Page 102 of Power Play Rivals

“Oh, stop being such a silly dipshit and tell me what’s troubling you?” he says more sternly.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I pout.

Fuck.

The woman has me pouting.

What am I? Five?

“Oh, I get it now. I know that look,” Rex says, sounding relieved while I feel like I’m two seconds from losing it completely. “Let me guess? This wouldn’t by any chance have anything to do with Ms. Lee, would it?”

“You always were smarter than you looked.”

“And you, dear boy, have always talked out of your ass.” He chuckles. “So, where is the beautiful and intelligent Ms. Lee tonight?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Ah, so she’s avoiding you?”

I touch the tip of my nose to silently tell him he hit the nail on the head.

“I followed your sage advice that night at Roy’s, and she’s been avoiding me ever since.”

“That was almost a month ago,” he piles on to my pain.

“Hence why I’m drinking.”

“Well, you won’t find the love of your life at the bottom of a bottle, I can tell you that much.”

I’m about to open my mouth to tell him that Piper is no such thing, but then I find myself actually thinking about it.

No.

No. Wait…

I haven’t…

Have I?

Fuck.

Yeah, I have.

I’ve fallen for Piper.

Hard.

Fuck!

“You look like a man who just had an epiphany.” Rex chuckles in amusement. “Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured it out yet?”

“What can I say? I’m a slow fucking learner,” I curse under my breath and take another shot.

How could I’ve been so blind? It was right there in front of me all along. The real reason why I couldn’t get Piper out of my mind.

I’m in love with her.

And she would rather see me eat shit and die before ever admitting she has feelings for me.