Page 122 of Offside Devil

“‘And’ what?” I snap. “It’s complicated!”

“Well, duh. But you’ve liked him too much almost since the moment you met him. I didn’t realize that was news to you.”

I struggle for words and take another drink of my spiked lemonade instead.

“You like him, Mimi. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Taylor shakes my shoulder. “It’s about time you had a serious relationship.”

“Whoa, whoa!” I wave a warning finger between us. “This is not a serious relationship. Which is exactly why there is something wrong with my feelings. Zane is paying me to live with him. This is a job. A job I can’t afford to fuck up with emotions.”

“Don’t say ‘emotions’ like they’re an STD. It’s good to feel things. Normal, actually. Nine out of ten people feel something at least once in their lives.”

“What about the other ten percent?”

“Psychopaths,” she says flatly. “But you aren’t a psychopath, so why can’t you be with him?”

“Because he doesn’t want to be with me!” I yelp a little too forcefully. Even the slightly-too-loud music pumping through the speakers can’t quite drown me out, and I draw stares. I shrink down. “I’m a temporary thing for Zane. He made that clear from the beginning. It’s a ruse, nothing more.”

“How do you know? Have you asked?”

I blink at her for several silent seconds. “I would rather gnaw my own fingers off than ask him that.”

She groans. “You are so repressed. Do you know that? It can’t be good for your skin. Do you have a retinoid cream? I can loan you one if you?—”

“You two ladies look like you could use a drink.” A man leans around Taylor’s shoulder with a smile. “And my friend and I need a place to sit. What do you say we pool our resources?”

A bearded man with his hands in his pockets is standing nervously behind his friend. He gives me a tight smile and quickly looks away.

It’s almost enough for me to want to throw him a bone and agree just to be nice, but I’m not in the mood. I’m also not known for being nice.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

The first guy with the Finance Bro blazer leans in even closer, looking at Taylor. “And what do you have to say? Do you let your friend do all the talking?”

Taylor starts to open her mouth, then her eyes catch on something across the room and she goes unusually quiet. I follow her gaze…

And my stomach bottoms out.

Daniel and Zane are sitting in a shadowy corner of the bar. I know they haven’t seen us yet, which means we still have time to run.

But Taylor has other ideas.

She slaps on a smile and pats the stool next to me. “Save your money, boys. But there’s something else you can help us out with.”

He sits down and slings his heavy arm over my shoulders. His breath smells like the floor of a bar. “What would that be?”

“My friend here has a question she’s afraid to ask.” I start to shake my head frantically, but Taylor nods and plows onward. “But with a little body language, she won’t have to.”

The other man plops down next to Taylor.

Guess there’s no going back now.

48

ZANE

THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER

Owen keeps trying to push me out his front door, but I don’t budge. “His bedtime is at eight on the weekends.”

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