Only With You (6 page)

He grinned. “They broke up!” he announced, as he did a little dance up the last few steps. “And Kyla wants some Jake-lovin’.”

“Awesome for me,” I said sarcastically. Kyla was a screamer. It was annoying.

“It
is
awesome for you! She brought Kirsten with her!”

“No,” I said, stopping in my tracks. “No way. Get her out of here.”

“No way. She’s hot.”

I rolled my eyes.
Kirsten Branson was the most annoying girl on the planet – mostly because she seemed to be able to see right through me and had no problem telling me exactly what my problem was. We’d dated for two months in September and October after I decided that I needed a girlfriend to take my mind off of Sydney. It hadn’t worked.

Of course
Kirsten knew I was in love with someone else. She just didn’t know who, but she had no problem calling me out on it every time I had Syd on the brain. It was usually after I’d talked to her and was reminded of how much I wanted her. Kirsten would come over to hang out, and she’d yell at me, we’d fight, and then we’d have sex. It was pretty much the extent of our pathetic relationship. If you could even call it that. I didn’t.

“Dude, she annoys the fuck out of me.”

“She’s a good lay, though,” Jake pointed out, and he was right. It was why I’d stayed with her as long as I had. The sex was phenomenal.

I leaned back against the wall in the hallway and let my head fall backward. “I’m not sleeping with
Kirsten tonight,” I told him.

Jake’s head fell
forward as if he was too exhausted to hold it up. “Ryder, man, you’re my boy, and I love you, but come
on
. You need to get over this shit with Sydney. She’s not interested. She didn’t even look at you once tonight. It’s done, seriously.”

He
’d noticed too. It had been that obvious.

“I know,” I said, closing my eyes
, knowing it just wasn’t that simple.

“Dude, I’ll be on the porch if you need me,” Jake muttered,
obviously knowing I wasn’t going to snap back as quickly as he’d hoped. Then he left me standing alone in the hallway with my pathetic thoughts.

“Well, well, w
ell, if it isn’t Ryder Thompson.”

Ugh
, I knew that voice.

“Hey
Kirsten,” I said through gritted teeth, my eyes still closed, my head pressed back against the wall. Maybe she’d just walk by me.

Nope, I knew I wouldn’t get that lucky,
I thought as she pressed her entire body against mine. She was so close I could smell her beer-soaked breath when it hit my face.

“Hey stranger,”
she said, as her hand ran up the side of my body.

I finally opened my eyes to see her about an inch away.

“Have you missed me?” she asked, batting her eyelashes as she did.

No.

“Sure, I missed you,” I said, about as unenthusiastically as I could.

Then she smacked my chest. “You’re a liar.”

Yup, sure am.

“Um, ouch,” I said rubbing where her hand had landed. She’d hit me hard.

She was standing in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest. “You are unbelievable.”

“I’m not the
one who just hit someone for no reason,” I rationalized, and she shook her head. She was such a psycho.

“Come on,” she said, yanking me by my elbow.

“Where the hell are we going?” I asked, as she dragged me down the hall. She didn’t answer me. “Kirsten?”

“Jus
t come on,” she insisted.

When we got to my room, she opened the door and shoved
me inside before stepping in and closing the door behind her.

I spun around to face her, throwing my hands up in surrender. “I
’m not going to sleep with you. I’ve had a shitty night, and I’m not in the mood for this.”

She rolled her eyes. “I have a boyfriend, thank you very much. I’m not here to sleep with you. I was just saying hello for old times’ sake, but I see you’re still pining away over your mystery girl.”

I sighed. Seriously, not this shit again.

“You still haven’t made any headway, have you?”
she ascertained, and she was spot on. In fact, I’d actually regressed.

“Just leave,
Kirsten.”

“No,” she said, as she hopped up on the platform and
sat facing me, her legs swinging beneath her. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“No.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Ryder, tell me or I’m not leaving. I’m going to stay and talk your ear off.”

“Then I’ll leave,” I told her and reached for the door handle.

She hopped off the platform and stood right next to me, pushing my hand away from the doorknob. “I’ll just follow you. I’m very persistent, you know.”

“Yes, I’m well-awa
re of your
annoying
persistence,” I spat out.

“Whatever. You need someone to talk to, and you know it. Now spill.”

My phone chose that moment to ding. I figured it was Jake wondering where I was, so I pulled it out of my pocket. Kirsten grabbed it as soon she saw it, and her eyes lit up as she read the text.

“Who’s Syd?” she asked, her eyes looking up to meet mine.

My heart and stomach did a little jumpy dance, as soon as I registered what she’d said.

“No one,” I said quickly, trying to grab my phone back from her, but she had climbed on top of the platform a
nd was holding it higher than I could reach.

My
phone dinged again, and Kirsten turned away to read the text. I was dying to know what she was reading and was about two seconds away from using brute force to get my phone back. Then she turned around.

“Did you enjoy the show?” she asked coyly.

“What show?” I asked, since I didn’t want to tell her where I’d gone that night.

She just rolled her eyes. Then she started typing something into my phone.

“What are you doing?”

She just giggled, and I could hear the clicking
sound my iPhone made as she pressed the keys.

“
Kirsten! Stop it!” I growled at her.

She giggled again, and I decided enough was enough. I launched myself onto the platform and tackled her onto the couch. Yeah, it was probably more aggressive than I needed to be, but I was about to crack from all the emotions spinning around
inside of me. I needed my goddamn phone back.

Kirsten
wrestled with me for a few minutes before she finally relented and gave it back. Of course, as she handed it over, I made a grab for it and yanked it out of her hand with so much force that it flew out of my hand, across the room, and shattered against the door.

I ran out of energy at that point and sank down on the couch, out of breath. Next to me,
Kirsten was also breathing hard, but I just wanted to kick her.

“What did it say?” I asked.

“What?”

“The text,
Kirsten. Don’t play dumb. What did it say?”

She took in a breath of air. “The first one said ‘hi’, and the second one said ‘Did you enjoy the show’.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” she confirmed.

I banged the back of my head against the couch a few times. “I hate you,” I muttered.

“I sent a reply,” she said then.

“I hate you even more. What the hell did you say?”

“I said, ‘I like
d the show. You were a hot piece of ass’.”

I looked up at her in alarm. “Are you joking?”

“No, she’s a stripper, right?”

“No! She’s not a stripper
! Why in the hell would you think I was texting with a stripper?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve had a lot to drink tonight. I might not be in my right mind.”

“Gee, you think?”

I could not believe she’d sent that in a text. Syd and I were not in a place where she’d apprec
iate that or even think it was funny. She’d hate it.
Dammit!

“Just go,” I told her, hoping she’d finally leave. I was so done with her.

“Fine,” she said, and I sent up a silent cheer. “Sorry about your phone.”

“Whatever.”

“Ryder,” she said when she paused at the door.

“What?” I asked, glaring at her.

She sighed, and then her expression changed. She looked like she felt sorry for me.

“What,
Kirsten?!”

“You’re too good for her.”

“You don’t even know who she is,” I said looking away.

“No, but I know you, and she should be lucky to get the chance to be with you. It’s what I wanted all along.”

I looked back up at her. “No, you didn’t. You just wanted to screw around and pick fights.”

She shook her head. “It’s called protecting your heart, Ry. I was pretty in love with you for a long time,
even before we got together, and you never even knew it. You just kept pushing me away, and I hated it. You were so blinded by this girl who I know has been messing with your head for a long time. And if she can’t see what a great guy you are, then she doesn’t deserve you.”

I ran my hand back through my hair and closed my eyes. I was so pissed and irritated and a
nnoyed. My phone was busted, Sydney had texted me, now Kirsten was telling me that she was in love with me and I’d treated her like dirt. Could this night get any worse?

When I didn’t respond, she let herself out of the room, leaving me alone to stew with my thoughts. The worst part was that she was right. I’d let Sydney have this hold over me for so long, and I was tired of it. I was sick of the rollercoaster ride of emotions. I’d pushed every other girl away for a fantasy that would never come true.

I sat alone on the couch for what felt like hours before I finally crawled into my cave and fell asleep, welcoming the feeling that came when I finally, blissfully passed out.

Chapter Seven

Sydney

I was a hot piece of ass?! Are you kidding me?

Should I be mad? Should I be flattered? I wasn’t sure. I thought mad might be a good emotion, because Ryder knew I hated when guys looked at me like an object rather than a person, and I had a feeling he’d said it to piss me off. Well, mission accomplished.

And t
hen he hadn’t even responded to my follow-up text.

Possibly he was upset with me for not acknowledging him at the show.
Okay, yeah, he probably was. I’d send him tickets, he’d driven down to Orlando, and then I’d essentially ignored him the whole night.

I hadn’t
wanted to, but once I was on stage, I knew if I looked at him, it would completely derail me, and I needed to keep my focus. I should have given him the stupid umbrella. I handed one out at each show, and I knew exactly where he’d be sitting. My original plan was to give it to him, but then I’d chickened out.

Now some girl I didn’t now had a message from me that said, ‘Call me, and we’ll hang out after the show’. I’d written it on the handle
next to my signature, knowing Ryder would see it, but then I’d panicked. Then I’d debated for a few hours if I should just call him. Texting felt safer, so I went with that option, and look where it had gotten me!

I was an idiot.

My phone rang then, and my stupid heart leapt at the thought that it might be Ryder. It wasn’t. It was Paul.

Why was I getting my hopes up anyway?
It wasn’t like I could have Ryder the way I wanted him. We could only ever be friends, and I knew that, but I’d missed him so much that I’d take being his friend if I could just talk to him again. Of course, I wasn’t sure if that was even an option anymore. And I’d be lying if a part of me didn’t have the half-cocked idea that just maybe, if he knew how I felt, that he’d suddenly decide he liked women.

Yeah right. Gay guys just didn’t turn straight.

“Hey Paul,” I said glumly.

“Yo
u all right, love?”

“
No, I’m pissed off at myself for not acknowledging him tonight. It was shitty, and now he’s probably mad at me.”

“Just call him, Syd. You’re
making yourself crazy, and it’s not healthy.”

“I
know, but I already texted him, and it didn’t do any good. He just called me a hot piece of ass.”

“I thought he was gay?”
Paul questioned.

“He is. He said it as a joke, because he’s pissed off at me for ignoring him, and he wanted me to feel bad.”

“Well, personally, I think he’s an absolute arse for not calling you after you gave him the umbrella message.”

And there was that.

“Yeah, I didn’t exactly give it to him.”

“Why
the hell not?”

“I couldn’t do it, because if I did, I’d have
had to look at him, and then I’d have gotten all emotional. It would have fried my concentration.”

“So he came all the way to the show for nothing?”

Yes, yes, that was true, and I was a total bitch for doing that to him.

“What should I do?”

“I can’t answer that for you. This thing with you two is odd, but I think if he’s your friend, and you miss him, then you need to put aside your feelings and just be friends.”

I sighed. “I know. Especially since being apart isn’t working. I need him, Paul. He’s too important to me, and we have too much history.”

“I know. Just call him. Tell him to come down to Tampa on Friday night and watch the show from backstage. You can chat before, work things out and then see him afterward.”

“You think that’ll work?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. All you can do is try.”

“I guess.”

When we hung up the phone a few minutes later, I called Ryder and left him a message when he didn’t answer. I asked him to call me, and I hoped he would.