can play sports. I mean, I just figured we’d keep helping Mike with the business.”
“What do you want to do?”