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“Why can’t we do this at your house?” Mikey asked.
“That’s not really an option,” Braxton said, shaking his head as he focused back on his lunch.
“Because the very thought of a peasant stepping foot in your mansion is too much for you to handle?” Mikey asked, blinking at him.
“Something like that,” Braxton muttered as he took a bite of his roll and-
“So, we’ve been wondering about something,” came the announcement that had Mikey biting back a sigh as she glanced up to find her fan club coming to make her life a living hell.
Again.
“Why you can’t seem to stay away?” Mikey asked as her gaze flickered to Jonathan just as he was about to open his mouth and make things worse for her. When he saw the look on her face, he reluctantly closed his mouth and grumbled as he focused back on his food, which, at the moment, she truly appreciated.
For the past three months, Nicole and her entourage had been doing whatever they could to get her to do something stupid to get her back on probation. They mocked her whenever they saw her, tried to trip her when she was in the hallway, taunted her whenever they didn’t think a teacher was looking, somehow managed to dump a bottle of red paint on her head during English class, stole her bag during a school assembly and filled it with rotten eggs before shoving it in her locker and placing a different lock on it so that she couldn’t get inside, and did whatever they could just to see how far they could push her and Mikey let them.
She did whatever it took to stay out of trouble and kept her grades up so that absolutely nothing stood in her way of getting on the team. That meant getting up early every morning so that Uncle Jason and Reese could destroy her will to live, running until one of them was forced to carry her home while she gasped for air, followed by doing pushups until her arms gave out and crunches until she thought that she was going to be sick.
That was followed by doing her best to avoid her fan club at school, struggling to keep up with her classes, and doing everything that she could to stay out of trouble before she went home and put her supervisory skills to work, played with her brothers, and struggled through four hours of soul-crushing homework. When she was done, Mikey went outside, pulled her pitching target out of the garage and threw two hundred pitches while she forced herself to ignore the pain tearing through her arm and the exhaustion threatening to drop her to her knees.
Once she was done, Mikey picked up all the balls and dragged the pitching target back into the garage before she headed inside to ice her shoulder, check on her baby brothers, take a shower, and pass out before doing it all over again the next day. She was exhausted, but she knew that it would all be worth it when she finally stepped onto the pitcher’s mound.
“No, we’ve actually been wondering what your scholarship is for,” Nicole said with that smug little smile that annoyed the hell out of her.
“We already know that it’s not an academic scholarship,” Heather said with a pitying look that turned mocking as she watched Chloe sit down and shove another cup of apple cider in front of Cole.
“Then again…” Nicole began as her gaze shifted to Chloe. “Maybe you really are just another charity case.”
“Leave her alone,” Cole said evenly, all signs of humor gone as he picked up the cup of cider and took a sip.
“Why exactly do you care?” Sebastian asked, looking just as pissed as Cole.
“Why wouldn’t we care about how our parents’ hard-earned money was being spent?” Nicole asked.
“We just want to make sure that they’re getting their money’s worth,” Heather added with a helpless shrug while Mikey sat there waiting for them to get to the real reason that they were doing this.
“We also wanted to know if we should organize a food drive to help you,” Nicole said as her gaze flickered to Chloe before adding, “Forbothof you.” Chloe opened her mouth to say something, only to snap it shut and shake her head in disgust as she grabbed her bag and headed for the doors.
“Real nice,” Cole bit out as he shoved his chair back and went after her.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Braxton demanded.
Blinking innocently, Nicole said, “What are you talking about? We’re just trying to help those that are less fortunate than us.”
“Maybe we should do a clothing drive, too,” Heather added with a pointed look at Mikey while she sat there, counting to ten in her head as she slowly exhaled, reminding herself of everything that she had to lose if she said any of the things that she wanted to say at the moment. She-
“She got a scholarship to play baseball. So, leave her alone.”
-really wished that Braxton hadn’t said that, Mikey thought, feeling her stomach drop as she took in the stunned expressions on Nicole and Heather’s faces before they turned calculating.
“Baseball?” Nicole murmured, her lips twitching before she cleared her throat and stepped away with Heather by her side. “Interesting.”
“Why did you just tell them that?” Mikey mumbled weakly as she watched them walk away.
“I was hoping it would shut them up,” Braxton said, swallowing hard as they shared a look.
“I think your plan backfired,” Sebastian drawled while Mikey sat there, feeling her stomach turn as she thought about all the new ways that they were going to try to make her life a living hell now.
CHAPTER25
