Page 28 of Get Even

“I’m sorry,” I said as we walked out of the doors into the hesitant sunshine. “Do you want to report her? I’ll come with you as a witness.”

He shook his head, “It’s not worth it, trust me.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am,” he smiled again and this time it felt firmer. “I’ll forward on that email to you but you better start thinking about how you’re going to get Ryan to come.”

I shrugged as we headed in the direction ofCocoa & Rumfor our usual post-class coffee. “I don’tneedhim there. I mean, sure it would make things easier if it looked like I had a clean, wholesome rep but I’ll just be–”

“–on your best behavior. Right.” Nick laughed and shook his head. “Davis is not pulling his punches babe, I’m not sure there’s enough best behavior in the world for him to drop this.”

Maybe he was right, but it didn’t seem fair and I was going to jump through all the necessary hoops because I wanted to be on this course. I wanted my secure job in academia and I wanted the life my mother never gave me. So Davis was going to have to suck it up.

Cocoa & Rumwas busy when we walked in, the lunch time rush leaving the barista looking harried behind the counter until someone else arrived to help her out. I squinted at the familiar blue head –was that…?

“Hey, what can I get you?” Kit said, grinning when he realized who was in front of him. “Oh hey, Jamie! How’re things?”

“Um, okay thanks. I didn’t know you worked here?”

“I just started yesterday,” he said and then his eyes flicked behind me and he smiled. “Hey, Nick.”

I blinked, looking between the two of them. “You guys know each other?”

“Oh yeah,” Kit said while Nick laughed. “We’re in the same club.”

“Ah, cool.” I said awkwardly, feeling like I was missing something. I placed our coffee order and then moved further along the counter to wait, the crowd was dying down now so I had the perfect opportunity to test the waters. “So Kit, have you seen Ry lately?”

“You mean, is Ry still sulking that he asked you out and you said no?” Kit threw me a devious grin that revealed a flash of silver from what had to be a tongue piercing. “Nah, he’s all good.”

“Really?” I felt my shoulders relax and I raised an eyebrow at Nick who shrugged back.

“Yeah, I mean he’s still mopey because he’s obviously super into you. But he was wearing jeans and not sweats the last time I saw him so that’s a good sign.”

Ryan was ‘super into’ me? I mean, he obviously liked me – you can’t fuck someone as well as he had without caring about them a little bit – but I’d thought it was more of a passing flirtation, not actuallike.

Kit slid our coffees over and I smiled at him, he nodded and we left the coffee shop silently. I was stuck in my thoughts, re-analyzing every conversation between me and Ryan. I supposed it was a good indicator of his feelings that we’d already slept together and he still wanted to take me out. Maybe I’d been a bit too quick to shoot him down.

Nick nudged me and I looked up from the stare-a-thon I had going on with the sidewalk to see Ryan approaching. I started to smile, raised my hand to wave and then the people in front of him moved and I saw who he was laughing with.

She was tall, legs a mile long and gently waving sleek blonde hair that reached her waist. Her bright blue eyes practically sparkled as she gazed at Ryan and something ugly reared its head in my chest when he grinned back at her. It looked unrestrained, easy, no complicated exes or revenge plans. Just fun, adoration.

Nick saw the change in my expression as I dropped my hand and he winced, “Uh-oh.”

I snapped my head to look at him, “What?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, adjusting his bag across his shoulder. “This looks like it’s about to get super awkward though so I’m just going to–”

I grabbed his hand and glowered. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Ryan looked up and saw first me and then Nick, his smile wavering as we came to a stop opposite each other.

Nick broke the silence first as the blonde’s eyes flicked back and forth between us. “Hey man, I’m Kit’s friend Nick.”

Ryan relaxed, as if that were some sort of secret code and I threw Nick a questioning look that he ignored. “Oh right, I thought I recognized you. You were at the party the other night too, right? How’re things?”

I ignored his question in favor of a smile that probably looked more like a threat than a greeting, “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”

Ryan gave me an odd look, like he couldn’t figure out what my problem was, and smiled at the elegant woman standing next to him. Up close I could see the depth of her blue eyes, they tugged at my memory but I was certain I’d never met her before. “Yeah, sorry, this is Bryn. Bryn, this is Jamie a… friend.”

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