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“Probably,” she mumbled weakly as she went for a hopeful smile that quickly died when Uncle Reese narrowed his eyes on her.
Clearing her throat, Mikey gestured absently to herself as she said, “You may carry me home now,” with a resigned sigh.
Never taking his eyes off Mikey, Uncle Reese reached down and grabbed her. Within seconds, he had her thrown over his shoulder and was gone, leaving Sebastian to ignore the little bastard waiting to pounce.
“Don’t start,” Sebastian said, swiping back when he realized that he had no idea what he just read.
“You’re overthinking this.”
“I’m not going to rush this,” Sebastian said, refusing to do anything that would risk losing Mikey, even if it meant getting his heart broken.
* * *
“Tell me what happened again,”Reese said, slowly exhaling as he continued pinching the bridge of his nose, which made it really difficult to gauge how angry he was at the moment.
“Which part?” Mikey asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced at her mother and-
Decided that she should probably look somewhere else until that small muscle beneath her mother’s eye stopped twitching. Never a good sign, Mikey thought, clearing her throat as she focused back on her stepfather, whom she’d like to point out was still pinching the bridge of his nose.
“All of it,” Reese said evenly, which, combined with the fact that he hadn’t been able to look at her since she’d finished telling him how she’d ended up with detention for the next two weeks, was making it really difficult not to panic.
Perhaps this would be a good time to tell them that she loved them, Mikey thought, opening her mouth to do just that when Reese bit out, “Mikey.” Knowing better than to push her luck, Mikey felt her shoulders drop as she admitted, “I’m irresistible.”
That was followed by her stepfather’s lips twitching as he dropped his hand away and her mother muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, “I need a drink,” to herself as she reached up and began massaging her temples with her fingertips. Not really sure how she should take that, Mikey continued.
“That’s really the only way that I can explain this,” she said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of her head before adding, “There’s really no other way to explain her obsession with me.”
“That would explain why Jason told me that her mother demanded your expulsion,” her mother said while Mikey did her best not to wince at the memory of what happened when Nicole’s mother showed up.
Clearing her throat, Mikey murmured, “That was unfortunate.”
“So was being put on probation for the rest of the semester,” Reese said, making her stomach drop.
“I think I missed that part with the yelling and all,” Mikey mumbled weakly as his words sank in and-
“She had it coming,” Mikey said, really wishing that she’d resisted the urge to wipe that smile off Nicole’s face when she had the chance.
Sighing heavily, Reese reached over and cupped the back of her neck and pulled her closer as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I know she did,” he murmured against her forehead.
“Did she get probation, too?” Mikey mumbled sadly as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest. When she felt Reese go still, she bit back a sigh as she muttered, “Of course she didn’t.”
“You’re there on a scholarship, Mikey, which means that you play by different rules,” her mother reminded her as Mikey stepped away from Reese and dropped down on her bed with a heavy sigh.
“Which means…” Mikey said, letting her words trail off as she reached over and grabbed a baseball off her nightstand.
“That you signed a contract agreeing to keep your grades up, maintain almost perfect attendance, and follow their code of conduct to the letter so that-”
“So that I can play baseball,” Mikey finished for her mother as she began rolling the baseball between her hands while she thought about what that meant for her.
“Exactly,” her mother said as she sat down next to her on the bed.
“And if something happens before the semester’s over?” Mikey asked, needing to know exactly where she stood.
“Don’t let anything else happen,” Reese said with a heavy sigh as he pulled her desk chair out and dropped down on it.
“But let’s say that it does, what will happen?” Mikey asked, rolling the baseball between her hands while she waited for an answer that she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like.
“Then, you’ll lose your scholarship and your spot on the team. You’ll have to transfer to the public high school and-”
