Read Online Curveball by Kate Angell - Free Book Online Page B

swept the stale air from the room. When tightly closed up, the house smelled a little of mold and mildew.
    Her shirt fluttered and sunlight shot through the thin cotton fabric, outlining small, firm breasts, the rippling of her ribs, and a concave abdomen. Keely was damn skinny. She’d missed a few meals.
    Janelle Campbell raised an eyebrow. “Your girlfriend?”
    “My designer,” Psycho clarified. “Next question?”
    “You’re both street smart and successful. Tell me about your childhood.”
    He’d grown up tough. A punk with a load of attitude. Reporters liked to tap into his past. His growing up poor seemed to make them feel richer. “I grew up on the wrong side of Philly’s tracks. I was six when my old man went out for a job interview and never returned. My mom worked sixteen-hour days to feed our family. Two girls and three boys.
    “Ketchup packets and warm water became tomato soup. We boiled macaroni noodles, but there was never any cheese.”
    “Peanut butter became your steak.” Keely’swords drifted to him. He looked up, caught her deep in her own memories. “Your mother reused tea bags. You split a candy bar five ways to share with your brothers and sisters.”
    Psycho’s jaw locked. Had his designer grown up equally poor? Had she known hard times as well?
    Beside him, Janelle fidgeted with the tape recorder. She looked horrified by their comments. It appeared the reporter had never gone hungry, nor worried about having a roof over her head.
    Clearing her throat, Janelle nodded to him to continue. He didn’t try to smooth the rough edges of his childhood. “There was no Little League or organized sports in my neighborhood. We used back lots. Stole hubcaps for bases. I played with a secondhand glove, wore tennis shoes without laces. I never had an official uniform until I hit high school.
    “Baseball came naturally to me. I played hard. A scout from Florida State caught a few games. He offered me a sports scholarship if I graduated. My coach crammed chemistry and calculus down my throat, and somehow I passed the classes. The rest is history.”
    Janelle sighed. “You’ve done exceptionally well for yourself.”
    “So well, he bought a Colonial reminiscent of his old neighborhood,” Keely softly added.
    Psycho shifted on the vinyl chair. Keely was far too observant. No one had ever guessed the rundown house was a daily reminder of growing up dirt poor. The fact that it stood in a gated community didn’t block his childhood memories from returning.
    The house was as broken as his mother’s and father’s marriage. He’d been resistant to making repairs until Keely Douglas came into his life and wedged herself between his past and his future. He still wasn’t convinced he liked her there.
    Janelle moved on. “You’re a dirt bike jumper.”
    “I compete in Xtreme Sports during the off-season.”
    “All against your team owner’s wishes,” Janelle said. “Guy Powers says you’re a daredevil with a death wish.”
    “Adrenaline is my drug of choice.”
    “You’ve a taste for trouble.” Janelle licked her lips. “Women like bad boys.”
    “Not too smart on their part,” Keely muttered from the window.
    Psycho silently agreed.
    “Some believe you’re insane,” Janelle put in, probably hoping to get a rise out of him.
    He shrugged. “Crazy comes with the territory.”
    “Describe your special woman,” Janelle requested. “Date night.”
    He finished off his sandwich and washed it down with two gulps of milk. He caught Keely’s look of interest as she waited along with the reporter for his reply.
    “I don’t do special or long term,” he finally said. “My bar for dating is low. I call at the last minute. Don’t bring flowers. Most times it’s a surprise to the woman if I even show. I like afterhours bars, strip clubs. I once dated a woman for six weeks steady. She cried more when her plant died than when we broke up.”
    “Bet it was an elephant ear,” Keely said.