Read Online Betrayed (The New Yorker) by M. O. Kenyan - Free Book Online

as your blonde over there.”
    “Who? Her?” DJ
chuckled. “This is the first time I’m meeting her. I found her at the beach and
I reeled her in. It helped that I had my dad’s Ferrari.”
    Reno glanced at DJ and saw the same
sad look he had seen on Lisette’s face when she told him the reason guys wanted
her. He felt terrible that his brother was put in this position. “So why do you
give them the time of day if they are only after you for your money?”
    “It’s hard to weed out the genuine
ones from the gold diggers. Anyway I am only twenty and in no position to be in
a serious relationship.”
    Twenty? Reno
realized that DJ and Rhyne were the same age and that
meant Dennis senior was seeing both his mother and Issadora at the same time. He was probably married to Issadora when he got Kono pregnant the second time. “When is
your birthday?”
    “February second, why? Do you want
to get me a present?” he teased.
    But Reno could not share his
amusement. His chest constricted as he realized that his father was a double
dealing bastard. Rhyne’s birthday was also on the
second of February and the only thing left for him to ask to cement this
revelation, was the time he was born. It wouldn’t have shocked him if they were
born at the same time too. He bit back an oath as he tried to rein his anger
in. He was about to stand up and leave when he spotted Daniela heading his way,
tagging a teenage boy in shorts and a T-shirt behind her.
    “Here comes prissy princess and her meathead,” DJ groaned.
    “I am going to teach you a lesson
on how to handle girls. Even if they are related to you, they still fall under
the same principle,” Reno whispered.
    He got to his feet to greet the
boy, introduced to him as Brian, and urged DJ to do the same. Reno invited
Brian to sit with them and he listened to Daniela talk about their
relationship. It was then he realized his little sister wasn’t that different
from Lisette. She chatted on as Brian sat quietly twiddling his thumbs. Reno
sent Daniela away for a while and waited to see if Brian would reclaim his
voice.
    “She’s pretty determined isn’t
she?” Brian said.
    “That she is,” DJ scoffed.
    “So tell us about your relationship
with Daniela.” Reno reminded himself not to call Daniela his little sister.
    “I love her, but I don’t want her
to sacrifice her dreams for me. I already got a couple of scholarship offers
but I am afraid to tell her. I don’t want her to get mad or anything. I
wouldn’t mind her coming with me, but I want to go pro—”
    “And you want to focus on your
football and your girlfriend might get in the way?” Reno finished. He could
understand his plight. He wanted to ruin Dennis Senior but Lisette had been in
the way since the beginning. If he blindly went forward with outing Dennis as
the creep he was, he risked losing Lisette.
    “I just don’t want to lose her, or
make her feel like I don’t appreciate her. I don’t think she will understand if
I tell her I need to practice instead of hanging out with her.”
    Reno nodded in agreement.
    “So what do you think?” Daniela
appeared from nowhere, the squeal in her voice an octave higher than it should
be.
    “I like him, he’s a good guy,” Reno
said and shot DJ a look that asked him to back him up.
    “I agree, great guy. He’s got a
bright future.” DJ cleared his throat and went on. “The two of you should do
what is best for each other, when it comes to this college thing.”
    Reno brought his hands to his ears
when Daniela squealed once more. He watched as the football player was dragged
around by his tiny sister.
    “Your trick is to be agreeable?”
    “Yep, if you don’t resist and put
up a fight, sooner rather than later they will come to their senses. It’s the
forbidden fruit trick.”
    “Did you do that with Lisette?”
    “No, I always do what Lisette tells
me. It’s much safer.” Reno smiled as he watched his brother laugh at him.
Somehow these few