The Deal Breakers (Love Quiz Book 2)

by Maggie Dallen

  The Deal Breakers

  Love Quiz #2

  Maggie Dallen

  Copyright © 2020 by Maggie Dallen

  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.

  Images © Shutterstock & DepositPhotos – Cookie Studio, Dean Drobot & PinkBadger

  Cover Design © Designed with Grace

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Prologue

  The summer between fifth and sixth grade

  Jessica

  I'd never had a best friend before Jonathan Rexman, but I knew there could never be a better one out there. Not for me.

  “Do you see it?“ he asked as we lay there in my backyard.

  My mom wasn't home so all the lights were off, making it the ideal spot for stargazing. We'd watched a video online about how to navigate by the stars, and we were determined to learn how to do it ourselves.

  I wasn't sure where we were going to go, but I would have followed Rex just about anywhere. He was more than my best friend. He was my knight in shining armor.

  He was my hero.

  The first time I'd met him was the day my mom and I had moved in. That was two weeks before this past school year started and three months after my dad died. Rex had found me at the park on the corner, crying. It wasn't rare for me to cry at the time, but I knew even then that I should hide my tears from my mom. If she saw me crying, it would set her off and then our house would be clouded in a dark haze of grief for hours…sometimes days.

  It was easier if I grieved on my own.

  At least, I grieved on my own until Rex found me. After that, I was almost never on my own. Rex wouldn’t let me be.

  And no, Rex wasn't his first name, but it was what he went by. I found out after we'd been hanging out together every day for months that the reason why was because he hated his dad. Like mine, Rex’s father left him. Unlike mine, that abandonment had been a choice, and Rex was determined never to forget it. He didn't want to share the same first name as Jonathan Rexman Senior.

  I hadn't had the heart to point out that they still shared the same last name. I supposed there wasn't much he could do about that. Not until he was old enough to legally change it.

  Anyway, this was all to say that Rex had been the best friend anyone could ask for this past year, and I wasn't quite sure how to tell him how much he meant to me.

  I assumed he knew. We had a sort of unspoken bond like that. I didn't have to spell out what I was feeling for him to know what kind of mood I was in, and vice versa. We were thick as thieves, his mom liked to say.

  His mom sort of adopted me and my mom. With Rex and his three brothers running wild in their little ranch house, I supposed maybe she just liked having other females around to keep her company.

  For my mom and me…we just liked having company.

  So there you had it. That was how I became Rex's family, and he became mine. We were tied at the hip and everyone knew that we would be best friends forever and ever.

  I sighed happily up at the sky. This summer was so different from last summer. For the first time since my dad died, I was starting to smile more. I was laughing a ton. I felt like myself again. Although, maybe like a new version of me.

  “What are you two doing out here?“

  I jolted upright at the sound of Tommy Miller's voice interrupting our pleasant silence. I let out a sigh when I saw him, although this one was admittedly a bit more dreamy. Tommy didn't hear it but Rex did. I heard his mocking snort beside me. I blushed and said a silent prayer of thanks for the darkness as Tommy drew close.

  “Hey, Jess,“ he said. I'd never had the heart to tell him that I hated when people shortened my name like that. Only my dad had ever called me Jess, and I felt like that name had died right along with him.

  “Hi, Tommy,“ I said, tugging my knees up to my chest as I watched him saunter over. Rex didn't move.

  As my next-door neighbor, Tommy must have spotted us from his kitchen window or something. He was three grades ahead of us and almost never came over here unless he was crazy bored. Rex hated that he treated us like little kids, but I'd always been partial to him. Probably because he was cute and nice and cute. Did I mention he was cute?

  He was.

  He was totally cute.

  “What are you guys doing out here?“ he asked again.

  I opened my mouth to say 'stargazing' but he spoke first.

  “You two making out or something?“ His voice was filled with amusement, his awesome smile a big white stripe in the darkness.

  I must have turned eighteen shades of red. “N-no. No, of course not. We would never—”

  Tommy laughed and slapped a hand over his chest. “Of course not.“ He drew the words out in a high-pitched voice and an over-the-top Southern drawl that had me clamping my lips shut in embarrassment. We'd moved to California nearly a year ago but I'd never quite managed to shake my Tennessee drawl. Maybe a part of me didn't really want to. The way I talked reminded me of my dad.

  My mom had grown up here so she'd never picked up the Southern twang. The accent was something I'd inherited from my dad and it felt sacrilegious to try and rid myself of what little I had left of him.

  Tommy was grinning at me, his hands on his hips. He always made fun of the drawl but he did it with a smile and I never doubted that he was just teasing. That was just his sense of humor. “I think you might be protesting too much there, Scarlett O'Hara,“ he said.

  I sat up straighter, ready to protest again. I wasn't into boys. Not any boys. Not like that. Okay, fine, maybe I had a little crush on Tommy, but part of the fun of that was because he was so much older and so not a reality. I wasn't sure how to explain just how not into boys I was, but Rex beat me to it.

  “We're best friends.“ Rex did not sound amused.

  The way he said it had me looking over at him with a little smile of pride. We were best friends. And to us, that was so much better. So much more meaningful than a crush. We'd both watched our other friends dabble in 'dating' this past year and it was so lame. Usually just passing notes through friends for a couple weeks before inexplicably ending things in a text.

  If that was dating, no thank you. They could have it. It never lasted, unlike best friendship.

  What Rex and I had was better. So much better.

  Tommy was looking back and forth between the two of us, still grinning like we were his main source of amusement for the night. “You two are so cute.“

  I could practically feel Rex's scowl beside me as he sat upright, holding his bent knees just like I was. He hated when anyone treated him like a little kid, but most especially when it came from Tommy Miller.

  Tommy crossed his arms as he looked down at us. “How long do you suppose that'll last?“

  I looked over to Rex and we exchanged a little frown of confusion.

  “Being best friends?“ I asked. “Um…forever?“

  I looked over and saw Rex giving me a nod of approval like I'd just aced that test.

  Tommy laughed as he shook his head. “You really are too cute, Jess.“

  “Why?“ I asked, my lips pursing with annoyance. I wasn't as prideful as Rex, but I wasn't exactly lovi
ng Tommy's condescending tone.

  “You know what they say about guys and girls being best friends, right?“ he said.

  I blinked. No. I had no idea. But I had a feeling I was about to find out.

  “It never works,“ he said with a sad shake of his head. “Eventually one of you will have a crush on the other. Or you'll get drunk at a party and make out or…“ He threw his hands up like there were so many options he couldn't even list them all. “Eventually the guy-girl thing gets in the way.“

  Rex snorted beside me. “Whatever, Tommy. You don't know what you're talking about.“ He looked to me and then back up again, his chin tilted high in defiance. “And you don't know the first thing about us.“

  Tommy laughed and held his hands up. “Okay, kid. Whatever you say.“

  We watched him walk away in silence. I was the first one to break it. “You don't think he's right, do you?“

  Fear over losing Rex had me gripping my knees to my chest so tightly it hurt. He was the first best friend I'd ever had, and I couldn't lose him. I just couldn't.

  He reached over and placed a hand over mine, his dark eyes unusually solemn. “He's not right. And we'll prove it to him.“

  I nodded quickly. “Yeah, he doesn't know what he's talking about.“

  Rex's frown said he didn't necessarily agree with that, and that made me nervous. “He doesn't, right?“ I asked.

  “No, but he does have a point, I think.“

  We sat there in tense silence. Much as we shared everything, we'd never really talked about the boy-girl thing, mainly because it wasn’t a thing. Not for us. But now…?

  “What do you mean?“ I finally asked. “Do you think you'll want to date me someday?“

  He shook his head, and I tried not to be too dismayed by his obvious disgust. “No, of course not.“

  I straightened and arched my brows. “Well, I can promise that I won't want to date you, either.“

  He studied me for a long moment before giving me that big, slow grin of his. “Then let's make a deal.“

  I nodded, shifting so I was facing him more directly. “Okay, let's do it.“

  He held out his hand. “We promise to never date one another…“

  He seemed to run out of things to say, so I added. “We'll never even think of each other like that.“

  “Right,“ he said with a firm nod. “And we'll definitely never kiss each other.“

  I slipped my hand into his and shook it firmly. “Never,“ I said. The words rang between us like a vow and some of my earlier fear and tension dissolved. Now we knew where we stood so our best friendship was safe.

  I knew we would be best friends forever.

  We had to be…because we had a deal.

  Chapter 1

  Jessica

  My phone dinged on my nightstand but I didn't move to answer.

  I knew who it is.

  It was Rex.

  It was always Rex.

  He was the only person crazy enough to text me before dawn. I didn’t answer when it dinged the second time, either, opting instead to bury my head under the covers.

  When my phone started to ring—the Rocky theme song he’d chosen for himself blaring in the otherwise quiet room—that was when I finally slipped an arm out from under the warm blankets and scrambled for the phone to make it stop. “Go ‘way,” I mumbled.

  “Good morning to you too, sunshine,“ Rex said.

  He sounded far too wide awake for my liking. I tried to tell him that but my face was pressed into the pillow and what came out sounded like, “Mmmph.”

  “Come on, sleepyhead, you promised you'd join me for a run.“

  I turned my head so my mouth was exposed. “You're the devil.” My voice was a sleepy croak and it made him laugh.

  “You'll thank me when you're kicking the Haver High girls' butts at the game on Thursday.”

  I grunted in acknowledgement.

  “Come on out, Jessica, or I’m coming in there and dragging you out.”

  That had me moving.

  See, here was the thing about Rex—he’d do it. He knew where the hideaway key was hidden in our garden and it wouldn’t be the first time he used it to haul my butt out of bed.

  A morning person I was not.

  But my BFF? He was such a morning person.

  Sometimes it sickened me.

  I heard his evil laugh as I cursed and tossed the phone toward the end of my bed, already getting up and throwing my hair up into a ponytail. My sneakers were ready and waiting by my bedroom door so five minutes later I ran out of the house with teeth brushed and ready to run. “I’m here, you heathen,” I called out when I spotted him bending over to retrieve the key. He made a point of eyeing a nonexistent watch.

  “Took you long enough.”

  I waited for a heartbeat, holding my breath like a moron because…there it was.

  His slow grin. The one that spread like molasses and softened his features, the one that made his dark eyes light with warmth and affection.

  The smile that was mine and mine alone.

  I let my breath out slowly, careful not to let it become a sigh.

  He crossed his arms and watched me do a halfhearted stretch. He’d already done his stretching, no doubt. He’d probably even eaten some breakfast, the early-rising weirdo.

  “You look like you’re still asleep,” he said, his eyes moving over me.

  Once again I found myself holding my breath as he catalogued my body from head to toe. This wasn’t unusual. Rex was an observant guy. If I didn’t shave my legs over the summer, he’d be the first to point it out. There were very few boundaries between my best friend and me, and I was used to that, but it didn’t mean I relished the fact that he was currently eyeing my bedhead hair or my puffy face.

  He looked perfect, as usual. He’d gotten his dad’s strong jaw and the patrician features that made him look like he could have been a bigshot in ancient Rome. He had the sort of head one found in marble busts at the museum.

  He was a full-blown hottie…and he knew it.

  He wasn’t a cocky jerk, though. He was a good guy. He was also human, and a teenager, and male, however, so he wasn’t exactly hiding out from the female attention at our school. Nope, the pretty, popular ladies of Coleridge High loved my bestie, and he loved them right back.

  Speaking of…

  I glared at him as he started to run without me. Seconds later I caught up. “Didn’t you go out with Diana last night?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be exhausted right about now?”

  “Eh,” he said with a shrug. “The party was lame and Diana was a bore. I dropped her off early.”

  I kept my gaze straight ahead and focused on keeping a steady pace. I felt the sort of grim satisfaction I always got when his latest lady-of-the-moment was about to crash and burn. I didn’t get jealous…not anymore. In fact, I almost pitied the girls Rex “dated.” I’m using that word very loosely here. They never lasted more than two weeks. Like…ever. And most didn’t even make it that long. It wasn’t like he was a serial dater or a big-time player or anything. He didn’t go from one to the other. He went in cycles and at this point, I could see it coming from a mile away. We’d be hanging out doing our thing and then he’d get antsy.

  Not bored, necessarily, just…unsatisfied.

  He’d start talking about how we should go out more. How we ought to go to more parties and meet more people.

  Like clockwork, those conversations were followed by another kamikaze attempt at dating. He’d pick a girl who’d been hitting on him, they’d go out for a couple of weeks, and then he’d get bored with that, find some minor flaw that suddenly bothered him, and come running back to me.

  I was grateful for the fast pace of our run. It made sighing pretty dang impossible.

  “How are you gonna end it this time?” I asked, my tone mild. Bored, even. Frankly, I was pretty bored by this whole situation.

  Boredom was easier to deal with than rejection. I couldn’t feel rejected
because he had no idea how I felt. We’d made a deal that we weren’t allowed to develop romantic feelings for one another, but I’d gone and done just that.

  But it was my problem, not his. If he found out… I swallowed a wave of fear at the thought.

  He’d run. He’d do it nicely, I knew that much. He’d tell me how much he loves me—and he’d mean it. No one loved a friend more than he loved me.

  But then he’d explain that he only loved me as a friend.

  I glanced over at him and saw him glowering at the road ahead of us as he pondered my question. My BFF was trying to figure out how to nicely break it to Diana that he didn’t like her like that.

  Poor Diana.

  Poor me if I ever did something stupid and told him how I really felt.

  “What do you think I should do?” he asked, turning to face me as we hit the road we always turned down. We’d been running the same loop for years now, and neither one of us ever felt compelled to change it up even though it had gotten rather boring.

  Just like us, I supposed. We were both creatures of habit, and Rex was the only one of us who did anything to shake things up. It wasn’t his fault that his attempts always ended in disaster.

  I considered him now, trying to be objective as I eyed him. “You could just tell her the truth,” I said.

  He squinted at me like I’d just said something crazy. “You think I should tell her that she’s a lousy kisser?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I think you should tell her that you’re just not feeling it. That you don’t want to lead her on by taking this relationship any further.”

  He nodded with a long exhale. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”

  It was the same speech I told him to give every time.

  We ran in silence for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts. After a while, Rex broke it and the conversation turned to the mundane. We went over the games that were coming up, the homework assignments we had due.