Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 164557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
I hear Ryder chuckle under his breath. We’re sitting together near the back of the bus while I pretend not to notice the dirty texts he’s sending his wife. And don’t get me started on how bizarre it is to say that. His wife. Who gets married in college?
“Hey,” I say, nudging his arm.
“Mmm?”
“Here’s a hypothetical for you.”
Forehead wrinkling, he clicks his screen off. “Okay.”
“You think Gigi is the love of your life, right?”
“No, I know she’s the love of my life.”
There’s no smugness there, just quiet certainty.
“All right, well, let’s suppose Gigi crushes your heart between her fingers and rips your soul from your body—”
“Wait, is she a demon?”
“No. She just hurts you. She destroys you and then leaves you.”
Ryder gives a dry laugh. “This scenario is grim, bro.”
“I know. But say that happened.” I poke the inside of my cheek with my tongue, shifting awkwardly in my seat. “Would you ever…you know…try again? With someone else?”
He responds with silence. Staring at me. It’s so unnerving that I have to look away, feigning deep interest in the seat ahead of me, where Will sits with Case. Shane is across the aisle next to Nick Lattimore, who’s been extra sulky tonight. Dude showed up earlier looking like someone kicked his puppy.
There’s a lot of chatter coming from the front rows, but for the most part, the bus is quiet.
Ryder’s gaze, which is usually shuttered, flickers with confusion, then concern. “Beck… is this a hypothetical, or are you asking me for advice here?”
“It’s…” I swallow, realizing I should’ve just kept my bloody mouth shut. “Just a hypothetical.”
He frowns. “Okay. Um. Yeah, I guess…no then. If Gigi left me, I don’t think I’d ever try again with someone else. She’s it for me.”
“Stop flaunting your perfect wife in everyone’s face,” grumbles Nick. The dark-haired winger twists around in his seat to scowl at Ryder. “Some people are barely holding on, man.”
I bite back a grin. Lattimore’s not the chatty type, so whatever’s eating at him tonight must be bad if he’s participating in a convo about women.
“Would you just tell us what happened already?” Shane growls. “You keep making these veiled little comments, and it’s starting to annoy the ever-living shit out of me. You clearly want to talk about it, asshole. So fucking talk about it. Asshole.”
Several snorts ring out.
Nick unleashes another scowl, this one aimed at me. “You want to know what happened? Ask Dunne. Because it’s all his fault.”
My jaw drops. “Me? What the hell did I do? Go away.”
“You’re the one who sent me that fan fiction,” he accuses.
I blink. “What?”
“Wait, what?” Will joins the conversation now, shifting around in his seat to eye me with suspicion. “What fan fiction?”
I’m armed and ready to deny, deny, deny, but Lattimore throws me under the bus again. “Beck sent Darcy a link for some dumbass story about Queen Elizabeth and Alexander the Great, and now I’m in the doghouse for it.”
“First of all—” I start.
“No,” Will interrupts, rolling his eyes. “First of all, were you on my laptop?”
I shrug. “There’s a possibility I might’ve been.”
“And you read the story I’m editing for my old lab partner?”
Another shrug.
“And you sent it to Darcy?”
This time, I defend myself. “Hey, she requested the link. I didn’t offer it.” I glare at Nick. “And that was the end of my involvement in it, mate. So don’t blame me for being in the doghouse.”
“What does Lourdes’s fanfic have to do with your girlfriend being pissed at you?” Will asks our teammate.
Nick sets his jaw. “It doesn’t matter. It just does, okay?”
“What did you do?” Shane pushes, unable to contain his amusement. He’s openly grinning.
“Nothing.”
“C’mon, what’d you do?”
“She’s trying to get you to read it, and you don’t want to?” Case guesses from his seat.
“I said it doesn’t matter,” Nick replies through clenched teeth.
“Fine, don’t tell us. I have Darcy’s number,” Shane says. “I’ll ask her myself.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Fine. Solve the mystery for us then.”
Nick curses under his breath. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal. She just, uh, you know…” He shrugs. “Caught me.”
I furrow my brow. “Caught you doing what—” I give a sharp intake of breath. “Mate. No. Don’t say it.”
His look of sheer misery is all the confirmation I need.
I double over. “Jesus,” I wheeze between waves of uncontrollable laughter. “Which chapter?”
“What am I missing here?” Shane asks.
It’s hard to speak through the stitch in my side. I’m panting from the exertion. “She caught him wanking it to historical fan fiction.”
There’s a beat of silence before everyone in our vicinity joins me in the land of shuddering, side-splitting laughter.
“What chapter?” Will echoes my question as the only other person on this bus who’s read Lourdes’s masterpiece.
Nick looks like he wants to crawl into a hole and die. He drops his face in his hands. “Fuck off.”