Then the interruption comes, sharp and perfect.
“Stop!” Vanessa yells.
Gino releases me instantly.
“Both of you,” she says, voice steady but furious, “sit the fuck down.”
THIRTEEN
VANESSA
Neither of them move. I internally roll my eyes. Uncle Kevin always said to never show weakness.
They still don’t move.
I groan. “I said sit down!”
Both of them snap their attention back to me, shock written clearly across their faces. They hesitate for a beat, then finally do as they’re told, taking seats at the dining table. I sit across from them.
Overhearing their conversation makes me realize how much kissing Mateo was a bad idea. They’re best friends. Practically brothers. Which makes Mateo forbidden in a way I hadn’t fully processed until now. I went out onto the balcony to get space, to avoid making a mistake, and somehow I still managed to do exactly that.
Maybe the people at school weren’t right—but it feels like they are right now.
In high school, rumors spread that I slept with everyone. I didn’t. In college, I made out with a football player once, and hetold people I’d slept with him. After that, football players and most other student-athletes treated me like a piece of ass they thought they were entitled to. The teasing was constant. The side comments. The laughter. Even some of the younger coaches joined in, making jokes like it was nothing.
I still don’t know why it followed me. I’m pretty sure someone from high school planted the seed when I got to college.
After my freshman year, I avoided everyone like the plague. That’s why I quit the cross-country team. I did get injured, but I could have come back. Instead, I learned the athletes’ schedules and planned around them. I picked classes that didn’t overlap with practices. I never went to games. I only watched them on TV.
They took the joy out of something I loved.
Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lucy pressed me about why I didn’t want to go back to the team. I lied and told them the ACL injury was too severe to return. I think they both knew I wasn’t being honest, but they didn’t push it.
After that, I made sure I was never in situations where I could be vulnerable and have another lie spread about me. That’s why, when Gino started yelling at Mateo, I had to step in. I couldn’t let my brother accuse us of something that didn’t happen.
I stare at the two of them, waiting to see if either will speak. Neither does.
So I do.
“Gino, it’s nearly midnight. What the hell are you doing here?”
“Like I said, neither of you were answering your phones, so I drove here,” he huffs out.
“You could have called Kevin to come by.”
“Well, I decided to handle it myself since you’re my responsibility,” he snaps, pointing at me.
“First of all, I am an adult,” I shoot back. “And second, you have Mateo staying with me, not you. So clearly you were more than happy to hand that responsibility off to someone else.”
“That’s not what I was doing,” he says firmly.
“But then when you do show up, you’re quiet,” I say. “It’s almost like you were asking for a fight.”Where the hell is this confidence coming from?
“I wasn’t,” he replies. “I just didn’t know what was going on. Someone could’ve been in here to hurt you.”
“So your response is to get into a fight the second you hear someone?”
“He put me in a chokehold first,” he says, pointing at Mateo.
