Page 17 of The Enemy: Extended Edition

My stomach clenches when I see a hint of a smile in the corner of her mouth. She turns away, trying to keep me from seeing it, but it doesn’t matter. I know it’s there, and that’s worth something.

CHAPTER 8

Ryan

“Still no girlfriend back in Chicago?” Logan asks after the bartender slides our beers in front of us.

I shake my head and take a drink. “No time.”

He laughs. “I don’t think that’s actually the problem.”

We’ve been friends since birth because our moms were longtime best friends. And even after choosing different careers, going to schools in different countries, and then settling down in different states, we’re still just as close today as we were as kids.

Logan has walked with me through every major event in my life. My buzz cut in eighth grade, the first time I made out with a girl freshman year (he wasn’t there, but you better believe I recounted it to him in such detail that he felt like he was the one who kissed Tory Hayes), and also when my mom died junior year. I don’t like thinking back to that time—even after all these years, it hurts. My dad passed when I was five, so I never really had any memories of him, but my mom and I were more like friends than mother and son. And no one can prepare for a car accident.

Logan’s mom, Molly, was my mom’s best friend and is also my godmother. So, when Mom passed, I went to live with Logan and his family for the rest of high school. He’s seen me through my best and my worst days (the buzz cut being among the worst). And that’s why, now, I think of Logan as my brother. He calls me on my shit, and I let him because he seems to know my motives better than I do, anyway.

I set my glass down and turn my full attention to Logan. “I work six, sometimes seven, days a week, and usually until midnight. So it kinda feels like the problem to me.”

Logan laughs. He’s shaking his head at me. My answer wasn’t the right one, apparently. “You want to know the actual problem?”

I lean against the back of the barstool and resist the urge to clasp my hands behind my head. “Yes, please tell me why I don’t have a girlfriend, oh wise one.”

“Women love you . . .”

“Ah, yep—there’s the problem. Can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”

He holds up his hand. “Let me finish.” I nod for him to go ahead. “Most women you meet like you right away. Take those three ladies, for instance,” he says, nodding to somewhere over my shoulder. “They’ve been undressing you with their eyes since we sat down, but I have a theory . . .”

I glance back, and yeah, a small group of women have their eyes locked on me. Their targets are set, and I probably have a little red dot in the center of my forehead.

When I accidentally make eye contact with them, all three ladies sit up straighter and toss their most welcoming smiles at me. I don’t want to be rude, so I give them a tight smile and lift my glass in a silent toast.

“Aha! See. Theory proven. Beautiful ladies are smiling at you, and you immediately go back to scowling at your glass. You hate it.”

“What’s your point, Logan?”

“I think you hate their attention because you’ve mentally already checked out on everyone besides one woman. The one woman, in fact, that you’ve never been able to get over, who would rather slap you than kiss you. I think you like June, and you also like that she doesn’t fawn over you like everyone else.”

Damn.

I think he’s right.

June challenges me around every corner and I love it. She’s someone who doesn’t care about my looks or my job or social status—she’s going to call me out if I’m wrong every single time. But she’s also so funny, and beautiful, and smart. She’s absolutely someone who would make me want to come home from the restaurant early at night. And I don’t think I’ve ever had that feeling with anyone else.

“Why haven’t you visited her before now?” Logan asks, raising his brow and catching my attention again.

I rub the back of my neck. “I don’t know. It never seemed like the right time.”

“But you’ve thought about visiting her before?”

“I mean . . . yeah. I’ve wanted to see her. Does that shock you?”

“No. So why haven’t you?”

“I’ve just been focusing on my career and . . .”

“And what?” Geez, he’s inquisitive tonight.

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