Page 130 of Out of Bounds

I was mortified.

And the thing was, the moment I shrugged off the hoodie, we were screwed.

"I have to take a phone call," Cleo told us with an apologetic smile. "I’ll berightback."

Ryan nodded and I told her to have a good phone call while I watched her take the long walk to the hallway. The waiting room was crammed full of people who actuallyneededto be there. This couldn’t be more mortifying.

I tugged on Ryan’s sleeve and leaned over. "Miles, I need to throw up."

"Huh?" Cleo’s fiancé slipped out his headphones. "What?"

"I need to throw up and Ryan’s coming with me."

"You do?" Ryan asked, confused.

You dumb, beautiful man. Understand signals!

Miles glanced between us. "Do you need me to…?"

"Nope!" I grabbed for Ryan’s hand and tried to be the one to draghimacross the waiting room, like he didn’t easily overtake me and pull me along. I pretended to hobble as long as I could before we rounded the corner to the bathrooms.

"Do you want me to hold back your hair?"

"Ryan, I’m not actually going to throw up." I tugged down his hoodie and exposed my neck. "Give it to me straight. How bad is it?"

His eyes trailed down my neck. A grin tugged up on his lips. "That’s so sexy."

"Ryan.Good lord, why am I asking you?" I pushed open the door to the bathroom and walked inside.Holy. Fucking. Shit.I stared at the mirror for exactly three seconds before I walked right back out. "Ryan.What thefuck?"

He gave the fakest apologetic smile I’d ever seen. "Sorry."

"You’re not sorry."

He gave me a loop-sided, boyish grin. Something that rarely broke on his face. "No, I’m not. I like it. The bite mark’s going to be hard to cover though."

"Oh my god. Thebite mark?" My hand shot to my neck again.

I’d seen my throat for exactly three seconds but the array of hickeys was insanity. Ryan had done a number on my neck. I couldn’t even wrap a scarf around them, if there was an inch-by-inch space exposed,we’dbe exposed.

"We have team photos today," I whispered.

"How long do hickeys take to heal?"

"I don’t know!" I sucked in a breath. "You tell me! How long did it take the other girls to heal?!"

"Kassie, I’ve never done this before."

"You don’t have to lie,Ryan."

"I’ve never done this before." He held up his hands. "Art girl, ask me to name off the best catches in the last five years, I can do it. This is outside what I know."

We need to cover up the whole thing.

"Ryan?" I grabbed his arms and stared up at him, hard. "You need to go to Roman Forest."

"What? Why?"

"You need to get my makeup."

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