Page 57 of Tough Nut to Crack

With the store empty of customers, I work on a new display for the upcoming week which will see an influx of college students looking for the textbooks the campus store doesn't have in stock.

Hours go by with only a trickle of customers, several just coming in to look without making a purchase, and I don't understand people like that. I always feel like a criminal when I walk into some place and walkout empty-handed. Maybe that's why I'm broke all the time. I should just stay home rather than letting guilt make me spend money on things I don't even want.

"That sigh sounds like you've had a bad day."

I turn to face Sage, attempting a smile but failing.

"That bad?" she asks, her nose scrunched up.

"I gave a woman the wrong change," I confess. "I was distracted. I don't doubt she'll leave a review online saying I was trying to rob her."

Sage shrugs. "Mistakes happen. Wanna talk about why you're so distracted?"

I search her eyes, noticing the way her cheek twitches as she rolls her lips and clamps them between her teeth to keep from smiling.

"Not you, too," I mutter.

"I'm not the one who posted about it in the Lindell community group on social media," Sage says as she follows me through the store. "But I'm your closest friend, so I know for a fact, you aren't having any work done on your house."

"He's—"

"He's what?" she asks, sounding fully invested. "He was rude to you, but then you two hooked up again. He put a hickey on your neck, and now he's at your house every night?"

"He's living there," I blurt.

"How in the world did he move in with you, and I didn't know about it? Riley? When did things get so serious between you two?"

I shake my head, emotion threatening to bubble up from my throat.

"We aren't serious."

"Living together is serious. Is he telling you it isn't? But also, why not live at his house? No offense, but it's so much bigger than yours. I've heard stories about his kitchen."

"I practically burned his house down."

"I heard about a fire," she says. "You started the fire?"

"We got... distracted and the fire started."

Her cheek twitches.

"None of that," I say, pointing at her face. "He's not living with me in that way. It's more like he needs a place to stay while he works on fixing his house."

"So you haven't hooked up since he's been at your place?"

I turn away from her, grinning, when her laughter tickles my back.

I spin back around to face her. "Of all people, I can't believe you're the one giving me the most hell about this!"

She holds her hands up at her ears. "I'm not making fun of you. The guy is smoking hot."

"That's part of the problem," I mutter.

Her eyes narrow. "Nope. We're not doing that shit."

The anger in her voice freezes me in place.

"You're worthy of any man you set your sights on, and I won't have you getting lost in your head thinking you're not worthy. You're smoking hot, and Mac sees that."

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