The Player's Unofficial Rebound (The Player #2)

chapter five | she who was stolen

Jenny dragged her feet as she dwadled her way towards the Matthews huge mansion. Her shoulders were sunken and she felt like she had fifty pound bags mounted on her shoulders.

Her parents and Jake were already at the door of the mansion and upon discovering she wasn't following close by, her father turned around and waved her over impatiently to hurry up.

Jenny released a deep sigh as she motioned for them to go ahead. After a quick nod from her dad, they disappeared into the house and left her alone to her thoughts.

She stopped where she stood, staring at the door that loomed ahead, eliciting a wave of anxiety that flooded her senses. It felt like something was twisting up her insides, making her feel queasy the longer she stared at the house.

She knew that she had no choice in the matter and that she couldn't skip out on the barbecue. She had tried numerous times the night before to come up with a decent enough excuse as to why she couldn't come to the barbecue, to the surprise of her parents.

Initially she had gone with the excuse of having a lot of homework to catch up with, then the excuse of having student council things to handle. But none of them worked, with her mom adamantly stating that she needed to have a day off and that she had been overworking herself lately.

At the end of it, she had run out of excuses that didn't involve her revealing that she didn't want to go to the Matthews place because of Daemon. That would just open up another can load of questions.

She remembered the last time she'd seen Daemon. Yesterday when she walked down the hallway and passed him making out with a girl. Only later did she realize that she had English with her and only remembered as Penny.

After she had gotten over the shock of seeing Daemon, she had quickly scampered away as if she had piranhas snapping at her feet. She was shocked but she knew she shouldn't have.

Daemon was Daemon and the entire school knew that he was a player. What had she been expecting really? That he would at least give it a week before he started making out with another girl?

No, Daemon wouldn't do that and Jenny found it hilarious that she actually believed he would.

After feeling like she'd been pushing it back long enough, Jenny took a deep breath and garnered up some courage before she started the excruciating walk forward.

Juanita was the first one to greet her as she entered the Matthews mansion, a motherly smile on her face as she ushered Jenny in warmly.

"Where is everyone?" Jenny asked as she looked around for a sign of anybody other than the two of them.

"At the back, sweetie," Juanita replied as she moved to take off Jenny's coat. "Go right ahead and make yourself at home."

Jenny half-smiled even though all she wanted to do was turn right around and run out of the house. She felt awkward standing there in the middle of their house, more so than she had before.

Just a couple of months back, she had waltzed right through those doors without a care in the world. She hadn't felt as awkward and self-conscious as she did right then. But then again, a couple months ago, she had no reason to be awkward or self-conscious.

Juanita gave her a light push as she nodded at the hallway that led to the backyard of the house. "Go on."

Jenny gave a hesitant nod in the old lady's direction before she took a reluctant step forward followed by another. Then she stopped and turned around, her mouth drying as she had an internal war over what she thought to do.

Juanita noticed and smiled warmly at her, "Yes, sweetie?"

Jenny took a couple of seconds before she opened her mouth and asked, "Where's Daemon?"