Page 85 of What are the Risks
Before she could spray it, her attention snagged on something else. “Why are there socks on your ceiling fan? Wait... let me guess. Ruby.”
My silence said it all.
“You really want to be with her, don’t you, Ryker?”
Yes. Maybe. I didn’t know. But what I did know was that I didn’t want to be with Gretchen.
“Gretchen, I–”
“It’s fine. It’s not like you weren’t up front about needing a distraction. I’ve had fun...” She wrinkled her nose. “But not enough to spend any more time on a guy who’s clearly into someone else.”
A tight bubble formed in my throat. “I’m sorry–”
With a dismissive laugh, she crouched down and began gathering her things. “Relax, Richardson. I’m not going to pine over you until the day I die. We’re good. I promise.”
I’d never been through a breakup before, and I wouldn’t even consider this one, but watching her pack her things was still incredibly awkward. I thought about helping, but worried I’d get in the way, I stayed put.
Once she’d packed up, we headed downstairs. I wasn’t sure if calling things off with Gretchen would backfire for Pat, Kyler and their cheerleaders, but in all honesty, I couldn’t bring myself to care. All that mattered to me was finding Ruby and finally admitting I couldn’t pretend the kiss hadn’t happened.
Before she got swallowed up by the crowd, Gretchen stopped, glancing over her shoulder at me. “For what it’s worth, Ryker... Ruby was lying. Your kisses aren’t the type a girl wants to forget.”
I prayed like hell she was right.
Once she was gone, I wasted no time searching the house for Ruby, checking every room – including the basement and den – but came up empty.
The team had taken over the living room, playing video games. Joey was there, which was equally as worrying as it was reassuring. Because if Ruby wasn’t with him, there was only one other person she might be with.
After my second lap, I returned to the yard, where Tori and Brady were hanging out with a crowd around the bonfire.
Brady spotted me stalking across the lawn. “Hey, man. Where have you–”
“Have you seen Ruby?” I interrupted, not in the mood for small talk.
“We haven’t,” Tori answered, glancing up from where she sat in Brady’s lap. “Why? What’s up?”
Kyler stumbled into me, smelling of beer and weed. I opened my mouth to scold him, but found the argument dying off. The season was over. Keeping his piss tests clean wasn’t my issue anymore.
“I saw her before,” he slurred.
“Where?”
“You’ll never guess.”
I rolled my eyes. “If I’m never going to guess, just tell me.”
“She went upstairs with Evan.”
He was right. I never would’ve guessed that. I didn’t particularly like hearing it either. In fact, I fucking hated it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
More than satisfactory
Ruby
I chugged the rest of my drink, throwing my head back to force the liquid down. Beer pong was not my strength. If I hadn’t had Evan as my partner, I would’ve lost fifteen minutes ago.
I knew I was rusty from having being out of the game for so long, but I was quite confident Evan was putting the moves on me. I was the only girl he’d spoken to tonight, he’d gotten all my drinks, and he’d barely left my side.
