Play With Me

urge
to cry again persisted, but no tears fell. So I turned up the volume of the
music and tried to blast my brains into oblivion with it.
    The phone
vibrated on the mattress next to me. New message from Hunter. CAN YOU SLIP OUT
AFTER DARK?
    I PROBABLY
COULD. BUT WHY WOULD I DO THAT?
    DISTRACTION. And
this time he added a winking smiley face.
    I wasn’t in the
mood to be distracted. Not in any mood at all, actually. I only wanted to wallow
in self-pity. REALLY, I’M NOT UP TO MORE TORTURE.
    God, if only the
world could leave me alone for the next few hours. But no such luck. As soon as
darkness fell, a low voice carried up to my room. “Get down here, Matthews!”
    I choked on the
piece of chocolate I’d just shoved into my mouth. I rubbed my tears-sticky eyes
and rushed to the window. “Why did you come? Can’t you read? I said no.”
    “You said no
torturing you . I’m not going to. Now get into some nice clothes, wash your
face, and come out.”
    “I’m not in the
mood—”
    He jumped and
climbed onto the roof of our shed then stalked toward my window with this evil
grin on his lips.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    10
     
     
    “MAY I COME in?”
Hunter didn’t wait for my reply but ducked through the window frame and entered
my personal domain.
    I sucked in a
breath and stumbled backward. The bed stopped me, catching my fall.
    “Nice room.” Hands
braced on the edge, Ryan sat on the sill. “ You look miserable.”
    “Gee, thanks for
the news update.”
    He lifted his
ball cap and raked a hand through his hair, his lips tightening. “Listen, I
totally suck at this whole want-to-talk-about-it crap.”
    “Then why are
you here?”
    He shrugged. “Perhaps
because I’m good at having fun and taking your mind off certain things. So what
do you say? Want to come party a little?”
    Another party
with Ryan? Images of lying in his bed, my leg wrapped around his, flashed up in
my memory. “I think I’ll stay home and listen to some music instead.”
    He grimaced.
“Don’t do this to yourself. No guy is worth it.” Then he did something I least
expected. He walked toward me, took both my hands, and gently pulled me off my
bed. “Come on, Liza.”
    My name from
Ryan Hunter. That was a first. And it sounded incredibly nice.
    “I really don’t
know—”
    “I do. And now
stop arguing.” He gave me a few seconds in which I could stare in his deep
brown eyes and make up my mind.
    I released a
long breath. “Can I shower first?”
    “Oh please, do
that.” He dropped onto my bed and found the photo books that still sat there.
    I grabbed them
before he could and shot him a warning glare. “Don’t touch anything.”
    He quirked his
brows, lifting his palms in surrender. “Nothing,” he promised. Then he added,
“Apart from your diary and maybe your lacy underwear.”
    God, I prayed I
heard that wrong.
    It took me
twenty minutes to get ready to leave my room with Ryan—through the window.
    This time he
gripped my wrists in a tight lock and lowered me from the roof. He let me drop
the remaining three feet, but that was okay. While he climbed down the tree
Tony-style, I adjusted my snug-fit tee with the deep neckline. Dark blue jeans
covered the bruises Tony’s new girlfriend had left on my shins.
    Ryan led me to a
dark metallic gray Audi something parked on the curb. I didn’t know much about
cars, but enough to understand that his was custom-made. There was a lot less
space between the low-slung car and the street. When I looked at its front with
the strange headlights, only one word would come up to describe the appearance.
Furious.
    Damn, that car
looked hot enough to melt ice.
    “Nice car,” I
offered.
    “Thanks. You
have your license?”
    “Yeah, got it
last summer.”
    “Want to try her
out?”
    “Why?” I laughed.
    “Fun. And
distraction.” He shrugged, leaning an arm on the open door. “Unless you’re
chicken?”
    Grinning, I got into
the driver’s seat. “How fast does she go?”
    A smirk tugged
on his mouth. “I promise you’ll never find out.” The keys jingled as he tossed
them into my lap.
    I first had to
adjust the seat to my much smaller stature.
    Ryan climbed in
at the other side. “Think you can handle the manual?”
    My dad was
driving a stick-shift, so that wasn’t a problem for me. I grinned, started the
engine, and reversed out of the lot. The steering wheel was smaller than ours
and took a few moments to get used to. But then we were off, and I raced the
baby down