Page 73 of Playboy For Hire

“Nevermind. I’ll go.”

I walked out the door without looking back.

13

RYDER

Istared at my phone. Three missed calls and a string of texts from Quinn, all in the past forty-eight hours.

QUINN: Ryder, I’m really sorry. What I said was out of line. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, but I know that I did anyway. And I’m sorry.

That was the first text. I glared at it, annoyed by the apology. What right did Quinn have to assume his words had any effect on me at all? Aside from the fact that I’d kicked him out of my room in response to what he’d said, that was.

But still, the way he was texting me now, all these perfectly worded, thoughtful apologies, pissed me off. It was like he was talking to a child throwing a tantrum, trying to calm them down. The fact that I knew I was acting like a child only made things worse.

“Dude, where’s your friend these days?” Amir asked.

“What? Who?”

“You know, yourfriend,” Raf said, adding air quotes just in case I’d missed the sarcasm in his tone. “The hot one with the glasses who started showing up here and spending increasing amounts of time in your bedroom.”

“You can stop waggling your eyebrows,” I told him sourly. I shifted in the reclining chair in our living room. We were watching a Nats game, Amir’s team of choice, and they were losing badly.

“My eyebrows do this naturally,” Raf said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s been like, two days,” I said, glaring back down at my phone screen. “And he’s just a friend. Maybe not even that.”

QUINN: Okay, I’m not trying to pressure you, I just really want to let you know, I value our friendship and would love to apologize in person.

QUINN: That’s not a euphemism for sex. Unless you want it to be.

He’d added a winky face after that. I hated that it was cute, and that I couldn’t stop thinking about what makeup sex with Quinn would be like. We hadn’t even done anything more than blow jobs, but I was sure it would be amazing.

“Wait, are you serious?” Amir said. “Because if you’re not hooking up with him, I call dibs. He’s cute.”

“Tragically, Ryder remains boring and straight,” Raf said. “And you can’t call dibs, because I called them first.”

“I literally just called them before you said anything.”

“I called them spiritually. I’m the one who’s been letting him into the house. He and I have a connection.”

“Only because you happened to get to the door before I did,” Amir grumbled. “If I’d known who was ringing the bell, I would have.”

“You snooze, you lose.”

“Would you guys stop?” I snapped. “He’s not interested in either of you.”

I hoped that was true. Ugh, what if Quinnwereinterested in Amir and Raf? What if, by not responding to his texts, I was losing my chance with him? What if he came over tomorrow, not to go to the awards dinner, but to get my housemates’ phone numbers?

If he came over at all. I still needed to reply to his most recent text.

QUINN: Okay, I’m assuming from your radio silence that you don’t want to hear from me anymore. But if you still want company at that awards ceremony, I’d be happy to come. I really am sorry.

Dammit, I did want company. I wanted Quinn. But that was the problem. He’d made it pretty clear the other day that he thought I was an idiot. That had hurt. Maybe it would be smarter of me to end things now, before he slipped and told me just how dumb he really thought I was.

“Wait, really?” Raf looked at me in confusion. “Is Quinn straight too? I didnotget that vibe off him.”

“Are you seriously just two straight guys platonically sitting in your bedroom together with the door closed?” Amir asked.

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