Page 24 of What are the Risks
Reaching her, I lifted her off her feet and spun her around, holding her tight against my chest. She laughed softly, her cold nose pressing into my neck.
I would’ve been in a much better mood during that circuit training if I had known I was only a few hours away from seeing her.
“Are you surprised?” she checked.
“Yes!”
“Good surprised?”
“The best-fucking-surprised,” I said, setting her back down and shaking my head in delight. “You told me you couldn’t come.”
“I made it work. I couldn’t have you going out there without at least one fan in the stands.”
I was forced to step aside so that each of the guys could say hello.
The moment they were done, I pulled Ruby back against me.
She inhaled sharply. “You have one more hug before you’ve used up your quota for this trip, Wheels.”
“Shh, Rubz. I needed this.”
I hadn’t noticed Tori standing on the steps until she excitedly jumped up and down. “I love a reunion!”
When Ruby was the surprise, so did I.
CHAPTER EIGHT
You win
Ruby
I rifled through my hurriedly packed suitcase, trying to find an outfit for dinner. Between visiting Ryker and Noah so often, I was a professional at packing a weekend’s worth of outfits into my carry-on nowadays.
Ryker was lying on his bed, tossing a sock at his ceiling fan. He overshot, the sock landing on the carpet beside my feet. As I reached down to pick it up, my eyes caught on his one and only indoor plant, Warren – and yes, the plant had a name.
I’d bought it as a gift the first time I’d visited Ryker at Phil-U. As the most competitive person I knew, he’d taken my snide remark about it dying within a week as a challenge – and, to both our surprise, he’d kept Warren alive and thriving for nearly four years.
“Warren’s looking thirsty.”
“Don’t try throwing me, Rubz. My mantra oftreat Warren mean and keep him greenhas worked. I’ll water him when I feel like it.”
Chuckling, I laid a pair of black jeans over the foot of the bed. Ryker shuffled his leg to make room.
“So...” He cleared his throat. “How’s Noah?”
I didn’t miss the hint of uncertainty, and I felt guilty that it was only there because of my reaction the last time he mentioned Noah.
I forced a smile. “He’s fine. He actually–”
I sighed. I’d always been honest with Ryker. Why stop now?
“Honestly, we’re both reaching our limit with long distance. He got stroppy when he found out I was coming here.”
“Why? You haven’t visited me at college for over a month.”
“And I haven’t been to Miami for longer than that. It’s just so far and–”
“You don’t like it,” Ryker finished.
