Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I’m listening
Ryker
As always, Lastlings was crowded. The only silver lining was that the hockey team had an away game, so at least I was spared from any drama on that front.
As for my personal life? A total fucking shit show. I was not handling this whole jealousy thing well.
I had no idea what it was that was stopping me from talking to Ruby like an adult. It’s like I’d just turned two – not twenty-two. She hadn’t acknowledged me once since we arrived, and that was almost three hours ago.
On the way here, she’d jumped in the same Uber as Evan, Brady and Tori, leaving me stuck listening to Pat and Kyler’s seedy stories about the flexible positions they’d had their cheerleaders in last night.
They’d mentioned Lindsay and Kyah were cheering at a Phil-U soccer game tonight, which thankfully meant there was no chance I would bump into Gretchen. The last thing I needed was Ruby jumping to conclusions about that.
As I hovered by the bar, I subtly checked on her for the one thousandth time this past hour. She was in a booth with Tori, so naturally Brady was there as well. Pat and Kyler were too... along with Joey fucking Nazaar.
As he leaned in to whisper something in Ruby’s ear, my neck twitched. I’d just come to terms with finding Ruby attractive, but this caveman possessiveness was something else entirely. I wanted to storm over there and scream, “Mine.” And yeah, I was fully aware of how toxic that sounded.
I let out a quiet groan when Evan strolled over, waving a server down. He was the last person I wanted to deal with.
“Sup, man,” he said.
I swallowed my pride. “Sup.”
After placing his drink order – which took doubly as long because he couldn’t help but flirt with the female bartender – he turned away from the bar and let out a soft whistle.
“Looks like Ruby is going through with the Nazaar set up.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Nah.”
Well, that bothered me. It was proof Ruby shouldn’t have fallen for his lines, or whatever the hell he’d fed her last night. While it wouldn’t have meant much to him, I’m sure it had meant a hell of a lot to her.
“So, are you ready to admit you’re mad at me?” he pressed.
“I’m not mad at you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, you’re mad at yourself. You fucked up with Ruby and you know it.”
“How?”
“Ghosting her after you kissed her.”
“I didn’t ghost–” Thrown, I shook my head. “She told you I kissed her?”
“She did.”
“What else did she tell you?”
Evan chuckled drily, reaching for the beer the bartender had just set down. “Nope. I ain’t getting in the middle of this.”
“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.”
She held my eyes. “I’m listening.”