Page 56 of Running Risk
She chuckles. “Definitely.”
I duck back behind the tree when they move to get up. I can’t let her know that I was spying. I want to see her so bad, but I don’t think I could take it if she walked away from me or worse.
“We can have a tequila night,” the guy sings out.
“You know, I love you and all, but I don’t want to sleep on the bathroom floor with you again,” Rylee says.
What? Sleep on the floor with himagain? And what the actual fuck does she mean she loves him? I stay behind the tree until they are far enough away that I know they aren’t coming back. Once I’m out of my hiding place, I realize how fast my heart rate is and how much I need to run. Seeing her twice now is messing with my mind.
After running back to base, my barracks officer threw a surprise barracks inspection on us, and we did not pass. We’ve been doing push-ups ever since. The burning in my muscles is almost enough to distract me from thinking about Rylee, but sometimes my thoughts just creep back to where I don’t want them to go.
“Are you weak? Down!” Leadership yells in my ear as my arms shake, lowering down into another push-up.
“No, Sir,” I yell back.
“Up!” he yells. I continue to shake, but I get myself back up. Many of the guys have thrown up, but I refuse. I won’t break. No matter how hard they push, I won’t give up. Flashes of Rylee being friendly with that guy come into my mind, and one of my arms buckles. I straighten it before anyone sees. I don’t need anyone seeing where my weaknesses are, and push-ups are definitely my weakness. “Down!” I lower down andhold it there. The holds are the worst part. I swear, they love to torture us for the fun of it. His boots grind against the ground as he walks closer, squatting down until he is right by my head. “Up!”
I exhale, extending my arms to raise my body up. I don’t know how many more I can do because we’ve been at this longer than I expected. Apparently the barracks were in complete disarray, but that can just mean that they found a sock on the ground. Who knows how bad it actually was? They would have had a heart attack if they ever went into Rylee’s room growing up.
“Down!”
Rylee kept her room clean part of the time, but when she was immersed in a good book, she couldn’t be bothered to put away any clothes. She would have a pile of dirty clothes in one area and a pile of clean clothes in another.
“Did you not hear me, Daniels?”
I startle, collapsing like a sack of potatoes onto the ground. I realize that I never went down when he said to. “Sorry, Sir.” I get into the correct position. I wish I could say this is the first time this kind of thing has happened, but it’s not. Rylee has been distracting me for a long time, especially when I want to distract myself from the physical pain I’m in.
“You all are dismissed, except for Daniels. You and I are going to have a lot longer together.” The excitement I hear in his tone makes my stomach turn. I know this isn’t going to be a good thing, and I’m going to be in a lot more pain once it’s all over and done with.
39
RYLEE: NOW
“Come in.”I call out around a mouth full of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Trish bursts through the door with grocery bags in her hands, wearing pink sweats. “So we’re still on the couch. Did you at least sleep in your bed last night?”
I shrug, watching the seventh season of Gilmore Girls with a large throw blanket draped over my legs. “How could Lorelai sleep with Christopher? She and Luke were perfect together.” I suck another spoonful of ice cream off my spoon.
Trish opens my fridge, stuffing the drinks she bought inside. “Hell if I know.” She opens a beer and sits on the couch next to me, pulling the blanket across her too. “So is there a reason why you’re watching this depressing episode?” She takes a pull of her beer.
“No,” I say quickly.
She looks at me, her eyes scrutinizing. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you in a few days, and now you’re acting strange and watching the depressing episodes of your favorite show.” She reaches, grabs the remote, and pauses the show. “Talk.”
“Hey.” I glare. “I don’t come into your home and pause your shows.” I scoop another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.
“I’m also not showing signs that something’s wrong.” Trish tucks her legs under her as if she’s getting comfortable for a story she wants to hear.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I mumble.
“Oh, yeah. You sound like it’s all sunshine and rainbows in here.” Trish looks toward my kitchen. “Why haven’t you made any more progress on the reno?”
“I have. Look at the cabinets and the paint.” I wave my hand over my shoulder in the direction of the kitchen.
“You sent me pictures two days ago of all that and said you would start on the brick flooring ‘today,’ but the brick’s still in the boxes and not on the floor.” She raises an eyebrow.
Trish knows that once I start a project, it’s nearly impossible for me to quit until it’s done, especially when there are deadlines and contracts with partnering businesses. But I didn’t work today. I should have known she would be grilling me and not letting me mope around without talking about it. Damn friends.
