Page 41

Tobie

My book isn’t where I left it.

It’s six thirty, and I should be getting ready for the party tonight, but I just noticed it’s been a second since I saw the smutty book Max stuck with hot pink Post-it tabs.

“So, where is it?” I mutter, frowning as I think.

I tear the sheets off my bed.

No book.

I drop to my knees and peer under my bed.

I make a mental note to vacuum under it soon, but no book.

The last one who was in here was who?

“Think, think, think…”

Javier.

Maybe.

Reid was in my room, but I can’t see him taking it. Or, I guess, if he did take it, he would absolutely not be keeping quiet about what was in those pages.

Caleb…

Nope. Don’t see him grabbing a smutty book.

But Javier…

He was flipping through the book last time, so maybe he saw the pink tabs and curiosity drove him to take it when he had all those flowers delivered.

I still have three large bouquets of white, pink, and red roses sitting in vases on my desk and a bookcase, and every time I see or smell their subtle scent, I grin like an idiot.

And it isn’t just the flowers that make me smile like an idiot.

It’s my fake boyfriends who are making me happier than Marc ever did.

Dad called earlier, and even he asked why I was in such a good mood.

“Just happy, Dad,” I said and swiftly changed the subject because I still haven’t told him that Marc and I broke up.

But now that I know my book is missing, I need to find it before this party, or I’ll spend the entirety trying to figure out which one of them has it and why they would take it.

I rush over to Max’s room, knock twice, and bounce from foot to foot as I wait for her to call out, “Come in.”

I rush in. “Please tell me you were in my room, and you borrowed my book.”

Max is stretched on a hot pink yoga mat on the floor, windows wide open to let air in, and her laptop is sitting on her bed. “Nope. Why?”

Occasionally, I would join her, and we’d do a yoga workout together. Since she sticks with it regularly, and I flake out on my workouts, she can do twists and stretches that would snap me in half.

I shut her door and lean against it. “I can’t find it,” I whisper.

A smile stretches across her face. “Maybe you should ask Javier if?—”

“I’m not asking him anything,” I hiss.

“Reid?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Caleb?”

“He has no reason to take it.”

“So, it has to be Javier.”

“No, because he doesn’t need a book to—” I snap my mouth shut. Too late.

Way, way too late.

Max is like a bloodhound.

The tip of her nose twitches, and her eyes sharpen as she pounces on my slip-up. “He doesn’t need a book to do what?” She gets to her feet and prowls toward me. “ Show you a good time? Give you a good time.”

Oh God. I was hoping to avoid this.

“Nope. Not talking about this. Gotta go.” I spin around to leave before we can delve deeper into my love life.

I am never admitting to anyone that I had sex with Javier in the middle of a fair where anyone could have walked in on us and that I have absolutely no regrets about having done so. Public sex with the unexpected thrill of discovery from someone who could walk in any moment is not Tobie Myers.

She blocks the doorway with her body, pulling some fancy yoga move to get around me. Arms and legs spread wide like a starfish to block the door. Her eyes narrow. “Who did you sleep with?”

“No one,” I deny, smiling at her position. “You look ridiculous, you know that, right?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” She stares at me for a beat, then nods confidently. “Reid.”

“How the hell could you…” She flashes me a grin, and I sigh. “I can’t believe I fell for that.”

“Had to be,” she says smugly. “Caleb is still being distant and gruff, so it had to be Reid. It was after he kissed you at the game, right?”

I don’t look her in the eye when she comments on Caleb. He might be distant and gruff to her and to everyone else, but he isn’t that way around me.

She drops her arms and steps around me to return to the yoga mat. I guess she got what she wanted out of me.

“What makes you think it was after the game?”

She flips her ponytail out of her face when she steps into a lunge.

“After the way he kissed you? If a guy hauled me into his arms like that, I would jump him at the first opportunity.” She winks at me.

“And I saw you creeping down the hallway in a trench coat. I bet I can guess what you had, or didn’t have on, under that coat. ”

I sink against the door, covering my hot cheeks. “Max…”

She laughs. “I’m happy for you. Sounds like you’re having fun.” She peers up at me from her downward dog. “You are having fun, right?”

I don’t even have to think about my answer. “I am.” I’m aware that I have a stupid grin on my face when I say, “I like them, Max. I really like them.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

“Since when did you watch ESPN to know about that kiss, anyway?”

“Since you started dating hockey players. Everyone knows about the kiss. Marc probably cried when he saw it.”

I reluctantly smile. “He didn’t cry. He was at the game, which is how I know.”

“Then he went home to do it. Had to kill him to see Reid drag you into his arms like that.” She smirks. “It was like the big Hollywood movie moment, and he was the ex standing in the rain with his nose against the window.”

“That’s Lady and the Tramp .”

She nods approvingly. “Even better. He’s the scruffy mongrel that…”

I can’t help but laugh. “Stop.”

“Sure thing.”

I’m instantly suspicious. I eye her warily. “You did something.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

I cross my arms. “Spill.”

She drops into a plank from a downward dog and continues down to a cobra pose. “I might have done something.”

“Punched him?” I can totally see Max doing that after the way she nearly took Caleb’s eye out, poking a finger in his face.

“Nothing like that,” she says, coolly. “I might have sat at a table next to his in the dining room and said a little loudly that maybe the guy who was dating you before was a real fool because clearly the Magic Three cannot get enough of you. So, he must have been lacking in the bedroom department.”

“You didn’t …” I gasp.

She peers up at me through her lashes. “I lied. I didn’t say it quietly at all.”

Covering my mouth with a palm, I splutter a laugh. “What did he say?”

“ Say ?” Her eyes are big. “Absolutely nothing. He slammed his fork on his tray and stalked out of the room. I caught a couple of people looking at his pants, and I know what they were thinking.” She lifts her right hand, folds down all the fingers but her pinky, and wiggles it.

“Well… I know what I would be thinking if I overheard that.”

I laugh, then I feel guilty for doing so. “ Max …”

“Nope. He totally deserved it, Tobie. I have no regrets.”

“So, about the street hockey disappearance…” I start.

Her face turns blank. “Did you find your keys in your room?”

“I did. But?—”

“It’s not something I can talk about, Tobie,” she says, avoiding my gaze. “If I could, I would tell you over anyone else, but I can’t.”

I eye her for a beat and nod. “Okay.”

Her shoulders relax. “Thanks.”

“As long as you’re happy, okay?”

“I will be.”

Which means she’s not.

I worry, but this doesn’t feel like something I want to push her to talk about. “I’m here if you ever need me, okay?”

“I know,” she says with a small smile.

I straighten. I’ve been here longer than I should have and still need to shower before this party.

After the BBQ meal with the rest of the team, I’m not dreading the party as much as I was the first. Javier said the team would be there, and there’s no way anyone is going to let Marc corner me like he did at the last one. “What should I do about this book?”

“ Do ?” She widens her eyes. “Why would you need to do anything? Javier has the book. He knows what you want.”

She grins at me then returns to a downward dog position as I turn to leave. “Stay, do yoga with me.”

“Can’t. Have a date.”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “Your thing is better than mine. Have fun for the both of us, huh?”

“Sure, will do.”

“And Tobie?”

I twist around. “Yeah?”

“I know you slept with Javier as well.”

I frown. “How could you…” Her smile is smug. “Shit. You need to go work for the FBI or something.”

Her laughter follows me out of the room.