Page 194 of Skate the Line

She blows out a heavy breath. “Can you start with that next time? Jeez. I was going to tell you to get my bail money ready.”

I snort and wince right after.

“What happened?” she asks. “Are you hurt somewhere else too?”

I sit up a little taller, and her eyes drop to my shirt. Her brows furrow, but she remains quiet.

“It was a random accident. Well…” I pause. Was it? “It was a hit-and-run. But Ellie is fine. I have this cut, a mild concussion, and I’m sore. Everyone is okay.”

“A hit-and-run?” she scoffs. “I lied. Get my bail money ready.”

My mouth curves into a smile.

Her eyebrow hitches. “What are you wearing?”

I look at Rhodes’s Blue Devils shirt.

“And whose room are you in?” she asks.

I’m suddenly hot.

“Uh, well…”

“Allison!” she snaps.

I flick my eyes to her with the use of my first name.

“Oops, sorry, I’m just recovering from utterfuckingshock. Have you been holding out on me?”

“Shh,” I hiss. “No. Well, yeah, kind of, but it’s…I don’t know.”

How do I explain this?

I can’t even explain it to myself, and if I’m being truthful, there’s a tiny seed of shame buried in my stomach at the thought of telling anyone that I’ve slept with Rhodes. He’s my boss and the father of the little girl I nanny for. But then I think about how safe I feel with him and how I truly care about him and Ellie both.

It outweighs the shame and guilt.

God, I’m a jumbled mess.

“Are you two a thing?”

“What? No!”Are we?

Ruby looks at me funny.

“Stop it,” I whisper. “I know what you’re thinking.”

She smooths her face.

“You’re thinking what everyone else will think if they find out.”

My allegations won’t stand a chance if it gets out that I’m messing around with Rhodes, because who’s to say that I didn’t do what was accused of me? If I “seduced” another father of a child I was nannying, I must have done the same to Rhodes, right? They’ll say,it's no wonder things turned out the way that they did.I’ll be the one faulted.

“That isnotwhat I’m thinking,” Ruby says.

I glance at the screen and can’t even bother to look at my face. I stare at her instead.

“I’m thinking that I hate that you even had that thought to begin with.”

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