Page 17 of Get Even

I grabbed his hand by the wrist and looked up at him, forcing my eyes to focus on his eyes and not the mouth that was mere breaths away from mine.

“That’s what I’m telling you,” I said and he smiled lightly. “Is this why you offered to help me? I told you already it doesn’t mean I’ll fuck you.”

Ryan stepped away, his hand falling to his side and the moment lost. “I offered to help you because Aaron’s a prick.”

My throat felt tight and I cleared it lightly before saying, “Okay.”

It was just light enough in the room that I could see his eyebrow rise, “Okay?”

I huffed in irritation, “Yes, okay. What did you expect me to say? This fake arrangement is helpful and that’s all.”

“If that’s what you want then fine, but you know as well as I do that you’re either mine or you’re not. You can dance around it all you want.”

I slid off the counter and stared up at him, the decision made only because he’d forced my hand and I wasn’t good with ultimatums. “Then I’m not.”

CHAPTEREIGHT

DONE FOR ME - CHARLIE PUTH, KEHLANI

Ryan had textedme three times by the time I’d woken up on Saturday afternoon, hungover. Again. I wasn’t really sure what to make of the way he’d acted last night, hitting Aaron when he’d seen how much he had hurt me with his words, cornering me in the kitchen as if he couldn’t stop himself from touching me. I groaned, rolling over and scrubbing a hand roughly over my face as I rubbed my eyes into oblivion. Why couldn’t my life just be simple? Liv would probably have said that I brought it on myself. She likely wasn’t wrong.

Ryan:Aaron had a fat lip when I saw him this morning lol

Ryan:Are you pissed at me or just asleep? Because technically I didn’t break any rules - we were at a public party

My eyes burned like they had sand in them as I stared at the texts and blinked furiously, swearing when I noticed smeared mascara on the back of my hand. No wonder they felt so awful, I’d gone to sleep in my make-up again. My phone vibrated in my hand and I stopped the smirk from taking over my face as I saw Ryan’s latest message.

Ryan:Coffee?

I wasn’t sure how to take it that he’d clearly been waiting for the little ‘read’ icon to appear next to his messages. Fake boyfriends didn’t need to be quite that dedicated.You know as well as I do that you’re either mine or you’re not.I shook the words out of my head. I wasn’t Ryan’s, I wasn’t Aaron’s. I belonged only to myself. I clicked back off the messages and saw my mom’s text, still sitting unanswered in my inbox, before quickly tapping back on Ryan’s name. Better to get any awkwardness out of the way and just bite the proverbial, smoking-hot bullet.

Jamie:You’re buying. Call it a broke-the-rules kiss tax.

I rolled my legs out of bed with a thump, half of my body still reluctant to leave the warmth of my bed, and decided it was time to tackle the mess of my face. Liv glanced up at me as I opened my door, making her way to her room across from mine with a cup of coffee in hand. She winced as she took in the state of me – she looked nothing short of stunning, of course. I betshetook her make-up off before bed.

“You look like I feel,” Liv said and I winced as I swallowed, my tongue feeling thick in my mouth. Fuck, how much had I drunk last night?

“Gee, thanks,” I yawned and then suddenly rememberedwhyI felt so awful. We’d left the party not long after I’d left the kitchen, Ryan and I having made our point to Aaron and Taylor and successfully teased ourselves, apparently. Liv and I had decided to keep the party going once we’d got home. “How come you don’t look like you drank a third of the bottle of tequila last night?”

Liv grinned, her brown skin practically glowing, “I can handle my booze better than you I guess.”

I flipped her off and headed into our shared bathroom, attacking my face, teeth and body vigorously until I felt a little more human when I re-emerged. The smell of Liv’s coffee still lingered in the air and my mouth watered, Ry had better bring the goods or our fake relationship would be over before it fake-began.

Ryan:downstairs

I threw the phone back down onto the bed after texting him a quick ‘okay’ and reached for my favorite pair of sweats. I hesitated with one leg inside, should I be dressing up more to see my ‘boyfriend’? Would people think it was weird for me not to put in more effort? I frowned before tugging them on stroppily and pairing them with a cropped tee.Who gives a fuck?

I called a quick goodbye to Liv as I toed on my shoes and left, the thought of the waiting coffee making me hurry. I spotted Ryan’s dark hair first as he leaned against the wall of the building next to mine, keeping the entryway clear as he held the two coffee cups in his hands protectively. Then he turned around and I gasped, coffee forgotten as I rushed over and took in the bruising across his cheekbone.

“Hey,” he said easily, smiling as if it didn’t hurt – which I couldn’t imagine to be the case considering the deep purple that blossomed there. Ry held out a coffee to me and I stepped closer to him, my fingertips brushing across the bruise until he flinched and I snapped my hand back to my chest. “Here,” he said, waving the coffee my way again. “Cute sweats.”

Other than the bruising, he looked unfairly refreshed. Though, if I was remembering rightly he hadn’t exactly had a lot to drink, just a few tokes of my joint… My eyes dropped to his mouth before I cleared my throat lightly and looked up at the blue sky. It was such a nice day and it made me feel a thousand times worse as my eyes throbbed in time with my pulse.

Ry fell into step next to me as I took my coffee and immediately sipped it, hissing at the way it burned my tongue but desperate for it all the same. I looked up at Ryan again as we walked and darted my eyes away as he met my gaze.

“Thanks,” I finally said and raised the coffee awkwardly in my hand in a weirdcheersthat made Ryan bite his lip on a grin. “So last night was…”

He snorted, “You’re telling me.” Ryan frowned as he looked out over the green as we walked towards it, “I don’t think Aaron is going to let this go.”

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