Play With Me

in focus, jaw hardening. I felt he wasn’t going to give
up, so I narrowed my eyes, filled with all the despise and coldness I was
capable of. “Now!”
    With that, he
finally backed off. He puffed a frustrated grunt and climbed out through the
window. We both knew, there was coming a time when we would talk again, but
tonight I decided that day was a long way ahead.
    Ryan watched him
silently then turned to me, blood dripping from his nose and bottom lip. He wiped
it off. A scarlet line trailed across the back of his hand. “I really didn’t—”
    “Stop it! I don’t
know who of you two disgusts me more tonight.” Tony, for what he did with Cloey
when I still loved him. Or Hunter, who would be just the ass I always suspected
him to be and drag me into something as beautiful as the kiss we shared when it
was only for distraction . “Leave me alone. I’m done with you.”
    He wasn’t the
fool Tony had been to come for me with reassurances when I was close to losing
it. But he took a damn lot longer to leave my room. I almost couldn’t hold back
my tears when I looked at his pleading eyes.
    “I didn’t come
because Mitchell asked me to. I came because I wanted to see you again.”
    “Yeah, right. As
if I would believe that. Distraction, huh? Tell me, did I look so miserable
that you thought I depended on your mercy?” I paused to swallow that hurt which
lodged like a hard ball in my throat. “Or did you really just want to get me in
bed?”
    Ryan pinched the
spot between his eyes, the muscles in his jaw ticking violently. “Cut the crap,
Liza. You know that’s not the truth.”
    The truth was I
didn’t know what to believe anymore. My head ached too much to make sense of
tonight. Right now, I wanted no one near me, especially not this liar. “Leave.
I don’t ever want to see you again.”
    Ryan didn’t move
for a solid minute. Then he came toward me, very slowly. Deliberately. He bent
forward, planting his hands on the mattress on either side of me. He was right
in my face, licking the blood off his lip. I didn’t budge.
    “For a minute
there, I thought I stood a chance. But I guess in the end, Mitchell will still
be the lucky one.” He moved closer still and bridged the inch of gab between
our faces. What the heck, coming for a kiss? I sucked in a breath. But he
reached past me for his cap and straightened, pulling the brim deep down his
brow. “See you around, Matthews.”
    Ryan didn’t look
back as he crossed to the window and disappeared into the dark.
    Falling back on
the mattress, I curled into a tight bundle and started sobbing into my pillow. Just
where was the goddamned rewind button for today?

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    13
     
     
    DAYS PASSED, AND
I didn’t hear from either of them. It was a long week. Too long, with too much
thinking on my part. The thinking mostly focused on two specific moments. One,
Ryan’s delicious lips capturing mine. And two, Tony and Cloey, an image I just
couldn’t get out of my mind. After Tuesday night, I thought I wouldn’t live
through the pain that ripped open my heart with steel claws. But finally I fell
into a state of numb indifference to not only Tony and Ryan, but also to the
rest of the world.
    By Friday, my
mom rescinded my detention. She said she had never seen so little of me in all
her life, or how pale and withdrawn I had become, and it worried her on a deep
level. Yeah, my room was my castle. I didn’t need food, nor company. And I wasn’t
sure when I last had a bath.
    Even without
being grounded, I saw no particular reason for leaving my fort. Should the
world move on without me, I didn’t care. I was content with the twenty square
meters of this earth under my domain.
    Saturday
afternoon, the first text message came in. From Tony. CAN I COME UP?
    Since the day we
decided to be best friends because we both loved Tom&Jerry cartoons,
he’d never once asked before coming to my room, using either door or window. I
sighed then walked to the open window with the cell phone in my hand. Tony was leaning
against the tree, hands tucked into the pockets of his blue jeans. I wondered
if he knew what he wore today, the blue tee and shirt above, was my favorite.
And if he’d put it on for a purpose.
    Our gazes met,
and his face had the word sorry edged in every line. I didn’t know what message
my expression sent him, but in case he didn’t get it right, I slowly shut the
window. To be absolutely clear, I pulled the curtains closed,