Breaking Even (16 page)

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say quietly, somehow hiding the sigh on the tip of my tongue.

Ash frowns as she looks from me to Rye, but she can’t possibly know anything. I’m doing good at playing
fine
.

“Sorry about the sundress,” I murmur with a shrug. “I had to get ready quickly.”

Ash starts to say something, but douche boy beats her to it.

“I just found out about this ten minutes ago, and I managed to—”

“So,” Ash interrupts, “Adam, Brin is the assistant to the director at the museum. She’s witty, smart, funny, and completely unpredictable. Brin, Adam is climbing the ladder at Millington Inc. He’s an accountant and... um... new to the area?”

She acts like she knows nothing about him, and she turns on her heel to retreat. And what does he mean ten minutes ago? Ash said she had a date for me much earlier than that.

“How long have you been in Sterling Shore?” I ask him as a way of killing the awkward silence.

“Actually, I’ve been here for ten years, so I’m not sure what she meant by that,” he says with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

I don’t like him. In fact, I can tell what a major turd he is right now. With drop-dead gorgeous girls, guys work hard on a façade that could fool royalty. But with girls like me, they barely even try to mask their real selves.

“Ah, so Ash barely knows you.”

He tilts his head, checking out Ash’s ass as she walks away. What a dick.

“I met her the other day. She met with us about maybe changing accounting firms. I thought she was inviting me here for her,” he says while turning back around to meet my eyes.

Of course he did. This guy is just as average as me, so I’m not sure why the hell he’s acting so above my level. He looks a lot like John, and he’d be in the likely pool of datable prospects I could obtain—if he wasn’t such an arrogant prick.

In his mind, he looks like the Sterling men. At least I’m self-aware. There was once a time I sat around laughing at all the beautiful people. I should have stuck to that instead of befriending them. It makes life hard.

“Ash is married to Tag Masters,” I say quickly, wondering how he doesn’t know that if he was going to be on her account. She must have decided early on that she didn’t want this prick to deal with.

So why did she set me up with him?

His eyes scan the scene and widen when they land on the beautiful man who is pulling Ash close for a showy, steamy kiss that almost makes my toes curl. Damn.

Rye is laughing with his date as she giggles beside him. Perfect—she even laughs pretty. My brief window of fantasy seals itself shut right in front of my eyes.

Her immaculately manicured nails are painted hot pink, and I glance down to my short, sad, plain nails. Her long, vibrant, red hair is a sharp contrast to my shorter, duller locks. I should have gotten a different color when I went to get the blue covered up.

Stop. I need to stop. I’m me. That’s never bothered me before, and I refuse to let it bother me now just because I had a crush on a jerk that I thought liked me.

“Should we sit or something?” I ask the guy who is busy drooling over every other girl here.

“Sure,” he says, sighing as though he’s bored out of his mind.

This is going to be a long night.

Chapter 8

RYE

I’ve started to go talk to Brin numerous times. It feels wrong staying away from her. We’re friends. Only friends. And I happen to love being her friend, even though I’ve only known her for a short period of time.

So why do I feel like I can’t just walk over and talk to her?

“Do you know that girl or something?” Leah asks.

She doesn’t sound annoyed or intimidated, and that sort of bothers me. Brin looks amazing tonight, so Leah should feel insulted by my inability to stop looking. Brin pulls off the innocent thing, even though I know she’s not at all innocent.

“Yeah. I do. She’s my neighbor and my friend.”

She shrugs as she asks a passing server for another Corona. Leah drinks my favorite beer, likes the things I do, and she’s a knockout, but I can’t seem to make myself interested.

Fuck. This is her fault—Brin. I can’t keep thinking about her like this, but every time she forces a brittle smile for the guy she’s with, I want to go rescue her and spend the night watching gory movies and talking about nothing. And then I want to do something to torment her.

“You smell like a carburetor,” Leah says, grinning.

Not sure how I smell like a carburetor, but okay...

“I showered at the garage before Tag swung by to tell me about the party.”

She giggles as she steps closer. “I wasn’t complaining. I happen to love it.”

I’m fairly sure this girl would fuck me in the work area of my garage, and usually that would have me squealing tires to get us over there, but I keep looking over at Brin instead. The guy she’s with doesn’t seem the least bit interested.

“Excuse me,” I say to Leah, and I make my way toward Ash as Leah says something back.

Ash looks up from her glass of water and frowns at me. “What’s that look for?” she asks.

“Who’s the guy acting like he can’t wait to get out of here?” I retort, glaring at her.

How could she do this to Brin?

She grumbles and groans under her breath, and finally she releases a few choice words.

“An accountant I just met.”

“And you set him up with Brin without knowing him? Why would you do that?”

She hesitates for a minute. Then she finally curses again before dropping her shoulders in defeat.

“Fine. You and Brin weren’t supposed to come. And if you did come, you were supposed to come together. But apparently the two of you don’t give a flying shit about each other the way I presumed—the way we all thought you did. That guy is the only guy I could get over here at the last minute. But I honestly thought the two of you were into each other, and I never thought you—being the alpha jerk you are—would let her show up with another guy. It was a push. A tiny little push, and the two of you shoved back. This was not supposed to backfire.”

I’m going to strangle Tag. Now I look like a dick. “So Brin had no intentions of going out with that guy tonight, did she? Tag came and told me she was already coming and that she’d accepted the date offer.”

Ash guiltily pouts as she looks toward the very depressed and bored Brin.

“No. That was to force you to face your feelings for her. She told me she had plans when I asked. I was so excited, and then she sent a text later saying that she’d come. I thought you liked her. I wouldn’t have tried pushing you two if I had known you would go out with Leah. Tag said if you turned down a girl like Leah, then you were more than likely hard-up for Brin. His words.”

I turn and glower at the fool talking to Dane Sterling, but he doesn’t notice. I should kick his ass for this. Brin came to my house thinking she was going to cook, and I fucking offered to let her ride with me and my date. She thinks I’m the one who didn’t cancel. I should throttle the both of them for doing this to us.

“We’re not guinea pigs, Ash,” I growl.

“I know,” she says apologetically. “It’s just... Rye, you smile when you’re with her. You laugh. You joke. And you look so damn happy. I’ve never seen any of that with you until you met her. And it happens every time she’s around. I just wanted you to see what’s right in front of you. Jealously is a good motivation. Tag and I messed around and wasted so much time. I didn’t want you two to do the same thing.”

Fuck. Can’t we just be friends? It’s like I’m speaking a foreign language that no one can understand.

“Thanks to you, Brin thinks I bailed on her to go out with Leah, and now she’s over there with Captain Jerk who keeps staring at your ass every time you walk by. Think about that the next time you want to play the manipulation game.”

I start to walk over to Brin, but Ash starts crying, and I groan. Fucking pregnancy hormones.

“Shit, Ash. I’m sorry.”

“No. You’re right,” she sniffles. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I just want... you... two... to be... happy,” she says through harsh, labored, tearful breaths.

Motherfucker. I’m going to hang myself right now.

“You had good intentions,” I say while pulling her to me and hugging her. “I’ll go talk to Brin and save her from the reject she’s with. But it’s because we’re friends, Ash. I like Brin too much to date her. Do you understand that? I don’t date long, but I keep friends for life.”

She pauses her sniffling as she looks up, frowning. “Fine. Go be her friend.”

Once I’m sure she’s not going to break into a sobbing fit, I start to walk toward Brin, but her date is almost at the bar, so I go toward him instead. “Two Coronas,” I say to the bartender as he mixes a fruity drink.

Brin’s not too crazy about fruity stuff.

“You friends with Ash?” I ask while turning back toward the party.

“Sort of,” he says, shrugging as his eyes land on Leah.

The redhead waves at me, and I wave back, suddenly feeling like the biggest jerk of the night. Brin... She had to have thought I was the worst person ever earlier. I’m going to kill Tag.

“Damn,” he drawls, watching Leah with too much interest. “You with her?”

He’s got a gem but he wants a stone. Dumbass.

“For tonight. Tag set us up.”

He scowls at that comment. “You’re lucky. All these hot girls are walking around everywhere, but Ash set me up with a girl I could get on my own. I just assumed that I was coming to meet her, but then she explained it was a friend. Didn’t know Ash was married, but she’s hot, so that means hot friends. Then I get in here, and every girl is banging hot except for mine. Don’t get me wrong, she’s cute and fuckable, but definitely not someone I’d pick out of this crowd.”

I’m pulling my fist down before I even realize I’ve just knocked him on his ass, and the whole party goes quiet as the wailing grows louder. The cocksucker is on his back, crying as he curls up into the fetal position while his nose pours blood.

Dick.

Tag’s mouth is open, but I still see the smile in his eyes. I’ll deal with him later. He’ll suffer the wrath for him and Ash, because I’m
not
making her cry again.

“What?” I bark at everyone, and they all turn away quickly, returning to what they were doing with forced casualness.

Brin is missing from the table, and I curse while running my hand through my hair. She’s probably even more pissed at me now.

“Where’d she go?” I ask Ash, glaring at her.

When her lip trembles, I soften my look immediately, and she points toward the house.

Leah starts to speak as I pass by, but I completely ignore her as I take quick, determined steps to the house. Going through the patio entrance, I end up in the kitchen first, and there she is, sitting on the countertop while drinking her beer.

“Hey,” she murmurs quietly while looking through the window in front of her, not staring at anything in particular.

“Sorry, Brin. I shouldn’t have punched out your date, but he—”

“Spare me the details,” she interrupts on a long sigh, her eyes moving down to her beer. “I have a pretty good idea what he probably said. I don’t need the exact words. Thanks for punching him. I’m just waiting on a cab.”

I’ve never felt so sick and pissed.

***

BRIN

This can’t get any more embarrassing. I was fine until he went and told Rye all the things he’d silently said to me with just his actions. This is mortifying.

I know Ash didn’t put me through this on purpose. Guys put on their best performance around her, so she couldn’t have known what a douche he is. But it’s the last time I accept her date offer. She should stick to her day job because she’s a terrible matchmaker.

“You don’t need a cab. I have a driver, so I can take you home.”

And the humiliation just keeps coming in the form of his pity. Great. I’m not going to work tomorrow. I’m going to stay in bed all day and pray for good dreams.

“I don’t want you to do that. The cab will be here in about ten minutes. Go back out to your date. She seems... I think she seems perfect for you. I heard her talking about cars earlier. She seems to know her stuff. That’s cool. And she’s really very pretty. I see why you wanted to cancel our stay-in night so badly. I don’t blame you at all.”

It’s hard not to choke on envy or cry. I’ve never been the girl that hates another girl for being sexy, but right now, I’d love to see
Leah
fall off a cliff.

He blows out a breath while dropping his head back. “Ash and Tag set this all up to try and push us together—you and me. Ash didn’t know the guy was going to be a total tool. The only reason I even came here with Leah was because Tag told me you had already accepted a date. I guess he thought I’d storm over to your house and do something.”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse...

This was all an elaborate setup meant for manipulation. All because they thought the same thing I thought earlier today. I guess Rye proved them wrong.

“Ah,” I say with a bitter laugh. “Well, I’ll make sure to kick her ass when she’s not pregnant. I bet they feel like idiots right now. At least you got to meet someone that wasn’t a total
tool
.”

I aim for joking, but I sound so resentful. In an effort to help, they only made things impossible.

“I wouldn’t have canceled on tonight to go out on a date with a girl I didn’t know if Tag hadn’t told me you were going on a date. I swear. I just don’t want you to be mad at me.”

It’s sweet, but it’s also making me feel pathetic. I’m his friend. I’m always the friend.

“It’s fine, Rye. I’m not mad. At all. I honestly didn’t expect anything any different. And I’m sorry Ash and Tag thought you had a thing for me. I know that must be—”

I’m cut off and shocked when Rye’s lips are suddenly on mine, his tongue sweeping in when I try to gasp. His hands roughly push my legs apart, making room for his body, and he grabs my waist and jerks me to him. It’s hard to not to moan when he devours me harder than I’ve ever fantasized about.

I thrust my fingers in his hair and pull him even closer, relishing the taste of his mouth as my tongue goes to meet his. Oh dear God he can kiss.