All In (Changing Hearts Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Epilogue

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Yesenia Vargas

  All In

  Yesenia Vargas

  Copyright © 2015 by Yesenia Vargas

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For my brothers and nephews. You inspired Jimmy.

  Contents

  Become a VIP Reader & Download Your Free Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Yesenia Vargas

  Become a VIP Reader & Download Your Free Book

  Before Ariana met Lucas, there was Carlos…

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  One

  I look at her, hold her, and can’t believe she’s mine. The way she smiles up at me and her habit of standing on her tiptoes to reach her mouth to mine… It still drives me crazy.

  I bend my body down to hers and hold her like she’s never allowed to leave my arms.

  Her eyes meet mine for a split second before I kiss her.

  “Jimmy! Let her catch her breath, man,” Ryan shouts a few seconds later. I hear the familiar dribble of a basketball.

  I pull away and glance over Mayra’s shoulder.

  “About time,” I shout. “I texted you like thirty minutes ago.”

  He comes up to us and smiles. “Had some business to take care of.” I wonder for a second if it’s family issues again or that girl he’s been talking about. He glances at my girlfriend. “Hey, Mayra.”

  “Hey, Ryan. You doing okay?” she responds.

  “Yep. How about you?” He continues dribbling the ball between his legs.

  “I’m good.” She turns to me. “I’m gonna go study for bio. Come over later?” she asks quietly.

  I nod and my hands finally leave her waist. “Let me walk you home.”

  She turns back around and rolls her eyes at me. “I live three houses down. I’ll be fine. I’ll shout for help in case someone tries to kidnap me or something.”

  Ryan laughs, and I steal the ball and start dribbling towards the hoop at the other end of the driveway. He still thinks I’m the cheesiest, most romantic guy that ever existed, and it’s only gotten worse. “I’ll text you later. Love you,” I shout after her. She blows me a quick kiss and keeps walking. I wink back at her before shooting.

  Swish.

  I can’t help but smile. My free throws kinda sucked last year, but this is senior year now, and I know I have to be the best of the best if I ever want to get anywhere with basketball. Ryan and I practiced every day over the summer and played at the park with a group of guys from school most days of the week. Including a couple of guys from Mayra’s college. And our coach hired a pretty well-known guy to put us through basketball camp. That guy took us to the next level.

  Ryan runs over and grabs the ball from the grass. He’s also gotten a lot better. He has confidence now. Last year, the coach didn’t put him in that much compared to everyone else. But this year, he’s gonna have to. Over the summer, Ryan learned how to dribble the ball and pass so good, we started calling him Curreyesque.

  A cool breeze hits me as I receive a pass from Ryan. Finally. The cool weather will be starting up again soon. Which means that basketball season is getting closer and closer.

  I stand at the free throw line. We marked it with some spray paint. I look down and stare at it and dribble a few times, finally looking back up and staring at the basket.

  I breathe a couple times and hold the ball with both hands, bending my knees as I lock in on my target.

  Before I can think too much about it, my knees bend then release, and my arms push the ball out towards the hoop.

  Swoosh.

  “Yes.”

  Now I just have to keep doing that. Over and over. Nothin’ but net.

  “Not bad,” says Ryan as he grabs the ball. I move over so he can take a turn. I notice how worn his shoes have gotten and wonder when he’ll be getting new ones. But I don’t say anything. I look down at the pair my dad just bought me a few weeks ago.

  “Are you gonna keep standing there with your mouth open, or are we gonna play?” Ryan asks.

  He shoots and misses. “Damn.” He runs after the ball. “What do you think? Some one-on-one? Or should we head to the park with the rest of the guys? Chris said they would probably be playing again today.”

  I shrug. “Either way. I’m fine just practicing here. I just can’t be home late because of school tomorrow, though.”

  Ryan nods and throws the ball at me. I start shooting again, this time from all around the court. “Let me text him and see if they’re there already.”

  I shrug. It’s fun to play with all the guys at the park, but I need more practice with my free throws.

  Ryan puts his phone away and comes toward me. “Let’s go to 11?”

  I nod and check the ball. Then I’m dribbling towards the hoop, but Ryan is coming at me hard. I fake going one way, but he knows me too well and keeps up with me. I try something different and head in another direction, but not before Ryan’s hand reaches in and snatches the ball. I go after him at full speed, but even as I jump to block him, his shot goes in.

  “Dang,” I say. “I bet Coach’ll make you point guard this year.”

  Ryan laughs, and we run back to check the ball again. This time, I make sure he doesn’t get past me. My arms are everywhere, blocking him off. He manages to shoot, but he misses. I grab the rebound, and we continue like this until we’re tied at ten points each.

  Ryan has the ball and is dribbling it between his legs in front of me with that same smirk on his face. When my phone goes off with a notification sound and my head turns towards it for a split second, he takes advantage of my distraction to head for the basket. I run and jump to block the ball, but it’s too late.

  “You win,” I say as I head for my phone on the porch.

  “Eh, you made it too easy at the end. Replay.”

  I glance back and laugh. “Okay. Just a sec.”

  When I don’t head back to the court right away, he walks over. We’
re both drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.

  “Who is it? Mayra again?” He’s looking at my screen, but I don’t really care. I’m just glad she finally texted.

  “No,” I finally reply. “It’s Ariana. I hadn’t heard from her in like two weeks. I gave her her own notification sound so I’d know if she called or texted.”

  I’m still rereading her text, trying to understand it.

  “Is she okay?” Ryan asks. I take a seat on the porch, and he does the same.

  “Yeah, she just hasn’t texted me back in a while,” I say.

  “So she’s still not texting or calling that much?”

  I shake my head. “It’s actually gotten worse.” I sigh. “She seems okay, but I don’t know. That breakup really messed her up more than I thought. I really thought she would have moved on by now. I mean, it’s been like a year and a half or something.” I look up from my phone and down the neighborhood to Mayra’s house.

  “She only really talks to Mayra, but only just recently.”

  “What do your parents say?” Ryan asks.

  I shrug. “My mom worries, but Ariana insists she’s fine. She came back for the summer for a couple of weeks, but that was it. And my dad is kinda like her. He’d rather not talk about it.”

  “Yeah, I remember I didn’t even recognize her at first when she came back. She lost weight.”

  I nod and stand up. I don’t want to talk about it anymore, and Ryan seems to sense it because he doesn’t bring up the topic again. Instead, we keep playing, and when Chris texts and tells us to come join the guys, we head over there.

  Maybe my sister just needs more time. I don’t know how long that will be, but in the meantime, I have to focus on basketball, not on the fact that I miss her.

  I watch zombies fly everywhere in a huge explosion, and even though this is possibly the coolest part of my favorite TV show, I just can’t keep my attention focused on it. I’ll have to rewatch this episode later.

  I turn to Mayra instead, who has a look of utter disgust on her face. We’re lying down on her bed, on our stomachs. She goes back to her phone. She only watches this show because I make her watch it with me every weekend.

  I wait for her to notice I’m looking at her, and when she does, I say, “When was the last time you spoke to my sister?”

  I don’t mean it to come out kinda defensive, but it does.

  “Um, yesterday? I texted her after work. Why?”

  “She finally texted me back today. First time in two weeks.” I stop right there. No need to be a jerk to Mayra.

  “Oh,” Mayra says, and then we’re quiet for a few seconds. “What did she say to you?”

  I sigh. “I asked her how things were going and said that we miss her. My parents especially, and we’re wondering how she’s doing with school and stuff, but she just replied that she’s been really busy with her classes and getting ready to apply to the business school at UGA.”

  More silence.

  “I don’t know. It just seems like she’s avoiding us, and I don’t know why. Lucas broke her heart. Not us. Why is she pushing us away?”

  Mayra begins to say something, but now that I’m finally letting everything out, I can’t stop.

  “I mean, does she think we don’t care or eventually will stop calling and texting to see if she’s okay? Because we won’t. We’re supposed to be there for each other, and the first thing she promised when she left for UGA was that she would visit and keep in touch and not forget about us.”

  Mayra tries to say something again, but I interrupt.

  “And why is it that she texts and calls you like ten times more and has no problem with you? I just don’t get it.”

  I stop now. I’m sitting up and staring at her, and I kinda do feel like a jerk. But I had to say it.

  “Sorry, babe. I’m not mad at you, I swear. I just don’t understand.” I take a deep breath.

  She nods and sits up straight and puts her phone aside. She looks at me.

  “She just now started talking to me. She’s not doing it on purpose. I promise. I think she’s just now really moving on from everything and realizing she’s been acting the way she has. It’s like she’s been a zombie herself for the past two years just doing school, school, school, and not really living or thinking of anyone else. But believe me, I think she’s finally becoming herself again. And I bet any day now, we’re gonna be back to the way we were.”

  I lie down and think about that.

  Ariana had come home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and the summer, but it was like Mayra had said. She wasn’t herself, just a shadow of herself. Always focusing on schoolwork, not wanting to go anywhere. Probably because she wanted nothing to do with Lucas or anything that might lead to knowing what Lucas was doing or who he was with.

  Mayra saw him every once in a while at school but didn’t talk to him. Apparently, he was finally dating someone else now, but there was no way we were ever gonna tell Ariana that. It really was too bad that they hadn’t lasted because I actually really liked Lucas.

  Mayra lies her head down on my chest. “This sucks for me too.”

  “I know,” I say.

  A few minutes later, she asks, “When’s basketball conditioning? I bet it’s starting up soon?”

  “Yep. I’m looking forward to it, even if this is my last year playing high school basketball.”

  “It’s really gonna suck not seeing you as much.” She gives me a half smile.

  I look her in the eye. “I know. But we’ve survived this craziness over the last basketball season. I’m sure we’ll get through this one too.”

  She sits up. “But this one’s different. Like you said, it’s your senior year. There’s a lot you need to do. And before you know it, you’ll be in college too, and…”

  I can see when it all finally hits her. In one year, I’ll be in college right alongside her. The problem is, I’m gonna have to choose just like Ariana did, and things didn’t go so well for her when she tried to do long distance. She and Lucas only lasted one semester. And if things went the way I planned, I’d be playing college ball and traveling all over the place. Not to mention schoolwork.

  I had mentioned wanting to play college ball once or twice to Mayra before, but we hadn’t really talked about it until now. I hadn’t even really thought about it until the end of last year when Coach mentioned in passing that I could play college ball if I really worked hard this year. Maybe.

  Because I wasn’t even recruited or anything like some other players in our state, who were already getting ready to make decisions on what school they wanted to play for. I just want to get some attention from recruiters to begin with. I know the basics of the recruitment process. I researched it over the summer and asked Coach Rogers lots of questions. Now I’m set on going on to play college ball.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” I say to Mayra, looking at her. We’re still lying on her bed, but we’re facing each other, and she has a look on her face that makes it clear to me she has no idea what the hell is gonna happen with us. “We’ve made this work for almost two years already—”

  “A year and a half.”

  “—and I’ve loved you for like almost as long as I can remember—“

  “Ew.”

  We laugh, but I go on.

  “—and I know that I didn’t spend my whole life waiting to be with you so that the next year of our lives and college will tear us apart. I just won’t have it.”

  We smile at each other.

  “Okay,” she says, her eyes lighting up.

  The next day, I’m watching NBA highlights from last year when my mom walks into my room. Her mouth is set in a tight frown. She’s worried again. I set my phone aside and sit up. I’m still in my sweaty basketball clothes. Ryan and I played some one-on-one earlier, after school. I was supposed to shower after lying down for five minutes to procrastinate on my phone. That was like thirty minutes ago.

  “Hey,” I say, trying to give her a
smile. She just got home from work and came straight in here. Now that I think about it, she had kinda become like Ariana herself. A workaholic. She’s been putting in a lot of hours lately, even more than my dad. And she’s still been coming home and cooking and cleaning and stuff.

  I tell myself to step it up from now on and help out more around the house, especially since I’m hoping they’ll buy me a car so I can get to and from basketball practices myself this year.

  “Have you heard from your sister?” she asks.

  “Not since yesterday.”

  She sighs and nods. “I called her on the way home from work, but she didn’t answer. She must be doing homework.”

  My mom gets up and leaves. I hear her getting out pots and pans in the kitchen. I hear my dad wake up from his nap and head in there to sit at the dining table like he does every night as they talk about stuff.

  I pick up my phone up again and open up Ariana’s text message from yesterday.

  Hey, I know you don’t feel like talking to us that much right now. I get it. But the least you can do is check in with mom more. This is killing her, and she doesn’t deserve it. It really sucks seeing her like this.

  I stop and read over the message again. I add something else before I hit send.

  I love you, sis.

  I throw the phone on the bed and head to the shower, grabbing some clothes on the way.

  I’m surprised to see a reply when I get back.

  Sorry. I’m trying, and I promise things will be better from now on. Love you.

  I can’t help but smile. For once, her messages don’t sound like a robotic, canned response. It’s her.

  Not long after, I hear my mom’s phone ring and her excited voice filling the house.