Page 82 of My Merry Mistake
“I’m serious,” she says. “I think it’s important to set the proper expectation.” Her eyes remain on the road. “I like to be direct.”
“No.You?” I chuckle.
“I mean it.”
I might be offended if I wasn’t so taken with her. Raya says what she thinks. She’s clear about what she wants. I can’t fault her for that, even though what she wants is definitely not me.
“Don’t worry. I know you’re dating someone, even if he’s totally wrong for you.” I look at her. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Okay, so . . . why?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say again. “I planned to give you space, but . . . I was there when you, you know?—”
She looks over at me, embarrassment on her face.
“I guess I needed to make sure you were okay.”
She goes still, then says quietly, “I’m fine.”
I nod. She is. Or she seems to be. My gaze drifts out the window. “I also thought you might need a friend.”
“A friend?” she asks.
I half-laugh. “Stupid, since you probably have lots of friends. And you made it clear I’m not one of them.” I glance over.
Her jaw twitches. “I didn’t mean?—”
I hold up a hand. “It’s fine. I get it. And you’re right, we aren’t really friends.”
She goes still.
“But I think we could be. I’m good at that.” I adjust the seat to give myself more room, only now realizing it’s cramped in here. I move the seat forward, then up, then back, then back further, then forward.
She looks at me, exasperated, and I hold eye contact as I give the seat one more short adjustment up. “There. Perfect.”
She bites back a smile. A small chink in the armor.
“Seriously, though. With your most recent vote, I’ve been elected Mayor of the Friend Zone, so I have a lot of practice.”
Her laugh is laced with sarcasm. “Yeah, all those women you go out with definitely look like they just want to be friends.”
I rest my arm on my knee and look out the window, letting her in on a secret.
“A lot of those women use me to get to the, uh, more famous players,” I say.
She looks at me for a beat, but it’s long enough for me to catch her frown.
“I’m cool with it,” I say. “I don’t mind being an NHL stepping stone. Pretty people pay attention to me, plus I can weed out the crazy ones before introducing them to the other guys on the team.”
“So why do you go out with these women if you know they’re just using you?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I just like people, I guess.”
She flips on her blinker and makes a turn. “It’s really shady for anyone to go out with you just to get to someone else. You don’t deserve that.”
“Raya.” I bring a hand to my chest, mock-serious. I nod my head slowly. “This is a moment. It’s almost like you care about me.”
“Funny.” She grips the steering wheel with both hands and sighs. “I’m not as heartless as everyone thinks.”
