Page 94 of What are the Risks
“You got in the middle of it when you hooked up with her.”
He dropped the arrogant act. “I didn’t hook up with her, dude. We were just playing with you.”
I frowned, not quite following. As desperately as I hoped Evan wasn’t messing with me, it scared me how badly I wanted him to be telling the truth.
“It was my idea,” he went on.
“Why?”
He gave a casual shrug. “It’s been clear to me for a while that you have a thing for her, but I wasn’t sure whether it was clear to you too, so I figured I’d give you a little... nudge.”
I fell silent, torn between anger and gratitude. While his tactics were kind of fucked up, I guess they had come from the right place.
“Did it work? Have you figured out what you want yet?”
I nodded. “Fuck knows if she wants the same thing though.”
“Your friendship is built on talking every day, so why are you both dodging this?”
“For exactly that reason,” I admitted. “We’ve been friends for so long, this new territory is fucking terrifying.”
He nodded, as if he got it, but we both knew he didn’t. No one truly understood mine and Ruby’s friendship. Nobody knew what she meant to me.
“She kissed you back,” he reminded me. “And when she kissed me, she admitted–”
“What the fuck?” The anger returned. “You said you didn’t hook up with her.”
“Relax Mr. PG-13. It was just a kiss.”
Evan gestured towards the booth, where everyone had left except Ruby and Joey. They were still talking, his face dangerously close to hers.
“While I’m smart enough not to touch Ruby, Joey isn’t. So I’d suggest you break that up before something happens that you can’t come back from.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Evan was right. Before I could talk myself out of it again, I downed the last of my drink and strode towards the booth.
Ruby and Joey were so caught up in their conversation, they didn’t notice me hovering above them, so I deliberately cleared my throat.
As Ruby looked up, Joey followed.
“Hey Joey?” I said.
“Yeah, Captain?”
“Fuck off.”
“Yes, Captain.”
As Joey swiftly slid out of the booth, darting off like a wide receiver, a satisfied smile spread across my face. That had been easier than I was expecting.
Slipping into the spot he’d just vacated, I casually draped my arm over the back of the vinyl seat. Ruby blinked at me slowly, like she’d seen me coming from a mile away.
“Wheels.”
“Rubz.”
As she darted out her tongue to wet her lips, I had to summon all the self-control I possessed. I’d give anything to crash my mouth over hers – but not yet. We needed to kill the mother fucking elephant that had been following us ever since I kissed her.
“We need to talk.”
