Betrayed (The New Yorker) (3 page)

Reno froze at that moment. She knew
that people were only after her connections and that was all the more reason to
stay away from her, until he was done with what had brought him to New York in
the first place. He took a step forward as Michael launched himself at Lisette.
But yet again the little pixie proved she didn’t need his help. She sidestepped
him like a pro-football player and Michael dived into the white sand, face
first.

“Oh, poor
baby.
I promise I will stand still this time.”

Reno barked out a laugh that caught
her attention. He watched as Michael tried to take advantage of her
distraction, but she just proved how much better than he was at fighting.

“What’s going on here?” Reno turned
toward the deep baritone. The African-American man standing next to him was
just as tall as he was, and almost matched him in build.

“It’s nothing, she’ll be fine.”
Reno growled protectively. He felt this guy was another competitor for
Lisette’s affection or riches.

“I know, I taught her how to fight
without making any contact,” the man said. “Come on, piggy. I think you’ve
humiliated him enough for a lifetime.”

“I think she could do a little bit
more. It’s quite entertaining.”

“I know, but I have to get her back
home early. Adrian Ross, or AJ,” he introduced himself.

“Reno
Kanaloa
.”
Reno
Kanaloa
Kent,
he thought. But there was no
reason AJ had to know that just yet. This night was turning into one hell of an
event. His ancestors must be on his side.

Reno turned just in time to see
Lisette rush and hide behind them. Michael was coming after her, his anger
fueled by his crushed ego. Reno flipped him on his stomach with one twist of
his arm and AJ’s convenient sweep of the foot. They both crouched over him and
held his body immobile on the ground.

“You weren’t going to hit a girl
were you?” The thought angered Reno.

“No, he wouldn’t hit my little
sister, because he knows very well that I would drown him in this water.”

“Maybe he needs a little swim,”
Reno suggested.

* * * *

Lisette stood back and watched AJ
and the guy he was with, as they easily lifted Michael off the ground and
tossed him into the raging waves. She watched as they both walked back to her
laughing. There was something genuine about his smile that pulled her in. Plus
the way his black T-shirt clung to his chest, and his white shorts, screaming
at the seams, made her have impure thoughts.

“Hi, I’m Lisette.” She stretched
out her hand to him, and watched as he took it in his as if it was something
dear and fragile.

“Reno. It’s nice to meet you.” Reno
held her gaze and immediately she felt she was floating in the depths of their
brown, honey pools. She just wanted to walk into his arms and give away the
kiss that Michael wanted to claim from her. But AJ cut in.

“Thanks for the help, Reno. Maybe
we could hang out later.”

“Definitely.”

Lisette bit back a moan of
disappointment when his eyes were pulled away from her to AJ. She watched as
the two men exchanged contacts, and almost fought her brother when he pulled
her away from Reno’s godly beauty. Her disappointment was sweetened when he
blew a kiss at her. She felt her heart melt and her knees go weak, so much so
that she tripped over herself and if it wasn’t for AJ hoisting her up into his
arms, she would have fallen flat on her face. Over AJ’s shoulder she watched as
Reno watched them, waving at her as AJ carried her away.

Chapter Two

“What are you doing?” Lisette froze
when
Catalella’s
voice called out from behind her.
She took a deep breath to still her panicked heart.

AJ was in his bathroom taking a
shower. Lisette had waited patiently since dawn for him to leave his room and
leave his phone somewhere she could get to it. He finally had and she knew her
window of opportunity was slim.

“
Shhh
!
Stand by the door and tell me if you hear AJ coming,” she hissed.

“You know he doesn’t like it when
we go through his things,”
Catalella
said, a hint of
cheeky amusement creeping into her voice.

“Just a
second.”
Lisette scrolled down the contact list in
AJ’s phone and almost squealed in delight when she found Reno’s number. “Let’s
go.”

Once in the safety of her room she
fell back on her bed and stared at the number she had retrieved. Reno
Kanaloa
she mumbled. “‘Lisette Ross
Kanaloa
’—it
has a nice ring to it.”

“What does?”
Catalella
had been sitting patiently at the edge of Lisette’s bed waiting for a morsel of
gossip.

“I’m in love, baby girl,” she said
in a sing-song voice. “He’s just as tall as AJ, but he has a better body. He’s
dark skinned, native-American looking and his smile—dear God, his smile…”
Lisette smiled.

“What about that guy who wanted to
do nasty things to you?”
Catalella
giggled.

“AJ and Reno threw him into the
ocean. He started getting fresh with me.” Lisette scowled at the mention of
Michael. It was worse that he had insistently been calling her for the better
part of that morning.

“Who’s Reno?”

“The gorgeous guy AJ and I were
with last night.”

“This is so unfair; I never get to
have fun or get to meet any cute guys.”
Catalella
pouted.

“You are going to college in the
fall—you will meet the cute guys there.” Lisette turned toward her little
sister. She had just graduated and had been accepted to five different Ivy
League schools, some of which she hadn’t applied to.
Catalella
was now going to Harvard in the fall to follow in their father’s footsteps. Law
never really interested Lisette—finance was her thing, and her uncle Dennis had
taken her under his wing.

“So what are you going to do, now
that you have his number?”

“I think I will call him. Or text
him?” Lisette shrugged. She knew she wanted to communicate with Reno but she
didn’t know how best to do it without looking like she was after him. She
didn’t want him to think badly of her. But maybe if she did pursue him, he
would like that go-getter attitude in her. She stared at the number and dared
herself to make contact. She was going to ask him out, and if he rejected her
she would move on. It wasn’t like she wanted to marry him and have his babies.

“Go away,
Catalella
.”
Lisette didn’t need an audience for what she was about to do.

“But I want to listen in.” Her
sister pouted.

“Not today, baby girl.” Lisette
chuckled as she ushered
Catalella
out of her room.

“I’m going to call him.” She
cheered herself on once she was alone. “And if he doesn’t want to go out with
me, whatever, I won’t push the issue.”

Lisette felt her heart thud faster
and harder as the dial tone echoed in her ear. She wrestled with the
spontaneous reflex to hang up. She wasn’t going to chicken out, she told
herself, she was a Ross, and Rosses went after what they wanted, she reminded
herself. But when Reno’s deep baritone voice filled her ear she forgot about
being a Ross and felt like a fourteen year old girl.

“Ha—” She cleared her throat.
“Hallo?”

“Yes, who is this?” The bass voice
demanded.

Get a grip,
get a grip. “
This is Lisette Ross. We met last night at
the bonfire.”

She heard him chuckle, then he said
“I remember. How did you get my number? Did your brother give it to you?”

“That doesn’t matter.”
Liar, because it did.
If Adrian found out she was snooping
in his phone and was bold enough to ask a complete stranger out on a date she
would get a hiding. “I was wondering where you lived?”

“What?” The surprise in his tone
was obvious.

“I want to pick you up and take you
out on a date, and I can’t do that if I don’t know where you live.”
Remain firm,
Lisette told herself.

“I don’t remember you asking me out
on a date, and I sure as hell don’t remember saying yes.”

“You could just tell me your
address right now, or I could get someone to find it for me.”

His laughter knocked her off her
game. Was he laughing at her? “What’s so funny?”

“You are. Look it’s very flattering
but I don’t think I want to go out with you. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

Lisette stared at her phone when
the line went silent. She had been dismissed and mocked. Rage and fury replaced
the adoration she had for the man. She was going to show him—he wasn’t going to
dismiss her like that and get away with it. The anger she felt helped her keep
the fear of her next task at bay. AJ had to know something about Reno, and by
the end of the day she was going to find out, even if she had to do her
brother’s laundry for a week.

* * * *

Reno stared at his phone and
couldn’t help but laugh. He saved Lisette’s number—he was sure he would need it
in the future. Right now he had some business he had to take care of without
dragging her in the middle.

“Get geared up, son!”

Reno turned toward his coach and
nodded. He had gotten to NYU on a football scholarship. He had a mind to turn
it down at first, but then his mother had died that senseless death and the
need for revenge ached in him. It got even worse when he found out just how
alike he and his ‘father’ were. But meeting Lisette had almost made him change
his mind. He had decided to stay away from her, but apparently Lisette had
other ideas.

Reno picked up his helmet and ran
out to the field. He needed to hit a couple of things, and then maybe he might
just be able to keep the beautiful Lisette Ross off his mind and focus on his
target, Dennis Kent.

* * * *

Lisette sat on the bleachers, her
eyes focused on the football pitch trying to get the number of Reno’s jersey.
No matter where she looked she couldn’t find the name
Kanaloa
on any of the jerseys. She shrugged and got up to leave. Maybe AJ was mistaken.
Then she saw someone take a hit, and the gigantic body that had hit him, stood
over his seemingly lifeless body.

“Shit man, don’t kill him,” she
shouted, and just then the hitter took off his helmet and there he was—Reno
Kanaloa
. Lisette smiled and waved but he didn’t seem as
happy to see her. He helped his teammate up and jogged across the field.
Lisette didn’t want to admit it but it looked like Reno was trying to get away
from her.

“Awesome
job, baby!”

Lisette turned in the direction the
cheer came from. She spotted the blonde Reno had been with last night when they
bumped into each other at the bar. She hadn’t thought it was anything serious,
but her being here suggested otherwise. Maybe he didn’t want her around because
of the blonde.

“Hi, are you cheering for number
six?” Lisette asked.

“Uh-huh. Do you know they started
the football team just for him?” She beamed. “This guy doesn’t want you,
Lisette Ross.”

Lisette sneered in disgust. She
couldn’t take her cheery glow, or the way her blonde hair bounced in curls on
her shoulder, or her tight top and shorts. Lisette just wanted to pummel her to
the ground.

“You just used my name,” she said,
taking a good look at the girl, once more trying to get a recollection of them
meeting. “I don’t know you, so how the hell do you know my name.”

“The only reason I know your name
is because your stepfather is rich.” Lisette sighed with acknowledgement and
clicked her tongue. “But what I don’t get is why he picked up trash like you to
live in his house.”

Lisette shrugged off the insult and
didn’t let it get to her, but Blondie’s next comment had her on her feet.

“Maybe your stripper mother knows
her trade well. She must have trapped him by getting pregnant with your ugly
sister.”

Lisette was seeing red. She took
two gigantic steps toward her target. “What did you say your name was again?”

“Victoria—”

“Listen, Blondie—”

“I said Victoria—”

“I heard—my head just doesn’t
absorb bullshit. If you ever speak about my family like that again, I will
knock your teeth out.”

Lisette had issued her warning and
was just about to walk away when Victoria said “Slut—like mother, like
daughter.”

Lisette’s rage led her from then
on. She put all her weight and strength into just one punch, and that was
enough to have Victoria on her ass, nose bleeding. But the sight of blood
didn’t make her feel like she had got her revenge. Instead Lisette wanted more.
She sat on Victoria and began slapping her, interchanging hands with the move
Victoria’s head made from side to side.

She swore she was going to pull
each and every single blonde lock of hair, and leave Victoria with a
shinny
bald head. But her attack was stopped when she felt
an arm curl around her waist and pull her off her victim.

“What is wrong with you?” She heard
Reno bellow as he set her on her feet, and used his body as a barrier for
Victoria. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

Lisette’s rage was now replaced by
embarrassment. Reno was making it clear to the whole football team and her new
sworn enemy that he didn’t want her. She chuckled at how ironic it all seemed
the one guy she wanted didn’t want her back. She smirked at him and looked past
him to Victoria. She already had half the football team fawning over her.
“Listen to me very carefully Bitch-
toria
, if you ever
speak of my family again, you won’t know what hit you.”

Lisette turned on her heel in a
huff and stormed off. She had reached the school parking lot when she heard
someone run up behind her. She took a look over her shoulder and there was
Reno. Not thinking her next action through, all Lisette knew was she wanted to
get away. She began to run to her car. She unlocked and opened the front door,
and jumped in. Lisette was just about to pull away when Reno planted himself in
her path.

She rolled the window down and
shouted out. “You’d better get out of my way or I will run you over.”

“I don’t doubt it.” His lips curled
into a sly grin.

“What do you want, my ego can only
take so much rejection in one day,” she yelled again.

“Get out of the car.”

“Why, you want payback for your
bitch of a girlfriend.” Just then she saw his face cringed as if he were in
pain.
Awesome Lisette,
she chided
herself. “I didn’t mean that you were going to hit me. But she deserved it.”

Lisette watched as Reno walked to
the passenger door. She rolled the window down and for a few seconds they just
stared at each other.

“What did she say to you?”

“I’d rather not repeat it.” Lisette
stared straight ahead as her fingers curled tighter around the leather steering
wheel.

“Nice car.”

“Thanks, it’s supposed to be safe,
fast and it looks good too.” She scanned the interior of her car.

“You don’t seem to like it very
much.” He grinned.

“I would rather have a Volkswagen.
You know those little cute ones. But my papa says this is much safer.
Safety before luxury.”

“Do you want to go out with me
tonight?” Reno asked.

Lisette stared at him, sure he was
going to take back his offer, or tell her that he was just joking. But he
seemed serious. Lisette smiled and almost said yes, but then a thought came to
mind. “Is this a pity date?”

“No.”

“You told me to leave you alone.”

“I know.”

“But now you are asking me out?”

“Yes.”

“Do you always answer questions
with one or two words?”

“Maybe.”

“Fine.
I’ll wait
for you here.”

Reno backed away from the car and
turned toward the locker room without saying a word. He was strange and Lisette
thought he was getting stranger with each encounter they had.

Lisette had been keeping her eyes
glued to the road and her knuckles were turning white from how hard she was
holding the steering wheel. She waited until they were stopped at a red light
to sneak a peek at him. He was beautiful, his black hair still damp from his
locker room shower, his haircut somehow looking like a Mohawk, his dark skin
peeking out of his white flannel shirt, sleeves pushed up to mid-arm and blue
jeans held on tight enough for her to see how strong his thigh muscles were. He
was delicious.