Page 29 of Siren's Game

Both of it suits her. The wavy hair makes her look younger, less strict and mature and the glasses frame her face beautifully, although I’m not a fan of the way they hide her caramel eyes.

I open the other box and finally start eating my pepperoni pizza. The delicious scent almost made me rear-end another car on the way here and I groan when I finally dig my teeth into the first piece. Fucking finally.

We eat in silence, and I use the moments of quiet to take in her flat. It's just as clean, just as magazine-ready as Luca's.

Only his is obviously designed for a bachelor single man, and hers looks like it came out of a magazine for women's interior design. Thank God mine feels more lived in.

"Thanks for the pizza," she finally says after swallowing down her last bite, then drinks her glass of water in one go. "Now to the rules.”

I jump up after finishing my last bite and start pacing up and down her kitchen, her eyes following me curiously.

“I'm not doing this any longer than three months," she declares and leans back in her seat so far, I’m a bit scared of the chair toppling over, rubbing her hand over her full stomach and looking at her ceiling.

"That's fine. I need you to attend the celebration after the charity match with me and then maybe another week so it doesn’t seem like that was our reason for breaking up." She slowly lowers her head and looks at me with eyebrows scrunched together curiously.

"Why?"

"Remember how I told you my parents wanted to meet you?” She nods. “They're hosting the sponsor celebration dinner after the match and want me to bring you as my plus one." Her eyes grow wide, and I chuckle. "Wait, you don't know who my dad is?"

"No idea," she says, shaking her head. Then she raises her eyebrow, and a grin spreads on her face. “Who’s your daddy, Asher?”

I shudder visibly, making her giggle. "Ever heard of Waveworks?"

"You mean the biggest sponsor of the charity match?" Her eyebrow lifts and disappears in her bangs, then both of her eyes grow wide as she connects the dots. "Shut up. Your dad works for them?"

"Yeah. He's the CEO." Her eyes almost bulge out of her head, and she mumbles a ‘what the fuck’ under her breath. "So, you're coming?"

"I guess so." She leans back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest and her eyes dancing over my face, without a doubt trying to see the resemblance to my dad. "What else?"

"I want exclusivity." I cross my arms in front of my chest as well.

It's not a question, it’s a demand. I won't have one of us meet up with others and either of us be painted as a cheater.

She looks at me without discernible expression, tilting her head as she thinks. Then, with a sigh, she takes out her phone, her fingers flying over the screen, eyebrows scrunched together, before she sets it down again with the screen facing the tabletop.

"Alright."

"Wait, who did you message?" I'm not sure why, but her nonchalance combined with just silently messaging someone is making my blood boil. Who the fuck did she just message?

She tilts her head and raises her eyebrow at me. "None of your business."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Because if we're actually the ones 'cheating,' I'm probably losing my fucking mind. "Because that would be my business."

"No, I don’t. I just had to let my fuck buddy know that we have to take a break."

Kayla

"Your—excuseme,what?"Hefreezes in his step and looks at me with a confused wrinkle between his eyebrows, lips set in a tight line and a muscle in his jaw ticking.

"Fuck buddy," I repeat slowly, enunciating each of the syllables as I brush my hair behind my ear before crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking at him defiantly. "Friend with benefits, whatever you want to call it. Do I need to explain the concept to you?"

"No, thank you," he grits out, a muscle in his jaw twitching, and resumes his pacing. "What exactly did you tell him?"

"That we're not fucking for the next three months, and if we meet, it has to remain PG." I shrug. "Why?" I raise my eyebrow at him.

Oh, he better not be one of those people who look down on women for having friends with benefits. If I hear one wrong word about my arrangement with Josh, I’m done.

It’s bad enough that I’m looking at three sexless months, because I’m not touching Asher with a ten-foot pole.

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