Page 48 of The Wrong Play

Matty: This is all EXACTLY what a stalker would say.

Me: It’s called being a devoted boyfriend.

Matty: You’re not her boyfriend.

Me: Yet.

Parker: Yet.

I tossed my phone onto the desk, grinning as I stared back at her name on the screen.

Matty didn’t get it. But Riley would.

Soon enough, she’d understand—there was no running, no hiding, no pretending this wasn’t real.

And when she did?

She’d never want to escape me again.

CHAPTER 7

RILEY

There were a lot of things I hated about my job at the campus bookstore, but three stood out above the rest.

First, no matter how many hours I worked there or at the campus coffee shop, I was always scraping by. And with my condition, sometimes I couldn’t push myself as hard as I needed to—something my manager didn’t exactly sympathize with. I was constantly worried that one bad flare-up, one missed shift, would be enough to get me fired.

Second, Eddie—one of my coworkers—did not understand the meaning ofno. He lingered too long, stood too close, and always managed to brush up against me in ways that made my skin crawl.

And third—something that shouldn’t have been a big deal—I hadn’t made a single friend.

That was by design, obviously.

I kept to myself. I didn’t make connections, I didn’t let people ask too many questions. It was safer that way. If people didn’t know me, they couldn’t pry. They couldn’t ask where I was from, what I had left behind, or why I never mentioned my family.

Not that there was much to say.

I had to get a prepaid phone once I decided to leave, too afraid that Callum would use my phone to try and find me.

The one time I called my parents when I got here, they’d immediately started in on a lecture that I was a fool for giving up Chapel Hill. That my actions obviously showed I wasn’t ready to make my own decisions. And then I’d heard Callum’s voice in the background agreeing with them that I should come home.

And that was it, I hadn’t called again.

I wasn’t sure if it was freeing to completely cut them off, or if it just made me want to cry.

Either way, I was on my own, and I was determined to make it work.

It was a lonely way to live, but loneliness was nothing new.

I was determined to survive.

Which meant I was currently standing behind the register, checking out a customer while Eddie stood beside me, leaning in too close with his usual half-assed flirting attempt.

Eddie was one of those guys.

The kind who thought he was charming, but actually just made you want to walk into traffic.

Medium height, shaggy brown hair, with the kind of douchey grin that made my entire body recoil whenever he turned it on me.

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