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“I’m so sorry about them.” I’m mortified, and they will be getting yelled at.
“Don’t be.” He scratches the back of his head, and it’s kind of adorable. “I should be heeding their warning, but now that I’ve met you, you seem like a pretty cool chick.”
“Thank you.” I laugh. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Thanks.” He grins. “Any chance we could hang out sometime? I know some pretty good places around here with better food than this. Because honestly, the fries and tenders are the only things on that menu worth eating.”
I bite my lower lip. Do I want to go out with a guy so soon? Jonas and I broke up not too long ago and school just started.
But it’s not like I’m heartbroken or hung up on Jonas.
No, that would be another man. One you can’t have.
And I did agree with Bianca, we would try to have some fun. And Ryan seems like a nice guy.
“You know what? Yeah, why not? I’d like that.” I smile. “Give me your phone.”
“Really?” he looks surprised. “Awesome.” He takes his phone out and hands it to me. When I’m done adding my number I hand it back.
“Just text me whenever. I know you must have a crazy schedule with football and all.”
“Yeah, your dads are beasts.” He chuckles. “But it’s worth it. We hardly lost any games last year.”
Ryan says goodbye, leaving me to order my food. Once I have everything, I head toward the table where the girls are at, when I feel eyes on me. Looking over, I see Toby watching me. He looks pissed, his eyes moving to somewhere behind me. I look to see what he’s looking at and find Ryan at the table with some of the other football players. He sees me looking and gives me a wink before going back to talk to his buddy.
My cheeks heat, and I turn away, my gaze finding Toby again. He’s not happy. And some fucked up part of me likes that.
Could he really be jealous?
This is a dangerous game to play, and it’s only going to end with a broken heart.
Chapter 9
Bishop
“What kind of name is Ryan Tucker? Who has a first name as a last name?” Toby bitches as we skate off the ice.
We’ve just spent the last hour at practice and anytime we had a free second, Toby’s been complaining about some football player named Ryan who asked Lilly out yesterday.
“Dude, shut the fuck up,” I groan, taking my helmet off and shaking out my sweaty hair.
He shoots me a glare. “What's your problem?”
I stop and look over at him. “You haven’t shut up about Lilly agreeing to go out with that guy. It’s just a date. What's the big deal?”
I know what the big deal is. It’s this asshat who acts like he’s not madly in love with our little blonde bestie. For the love of all that is holy, I wish he would get over himself, and just tell her how he feels. It would save everyone a lot of heartache and drama.
But no. He says it’s because they are step-siblings and it would never work, but I know the real reason why. Toby has always cared way too much about what this town thought of his family. Any time they would whisper anything negative, he was always the first to defend them. Usually by using his fists.
The only reason why he won’t make a move on Lilly is because he’s afraid that people will talk about her, and he can’t handle that. Talk about him, sure, his family, he could deal, but trash talk Lilly?
Yeah, no. I’ve seen him snap. I’ve seen him beat people until they’re bleeding for the way they’ve talked about her in the past. Hell, I’ve been there right beside him, punching some drunk fucker in the face for making crass comments about her.
Next to Toby, Lilly is my best friend. Since I started going over to their house when I was seven, we’ve been the three amigos. But Lilly is three years younger than us, so as we got older, we had to adjust with the changes.
She was stuck in elementary school while we went to junior high. That's when she got closer with my sister and her now-ex, Jonas, came along.
So in school, they were her people; outside of school, we were. At least until she hit high school. She didn’t want to have to choose between us, so my sister and Jonas started tagging along with us everywhere.
