Page 14 of Wilder Puck

He whispers, “Give me one good reason not to live with me.”

“I don’t have a room,” I say, and as soon as I say it, I regret it. I already know what he’s going to say. And he proceeds to say it just like I imagined.

“You do have a room, but you’d rather call it a guestroom instead of yours. Another reason. Come on.”

He’s not bothering to mention that if anyone stays at his house, they takemybedroom. So, really, I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s not truly my room.

I challenge him with, “You have a girlfriend.”

He’s quick to respond. “And I’m going to break up with her. Another one.”

“Your future wife–”

“Right because I’m dating winners.”

I glare at him because he’s not wrong.

He says, “You haven’t used Jacob as an excuse yet.”

I go still. Crap, I was hoping to break the news at a different time. The floodgates have now opened.

His eyes are searching my face. “What happened?”

I shrug. “Not much. God, Ry, this is not the place and time. I need to get back on the floor.”

“You and Jacob broke up?” he asks. “When?”

He never liked Jacob. He would make little comments left and right about his demeanor or the way he did things and what he wasn’t doing for me.It’s just not someone I pictured for you.And I have good reason to take offense. Ryan says the same things about Matthew Pearson for his sister Madison. He’s about to be doing it to this Greyson kid that his sister is affiliated with.

“Alright.” Ryan snatches me back to reality. “We can talk about it later.”

I walk further into the kitchen and grab a croissant. I pull a piece off and pass it to Ryan.

“We broke up last week,” I admit.

Ryan eats the croissant and says, “You didn’t tell me on our Monday run?”

“I didn’t want you to be worried.”

“Well, now I’m worried.”

His brows are telling the truth. I don’t feel like looking at him right now. I don’t need any sympathy because really, I am okay. “I’m not sad. I knew it wasn’t right with him anyway.”

“So, all that vanilla sex talk was bullshit?” he asks, and my eyes meet his because I can’t believe he’s bringing that up right now.

I shrug. “Let’s not talk about it here. You have a game to focus on tonight, and I have a new job to impress.”

“Right,” he says as he looks around the room. “Is there something else going on?”

“No?” I question. “I’m fine.”

Ryan sighs. “You’re just not smiling like you were a week ago, and I need to make sure you’re okay.”

He can’t be serious. He’s being a huge crybaby today, and I’m not crazy for thinking he is the one who is not okay. He showed up at my coffee shop because I haven’t been texting him back for fucks sake. He’s freaking out over this game, and he’s taking it out on me.

I steal a piece of the croissant and walk around him. “I told you I wouldn’t be your friend if you asked me to move in with you again, so I’m keeping my word.”

The truth is that I need to get back on the floor and he needs to leave because he’s annoying the hell out of me.