Changing Hearts Read online

  “I have other news.” Lenora practically sprang on her toes.

  Brie jumped on that. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

  “No. But we’re coming back next semester.”

  That shocked me. “What?”

  “Yeah, don’t worry, we’re getting our own place. I loved it here, but…”

  “You could have your room back. Mason could use it, and Kelley and you can move into his old room,” I offered.

  Lenora looked at Brie, who bounced on her toes in excitement. “We can all be here together. It will be fun. One more semester together before we all go away.”

  It was our last year. That put a damper on things. Sawyer and I hadn’t talked about the future. Would our relationship end before it could fully get started?

  “I still love you, but why are you coming back?” Brie patted her hand.

  “Kelley wants me to graduate from here. He knows how much it would mean to me.”

  “Haven’t you been taking classes at SMU?”

  She nodded. “My credits should transfer, which is what I’ll be talking to the head office about today.”

  “Is Kelley trying to graduate too?” Brie asked.

  “Maybe. If his team doesn’t make the playoffs, he can enroll. Depending on his schedule, he might be able to pull it off. More than likely he’ll have to take summer classes.”

  “You’ll be here later?” I wasn’t sure of her plans, if they were staying here or at a hotel. She nodded. “I’m sorry I have to run. I have class in an hour and I need to shower.”

  “Yeah, you did get quite a bit sweaty last night.”

  I pointed at Brie. “You’re just as bad as Sawyer.”

  “I learned from the best.”

  I hadn’t made it two steps before my phone rang. Annoyance prickled my neck as I saw who was calling.

  “What you do want, Roy? I’m headed to class and can’t talk.”

  “Your brother’s been shot.”

  I was suddenly caught in a nightmare. Having a cop as a brother meant I’d waited for this call since the first day he’d been sworn in. But I’d also hoped never to get one.

  “What…what happened?” I stuttered.

  The girls surrounded me in silent support, hearing my distress.

  “Just come to the hospital. Your mom is on the way. I told her I’d contact you and your dad.”

  “Hospital?”

  It was a stupid question, but I was afraid to ask the more important one. Brie took the phone from my hands, which I’d already moved from my disbelieving ear. She continued to talk to Roy as Lenora guided me to sit on the sofa.

  “Is he okay?” I heard myself ask from some place far away.

  Brie took action after that. I don’t remember how I got from the sofa to Greg’s hospital room. I wasn’t exactly thrilled by his grinning face sitting up in bed. So I punched him.

  “Ouch, what the hell?”

  “If you hadn’t been trying to get back at Dad, you’d be sitting comfortably at some law firm instead of in this bed after getting shot during a routine stop.”

  Once the cobwebs cleared after learning he was going to be okay, I had time to simmer up to a good mad.

  “Protect and serve,” he said cheekily.

  When I balled up my fist to wipe the smile off his face, Roy came to my side and stopped me with a hand on my back and the other clutching my arm.

  “Down, girl. He gets it. He’s scared too. He’s trying not to show it,” he whispered and glanced across the bed where Mom stood protectively over my brother.

  I was nodding when a green-eyed monster pushed through the door.

  FORTY-THREE

  Sawyer

  When Kelley got the call from Lenora, I left my friends, blew off class, and headed straight for the hospital. I wasn’t sure if this was boyfriend protocol. I hadn’t met her brother or parents yet. But I wouldn’t leave her to deal alone.

  I’d never had a jealous bone in my body, not even with Julie. Okay, there had been twinges, but nothing that made me act on it or tell her how I felt.

  Seeing some asshole with his hand practically on Shelly’s ass made me want to tear his fucking arm off. What the fuck? I almost said.

  But years of practice had me schooling my features and pulling off a flawless grin instead of a grimace.

  “Sawyer,” Shelly said, “you’re here.”

  She wrapped herself around me and I gave the dickwad a smug smile. I wanted to kiss her, but her brother and her mother, based on the fact they looked alike, all stared at me.

  When she moved, I held out my hand to her brother.

  “Hi. Sawyer, the boyfriend.”

  Shelly giggled, making me glance at her. Had I said something wrong?

  “You’ve met Greg before. Briefly when Lenora had that issue.”

  Oh, right. Mentally, I thanked her for reminding me of her brother’s name. He’d been the cop who came to help contain the fuckwad who’d bothered Lenora before Kelley did something stupid and ended up in jail.

  “Oh.” When he shook my hand, I added, “Nice seeing you again, although shit circumstances.” When her mother glanced up, I added, “Oh, sh—sorry. I didn’t mean to curse.”

  She smiled. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. My two boys.” She pointed at Greg and the other guy. “I’m Denise, by the way.”

  “Sawyer Cargill.” We exchanged handshakes. Then I muttered to Shelly, “You have another brother?”

  “No,” she said curtly. “That’s Roy, my brother’s best friend.”

  “I practically lived at their house.”

  Dude was trying to mark territory that didn’t belong to him with that remark. There was a story there. But as far as I was concerned, his chapter had ended. She and I had started a new book and it would be epic if I had anything to say about it. It would be a million or more pages long because I wasn’t planning to give her up.

  “Yeah, Shelly lives with me now.”

  She elbowed my side. I managed to muffle my curse.

  “This is the boy who let you move in?” her mom asked.

  She sighed. “Yes. He had an extra room.”

  I grinned, knowing she wouldn’t see that room again.

  “Thanks for helping her out,” her mom said.

  “Thank you,” I said. At her mother’s puzzled look, I added, “Thanks for passing on the awesome genes. I see where she gets it from.”

  Shelly knocked her knee against my leg. “Stop flirting with my mother.”

  “She’s hot,” I whispered.

  Though the room was too silent, making my words stand out.

  “Oh my God, I can’t take you anywhere. We’ll talk later about your need for a filter.”

  I laughed and Denise grinned. At least I’d won her over. Greg eyed me with an unreadable expression.

  “How about I get food and drinks for everyone?” I offered.

  “Oh, how thoughtful,” her mom said.

  “Yes, he can be. He just needs a mute button,” Shelly said.

  That made everyone laugh, which was a good thing considering the circumstances. Greg looked relieved that the focus wasn’t on him.

  I left soon after taking their order. When what’s his name, Roy, took my kindness for weakness by making his order completely complicated, Shelly decided to come with me.

  “Who’s the guy?” I wasn’t yet willing to name the asshole.

  “An ex.” She sounded exhausted from saying that much.

  “Dating your older brother’s friend? Not very original.”

  “Falling in love with the girl next door isn’t either.”

  Her snappy comebacks were one of the things I loved about her.

  “God, I—” I stopped short from what I was about to say. When she narrowed her eyes at me, I finished. “I love that you don’t take my shit.”

  That earned me a smile.

  “All those dumb girls got it wrong,” she said.

  “No, I got it right.”

 
; I stopped her in the middle of the hall and kissed her. When I dipped her back, claps sounded around us. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. I was fucking grateful I figured the shit out. I’d been the fool for letting her go, accepting that she didn’t want to talk to me in freshman year. Instead, I’d settled for pissing her off as a pastime.

  Why had it taken me so long to put it together? I did know she’d throat punch me if I got out of line. I needed that. I needed someone who cared enough to not let me fuck this up. I needed her.

  She pointed a finger at me. “Next rule, no embarrassing your girlfriend in public.”

  “So I can’t kiss you except behind closed doors?”

  “You can, but you had your hand up the back of my shirt.”

  I grinned. “I can’t keep my hands off you, firecracker.”

  “And don’t call me that.”

  “What? Do you prefer sweetheart, baby cakes, love muffin?” I backed her into the wall, prepared to embarrass her a little more.

  “Okay, all of that is just wrong. I’ll keep firecracker.”

  I’ll keep her, though that was my secret for now. Instead, I showed her how I felt until security came and told us to keep moving along.

  FORTY-FOUR

  Shelly

  Mia sat on my bed, glaring at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I never see you anymore.”

  “Seriously, every time I call you, you’re with Lance.”

  “That’s because you never have time for me.”

  Sawyer, for all his manwhore ways, couldn’t get enough of me. Unlike David, he wanted to spend his free time with me. Hell, he wanted to be in the room when I studied. His reason: He wanted to make up for all the lost time. How could I possibly deny him? The only drawback was every time we were together, he was trying to feed me.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t moved on from Lance.”

  Mia had the attention span of a two-year-old. She shrugged.

  “He treats me well.”

  “He better or I’ll kick his ass.”

  She grinned but focused on her phone, frantically texting.

  “Okay, who are you talking to? Or I can give you a ride if I’m boring you.”

  She didn’t glance up to see I was joking.

  “I’m giving Kent directions.”

  “Kent?”

  “Yeah, Lance’s brother. Since he’s still on campus, he’s going to pick me up and give me a ride to their house.”

  “I could have taken you.”

  “I know. But he asked, and I told him to pick me up here. He should be here any minute.”

  “Seriously, though, is this guy a keeper?”

  “Is Sawyer? I’m sure he can fuck like a champ.” She eyed me like she wanted me to deny it.

  “You really didn’t just say that.”

  “I sure did. His reputation is solid there. But are you sure he won’t break your heart?” That was the million-dollar question. “Does he know you’ve held a torch for him since freshman year?”

  “Did not.”

  “Did too. I watched you pine over him. Now that he’s yours I can say it out loud.”

  “Pining for me, huh, firecracker?”

  We glanced up to see Sawyer poking his head through the crack.

  “Spying on me? That’s breaking rule five hundred and forty-two,” I said, trying to maintain a straight face.

  “You guys have rules?” Mia asked.

  He grinned at her. “She’s teaching me how to be a good boyfriend.”

  “You know, only you could pull off a cocky smirk and have me believe you at the same time,” Mia said.

  The wattage on his smile could have taken the power out of half the county.

  “Back to spying,” I said, half joking.

  “Save the punishments for later. I just came to tell Mia her ride is here.”

  He blew me a kiss that made me giggle. There was never a doubt he wasn’t a good flirt.

  “Seriously, you should patent that shit. You could write a book and sell that shit on Amazon and iBooks, and—”

  I stopped her. “Let’s not keep Kent waiting.”

  When we walked out in the hall, I saw Sawyer rooting in the fridge and Ashton talking in hushed tones with another guy who had to be Mia’s ride. Kent had his hands folded over his chest, listening to whatever Ashton said.

  Mia didn’t understand the significance and breezed over. Ashton walked away and I waved back as Mia left with Kent.

  Sawyer was grinning to himself. I figured he knew more than me. My phone rang. It was my mother. I picked it up, knowing she’d called because Greg had gone back to work. Another good thing about dating Sawyer was Roy. Sawyer had run the guy off. He stopped trying to talk to me. Hopefully, he’d focus on his fiancée.

  During the call, Sawyer came over, held up his phone, and took a video of him kissing my cheek. I watched as he sent another Snapchat, tagging it, #mygirl. Then he slapped my butt and winked at me before walking away.

  I waved a finger at him in mock anger, but tried not to laugh as I finished my conversation with Mom.

  The closer we got to Thanksgiving, something had definitely changed between Sawyer and me. If I hadn’t felt it before, I was seriously falling in love with him. All the cutesy shit Brie and Chance did didn’t seem annoying anymore. I totally got it.

  I’d become that girl, after watching a few of his games. I’d gone so far as to decorate a shirt with his name and number on it. Brie stared at it like a proud mama.

  “He’s so going to get a kick out of this,” she proclaimed.

  I pulled it on. “I think you’re having more fun with the idea of us than we are.”

  “You have no idea the number of merciless hours of teasing I endured. It’s his turn.”

  It was true. I’d witnessed some of it.

  During the game, I’d counted down the quarters, wanting to see his face when he saw me. I’d gone as far as having Brie draw his number on my cheek.

  Everything changed in a matter of seconds. We were up twenty-one to nothing, when a massive guy from the other team tackled Sawyer, landing on top of him, stealing my breath. The crowd went quiet.

  The player had to be at least three hundred pounds as I watched him struggle to his feet. Sawyer, on the other hand, didn’t move. Men ran on the field. I swear I held my breath the entire time, waiting for him to move something, anything dammit.

  When a cart drove on the field, I knew it was bad. They took their time getting him strapped down on a board while immobilizing his neck. His eyes hadn’t opened. I would have thought him dead, but they hadn’t performed chest compressions or mouth-to-mouth.

  “I have to go,” I whispered.

  Brie nodded in shock. “We’ll be there soon.”

  She’d wait for Chance. As I headed down the stands, I saw Ashton say something and get on the cart before it drove away. I ran the rest of the way, practically floating down the stairs because I couldn’t feel my feet.

  He just had to be okay.

  The wait was excruciating. Because none of us were family, we weren’t allowed back to see him. The most I got was that he was alive and they were running tests. As the hours passed, I wore a path in the tile.

  I was grateful when his parents arrived. We’d finally get some answers.

  FORTY-FIVE

  Sawyer

  I remembered nothing past seeing it was too late to get away from the guy barreling down on me until I woke up. They’d run so many tests I wondered if water would leak out of holes in my arms if I drank any or if I’d glow in the dark.

  Although the hospital staff was nice, nobody would tell me if my friends were waiting on me. Without a cell phone, I might as well have been on a deserted island. It had only been when my parents showed up that I’d gotten word to them.

  Mom looked as worried as I felt.

  “Do you really want to play football or are you doing this for your father?”

  I started to shake my
head, but I still felt slightly dizzy so I stopped.

  “We all have to make sacrifices.” Mom’s head whipped around as Dad walked into my room. “I did it for my brother. He has to do the same.”

  “Sacrifices? What sacrifices did you make?”

  Then it was like being at home again. It was as if I wasn’t in the room.

  “I married you for my brother.”

  “Is that so?” Mom folded her arms across her chest.

  “Why don’t you tell the boy the truth?”

  “And what truth is that?”

  Dad glared at her. “That you cheated on me with my brother and got pregnant with him.”

  His finger and not his eyes landed on me. It was as if fire burned the soles of Mom’s feet as she stomped over and slapped Dad.

  “How dare you?”

  He rubbed his cheek, then aimed that finger of his at her. “For all I know Tomas is his too.”

  Mom raised her hand again, but Dad caught it.

  “You know that’s a lie,” she gritted out.

  “Then why did he tell my parents he got you pregnant and planned to marry you? You didn’t bother to tell me. I had to hear it after I came to visit you.”

  “Jeff, you know exactly why Darrin lied. It was a different time back then. Your self-righteous parents wouldn’t have accepted him for who he was. And you weren’t willing to do right by me?”

  “I would have married you.”

  “Then why didn’t you before?”

  “Because the Vanderbilts were too good for me. Your father all but told me he wouldn’t let someone like me marry his daughter.”

  Mom’s eyes widened.

  “That’s right. After I graduated school and worked my ass off trying to make a name for myself so I could do right by you. Only to find out my brother knocked you up.”

  “Darrin was my best friend. And you know he would have never touched me.”

  “Yeah, he sure had everyone fooled, including me.”

  “You just didn’t want to believe the truth. You would have rather believed the worst about me than accept that your brother was gay and had never been with a woman ever. Don’t pretend you didn’t know. That was just the accusation you told yourself to treat me like crap.”