The Rebel's Own(4)

“Another baby? And how will you take care of that little one? It’s hard enough on you already with just Riley. It’s too expensive, and you don’t have insurance. Why don’t you just ask Ryan to donate bone marrow?”

“He would have to take time away from football, and he would never do that. He’s a selfish little…” Kennedy looked at her son, hoping that he was asleep. She covered his ears with her hands even though he couldn’t spell complex words yet, then whispered, “…b-a-s-t-a-r-d. He would never do anything that could jeopardize his career.”

“I don’t see any good coming from this.” The disappointed slump in her mother’s shoulders reminded her of when she’d confessed that she was pregnant. It still ate at Kennedy how her parents had taken the news, and that her father had died disappointed in her. “He’s probably been sleeping with the whole of Boston. What if he’s sick?”

“Matt said that he just had a physical. He’s clean, Mama.”

“You became a stranger when you got tangled with that boy. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“I’m sorry, Mama. But you need to trust that I’m not that naïve anymore. I only need one thing from Ryan. Then it’s over.”

But the loud thumping of Kennedy’s heart told her it was far from over. The anger and hatred that she had managed to squash throughout the years for Riley’s sake threatened to rekindle. Kennedy knew that she would have to show self-control that she wasn’t quite sure she possessed.

• • •

“She’s like a panther stalking her prey. Or like a snake slithering in the tall grass.” Matt made a hissing noise to make his point.

Ryan gave a half-snorted laugh at Matt’s joke. He watched with a scowl as Clara moved around the room, making her presence known. Great. Now there is no chance of me getting out of here early, he thought.

“I don’t know why you are still with her,” Matt muttered under his breath.

“Because I can be,” he declared indignantly. “I don’t think I can find a girl who just wants me for me. They all want Ryan Carville, the Rebels’ quarterback.”

“You don’t need to settle down.” Ryan winced as Matt clapped a hand on his shoulder while firmly tapping him on the chest. This was his way of driving a point home, “Have a little fun, play off the field, if you know what I mean. Unless you are in love with her.”

Ryan snorted again when he caught Matt’s suggestive wink. Cheating had never been something he was comfortable with. Sure, Clara had encouraged his sexual liberties back in high school, but everything was different now. He liked to think that he had evolved, or was evolving from that helpless little boy, caught beneath the thumb of peer pressure.

Besides, if he was spotted with someone else, the tabloids would stalk her. And while he was used to the attention—hell, Clara had even invited a dozen paparazzi along to their most recent Cabo getaway—it wasn’t fair to subject someone else to that spotlight.

“I don’t even like her. I tolerate her, because I don’t want to be alone. I’m an ass, I know.” He’d felt like an ass ever since his senior year prom. No amount of charity work, or selfless giving could take out the stink in his soul. Ryan was angry at himself because he knew he should have severed his relationship with Clara a long time ago. But he was a coward, and she had a way of making him feel they were back in high school.

“If you were single, who would you take home tonight?” Matt asked.

I am single, he thought. Ryan shrugged his shoulders and let Matt propel him towards the bar. There he spotted a dark beauty in a silver, low-cut mini dress. Her chocolate legs travelled for miles into silver-studded stilettos. His heart pounded hard in his chest as his eyes skimmed over her body and up to her face. Her thick lips glistened with sheer gloss, and the intensity in her eyes burned through the light makeup that surrounded them.

“Walk away,” Ryan whispered to Matt.

“You like her?” Matt echoed softly. “Go get her, man.”

With an encouraging shove from his friend, Ryan took a bold step towards the beauty sipping a drink from the bar.





Chapter Three





Kennedy’s chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She couldn’t believe she was actually here. Anger bit into her as she looked around and saw the life Ryan and Matt had managed to make for themselves. Karma apparently hadn’t caught up with them.

She sipped her martini, trying to wash the hate down. If she was going to convince Ryan that she was sweet enough to sleep with, she had to drown her tongue in enough booze so that it would comply.