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I nodded and prayed that all those stories about being hit in the vagina hurting as much as being kicked in the nuts were all bullshit.
I took a run up and launched. My hands landed on the top of the pole fine. But, the rest of my body didn’t seem to think that leaping over the pole was a great idea. I sort of hopped lopsidedly and ended up staggering off to the left of it as I landed without any part of my body going over it.
Thankfully, Tucker was there to catch me before my hip had a rather rude introduction to the pavement.
“Okay!” I conceded amongst the laughter, leaning on Tucker as I tried to control my own laughter. “Okay! I’m too short.”
“Well, you gave it a go,” Tucker chuckled. “That’s more than I can say for some people.” He looked pointedly at Hadley, who huffed.
“Fine. I’ll try it.” I couldn’t tell if it was animosity between them or that flirtatious banter that so often masqueraded as animosity.
The closer Hadley got to Tucker, the harder I found her to read. But, I was starting to determine new little nuances that helped me understand. And I could have been wrong, but I thought her eyes looked more banter than anything else.
She lined herself up just as I had. She took a run up just like I had. Her hands landed on the pole just like mine had. But she cleared it easily, just like I hadn’t.
A great cheer went up and I threw my hands in the air as I did. I turned in excitement, but I ran smack into someone. With an apologetic smile on my face, I saw I’d run into Rio. He stopped, but Jake and Steve kept walking.
“Oh, hey,” I said, stepping away from him which also happened to be inadvertently away from my friends.
He nodded, his mouth a hard line. “Hey.”
“How are you?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “We friends?”
I felt my face flush. “Well, I guess not. No.”
He gave one nod. He looked between me and my friends as he took a drag of his cigarette. “You seem to be dealing with…everything.”
My heart thudded. “What do you mean, ‘everything’?”
Had Roman gone and told his friends all my secrets? Laughed behind my back about stupid Piper Barlow thinking life wasso hard?
He shrugged. “Lombardi might be an idiot. The rest of us aren’t. Look, it’s not much coming from me, but I’m sorry he’s being a fucking wanker.” He looked over to Tucker. “Mind you, you seem to have moved on.”
I frowned. “Tucker’s dating Hadley actually. And, I haven’t–” I stopped abruptly.
I really didn’t want to tell Rio I hadn’t moved on. Because I was supposed to be moving on. I knew I had to move on. I could move on. I was going to move on.
But, I could tell by the look in Rio’s eyes that he’d understood my unspoken words far too well.
He gave that single nod again. “Yeah. He hasn’t either, although he’s making a good show of it.”
My stomach did that jump-plummet thing it seemed so fond of doing lately because I knew how Roman would be making a good show of it.
“I don’t really…” My voice strangled itself out.
Rio looked me over with interest. “You don’t really what? Could have sworn Lombardi said you’d grown a spine.” The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as though he found me amusing.
I cleared my throat, knowing my current speech impediment had more to do with emotion than anything else. “It’s got less to do with a spine – or lack of – and more just…” I took a deep breath. “Look, I shouldn’t have fallen in love with him, Rio. I get that–”
He barked a harsh laugh. “You all say that. How many girls do you think come crawling to me when he’s done with them and ask me to get him back for them? I’m actually surprised–”
“I’m not asking you to do anything.”
He blinked. “What?”
“I don’t want you to get him back for me, or whatever. I don’t need you to do anything.”
