Page 60 of Left on Read

“Not really bothering me.” I traced my finger over the rim of my glass. “I guess I’m just not sure what it means. I know we’re friends who mess around, but it’s weird to go from chill and breezy over text to deep and real in person.”

“Maybe he’s having trouble figuring out the balance between friends and more?” Ryan suggested.

“Yeah, that’s possible. I sure as hell am.”

“You could always talk to him about it.”

“I could. Or I could stop being so weird and just be grateful that a guy like him is using me for his bi experiment.”

“Is that him talking, or is that you talking?” he asked. “Has he said that’s all this is to him?”

“Well, no. But what else could it be?”

“You’re doing that thing where you think you know what people are thinking, but you’re really just projecting your own fears on them.”

“Sometimes I hate how well you know me,” I grumbled.

“No, you don’t.” He grinned cheekily. “I’m amazing, and you love everything about being my friend.”

“Maybe.”

Ryan and I met when we were assigned as roommates our freshman year of college.

He’d been the outgoing party kid who seamlessly fit into every group and could make friends with anyone. Then there was me, the shy introvert who preferred books to people and locked himself away in his room because it was safer than trying to make friends.

Ryan had immediately adopted me and forced me to step outside my comfort zone, but he had a talent for only pushing me just far enough to help me get over my social anxiety without forcing me into uncomfortable situations.

After eight years as best friends, he was more of a brother to me than my actual brother.

“But things are good otherwise?” he pressed.

“I think so. We’re hanging out again tomorrow.”

“It’s so weird to think about him being a stripper,” Ryan mused. “I mean, all the power to him because no one is paying to see this”—he waved at himself—“on stage.”

“Yeah.” I drank down the last of my beer. “But you’ve met him. You know how hot he is.”

Ryan kind of shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t really remember what he looks like. I only remember that he and his brother are the most identical identical twins I’ve ever seen.”

I flipped open my phone and scrolled through my gallery until I found a photo River had texted me. It wasn’t a spicy pic or anything, just him laying in bed while we’d been texting one night. He was shirtless and his hair was messy, but it was the sleepy smile, the same one he had after he’d blown me, that made the picture the hottest one I’d ever received.

I handed Ryan the phone.

“Wow.” He blinked at the screen. “Yeah. Now I remember him. He could make a straight guy question things.”

I chuckled and reached over to flip to a snapshot he’d set me of him and a few of his friends from the club.

“Christ on a bike.” Ryan gaped at the photo. “Does he know any normal-looking people?”

“Just me, it would seem.”

Ryan shot me a look and handed my phone back. “So that’s what all this is about? You’re worried he’s too hot for you?”

“Obviously.” I busied myself with exiting out of my gallery and checking my notifications so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

“Hayden—”

“You can’t tell me I’m even in the same stratosphere as him.” I shoved my phone into my pocket. “He’s way out of my league.”

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