Chapter 33
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.
He was a flirty guy by nature, but he’d undoubtedly turned it up. I guess now that Noah wasn’t in the picture, he had no reason to hold back.
I’ll admit, the attention was kind of nice.
“I thought a nurse would need a steady hand,” he teased.
“I can locate a vein like my life depends on it. A plastic cup is another story.”
He chuckled. “Stick with me, Ruby, and I’ll get you through.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
He placed his hands on my shoulders, gently guiding me away as the next players approached the table. It was a good thing we weren’t playing again. I was already feeling lightheaded.
As we watched on from the side, Evan kept his arm around me. It was a literal and figurative weight on my shoulders.
As vanilla as it was, no guy other than Noah had touched me like this.
The only person who’d come close was Ryker, and even then, his touch had always felt innocent – whereas for Evan, innocent wasn’t in his vocabulary.
He wouldn’t touch a girl if he wasn’t hoping to get something out of it. .. or her.
Nerves rippled through me, causing me to shiver. Evan noticed, bending down to whisper in my ear.
“Are you good?”
“Ye – yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I need the bathroom.”
He nodded. “Same.”
The music was much louder once we climbed the stairs, and the dance floor was packed. As Evan navigated us through the thick crowd, I caught sight of the back of Gretchen and Ryker climbing the stairs. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were going upstairs to do.
I’d convinced myself moving on from the kiss was the right call, so why did the idea of Ryker hooking up with another girl sting so much?
When I slowed down, Evan turned over his shoulder, checking what the hold-up was. As he followed my gaze, understanding clicked.
“Don’t stress, Ruby. You can use my bathroom instead.”
Thank goodness for that. The line downstairs was snaking around the hallway.
If Evan hadn’t been guiding the way, I would’ve stopped at Ryker’s door out of habit.
As we passed, I braced, expecting to overhear the unmistakable sounds of sex, but there was nothing audible coming through the walls. They were probably only just getting started with foreplay.
After unlocking his door, Evan stepped to the side so I could pass through. I’d never been in his bedroom before. The layout was similar to Ryker’s, but the vibe was entirely different. There wasn’t a single trace of feminine influence in here.
Evan was nowhere near as tidy either. While Ryker wasn’t a clean freak like Noah, everything in his room still had a place. Like dirty clothes lived in the hamper, not on the floor, which seemed to be Evan’s MO.
Evan gestured for me to use the bathroom first. I hadn’t actually needed to go – it had been the nerves talking – but now that I was here, I figured I might as well.
After washing my hands and tag-teaming with Evan, I waited at the foot of his bed. Figuring Tori and Brady were likely caught up with each other, and Ryker was... occupied, I wasn’t overly keen on heading back downstairs. I didn’t know many other people here.
Hoping to avoid any drunken texts or late-night missed calls from Noah, I’d switched off my phone and left it in my suitcase.
With nothing to distract me, I watched the lava lamp on Evan’s dresser, the blobs floating and forming new shapes.
Only he could have a lava lamp in his room and somehow make it seem cool.
After emerging from the bathroom, Evan casually leant in the doorframe, not seeming in a rush either. “Did you want to crash in here tonight?”
All the blood rushed from my face. It was like a skydiving instructor had just told me it was go-time – because, apparently, the idea of hooking up with someone and jumping out of a plane triggered the same amount of panic in me.
He chuckled. “Relax, Ruby. I’m not inviting you to a fuck-a-thon. I’m offering you a place to sleep – fully clothed – since Gretchen has stolen your spot in Ryker’s bed.”
Though Ryker had hooked up with girls during my past trips to Phil-U, this was the first time he’d taken one into his room. Usually he was more considerate of where I was going to crash. The fact he hadn’t thought about it – or he simply didn’t care – wasn’t a great feeling.
“You’re right. I should’ve figured she’d be staying with him tonight.” I frowned. “Wait, you don’t want to get me naked?”
Evan flashed me his easy smile. “I never said that. I would very much like to sleep with you, Ruby.”
“Then do it.”
I sounded more confident than I felt – all thanks to the drinks I’d chugged during beer pong. It was time for me to move on, and as far as rebounds went, they didn’t get much better than Evan – tall, fit, insanely attractive, and a track record that had to guarantee he’d show me a good time.
With a sigh, he shook his head. “Ryker’s my best friend, Ruby.”
“And? He’s my best friend too.”
“I think he’s more than that.”
Ryker and me? More than friends? It was the broken record people had been trying to play our entire lives.
“Do I need to remind you he’s balls deep in the cheerleader right now?”
“Do I need to remind you he passed up a foursome only for you to vomit on his shoes?”
“Please don’t remind me how drunk I was that night,” I grimaced.
Chuckling, Evan combed his fingers through his blonde hair. He was like a romance novel MMC come to life – one who’d just admitted to wanting to sleep with me... but supposedly couldn’t because of Ryker.
“Did anything happen between you two that night?” he asked.
“No.”
“Has it since?”
My hesitation spoke volumes. Amusement danced across Evan’s face, and a knowing grin spread.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I hurriedly clarified. “We kissed. Once.”
“Ryker made the move, didn’t he?”
“He did,” I admitted, ignoring the swarm of emotions that surfaced simply from thinking about the kiss. “But then he pretended it never happened.”
Evan seemed surprised, as though I was telling him a different version of something he’d heard. Perhaps Ryker had already filled him in. Something like... I kissed Ruby by mistake, so I’m just going to pretend it never happened and move on to someone way hotter.
Mission accomplished, Wheels.
“What was it like?” Evan asked.
I snickered. “Why do you care?”
“Because I have a theory and I love being right. Gloating is my bread and butter.”
Consider me curious. I crossed my arms over my chest. “And what’s your theory?”
Evan sat beside me on the bed, stretching out his legs and getting comfortable. “Look, I’m violating bro code, but here goes nothing... Ryker has a thing for you.”
In all the years of people making assumptions about mine and Ryker’s friendship, nobody had ever been that specific.
“You think he likes me?”
“I’m not sure about that. But I know he definitely wants to fuck you.”
“I– wait– no.”
I couldn’t string a coherent thought together, let alone a sentence. Evan had to be wrong. There was no way he was onto something. Ryker had never ever hinted at being interested in me in that way.
He’d also never kissed you before.
“You’re forgetting about Gretchen. The girl he’s been sleeping with the past few weeks.”
While we’d been getting ready, Gretchen had very willingly filled me in on some of her and Ryker’s past hookups – like New Year’s Eve and the night of his final college game. They weren’t wasting time ticking birthday sex off their horny bucket list either.
“Gretchen’s a distraction,” Evan said. “A hot one, sure. But merely a means to an end.”
I forcefully shook my head, trying to clear the fog in my mind. When that didn’t work, I sprang to my feet and began pacing Evan’s room.
I didn’t have a thing for Ryker. I didn’t even care about Evan’s absurd theory... so why did I feel like a giddy teenager hearing her crush was crushing on her back?
“You’re wrong. Ryker and I are just friends.”
“So the kiss didn’t rock your world?”
“Rock my world?” I snorted. “Who says that?”
“Fine. Tell me how it made you feel.”
It had made me feel surprised. And good. And giddy. But it had also left me confused. And bummed that Ryker hadn’t acknowledged it. And annoyed that it left me not knowing how to act around him.
“It was new,” I answered.
“New?”
“Fine. It was good. Like, really good. But kissing any guy who wasn’t Noah was always bound to feel different.”
Evan stood up. “Let’s test that theory.”
“Huh?”
“Kiss me.”
My heartbeat stopped. So did my pacing. As much as I’d enjoyed Evan’s flirting, each time he alluded to something actually happening, I caught myself freaking out.
With a nervous cough, I cleared my throat. “Why?”
“Then you’ll know whether the kiss was different purely because it wasn’t Noah, or actually good because it was with Ryker.”
I raised one eyebrow. “You want me to kiss you?”
“Sure. It’s just a kiss, right?”
“Right.”
But was it? I didn’t just kiss people. At least I hadn’t until recently. But I was single now. Kissing wasn’t a marriage proposal. Single people kissed all the time.
One of Evan’s large hands came to rest over my cheek, keeping me steady. His hand was warm and dry, whereas my palms were beginning to sweat.
I felt stupid for even playing into his theory, but after two weeks of obsessing over what might end up being nothing – just a new kiss and nothing more – I realised I had nothing to lose.
“When you’re ready, Ruby,” he taunted, his mouth hovering an inch from mine.
Fuck it.
I closed the gap.
The second our lips met, I began my comparison.
Evan was confident in the way I’d expected him to be. He set the pace, and I obediently followed along.
He smelled like the cologne that’d been lingering in the bathroom, and despite all the products lined up on the shelf, his hair was surprisingly soft when I threaded my fingers through it.
When his tongue parted my lips, I granted him the access he was asking for.
If I was looking for a hookup and nothing more, then Evan’s kissing was more than satisfactory. Warmth stirred beneath my skin, but there was no burning desire or intense pull, just the kind of excitement you expect when kissing a guy like Evan.
When he pulled back, his devilish eyes held mine – calm and unchanged. There was no heat in his cheeks, and no racing pulse in his throat. Not only hadn’t I felt an overwhelming rush from the kiss, it was clear Evan hadn’t either... which made me think that Ryker had.
I had now kissed three boys in my lifetime, each one completely different from the other.
Familiar. Consuming. Fun.
“So? Be honest, Ruby. You won’t hurt my feelings.”
“It was a good kiss,” I said. “More than adequate.”
He laughed. “Ditto. But?”
But Evan wasn’t Ryker. And I wasn’t saying I liked Ryker, or that I even believed Evan’s theory, but I didn’t want to ignore the kiss anymore. I wanted to know what it meant to Ryker.
“It was different again,” I diplomatically answered.
Evan’s smile was full of understanding. “Now that’s settled, do you want my help making Ryker jealous or not?”
I hesitated, uncertain. “I don’t want to play games, Evan. Not with Ryker.”
“It’s not a game, Ruby. Consider it a strategy. Let’s light a fire under his ass and find out once and for all what that kiss meant to him.”