Tempt the Ex (Tempt 2.5)

The next day, I make my way over to the coffee shop where I know she frequents. I might look desperate, but I don’t care anymore. I’m about to walk to the door when it opens, and I see her walking out with two other friends. I quickly hide around the corner, peeking my head out to make sure she doesn’t see me. I watch her walking, so I wait a couple of more steps before I come out of my hiding place. But instead of going inside the coffee shop and calling it a day, I hear Noah’s voice in my head. “Follow her.” So I keep a safe distance from the trio as they walk across campus, and I follow them. When I see them walking up the steps to the library, I duck behind a tree as I see them get to the door. Peeking around the tree, I see the two girls walk in, but Dani stops when she gets to the door. Instead, she turns around, and it’s as if she can feel me watching her. When I see her eyes roaming the grounds in my direction, I put my back against the tree and try to not breathe. I wait a couple of minutes, then look back and see she’s gone inside. I let out a huge breath I was holding while I bend over and put my hands on my knees.

“Hey,” someone says next to me, and I look up to see Arya. “Fancy meeting you here,” she says with a smile as she approaches. The way she smiles makes me shiver and not in a good way.

“Yeah, I was just on my way to the rink to meet Austin and Noah,” I tell her. I try to walk around her, but she blocks me. Her hands go to my chest as she stops me from walking around her.

“John, I know that you and Dani recently broke up.” She starts talking, and I back up so her hands are not on me. “I was thinking that now that you’re single, we could maybe go out and get a coffee?”

“Arya, I’m still in love with Dani,” I say. “Even if I wasn’t, I would never date her friend, let alone her roommate.” I now walk to the right of her and try to walk away, but her next words make me stop in my tracks.

“You’re the only one not moving on. Dani already has dates lined up for the weekend.” I turn to watch her. “See you at Monster Mash,” she says as she walks away.

I look back at the library and see a shadow in the window. I try to see who it is, but I can’t see anything anymore as the showdown is done. I walk over to the rink, opening the door to go into the locker room. “Dude.” I throw myself on the bench. “Dani’s roommate is out of her mind.”

“Who is that?” Cooper asks as he steps out of his jock strap. Cooper Stone is the biggest name in the hockey world. He plays with Austin and Noah, but after this year, he’s going pro. The only question is which team is going to get him.

“Arya,” Austin answers as takes off his practice jersey.

“She just came up to me as I was following Dani,” I tell them, and they all look up at me.

Cooper stops what he’s doing. “You were following your girlfriend?”

“Ex,” Noah says as he walks into the room, placing his stick against the wall. “She broke up with him last week.”

“No way,” Cooper says as he sits down, grabbing a Gatorade and draining it.

“Way.” I put my ankle on my knee while my leg bounces up and down. “Now she just told me that Dani is already dating.”

Austin shakes his head. “I don’t believe it.” Noah gets up, taking off his shirt.

“Want me to check and see if I can get in there?” Noah asks with a smirk while I glare at him.

“No, I don’t want you to see if you can get in there,” I tell him, and he shrugs.

“Here is a suggestion,” Cooper says. “Why don’t you just ask her? Just call her up and say hey are you dating?”

“He can’t do that,” Noah says. “He’s going to be like a punk ass bitch if he does that. I think all the answers will be given at the Monster Mash. We should make a plan of attack.”

“I’m out,” Cooper says. “The last thing I need is a record before being drafted into the NHL. Sorry, man, but—”

I put my hand up to stop him from talking. “Not an issue.”

I look around the room, seeing that it’s just the four of us. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but what do you suggest?” I ask Noah, who sits there with a grin from ear to ear and a twinkle in his eye. I shake my head. Nothing good will come from this.