Page 4 of Obsessed with the Player

Andy shrugged, then leaned forward again.“I want to know what happened.”

I stared at him like at any moment he was going to say that it was a joke.

He didn't.

Unease started filling me. “Left my job. Left my apartment. I wanted a change in surroundings. There's nothing much to say.”

“Isn't there? Because I think that the Dan James that I knew, the stuck-up little accountant-to-be, Mr. Always-follows-the-rules, always-follows-the-right-path, wouldn't just one day wake up and leave his carefully curated life just because he wanted some adventure, so something must have happened.”

My hand tightened around my coffee. “Sometimes people change.”

Andy didn’t budge. “And sometimes people lie about their reasons, and since you're at my mercy, I think it's fair enough for you to tell me.”

What did he want me to say? That I had just woken up one day and realized that I couldn't look at my life anymore? That after breaking up with my ex, I’d gone to the hard-won office job that I’d had since I finished college, looked at the stack ofpapers beside me, at my desk, at my surroundings, and felt that if I stayed there a moment longer I would explode, and so gave in my two weeks notice and used my two weeks of vacation as that in the cheekiest move I had ever done in my life, and now I was here, lost, and in need of his help?

I was pretty sure he already knew this, or at least, he knew the facts without the emotional baggage, but the latter I wasn't going to give to him, so exactly what he wanted to know, I couldn't begin to imagine.

“Why the sudden breakup?” Andy asked, expertly going straight for the button that hurt, for the tender wound that hadn't yet mended.

I tensed up.

Of course he’d go there. Of course he’d want to know all about my breakup, that he’d want to hear all the details about how I’dfailedand want to laugh at my expense.

I bet he’d been waiting for it since the night we met, when I’d caught him flirting with my then-girlfriend.

I bet he was so satisfied when he found out.

I was not going to expose myself to him just because he wanted to have a laugh at my expense, so I said, “If that's your condition to let me move in, then I'll have to decline, I'll find somewhere else–” I started saying as I got up from my chair.

Andy caught my arm before I could even take a step. “No, you’re not leaving like this.” His eyes were intense as they looked at me. “Sit down.”

I hated how easily I did it. He just had all of thiscommandin him, without even trying, and I was just another idiot unable to get out from under his spell.

“Why, you’re that eager to hear all the gritty details? Are you that bored? Or do you simply want to get your chance with my ex?”

Andy’s jaw was the one that tightened now. He didn’t look happy.

But he forced himself to put a smile on again a second later. “Not quite. Your ex doesn’t interest me at all, but the reason for your sudden crisis does.”

That didn't sit quite well with me. I didn't like thisillusionof Andy actually even trying to care about anything related to me. It made the feeling in my chest tingle, the feeling that needed to die for me to be able to function in close proximity to him.

I steeled myself again. “If you want me to tell you all of the reasons for my breakup, you’re going to be waiting for a long time. So either you give up on that or I'm going to find someone else that has a lot less questions with their housing,” I said, with a lot more balls than I thought I had right now.

Andy studied me, like he wanted to extract all of the answers from me with tweezers if need be.

I waited for his judgment.

“Fine,” he ended up saying, leaning back onto his chair and looking less than pleased with himself. “But I'm going to find out sooner or later. I'm sure I'll have enough chances to see you slip, seeing as we're going to be basically attached at the hip for the foreseeable future.”

The sudden win felt exhilarating, threat and all, but suddenly, the question that I had brought here, that I had been telling myself not to ask, came to the forefront of my mind like a blinding neon sign.

It's now or never.

“I also wanted to ask you something,” I said, forcing myself to hold his gaze and remain externally calm. “A different type of favor.”

Now,thatcaught Andy's attention, and his eyes were suddenly sharp, drilling into me, like I was the most interesting thing in at least a ten-mile radius, leaning back onto the table, legs spread as if ready to trap me with them if I attempted to run.

“Don’t keep me waiting, then, spit it out.”

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