Babysitting the Player

Chapter 20

I bite the nail of my pointer finger and check my phone. No new notifications.

Bryce and Maggie went to meet up with James Tate, leaving me to watch Layla for the afternoon. I told Bryce to keep me updated but I haven't heard from him once.

My mind is racing with all the possibilities of how their conversation could be going.

"I'm done," Layla says as she gets up from her chair.

"Did you finish your salad?"

"No."

"Park it, missy."

She lets out a groan and gets back in her chair.

I take the paper plate that held her pizza and toss it into the garbage can.

My phone buzzes in the pocket of my dark gray hoodie and I pull it out immediately. Instead of seeing Bryce's name on the notification for the text message, I see a random number.

I take a deep breath and unlock my phone, pulling up the message.

Nice to know you were at least keeping it in the family

Johnny.

I roll my eyes and type a quick response.

Bite me.

He immediately starts typing again and I glance up at Layla to make sure she's eating her salad. When her fork with some lettuce and a piece of a black olive enters her mouth, I turn to walk down the hall.

"I'll be right back," I say. "Don't move until you finish your salad."

When I'm far enough away, I press the call button under Johnny's number.

I press my phone to my ear and my heart is thumping against the wall of my chest with every ring.

"Crawling back already?" he asks and I can hear the smirk in his voice. "Did my brother really disappoint you this fast?"

"Never that. You need to back off."

"Yeah? Or what? You gonna send my brother after me?"

"Johnny."

"So just out of curiosity, is he an asshole who treats you like shit or is he awful in bed?"

"That's you, for both of those."

"Hey, you never exactly complained about anything we did in bed."

"Notice how there's no denial that you treated me like shit." I roll my eyes.

"Hey, if that's what you were worth, that's not my fault."

"Don't contact me again."

"Yeah, or what?"

"Johnny, I'm warning you."

"Oh, well thanks so much for the warning."

"This is harassment."

"And what's sleeping with my brother called?"

"For your sake, I really hope you realize you need to leave me alone." I hang up my phone and block his new number before sticking my phone back into my pocket.

It buzzes immediately and I don't bother pulling it out to check who it is.

I return to the table and see Layla taking her last bite of her salad.

"All done?" I ask.

She nods as she chews and gets up from the table. I pick up her empty paper bowl and toss it into the garbage pail and put her fork in the dishwasher.