Eight a.m. came and went because I decided to sleep in on Saturday. It was a little past nine before I finally looked up Brett's address.
He lived in my neighborhood, just two streets away from me.
How did I not know that?
I got dressed, remembering his request to keep the outfit G-rated and settling for a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt. Since he was so close, I decided it would be better to walk than drive. The last thing I wanted was for someone to see my car parked in front of his house. Just drop the doll off, and I was done.
Except he didn't answer the door. A young girl who looked a lot like him did.
"Is Brett here?" I asked, fully expecting to find out he was still in bed, or worse, had bailed on me.
"Yeah, he's in the den with the twins." The girl motioned for me to come inside. "I'm Sarah, his sister. You must be Alexis."
"I am." I stepped through the door and entered a home very unlike my own.
Like the kitchen, the rest of my house was in pretty much showroom condition, with the exception of Taylor's room. Mom had a maid service come in twice a week to clean, and the three of us all had such busy schedules that we were hardly ever in the house. Everything inside was hard and modern, pristine and cold.
Brett's house, on the other hand, had a definite lived-in appearance. A dozen pairs of shoes in various sizes and kinds lined the entryway. The furniture looked rumpled and comfy. Toys littered the next room. And a delicious aroma came from what looked to be a well-used kitchen.
But nothing prepared me for the sight that greeted me when I walked into the den. Brett was on his hands and knees, whinnying like a horse while two identical little girls giggled on top of his back.
I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the scene. I'd finally gotten some dirt on Brett Pederson.
An "oh shit" look crossed his face when he realized what I'd done. He sat up slowly, letting his little sisters slide off his back, and came toward me with caution guarding his movements. "Hi, Lexi."
"Having fun?" I quipped.
His spine straightened, and his normal air of confidence returned. "Um, yeah, actually, I am."
Okay, I had to give him props for admitting he enjoyed playing with his sisters.
One of the twins tugged on his arm. "Come back, horsey."
"Please!" the other chimed in, grabbing the other arm and pulling him back toward the castle play set. "We need you to finish playing Maximus."
Sarah stepped in and took the twins by the hands. "Brett has company. I'll play horsey for a little bit."
The little girls erupted in cheers and scampered back to their game.
"I told you my sister was good with kids," Brett said, the smudge of finger paint along his cheek only adding to my amusement. "Why don't we come this way?"
He pulled me into the hallway leading to the kitchen. "By the way, great blog post yesterday. Thank you for getting those videos taken down. They were stressing Summer out."
I bit back a retort. Of course he'd be thanking me for keeping his girlfriend's fake breasts from being displayed all over the internet. In helping my sister, I'd inadvertently helped my nemesis, too. But it was a small price to pay to keep Taylor safe.
I checked him over. No red eyes. No bags under them. No self-satisfied smirk. Only a really gnarly bruise peeking out from under the sleeve of his T-shirt, which I attributed to the game. "You're looking better than I expected."
"This is nothing." He rubbed the bruise on his arm. "You should've seen how banged up I was after playing Sky Lake last year."
If this was nothing, then I could only imagine what the players at the rival high school did to him. I wanted to ask him why he subjected his body to this weekly battering, but instead, we lapsed into an awkward silence I decided to break by offering the doll.
He didn't grab it right away. "Want to stay for breakfast?"
My stomach chose that moment to growl, and the mouth-watering aromas from the kitchen called to me. But my brain urged caution. "I should be going before someone catches me here."
"Why?" He took a step toward me, his grin daring me to answer him even though he obviously knew why.
I backed away, hitting the wall. Trapped. "Because I don't want people getting the wrong idea about us."
He kept closing in on me, propping his arm up against the wall. My pulse quickened, and my mouth grew dry. Usually, I was the one in power. Usually, I was the intimidator. Usually, I could keep my shit together around the popular kids and have a few quick verbal jabs at the ready for situations like this.
But nothing was usual about Brett.
He lowered his head, his lips inches from mine. Something inside my stomach bounced up and down like a hyper child on a trampoline. My breath caught.