Aced (Blocked #2) (5 page)

“Oh, you know, run and lift. But the best workout is pickup basketball with the guys. It’s pretty cut-throat.”

I’d wondered about a purple mark near his temple. “That’s where you got that bruise?”

“Yeah.” His eye closed. “Took an elbow to the head. But I freaking snagged that rebound, baby.”

I laughed.

Lucia surprised me by piping in. “I didn’t know you’d picked up basketball again, Alex.” Her voice had lost its edge.

He leaned forward to look at her. “I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

“You played in high school?” I asked.

“Yes.” He cocked his head. “You too?”

“You can’t be six-one and get away with
not
playing. My high school coach would’ve killed me.”

“
My
high school basketball coach guilt-tripped me every day for quitting the team after ninth grade,” Lucia said. “But I didn’t have time with club volleyball. How’d you find time for two sports, Maddie?”

I’d actually played three sports in high school, including running track, but I didn’t want to boast. “I just made it work, I guess. I didn’t like the break between high school and club seasons.” I glanced at Alejandro to find him looking at me again.

“You love to compete,” he said with a hint of admiration. “So does Lucy. Too bad she stopped basketball, because she and Dad made a killer team against Jake and me for two-on-two.”

“President Ramirez plays basketball too?” I asked. When Alejandro nodded, I added, “Who’s Jake?”

“My high school buddy.” His jaw clenched.

He didn’t say more, so I looked at Lucia.

“Jake’s a marine,” she said, then lowered her voice. “He’s deployed in Afghanistan. Alex won’t admit it, but he’s worried about him.”

I looked back and noticed him staring over Lucia’s shoulder. Frank was approaching.

“Lucia,” he said. She tensed next to me. “We’d like you to return to your seat.” He gestured to the stands, where Allison patted the seat in front of her. “We don’t want you or your brother out in the open like this.”

Lucia’s hold on the railing tightened. “So you can overhear
more
of my secrets and broadcast them to the world?”

My phone buzzed in my vest pocket, and I looked down to see an incoming call from my brother.

“C’mon, Luce,” Brad said. “I was thinking the same thing about exposure—that’s why I kept getting closer. Back to the stands, Ramirez
niños
.”

To my surprise, Alejandro didn’t hesitate. He cupped Lucia’s elbow and nudged her toward the stands as he looked over his shoulder at me. “Coming, Maddie?”

Lucia shirked away from his hold. “Get off me, control freak!”

With Alejandro’s eye-rolling grin, I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and followed them. It was fun to see that my brother and I weren’t the only ones who antagonized each other. And it was too loud in the arena to answer Braxton’s call, anyway.

I ended up sitting between the squabbling
niños.
We watched the game in silence for a few points, and I marveled at Dane’s perfect set to Josh. Too bad Josh hit the ball into the net. I expected to see Dane explode, but instead he shrugged and bumped fists with his best friend. Then he said something to Josh that made him laugh.
Whoa
. Apparently Dane’s counseling had helped him manage his anger. Lucia told me both she and Dane had continued to meet with Dr. Valentine, the school’s sport psychologist.

I watched Alejandro scan the crowd, looking more like a protector than a protectee. “You seem to listen to the agents better than Lucia does,” I said.

“Probably because it was Brad, not China.” He tilted his chin up in her direction. China scowled as she kept watch over her charge. She was one tough chick. “But I’m not stupid,” he said. “There’re people out there who want to kill us.”

Fear flipped my stomach.

He shook his head. “Especially now that my dad’s stepped up counterterrorism efforts.”

“Like what?”

He snorted. “Well, it’s sure as hell not creating shovel-ready jobs for the terrorists.” When my confusion apparently showed on my face, he said, “You really don’t watch the news, do you?”

“I’m too busy. And it’s too depressing.” I wondered if he thought I was an airhead. “I probably should pay more attention.”

“Most college students don’t follow politics, studies show. So you’re not alone in that. But you did vote, right?”

I winced.

“You didn’t even
vote?”
His voice rose. “And you call yourself an American?”

Lucia touched my arm as she leaned across me. “Don’t give her a hard time, Alex. We had our conference tournament on election day.”

His lips pressed together. “Hmm.” He patted his thigh. “If you’re not following the news, maybe you shouldn’t vote, anyway.”

Lucia cheered when Highbanks won a long rally, and I leaned closer to Alejandro. “We did have a match that day, but I still could’ve voted. Honestly, I didn’t feel right choosing between Lucia’s dad and Dane’s mom. They’re both my friends.”

“Why do you like Dane?”

His tone was more curious than mean. “He’s hilarious.” I grinned, thinking back to a particularly funny incident last spring. “Jaylon and I were out last April—”

“Who’s Jaylon?”

When I paused, he nodded grimly. “The ex.”

I tried to block thoughts of him. “We had a few drinks with dinner.” When Alejandro’s eyebrow dipped, I added, “You know, celebrating the off-season.”
Mr. Straight Edge doesn’t drink, either?
Then I remembered Dane’s public intoxication from last year, and figured out why Alejandro looked so disapproving. I glanced at Lucia, but her attention was focused on an elderly couple standing at the end of the row, likely asking about her father. She couldn’t go anywhere without getting stopped. I turned back to Alejandro. “Don’t worry, Lucia doesn’t drink.”

“She better not.”

I shook my head. “I think that’s for
her
to decide. Anyway, Dane and Nina were there…”

His dark eyes narrowed. “
Nina
was with Dane?”

“You know about Nina?”

“Another reason premarital sex is a bad idea,” he grumbled.

Evidently he knew about her abortion, too. My voice rose. “Will you let me tell this story?” I thought I caught a half-smile before it disappeared from his face. “Anyway, it was karaoke night, and all the sudden the MC said, ‘Next up’s Jaylon Hart, performing
Killing Me Softly
.’” I cracked up, remembering his murderous expression.

Alejandro stared at my mouth when I laughed, which made me feel self-conscious. I swallowed, then continued the story. “When Jaylon figured out it was Dane who set him up, he was ready to kill. But everyone cheered for him to get onstage so he didn’t have a choice.” Giggles overtook me as I recalled his awkward, tone-deaf performance. “Jaylon was
so
bad. It was the Roberta Flack song, but I guess all he knew was The Fugees’ version, so he kept trying to rap. He didn’t have a damn clue. The crowd started to boo, and I couldn’t wait for the song to end. But then Dane ran up there, grabbed the other microphone, and started singing falsetto. They turned it into a duet and by the end everyone was laughing at these big jocks hamming it up.”

“Dane better not ever try that with me,” Alejandro said, his voice stern but his eyes smiling.

“I never heard that story,” Lucia said, and I realized she’d been listening. “I wonder if I could get Dane to do karaoke—that’d be a riot.”

I frowned as the rest of that night replayed in my head. Jaylon had wanted me to spend the night, but I’d left because of an early-morning lab. Now that I thought about it, we’d had quite a few spats about me not spending the night. His injured brown eyes as I left his apartment…hadn’t he understood I needed sleep? My throat tightened. Had I turned him away?

“Woohoo!” Lucia yelled as she popped out of her seat. “We won!” I looked behind me to see the agents bolt up as well, their eyes scanning the crowd. When I glanced at the court, the teams were passing each other single file as they shook hands.

Alejandro tilted his head toward me, sending over a waft of spicy aftershave. “So Great Dane leads his team to victory.”

I tried to smile at his disdainful tone, but to my horror, my eyes filled with tears. “Sorry.” I sniffed.

“You’re thinking about Jaylon?”

All I could do was nod.

“Hey.” His eyebrows knit together. “Your ex is an idiot.” The look of concern on his handsome face made me cry harder. With his thumb, he brushed a tear from my eye. “You’re a strong girl, Maddie. You’ll get through this.”

I took a shaky breath. I hadn’t realized Lucia’s sweetness was genetic.

Allison and Frank went ahead to scope out the restaurant, and the rest of us waited for Dane to emerge from the locker room. Once I recovered from my emotional freakout, Lucia had convinced me to join them, of course. And maybe I didn’t hate the idea of getting to know Alejandro better. I felt my phone buzz again; this time it was a text from my brother:

Are you alive?

What a stupid question. If I wasn’t alive, how would texting me help figure it out? Alejandro and Lucia were absorbed in conversation—I’d overheard them say
Mateo
—so I decided to reply.

No. There was a plague at Highbanks.
This is Zombie Maddie.

Oh. Don’t munch on my brain, Zomdie.

I grinned.

Why’d you disappear on me? You know I hate that.

My grin vanished. I guess I hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about the breakup so it wouldn’t seem real. But Lucia and Alejandro had made it less awful to admit the truth.

Jaylon broke up with me.

His return texts showed up instantly.

WHAT?

Want me to come kick his ass?

I rolled my eyes. Braxton was a little taller than me, but he had nowhere near Jay’s muscle mass. His next text arrived:

Probably for the best, anyway.

Rude.
I knew I shouldn’t have expected emotional support from him.

Thanks for the sympathy.

You know what I mean. Nana never liked Jaylon.

Nana never liked ANY of my boyfriends.
She thinks they’ll mess up my career.

I gulped, deciding not to add the reason for my grandmother’s fear:
Just like Mom messed up Dad’s career. Messed up his life, really.
Braxton didn’t like me to mention our mother. When Mom left us right before my second birthday, Nana had become our true mother, and she’d done an awesome job filling in.

I realized I hadn’t asked my brother about himself.

How are your classes?

I’m done with classes, remember?

Whoops
. Braxton studied political science, and I tried to remember the next step in the never-ending pursuit of his doctorate.

When are doctoral exams?

February 15. I’ll ace them.

I smiled. He never lacked confidence.

How’s p-chem?

I groaned. Physical chemistry was my toughest class.
Hmm
. I wondered if Alejandro could help me with it?

I’m surviving.

Call Dad. He’s worried about you.

Yes, sir,
I wanted to type. I hated how Braxton ordered me around. When Dane emerged from the locker room, I typed a quick
Gotta go, bye!
instead.

Dane’s hair was still damp and his face flushed from the shower. He smiled brightly when he saw Lucia.

“Love this coat on you,” he said as he lifted her up and kissed her. She squealed. He put her down and clasped my shoulder. “Thanks for being here, Maddie.”

“Good match, GD.”

“Thanks.” He turned to my right. “Well, lookie here, my babysitters are back.” Dane reached out to pump Brad’s hand.

“Danester,” Brad said with a grin.

“Sure missed you, China.” Dane wrapped his right arm around her neck and hovered his left fist over her head. “Can I give you a noogie, for old time’s sake?”

“Not if you want to keep your balls,” she answered.

When Alejandro laughed, Dane’s eyes shot to him. The laughter stopped.

“And why are
you
here, Alex?”

Chapter Four