Page 34 of The Perfect Deal
But he wasn’t just a stupid brother to her. He was also my best friend. Images of Landon’s disappointed, furious face from when he’d found out about how Grady had used Liberty flooded my mind. I couldn’t bear to see him look at me that way, like he couldn’t believe I would do something so underhanded and mean.
Granted, I hadn’t slept with Liberty for the same reasons that Grady had. That douchebag had done it just to be mean, just because he wanted a piece of ass. I genuinely had feelings for Liberty. In fact, most days, I would go so far as to say that I loved her, but none of that would matter to Landon.
Whatever happened between Liberty and me, I had to make sure that Landon didn’t find out. He’d kill me, and I’d deserve it. While he might be upset at his sister for a little bit, it wouldn’t be the earth-shattering end-of-an-era relationship killer that it would be for me. If she told him, I wouldn’t even make it into my house before he jumped out of the bushes and killed me. He might not even wait until I got home. I decided I’d better be careful at camp, walking around alone. I could see him standing in that little alcove on my porch, jumping out of the shadows and—
Pain gripped the right side of my face and my head went snapping back. I raised a hand to defend myself, expecting another blow, but then I realized it wasn’t Landon’s fist that had caused the sting in my cheekbone. It was a fucking football.
“Sorry, Coach Joshua!” Axel came running over. “I shouted, ‘Heads up!’ but I guess you didn’t hear me.”
I looked down at the teenage boy, trying to decide whether or not to shout at him to be more careful, and then decided to just let it go. He probably did shout at me to warn me that I was about to get smacked in the face with a flying object, and I just didn’t notice. Picking up the ball, I tossed it back to him and fixed my smile. “It’s fine, buddy. Accidents happen.”
“Robby threw it five feet over my head.” He shook his head. “Ever since he’s been talking to that girl, he can’t concentrate anymore.”
Fighting the urge to snicker, I told him, “Cut him some slack. It’s the end of the session, and we’re all tired.”
He nodded and trotted back to the field, but I heard him shouting, “Get your head in the game, man!” to his friend as he went. So much for cutting Robby some slack.
Later that evening, I made my way to the cafeteria sporting a big red welt on my face. It didn’t hurt anymore, but every time I noticed it in a reflective surface, it just brought my thoughts of Liberty back to the forefront of my mind. How in the hell was I going to smooth this over with her? She was obviously mad.
I knew what she wanted. She wanted a relationship with me. And I wanted that, too, but it wasn’t something I could give her, not right now, not when Landon was in the middle of planning his wedding and would obviously want to pound me.
Trying my best to think about something else, I walked into the cafeteria where everyone was chatting and having a good time. Before I even went to the line to get my food, I looked to see which table I would be sitting at tonight. I’d sat with Porcupine House for breakfast which meant tonight I’d be sitting with Bear House.
I stifled the curse that came to my tongue. I wasn’t sure if it was better that I’d be sitting with Liberty’s group of girls after she’d already left, or if it would’ve been better to have eaten with them while she was still here. All I knew was I was in for an evening of thinking about her. But then, that would probably be the case anyway.
With three slices of pepperoni pizza on my plate, along with a small salad and a glass of tea, I headed over, sitting down across from Karrie.
“Oh, no!” she said, reaching over and patting my cheek where the red mark was. “What happened to you?”
I jerked away, the pain returning with her touch. “I got hit with a football. I’m fine.”
Karrie shook her head. “That’s too bad. These kids really do need to be more careful.”
Shrugging, I leaned back away from her hand, so she finally pulled it away from me. Something about having her touch my face unnerved me even more than I already was. “It was an accident.”
“Yeah, Robby said he felt really bad about it,” Rhiannon offered from her spot just a few seats down from me.
Now, I felt even worse about the entire situation. I should’ve been tuned in to what the kids were doing so that it wouldn’t have happened. “It wasn’t his fault.”
“Sure it was,” Monique chimed in, a sing-song quality to her voice. “If lover boy would’ve been looking at his receiver and not you, the ball would’ve never sailed so high.”
I opened my mouth to interject, but Rhiannon was laughing, her face turning red. “Oh, stop. It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it though?” Tessa asked, and all of the girls started giggling.
But then Elizabeth asked me a pointed question. “Is Miss Liberty ever coming back? She told us goodbye the day she left, but we all miss her.”
Shaking my head, I said, “She won’t be back this session. She had some important matters to attend to.” I took a bite of my pizza, but it tasted like sawdust. I could hardly chew it.
“That’s too bad. She was so much fun,” Tessa said. “Do you think she’ll be back for the next session?”
“She says she will be.” I tried to infuse my words with a positive vibe, but I was sure it didn’t hide the fact that I was nervous. What if she never came back? What if she moved back to California?
“Miss Liberty really helped me with a personal situation,” Elizabeth explained. “I think she’s given me the courage to do something I never would’ve been able to do on my own.” Her face was brighter with every word she spoke, which made me wonder what she was referring to, but I didn’t ask. I was sure it was something the girls wanted to keep to themselves.
I wasn’t surprised that Liberty was instrumental in helping these girls with their problems. That was just the sort of person she was. Caring. Kind. Considerate.
Gone. She’s also gone. And I don’t deserve to ever have her back, either.