Page 71 of Home Game

“Well, that’s fucking awesome.”

And without looking at her, I picked up my smoothie and walked into my bedroom.

CHAPTER 16

ZOEY

I watchedas Ryan walked into the bedroom and shut his door. Jensen was obviously a real sore spot for him. I stared at the box and the phone. I couldn’t believe Jensen had bought a phone for me. Ryan may not want me, but Jensen was making it clear he did. When Jensen had hit on me, it had marginally eased the humiliation of this morning. But it was also making this situation so much more tricky.

If I outright shunned Jensen, it could reflect poorly on Ryan. If I engaged with Jensen, it would feel like an outright betrayal to Ryan. Not that it would matter in the long run. I mean, how long would I even be part of this world? Once I was back living in a shelter and working at a fast-food joint, Jensen wouldn’t give a shit about me. I needed to negotiate this carefully, so I didn’t make things worse for Ryan.

The interviews had sucked. I had loved Diane, but the moment I heard she barely knew how to text, I knew she would never get hired. But when Ryan told me they were going to offer the job to Bianca, my heart sank. Bianca looked at Ryan, like she was a barracuda about to devour her next meal. She had that kind of high, intense energy and frankly, she scared me.

I looked towards Ryan’s bedroom. Things had gotten weird between us. We needed to get past it and have everything go back to normal. The phone in the box buzzed.

I lifted the lid and looked at the phone. There was one text message. It was from my one and only contact typed into the phone.

Jensen: Hey Zoey

I sat there staring at the phone for a long moment.

Zoey: Thanks for the phone but I need to get this back to you

Jensen: Why?

Zoey: Way too much. You might expect me to eat dinner with you if I keep this

Jensen: Ha! No, I only wanted to have the opportunity to talk to you

Zoey: What is your address?

Jensen: Are you coming over? :-D

Zoey: I’m sending you the phone back

Jensen: What am I going to do with a pink phone?

Zoey: You should have thought of that when you bought it

Jensen: To be honest, and please don’t hold it against me, I got it for free when I helped out with a charity event

Zoey: For real?

Jensen: And I only added a prepaid phone sim card

I chewed on my nail and stared at the phone. It was so nice. It was the nicest thing I had ever owned.

Zoey: I should still send it back

Jensen: Keep it. Please. You don’t need to go for dinner with me, but I want you to have it

Zoey: Why are you being so nice?

Jensen: I already told you. You’re different

Zoey: You know I can’t ever go out with you

Jensen: Because of Ryan?

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