“I’m having a party tonight,” Ryder grunted, curling a weight in each arm. He already dripped with sweat.
Talking to Gabrielle had distracted me. I was way behind on today’s routine.
“Okay, have fun, son. Don’t stay out too late.” I shot him a shit-eating grin. I didn’t want to have explain that the reason I was skipping one of his parties was to hang out with Gabrielle.
Ryder stopped his workout and asked his question pointedly. “What’s up with you lately?”
I studied the fading sunset painted on the wall in front of me and shrugged. “What do you mean?”
“You’re... different. You skipped the party on Saturday and the one the week before. Now you’re trying to dodge the one tonight. The one that I’m throwing. You turned down Luke for golf and Big Dave for that party cruise.” He launched into a list of a bunch of other stuff that I’d skipped out on to spend time with Gabrielle.
Have we really been spending that much time together? It didn’t feel like it. I didn’t think that I’d ever spent so much time with a woman and not gotten bored out of my mind. Why wasn’t I bored yet?
I kept my voice even, mentally trying to calculate if he was right about the amount of time we’d spent together. “I’ve just been busy. There’s nothing going on with me. I already have plans tonight. Maybe if you didn’t plan like a fifth grader and gave me a heads up in advance—”
“A fucking heads up in advance? Up until a couple of weeks ago, you were always down to party at the drop of a hat. Now you need notice? Do you really expect me to believe that?” Ryder was getting riled up.
No. “Yes. Like I said, bro. I’ve been busy.”
“Is it this girl? The one you were talking to just now?” His accusatory tone rubbed me the wrong way.
Yes. “No. Well, maybe some of it.”
Try all of it.
I wanted to come clean to him, but I wasn’t in the mood for the metaphorical pineapple he was sure to shove up my ass for getting involved with her.
Plus, the fewer people who knew about Gabbi and me, the less the chances were of it ever getting back to Richard. Ryder would keep the secret, but shit happened.
He contemplated my answer, apparently finding it unsatisfactory. “Who is she?”
“She’s nobody. Just a girl that I’ve been hanging out with.” I lied through my teeth.
“Hanging out with?” His voice was incredulous. “Do you mean fucking?”
“Both.” There, I could give him that much.
As it turned out, it wasn’t enough. “Since when do you hang out with women for longer than it takes you to get their panties to hit the floor?”
His tone was seriously rubbing me the wrong way. I hardly ever snapped at Ryder, but I did then. “Why don’t you get your panties out of their twist? I’m just having some fun, okay?”
“Consider them untwisted, asshole. Who is she? Her pussy must be made of gold if you’re willing to hang out with her to get it.” It was, but I wasn’t only hanging out with her to get some.
I could get some from just about any straight single girl by doing little more than smiling at her. Maybe even some of the married ones if I was that kind of man, which I wasn’t.
“You do realize that I am a human being who happens to enjoy good conversation from time to time. There is a body with a brain attached to my dick.” My fuse got shorter by the second.
“Yeah, but you used to separate the two. Why won’t you just tell me who she is?” Pushy motherfucker.
I’d had enough of his shit. “Why do you want to know so fucking badly? You don’t know her. I enjoy talking to her. End of story.”
He completely ignored the venom in my tone and returned it with ice and determination in his. “It is not the end of the fucking story. There’s a lot more to this. Is it serious?”
“Fuck no,” I answered without hesitation. Ryder knew me better than that. I didn’t do serious.
Even if Gabrielle was fun to be around. Even if she did make me feel shit that I didn’t know what to do with. At worst, I had a fucking crush or something. It would pass, probably sooner rather than later.
His eyebrows raised all the way to his dark dreads. “You sure?”