13 Tell me how you really feel
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tell me how you really feel
WILL
I was going to regret this.
“Stay with me tonight.”
After a long and awkward pause, Riley cleared her throat. “Pardon?”
“Stay with me,” I repeated. “I have a swag set up.”
She scoffed at that. “I’m not having sex with you, Caufield.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Though now the far, far, far away vision of sleeping with Riley lodged its way into my mind, my dick perked up. Something it certainly hadn’t done while I’d just been taking a leak in the freezing woods.
Riley crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve got another offer.”
She made no effort to leave though, which told me she wasn’t overly eager on the other offer either. So not a friend. Interesting. I took the bait.
“Which is?”
She squared her shoulders, her chin jutting high. “Hayes Braddock said I could sleep in his tent.”
And just like that, I hated Hayes fucking Braddock.
“I’ll bet he did,” I retorted. “With the condition you touch his penis.”
I didn’t know Hayes well, but I knew his reputation, and it was exceedingly slimy even for a college athlete.
“That’s disgusting,” Riley said.
“But accurate.”
She sighed. “You’re right. He’s a sleaze. ”
I cautiously edged closer to her. “Share my swag. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
Riley’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. I braced for a reactive no , but what she said instead threw me.
“That wouldn’t bother Grace?”
“Grace?”
“Your girlfriend.”
After a brief moment of confusion, I laughed out loud. A proper throaty laugh that started in my stomach and burst out before I could control it. Riley seemed surprised by my reaction, which was fair. I wasn’t exactly the laughing type.
“What makes you think Grace is my girlfriend?”
Riley jarred back in confusion. “She said she’d bring her boyfriend along to the assessment.”
I cleared my throat through the laughter still bubbling at the surface. “That boyfriend isn’t me, Dover.”
“Oh.”
Now Riley’s eyebrows fell to hover beneath her etched forehead. Was I grasping, or did she look relieved?
I leant against the closest tree, getting comfortable. The thought of Grace and me dating was so farfetched that it was impossible imagining. Hell, something told me if Levi thought I’d even pictured his girlfriend, he’d tear me a new asshole.
“I can’t believe you thought I was dating Hughesy.”
“I assumed when you walked into the PT rooms. I didn’t think Tripp was her type.”
“He isn’t.”
Riley wrapped her arms around her body. “Okay. Now I’m confused. Who is Grace dating?”
“Levi. Something came up the other morning, so he sent me instead.”
Luckily or unluckily. I was still deciding.
Riley stared off into the distance, her imagination working. “I thought Holloway didn’t date. His mantra, right?”
I simply shrugged. “He does now.”
Time wasn’t the only thing that had passed since Riley and I were together. Things had changed. Our lives were different now. My friends’ lives were different now. We weren’t the same people we’d been in freshman year. Maybe Tripp, but not the rest of us.
I studied Riley. “So you honestly had no clue Grace was tangled up with the hockey team? ”
“None. Do you really think I would’ve agreed if I knew there was a chance I’d run into you?”
“Ouch. Tell me how you really feel.”
Riley didn’t apologise or try to backtrack. The jab was fair, I guess.
She rubbed at her arms. The tip of her nose was pink, and white clouds formed in front of her parted lips each time she exhaled.
I pushed off from the tree and came to stand in front of her once more. “Stay with me tonight, Dover. You might hate me, but at least you’ll be safe with me.”
“I don’t–”
The words died off in her throat, as though the fight was leaving her. Her wide eyes rose to meet mine, looking equal parts anxious and exhausted.
“Okay.”