Page 224 of Power Play

“Before dinner if you need me.”

“I will.”

“And after, no matter what.”

“Yes.”

His gaze remained on mine. “What happens tonight?”

I lifted my phone. “Homework.”

“Good girl.”

Heat moved through me. “Go before Mateo physically carries you onto the bus.”

“He’d throw his back out.”

“I heard that,” Mateo called.

Ryan kissed my forehead and then my mouth again. “Use the key.”

“I will.”

“And the books?”

“Mine.”

His dimple appeared. “Learning fast.”

I smiled as he started walking backward toward the bus.

“Drive safely.”

“I’m not driving.”

“Then sit safely.”

Ryan laughed. “Call me after Klein.”

“You’re going to be traveling.”

“Charm.”

“Fine. I’ll call.”

“Good.”

He climbed onto the bus. I stayed on the sidewalk until I saw him through the tinted window, his backward cap visible behind the reflection of the morning sky.

Ryan lifted two fingers, and I lifted mine before the bus pulled away.

The ache came, but it wasn’t panic. I looked down at the key resting against my palm as my phone vibrated almost immediately.

My mother.

Wednesday waited for me. So did Klein, a paper I still had to finish, design work I had neglected, and Aura’s inevitable interrogation. Beneath all of it lived the measuring tape hidden inside my cosmetic case and the rules about food I had created in Ryan’s kitchen while he stood only a few rooms away.

He knew I struggled with my body. He didn’t know how quickly one message from my mother could turn that struggle into numbers, restrictions, and lies. Nobody knew how much of my life could be consumed by trying to make myself smaller.