Sharp Practice

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Doom and Gloom

"I thought it was Rhylee," he looked slightly confused as he let go of my hand.

"It is, but I go by Ginger."

"Oh cool, because you have red hair right?"

I nodded.

He sat down and smiled at me. "Honestly I didn’t think that Kris would've been able to convince you to come."

I shrugged. "I guess he's good with his words."

"Or his hands," Forrest grunted still on his phone.

I glared as Shawn coughed over a chuckle before he added, "I wouldn't put too many eggs in that basket."

“Why not?”

“Well…” he hesitated, “Kris and Yuri have been uh- cave diving for a while now.”

I grimaced. “Yeah- I know. Um- I don’t think they’ll be doing that anymore.”

“Right because he’s with you now?” Forrest scoffed as he stared at his phone. His phone flew out of his hand and across the room which caused him to glare up at me. “Look Jailbait, Kris and Yuri have been screwing for almost three years now. He isn’t going to give that up for an underage red head, big tits or not.”

“Fuck you,” I spat. “You don’t know shit!”

“No, you don’t know shit,” Forrest argued. “You’ve known Kris for what? Three months? I’ve known him five years! I think I know his personality a little bit better than you do. Not to mention that he lied to you throughout the entirety of the three months you’ve known him. Stop acting like a stupid kid and get your head in the damn game. Maybe this wouldn’t have been so fucking easy if you actually thought!” With that Forrest got up from the couch, grabbed his phone off the floor, and left.

My eyes burned at the truth in his words and I bit my lip to hold back the tears.

“Hey,” Shawn placed his hand on my shoulder, “don’t take him so seriously. He’s just bitter because Yuri turned him down for Kris.” He wiped away the lone tear that escaped, “It’s not that bad here, I promise. And if it’s any consolation, on behalf of all of us, I’m truly sorry that this happened.”

I sniffed and smiled a genuine smile at him, “It isn’t. But it’s really nice of you to say so anyway.”

He smiled and opened his mouth to speak when Kris finally appeared in the living room with a grim look on his face. “Shawn, Yuri is upstairs in the guest bedroom. When she wakes up don’t let her go back to sleep until Maggie can get here and make sure she doesn’t have a concussion. I’ll watch Rhylee.”

“Okay,” Shawn nodded at Kris before he stood up. He looked back at me and smiled, “See you around Ginger.”

I grinned, “See you around.”

When Shawn left the room Kris frowned at me. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“’See you around, Ginger’,” he mocked. “Why’d he call you Ginger?”

“Because I told him to call me Ginger,” I frowned. “What are you getting jelly for?”

“I’m not ‘jelly’ I just don’t think you should be getting to comfy with anyone.” Especially since you don’t know if you’re staying or if you’re going to try to leave.

I grimaced and crossed my arms, “Whatever. So what did John want from you?”

Kris’ demeanor went grim at the mention of John and he looked down as he tried to avoid my gaze.

I frowned as approached him and forced him to look at me. “What did he say?”

He held my gaze for a moment before he looked down and said, “He commemorated me for my good job,” he paused.

“And?”

He sighed and gave me a pained look, “And told me to stand down.”

“’Stand down’?” I titled my head confused.

“Ginger, he wants me to leave you alone. He thinks that I’ve gotten too attached and he doesn’t like the idea of us together because I’m practically his adopted son and you’re his granddaughter.”

I frowned wide eyed. “No!” I cried. “He can’t do that!”

“He can and I have to listen to him.”

“The hell you do! Kris, he can’t keep us apart. We’re-” Kris’ hand covered my mouth before I could finish.

DON’T SAY IT ALOUD! He hissed in my mind. You don’t understand the things he’d put us through if he found out what we were. I’ve seen it Rhylee, they’re the kind of things that scare me about John and his dedication to the cause. It’s the same thing he wants to do to your parents and that’s something I always understood about why they ran away. “John knows best Ginger.”

I frowned, “But Kris-“

“He’s waiting for you now,” he interrupted me. “I’m supposed to take you to his study now.” I’m sorry. He stared into my eyes for a long moment before he kissed me and I melted.