A Matter of Heart Read Online Free PDF

school who got migraines and had to lie in a dark room until they went away.
    “Is something wrong?” Alec asks the question, but he sounds pissed off rather than worried. As if I’d tell him
anything
.
    “No,” I snap. “Except that I can’t handle puke, and I’ve got to clean this up.”
    I turn toward the pool and I can’t stop myself. My stomachclutches, rolls, and a choking sound squeezes up my convulsing throat.
    “Jesus,” Alec mutters. He strides to the wall and grabs the pool skimmer that’s hanging on white hooks.
    I reach out to take it.
    “Move over,” he says. “I’ll do it.”
    My eyes widen. “You will?”
    He skims up the puddle and rinses the skimmer in the bucket.
    “It doesn’t bother you?”
    “Throw-up?” He shakes his head.
    I’m watching him, and I feel stupid standing here while he works, so I ask, “How do you know Katie?”
    “She lives in my apartment complex. I see her at the pool a lot.” He gets the last of it, then rinses the skimmer again and hangs it back up.
    “Well, thanks.” I shuffle, scraping my feet across the rough, cool deck. “For being there. For taking care of her.”
    He turns back to me. “Katie wasn’t the only one who looked pale.”
    I draw in a breath, glad that the only thing I can smell is chlorine. “Yeah. I guess I’m a little tired.”
    “Out late? With your boyfriend?” he adds in a sarcastic voice.
    My spine stiffens. “That’s none of your business.”
    “If you’re going to let kids get sick, it is my business.” His jaw is squared and challenging.
    And suddenly, the air is snapping and crackling like Rice Krispies again.
    “What’s your problem with Connor?” I say. “You can’t handle that he beats you?”
    “I could if he beat me straight up.”
    “Oh, pl ease.” I let out a hiss of exasperation. “Is that what’s going on? You think he’s cheating? Are you really that desperate for excuses?”
    “Cut the crap,” he says. His hands are on his hips as he leans in, vibrating with barely controlled anger. “He has to be taking something. No one recovers that fast from pneumonia, and you know it. He had one slow meet and suddenly he’s back to one hundred percent.” He rolls his eyes. “The thing I can’t figure out is you.”
    “Me?”
    “You’re with him all the time, so you must know. But if you know, why don’t you say anything? Is it because you don’t care? Or because you’re doping too?”
    “How dare you!” Furious, I lift a hand to his chest, shove him back.
    He counters, catching my hand in his in the space of a heartbeat. I struggle, but he’s stronger than I am. My hand is caught in his fist, pressed between our bodies. We’re both breathing hard and fast. I’m so angry I can feel the pulse of it rising through my neck and face. I look up, and Alec is close enough that I see a freckle at the edge of one slanted eyebrow. Our eyes meet. Hold. I want to blast him with my fury, but instead I feel scorched by his look.
    He’s angry, yes. I can feel the heat coming off him. But I can feel another kind of heat too. I’m suddenly aware of just how close we’re standing. How warm his skin feels. How the tips of my breasts are practically pressed up against him.
    I jerk back. He lets me go and steps away until there’s a yard of space between us.
    I don’t know what just happened, but we’re still breathing hard. I hold up my hand as if that will keep him at a safe distance. “Just stay away from me, okay? And if you repeat those lies—because that’s what they are—I’m going to Coach.”
    He opens his mouth and I think he’s going to curse at me, but instead his lips tighten and he mutters to himself,
“Estoy loco.”
A second later he disappears into the men’s locker room.
    My eyes close, my shoulders drop, but my breath is still coming fast. I wonder if there is any safe distance where Alec Mendoza is concerned.

8

    I ’m in a room with yellow walls, white trim, and framed photos