“She wouldn’t.” His mouth pulled toward one side, but it wasn’t a smile. “Her family will decide for her.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Charm.”
“You know Charm?”
“I know people with gates, East. I know the way they scan a man’s shoes before deciding whether his hand is clean enough to shake. I know the smile they use when they want to be polite without letting you forget you don’t belong.” His gaze sharpened before he killed the reaction. “Charm is different… she seems different. Different doesn’t mean possible.”
I finally sat because his words had teeth and none of them were aimed at me. “You like her.”
He gave me a look. “No me jodas.”
“Was that denial?”
“That was me telling you not to fuck with me in two languages.”
“She got under your skin.”
Ryan pointed at me. “We’re talking about your disaster.”
“I can multitask.”
“You can barely handle one task without bleeding.”
“Charm Harlen,” I said, dragging out her name because apparently I wanted to die. “She might be a rich girl, but that eye-fucking you two do isn’t for the weak.”
Ryan’s gaze flattened. “You done?”
I almost smiled. It felt strange on my face. “Not even close.”
“Then I’ll help you get there.” He leaned forward again, his forearms braced on his knees. “You want to talk about women who scare us? Fine. Charm scares me because she has a life that looks like it has places to land, and I spent most of mine learning how to leave before anyone got the chance to shove me out. Aura scares you because she got beneath all that noble, captain, good-son bullshit and found the part of you that wants something for yourself.”
My almost-smile died.
Ryan watched it happen. “That’s why you’re so pissed.”
“I’m pissed because she hurt me.”
“You’re pissed because she hurt you where nobody else was allowed to touch. You’re pissed because it was real, East.”
I looked down at the towel around my hand. Blood had spread through the cotton in uneven patches. “You get poetic after midnight?”
“I get honest after midnight. Big difference.”
“Since when do you know so much?”
His gaze moved toward the bookshelf and paused on an open novel filled with notes in the margins, then shifted toward the framed photograph of him with the guys. “Since I learned early that people can feel something and still fuck it up beyond recognition.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means I didn’t come from money like you boys.”
My head snapped up. “I didn’t come from money.”
Ryan raised his brows.
“My old man died,” I said as defensiveness rose before I could stop it. “My mom got some life insurance and a little help, but I’m here on scholarship. I don’t have Mercer money or Lawson money. I don’t have Charm Harlen money, and I don’t have some trust fund waiting if hockey doesn’t work.”
