Page 13 of What are the Risks
To my surprise, she leapt over me in a flash, landing with one thigh on either side of my stomach as she pinned me down – well, barely. I could easily throw her off, but I was willing to let her believe she had the upper hand.
“You do realise I can’t even feel your weight, Rubz?” I teased.
“I’m not trying to squash you,” she huffed.
“Then what?”
Her eyes narrowed and her mouth thinned as she shifted her hands beneath my arms. What was she planning on doing, tickling the truth out of me?
Having spent every waking minute together as kids, Ruby and I had play fought before. I’d even accidentally broken her shoulder once when we were younger – something she liked reminding me of to this day. But we generally didn’t wrestle when she was in a short skirt, one that was inching dangerously higher on her thighs.
“Don’t get mad okay,” I prefaced.
“Just spit it out, Wheels.”
I sighed. Here went nothing. “Stefan was at The Dime the night before last and he mentioned something about Noah being there.”
“Okay? And?”
“And that he may have been flirting with a girl.”
Ruby’s expression wavered, but she recovered quickly. “What doeskind of flirtingmean?”
“That some girl was touching him and he was touching her back.”
Her brow furrowed. “Touching how?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I tried asking Stefan, but he said he was wasted.”
Her frown deepening, she rolled off me and got up from the bed entirely, putting a concerning amount of distance between us. “Are you saying you think Noah was hooking up with another girl?”
I sat up against the headboard. “No.”
“Then what?” she snapped, frustration heavy in her tone.
“I – I don’t know, Rubz. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I didn’t even know whether it was worth telling you.”
“If you didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, then why did you bring it up?”
Honestly? Right now, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe because I wanted to give Ruby the chance to talk to Noah about it. Maybe because I didn’t like keeping secrets from her. Or maybe because deep down, I thought there might be some truth to it. It sounded shady, and shady things usually turned out to be shady.
Based on Ruby’s temper, I’d made the wrong call.
“You’re saying this because you’ve never liked him, Ryker.”
Ryker again. She was pissed at me.
“I don’tnotlike him, Rubz.”
“You do. He made one comment in high school that he thought football was stupid and you’ve held a grudge ever since.”
I got to my feet, moving to stand in front of Ruby. “That’s not true.”
Maybe a little bit. But I didn’t notlike Noah because he didn’t like football. I didn’t like him for a lot of reasons. I found him kind of snobby, and boring, and closed-minded, and I thought he drove girly cars.
But I’d ignored those things because Ruby loved him. I’d put up with any bland boyfriend she dated, so long as she was happy.
She let out an irritated sigh before glancing between me and the door. “I’m going to go.”
