All Chapters of PLAYING PRETEND: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

I gasped out loud and I jumped backward to put a large gap of cold air between our bodies.The sudden loss of his body heat left me shivering in the dark driveway while reality crashed down on both of us in a heavy and unforgiving rush."F-fuck," Kyle cursed under his breath as he scrambled to pull his cell phone out of his front pants pocket.He dragged his thumb across the bright screen to silence the obnoxious noise but he did not answer the call right away.I watched the soft yellow glow of the streetlamp illuminate his face and I saw every ounce of color drain out of his cheeks in a single second.His broad shoulders stiffened into a rigid posture and the terrified kid from the dining room returned to replace the confident guy who just tried to kiss me.I tilted my head and I caught a quick glimpse of the glowing caller ID flashing on his screen before he angled the phone away from my line of sight.The name Richard Bennett glared back at me in bold letters and a cold knot of dre

Ian shoved his cracked phone screen right into my face and tapped his finger repeatedly against a bold headline from the local town newspaper.I braced myself for a terrible picture of Kyle but I let out a heavy sigh of relief when I saw an article about Richard Bennett buying the East Side apartment complex.Ian clearly expected me to gasp in horror but I already lived through this exact drama while eating gluten-free lasagna at my parents' dining room table last night."This is front-page news and everyone on the student portal is talking about how your boyfriend's family is ruining the city," Ian announced while leaning his elbows onto my scattered flashcards."I really do not care about real estate zoning laws right now because I have a pharmacology exam on Monday morning," I replied while pushing his phone away from my face."You are dating the heir to the Bennett empire so you should probably care that his dad is bulldozing affordable housing," Ian argued while waving his hands

I stood at the counter of the campus coffee shop and stared at the red error message flashing across the digital credit card reader.The young barista offered me an apologetic smile while handing my heavy black card back across the counter."I am sorry but the system says your account has been frozen," the barista explained in a quiet voice.A sudden feeling of pure dread formed deep inside my stomach because I knew exactly who caused the financial block."T-that has to be a mistake," I stuttered while the heat of sudden humiliation rushed into my cheeks."Do you have another form of payment?" she asked while looking past me at the long line of annoyed students.I checked my empty wallet and realized I did not carry any cash because I always relied on my father's endless credit limit.I mumbled a quick apology and walked out of the crowded shop without taking my morning coffee.I pulled my shattered cell phone out of my jacket pocket and tried to turn the device on but the broken scre

I stared at the desperate text message glowing on my phone screen while a cold wave of pure terror washed over my skin.I had to read the short sentence three times because my brain refused to process the cruel reality of his desperate situation.The text came from an unknown number but the frantic tone of the words instantly told me that Kyle was the one begging for a safe place to land.I knew his father threatened to cut off his tuition funding last night but I never imagined a parent could be ruthless enough to throw their own son out onto the street.My hands shook so hard that I almost dropped my phone onto the floorboards and a cold sweat broke out across the back of my neck.I wanted to type a quick reply telling him to wait for me but my thumb slipped on the glass screen and I realized it was much faster to just run downstairs.I shoved the phone deep into the front pocket of my jeans and I abandoned my pharmacology flashcards right there on my messy desk.I bolted out of my

I dragged him out of the elevator and I kept a firm grip on his freezing arm while we walked down the quiet hallway toward my dorm room.The fluorescent lights hummed loudly above our heads and I prayed that none of my nosy neighbors would open their doors and see us sneaking around in the middle of the night.Kyle leaned heavily against my shoulder and his wet leather shoes squeaked against the cheap linoleum floor with every slow and exhausted step we took.My hands fumbled awkwardly with my metal keys because my fingers were still shaking from the terrifying sight of him standing out in the freezing storm.I finally managed to slide the key into the lock and I quickly pushed the heavy wooden door open so we could escape the exposed and public hallway.I ushered him inside and I slammed the door shut before throwing the metal deadbolt into place so nobody could intrude on our privacy.Kyle just stood in the middle of my cramped room while dirty rainwater dripped from his soaked clot