Page 55 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
But he never wanted to hear it when I tried to talk sense into him.
“Forget her,” I said. “You need to move on.”
“Easy for you to say. Your longest relationship lasted what… fifteen minutes?”
“Give me more credit than that,” I scoffed. “Sometimes, it lasted a whole night.”
He snorted. “Only when you were too drunk to drive home from a party.” His gaze returned to his ex-girlfriend. “That guy is an asshole. Why is she with him?”
Troy joined us on the deck where we were spying on Walker’s ex like a couple of tween girls at a slumber party.
“Is that Chad Miller?” Troy asked.
The name rang a bell. Where had I heard it before?
“Who is he?” I asked.
“He used to be our quarterback. Graduated a few years ago.”
Maybe that was why I knew the name.
“If he messes with her, I will fuck him up.” Walker crushed the beer can in his hand, and my brows shot up. Walker was not a fighter. Sure, he’d followed me into a few fights, but only because I’d started them.
“Come on.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s get you back to the party. You’re killing my buzz.” I managed to drag him into the kitchen and poured us some shots. “Drink up. Troy’s DD tonight.”
“What else is new?” Troy grumbled, taking a swig of his Coke while Walker and I downed tequila shots and chased them with beer.
“Shake it off,” I told Walker.
He rolled out his shoulders a few times, but he still looked tense as fuck. “You think it’s true?” he asked Troy.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” Troy’s gaze drifted to the windows. I had no fucking clue what they were talking about. “But I don’t think she’d do that without a good reason.”
I hated being in the dark. That was the price you paid for showing up halfway through junior year. I’d missed a lot. I opened my mouth to question them when a curvy redhead stumbled and fell into Troy’s arms. Literally. He caught her before she hit the ground.
“Whoa.” He turned her around to face him. She was drunk off her ass. “You okay?” he asked with a smile.
“Oh hey, you’re sohot,” she said, giving him a goofy, drunken smile.
Walker and I cackled into our beers. Girls loved Troy. He was good-looking, smart, and a charmer. Too bad for them. He batted for the other team. Not that he’d openly admitted it.
“Come play beer pong with us.” The redhead hiccupped. “I could use some help.”
I elbowed him. “She needs help, Troy.”
“You need a wingman?” Walker joked, sounding more like himself.
With any luck, he’d put Leah out of his mind and move on.
“Hey, Ridge.” Kelsey Leighton sidled up next to me and gave me a big smile. “Long time, no see. Where’ve you been hiding?”
She tipped her face up to mine. Kelsey was cool. A petite brunette with big brown eyes and a pretty face. We’d hooked up a few times, and we both knew the score. It was just fun, no strings attached. Nothing heavy, deep, or real.
Maybe I needed a distraction just as much as Walker did. “Now that you’ve found me, what are you going to do about it?”
She ran her hand down my chest and looked up at me from beneath her lashes, a slow smile tipping up the corners of her lips. “I can think of a few things. But let’s start with a drink.” She grabbed the beer out of my hand and took a long pull.
“Help yourself.”
