Page 66 of Riley

“So what are you going to do now? About Riley?”

I nearly bumped my head on the desk at her words. I sat back on the floor, tangled in cords.

“I don’t know, I haven’t uh, really thought about it.”

“You should tell him how you feel. Tell him the truth.”

I sighed. “The truth is what I’ve been dying to tell him since I met him.”

“What happened? Why didn’t you?”

“Because I worried he’d just split, like everyone else. Because maybe I couldn’t face the truth myself.”

The silence was palpable between us as I listened to the sound of her soft breaths.

“You deserve to be happy, you know,” she said seriously.

“I know, Jules. I just—” I swallowed harshly as I looked at my studio in disarray. “I think I’m on my way there, I just need to take care of some things first, you know.”

“I know. I get it. But there’s never going to be a right time, Eric. All you have is the here and now, so if you want him... go fucking get him. Tell him the truth, and if he can’t see that you are an amazing person, beneath the sex appeal, he isn’t for you.”

I sighed at the weight of her words. “Do you think he is? For me, I mean.”

“Shit, Eric I wouldn’t have set you two up for a blind date if I thought you were bad for one another, you know that right? I mean, I like drama as much as the next girl, but I don’t need to create any between my friends.”

I smirked as I nodded in understanding. “You really think we’re good for each other?” I asked, my voice small.

“I know you are. I think you know it too.”

Just at that moment, Riley texted me. I swiped up, telling Julie I had to go, and she didn’t press me.

Instead, she told me good luck, and hung up as I stared at Riley’s text.

How about a do-over? Tomorrow night is bar bingo at M’s Place...

I didn’t hesitate to answer,Yes, it’s a date.

CHAPTER 30

Eric

M’s Placewas always packed on Bar Bingo & Karaoke night. We’d agreed to meet up separately only because at the last minute, he had something work related to take care of via his Principal. A part of me was nervous, worried that somehow it had to do with me, or rather who Iwas, but I tried not to get too worked up.

Considering the fact I had shut down my online personal forty-eight hours ago.

Which also was the last time I?—

“Hey.”

Riley’s smooth voice pulled me and my desperate cock from the grandeur of fantasy, and I had to do a double take. He stood in front of me like he had that first night we’d gone to the arcade together. Dressed down in dark jeans and a graphic tee shirt that sported some sort of dragon or something against heatheredgray fabric. His light hair looked golden in the light of the bar, and my cock throbbed in time with my heart.

“Well, well, looks like Cinderella finally made it to the ball,” I teased.

Riley looked a little worried, a little disheveled, running his hand through his hair. It wasn’t a bad look on him, though.

I sipped my rum and coke, motioning for him to take a seat in front of the cards I placed in front of him, along with a bingo dabber.

One of the waitresses came by to take our drink order, or rather Riley’s drink order, since I had started early. When she was gone, he looked at me with a slight expression of confusion.

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