44

Ryan

Sixth Attempt

Almost losing Kassie put me in overdrive. It was so easy for her to say she needed to walk away, I couldn't even imagine doing that. King's words kept coming back to me. A constant reminder. I needed to show her I was invested for December. The more I thought about it, the more determined I became.

She was the first person I wanted to see when I woke up and the last person I thought about at two o'clock in the morning, staring up at the ceiling.

I needed something good to show her that the fake relationship was still worth it.

Without buying her something.

Late Wednesday night, I pushed open the door to Gianna's . The place was crowded with people I'd never met before but I'd seen on Cleo's danger board. A bunch of hockey players crammed in the left corner. A few of them raised eyebrows when they spotted me. I ignored them. I didn't have time for a dick-measuring contest, there was more important shit to do.

Zariah bolted up from her chair when she spotted me. "Hey…Ryan."

"Hey." I held out the envelope, my gift for her party. "Congratulations on getting the resident assistant position. You earned it."

For some reason, Zariah gave the envelope a long look, full of reluctance.

"What is it?"

"I…uh…" She pressed her lips together. "So…um…everything's good?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I…didn't know you were coming. Did…Kassie tell you…?"

I frowned. "You invited me three weeks ago."

"I did?" She nodded slowly. "I did. Yep. Good. Just…wanted to make sure…"

Before anyone else could take her attention, I slipped another item out of my coat pocket, a separate envelope that had nothing to do with the party. I tried to explain before one of the hockey players pulled her away. "Zariah, I need your help. You're good with the arts and crafts shit and I want this to look nice for Kassie."

She winced. "Oh, Ryan…I don't know."

"You're the only one who can help me."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea right now?" She ran a hand through her curls. "Shit, where is Kassie?"

"She's at the design department, she didn't want a ride," I said, with a weird pang in my chest. Before, we drove all over the place together, but Kassie started declining all the offers, one after another. I shook my head. "Please, Zariah, it's important."

I unfolded the paper from Kassie's envelope and showed it to her.

"Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea—" Her eyes scanned the words and she took a moment. Her mouth fell open. "What the hell, Ryan? How did you—?"

"Please."

With a sigh, she nodded, and took the envelope from me. I pulled out the jumble of wrapping paper and tape that I'd attempted on my fifth go and she stared in disbelief.

"What the hell is that?"

"My fifth attempt to wrap it."

She held it up to the light and inspected it. "Ryan, how did you tie tape like this? Did you drunk wrap this?" She took the other piece of wrapping paper from me and dug around for supplies in her purse.

"Could you move?" a voice interjected and I glanced down to see one of Gianna's tables, a good six inches away from me.

I grabbed the end without thinking about it. "Sorry, man."

"No problem."

It took me five seconds to place who that was. Of course, Zariah's twin brother would be at her party.

Elijah Contractor, known as Ruthless, had his sister's same curls, same nose, but the similarities ended there. One look at him and I knew he could've tried out for defense on the Romans, if I hadn't heard how he played hockey. The man was a damn dirty player. He lived for riling up anybody on the ice.

"Four-A-Cross." Elijah smirked.

"It's just Ryan."

"I heard about that off-limits tag."

We both understood the rules of the game, but I wasn't agitated. If he knew about Kassie's off-limits tag, that meant the entire hockey team did too. When I told King that I meant everybody, I meant everybody. I could consider his comment a success.

"And I heard you got somebody from RWU to throw an ice skate at your head," I replied.

A grin crossed his face. "Five stitches. The penalty was worth it."

"Was it?"

"We won the game."

I could never trust loose cannons, and I never allowed them on my field, but Elijah wasn't a loose cannon. He was a firecracker stand held up by a line of oil barrels.

"That's a pretty funny picture of you two," he said with that same grin.

The two of us sized each other up, but I wouldn't say anything. He was Kassie's best friend's brother. I needed to keep it friendly at best, and uninterested at worst. All we needed was for everybody to keep their cool and keep their distance.

"Hey!" Adam's voice rang out from the open door. "It's motherfucking Ruthless!"

Goddammit.

Elijah stretched back. "Hey! It's the Marrs Manwhore!"

The smile disappeared off Adam's face. But at least it was someone outside of hockey.

"Hey, captain!" Adam clapped me on the back and held out the girl on his arm, a pretty brunette I didn't recognize. "Larissa's an RA and a friend of Zariah—"

"It's Lisa." The girl frowned.

"Lisa, that's what I said." He laughed. "Captain, I can't believe you're at a party."

"I'm only here for twenty-three minutes."

"That makes more sense."

I waited until the new girl wandered off to Zariah, who was still struggling with my gift. "Adam, you're not supposed to sleep with the RAs."

"That rule applies next semester. I checked."

I sighed. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Doesn't it? It made Coach Lawson feel better. Because I heard the whole speech yesterday. His stepdaughter's transferring—yadda, yadda, yadda—if anybody touches her, he'll skin them alive—"

I rubbed my temples. "If I could get you neutered at a vet clinic, I would."

"Kassie's humor is rubbing off on you."

Squeezing between us, Zariah held up a wrapped envelope with a purple bow on top. "I did what I could, Ryan."

"It's perfect."

"Who's that—?" Adam stopped himself and guffawed. "I know who it's for."

The answer walked right through the door and I stuffed the envelope back in my pocket. Kassie hurried inside with a Marrs sweatshirt on and her hair pulled up in a messy bun. So beautiful. And she was happy .

Before I could cross through the restaurant, Zariah beat me to it. She ducked and dodged between the tables before she threw her arms around her roommate, crushing her in a hug.

"I'm so proud, you're going to kick so much ass." Kassie laughed until Zariah whispered something to her that I didn't catch.

Kassie's eyes flickered up and met mine.

"Hey," I called out and made my way over.

"I thought you had…a gym slot?" Kassie asked slowly as we walked up to the table together with Zariah. "Like a back-to-back one?"

"Got up early." I couldn't sleep . "Went to the gym before practice."

"How many times do I have to remind you what sleep is?" she sighed and pulled out her chair before I could.