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The hair on the back of my neck prickles.Yeah, it’s time for him to go.

“Can’t say I’ve had that particular epiphany,” I reply, setting my beer down.

Kyle huffs out a little fake laugh, and I hate the sound. “Maybe you will,” he replies, looking right at Ryder, who’s doing his best to avoid eye contact.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Ryder. Maybe we can talk some more soon,” he says, as he lifts his drink from the table. Then, as if he remembers I’m there too, he turns to me with a quick nod. “Logan.”

As soon as he walks away, Ryder lets out a big exhale like he’s been holding his breath for minutes.

“What the hell was that?” I ask quietly.

Ryder shakes his head slowly. “I don’t know, but I didn’t like it. He seems weirdly into me.”

I nod in agreement. That whole fate thing? It rubbed me the wrong way, and I make a mental note to ask Mia about that guy later to see what he really said about Ryder.

“You wanna go home?” I ask.

Ryder’s eyes flick to mine, and I see the way his shoulders relax, just a little. “Yeah,” he nods. “Let’s go.”

We pay and head outside. Mia commented that we’ve been dipping quickly over the last two weeks, and I told her we’d talk later. This guy’s construction project needs to wrap up soon so he can go back to wherever the hell he came from. I hate that he’s making Ryder feel uncomfortable inourspot.

As soon as we start walking home, the tension that clung to us at the bar begins to loosen, and I’m already feeling a bit better. When we get inside my apartment, Ryder kicks off his shoes by the door and collapses onto the couch. Nights like this always remind me of when we lived together, and I hate that we tried to be ‘mature adults’ and get our own places. We only live a six-minute drive apart now, but that still feels too far.

“You’re staying over tonight, right?” I confirm as I grab a couple of bottles of water from the fridge.

Ryder glances over at me, one arm slung over the back of the couch like he’s weighing his options. “Eh, I’ll stay. I’m too comfy to move now.”

“Too comfy already?” I laugh, raising an eyebrow as I toss him a bottle. “You’ve been here all of sixty seconds.”

“That’s all it takes for your couch to work its magic,” he chuckles, cracking the bottle open. “Plus, I know you’d miss me.”

He scoots over to make room for me on the couch as I plop down beside him, turning on the TV.

“Pretty sure I survived last Friday night when you went home.”

“Yeah, but I was giving you some alone time to appreciate how much you need me,” he teases.

“You know I always need you,” I admit, not even pretending to hide the truth. Last weekend sucked without him and I want him to know just how much I want him here with me.

“Me too,” he says quietly, before glancing at me. “Thanks for doing all the talking with that guy, Loge.”

“Of course. The whole conversation was bizarre. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Ryder nods. “Yeah. I don’t know what that guy’s deal is, but he was giving me weird vibes last week, too. Except then he was just watching me from across the bar.”

I nod. It makes a lot of sense now that he’s explaining it. “He’s not exactly hiding how into you he is, either.”

“Tell me about it,” he groans.

I was right about that guy being into Ryder, but Ry’sdefinitely not into him. That should make me feel better, but it doesn’t, mostly because I hate seeing him this tense. It’s not like him at all.

We stay on the couch watching TV for a little bit about a new blind dating show calledLove Without Labelsuntil I can’t keep my eyes open anymore, despite how entertaining it is.

“You coming to bed or you wanna stay out here?” I ask, getting up off the couch.

“Yeah, let’s go to bed.”

I stand up first and hold my hand out to Ryder to help pull him off the couch. He grabs it, but he lets go as soon as he’s upright. Part of me wants to reach out and slide my fingers through his and keep holding his hand, but I don’t.