One and Done - S. Briones Lim Page 0,80

Rossi’s attention turned on me. I took an involuntary step back, taken by surprise by the fury in his eyes. Though I towered over him, I didn’t doubt that he’d do everything in his power to reach up for my neck and choke me to death. “You! I knew I shouldn’t have hired you. That good boy act you’ve been pulling—you’re just like your no-good mom!”

“Dad!” Rocky yelped. “Jesse had nothing to do with it! Mom, please. You have to believe me.”

“Did you even work while we were gone?” Mrs. Rossi was always the level-headed one, but at that moment I feared she was even worse than her husband. Her face was like stone, smooth and hardened, her eyes narrowed slits, calculating and brutal.

“Yes! Check the books.”

My face immediately paled. Rocky mentioned she sold some of the penis shaped straws I put out on the shelf as a joke. I hoped to God her parents wouldn’t find any of those records in their books.

“I’ll do just that,” Mr. Rossi replied.

Great. I swallowed nervously, watching the plump man flip through the gigantic black binder mercilessly.

His caterpillar-like eyebrows rose when he spotted something in black and white. “Miscellaneous? What is this? We don’t sell anything marked ‘miscellaneous.’”

“I…uh…don’t remember,” Rocky stammered.

I shut my eyes. Rocky was always the worst liar imaginable.

Her dad scratched his head in ferocity, and for a moment I worried he’d cut right through his skin. “Did you sell a…a…what are they called?”

“A dildo, honey,” Mrs. Rossi answered with a surprisingly calm tone before scampering away.

Rocky winced and shook her head. “Um, no…they were straws.”

“Why were they marked miscellaneous?”

“I…uh…the barcode was scratched and I was too busy to grab another one to scan.”

Wow, maybe she wasn’t such a bad liar after all.

Just when I thought Mr. Rossi was about to buy it, the sound of his wife’s screams filled the store. Simultaneously, the three of us jerked up and quickly ran toward the source of the commotion. I skidded to a stop in front of a pair of painted purple footprints.

Crap! How could forget I painted the floor to the store? No wonder Rocky hated me.

“What is this?” Mrs. Rossi exclaimed, on the verge of hyperventilation. She licked one of her fingers and frantically tried wiping my “artwork” off to no avail. Face scrunched in anger, she gazed at her daughter with a look of pure ferocity.

That was it. I could no longer hold out any longer and let Rocky fight my battles for me. Repeating history or not, I had to take the blame again.

“Enough! Enough of this,” I growled.

“Jesse! Be quiet,” Rocky hissed in warning.

Ignoring her, I pressed on. “It was my idea. All of it. Our stores in Charleston do well by selling those toys. They also put glittered prints around their stores as a gimmick. Rocky didn’t want to do it at first. But as usual I was able to convince her.”

And with a snap of a finger I was once again kicked out of the Rossis’ homestead, banished from seeing their daughter. I couldn’t blame them for hating me. It was true; I did need to leave Raquel alone for good. Dad was right, we were a bad combination. As much as I tried to fight it, we definitely brought out the worst in each other.

“Shut up, Jesse,” I muttered, starting my car up. “You’re the only thing bad in this combination. Better walk away again before you screw things up even more for her. That’s what you are, aren’t you? Just a screw up…” I rubbed my eyes and took a few breaths to steady my heart, which was still beating erratically. Once I finally calmed myself to think rationally, I shook my head in disgust. “I can’t cut her out of my life again. I’m not strong enough anymore…so what do I do now?”

The answer to my question was simple. It wasn’t up to me. It never was up to me. It was time that Rocky took the lead, just as she wanted. It was time for her to step it up.

Chapter 31

Radio silence.

You’d think after five years of enduring it, a day would be nothing.

Well, it wasn’t.

The next day was horrible. Actually, what’s worse than horrible? Torture? The plague? Whatever was worse I was there.

Waiting sucked.

Not hearing anything sucked.

Everything sucked.

I dragged my feet around the house waiting for a non-existent call or text amidst my mother’s prying eyes and the arrogant smirk on Michelle’s chapped lips.

“Broken heart, eh?” The fiery redhead slyly