Page 45 of Dare Me

He smiled back. “Definitely.”

Then he watched her go and wondered just what in the hell was going on. Somehow, he was now fake dating Ryleigh so he could secretly date Arianna, only…Arianna didn’t seem particularly interested in dating him. So…

With a small huff, he moved out of the booth and stretched before waving to Ronan on his way out.

Outside, he took a moment to just enjoy the cool evening air and slowly made his way home. He’d walked here tonight and while it would have been nice to walk home with someone, this gave him some time to think.

Why? You live on your own now. You’ll have time to think when you get home.

Damn. He’d forgotten about that. Part of him thought he was going back to Liam’s and would have to sit and talk with him. But that clearly wasn’t the case.

Okay, so maybe he didn’t need only the walk time to think, but he certainly had a lot to think about.

For so many years, he thought moving to and living in a small town would be the answer to everything. It would be peaceful and everyone would be friendly and he could just be himself.

So far, life was anything but peaceful. The Donovans were a handful even on a good day and he was having to pretend and hide more than he was comfortable with. They were wonderful people and he genuinely liked the whole family, but…this was not quite what he had in mind for this new phase of his life.

And as much as he was looking forward to all the plans he and Liam had, his personal life needed some serious attention.

He just wasn’t sure if he was going to be happy with the results.

“Ugh…so much to think about,” he murmured as he approached the apartment complex.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Liam pulling some luggage from his trunk and walked over to give him a hand.

“Thanks, man,” his friend said. “The thought of carrying all this up in one shot was killing me.”

“Yeah, well…what are friends for?” he asked with a laugh. Together, they trudged up the stairs.

“You got any furniture in your place yet?”

“Sofa is coming on Wednesday and the rest on Friday. I’ve been spending a lot of time sitting on my mattress on the floor.”

Chuckling, Liam said, “Then how about we hang out at my place and have a beer?”

It beat having depressing internal dialogues with himself, he realized.

“You’re on.”

Chapter Seven

“What the hell was that all about?” Arianna demanded as she slammed the door.

Ryleigh looked up from her laptop in confusion. “What was what all about?”

“Making a date with Will! How could you do that?”

“Um…this was part of the whole getting Mom off my back and you getting to actually date Will at the same time. We talked about this.”

“Yeah, well…then I told you I’ve got interviews lined up that will have me moving away and that…that…my time with Will is over!” she stated, stomping her foot for emphasis. “The sex-fueled weekend was just…closure, okay? I told you that just this morning! How could you have forgotten already?”

Tossing her purse down, she walked to the bathroom and immediately put her hair up in a ponytail and started her whole nightly ritual. She washed her face, exfoliated, put on moisturizer, brushed her teeth, and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top. Then she stormed back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and waited for her sister to explain herself.

But she didn’t.

Ryleigh was still in the same spot on the sofa with her laptop in her lap and didn’t seem the least bit concerned about the murderous looks Arianna was throwing her way.

“Are you going to keep glaring at me or do you have more ridiculous things to say?”

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