92

Kassie

Hope You Still Like It

Ryan was distracted.

The kind of distracted where I had to call his attention a dozen times. In the car, I tried to show him my new animated Ryans, scowling at the screen like real life Ryan would, but that didn't work. He'd gotten back on a good sleep schedule and falling off the wagon had me doing laps around him.

"What's up with you?" I asked again, poking him in the stomach.

"Tired."

I couldn't help the frown. "What can I do to help?"

For a moment, Ryan gazed down at me and something crossed his face. We spent all our time together. I knew his little idiosyncrasies. If I could draw him with the Five Lines Rule, I understood him with a Fifty Lines Rule. Any new creases were instantly noticeable and I didn't recognize the new ones.

"We're here," the driver alerted us and Ryan straightened up.

I touched his arm when the door opened. "Ryan?"

He reached for my hand and the two of us stepped out to a chilly November morning. Too early to be awake and up doing football nonsense, especially after yesterday's game. I blinked at the sudden light though and fixed my stare on the sign ahead, covered in smiling animals, waving off to the empty parking lot.

"We're at the…the zoo?" I said slowly.

"It's the surprise."

I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Literally no clue what Ryan had cooked up and I was tugged along by him to a tired guide, holding up a Marrs University sign.

"Hey, folks!" We were corralled off to the side and the guide clapped his hands. "Welcome on in, we're so glad to have you here. We're going behind the scenes today!"

"Oh my god," I whispered to Ryan as we followed after him. "They're finally putting you where you belong. Meals every day, enrichment objects, constant exercise, and no cell phones. It's paradise."

"Thanks, Kassie."

His calm appreciation for the joke cracked me up, and I stifled a giggle while the zoo official drew us from one roped path to another. Us and our photographers were literally the only people there. Nobody else.

"Today, we'll be meeting some new friends of ours." The guide rotated around and walked backwards, giving us a little introduction. "A raid was conducted a month and a half ago on a mansion in Riverside with over three hundred animals. We're pleased to invite them into a home that can accommodate them."

"Holy shit." I blinked. "Three hundred? How did people not know about that?"

"A tiger escaped and mauled three neighbors. Hey, Mallory! Everyone, this is Zookeeper Mallory. She's going to be taking it from here!"

Zookeeper Mallory took her stance in front of us, clean khakis and a button-up blue shirt, urging us closer. "Hello, Romans! We're so excited to have you here today. We're always ready to support. Go, Marrs!"

We were led to a gorgeous dome building and motioned toward an indoor washing station. Excitement started to build. There were perks to the whole contracted relationship experiment, and one of those was all the behind the scenes stuff we got to see. I craned my neck to get a better look at the door, painted in tropical leaves. "Can I ask what the surprise is?"

"I hope you still like it," Ryan said, his voice low.

"What is it?" I tried again with a laugh. "Is it the tiger?"

It was warm and humid inside. I shrugged off my jacket to tie it around my waist. A few fake branches stuck out of a log on the ground but beyond that, no hints jumped out.

"Remember, these are wild animals," Mallory's voice was soft from another doorway. "No sudden movements and let's be as gentle as we can."

The form at the door took shape. Zookeeper Mallory, stooped behind a mesh wall, making slow, careful movements. "We want to sincerely thank you for your donation. Because of your contribution—"

"We don't need to discuss that right now," Ryan was quick to reply.

"Donation?" I raised my eyebrows.

The quarterback didn't say anything.

"Marrs donated for us to have a zoo day?" I pressed.

By the door, the photographers peered at me, a couple inches away from the cameras, and the shared glances between them made me click my tongue.

"How much money did you drop to make this happen?"

"The kind of amount we'll never talk about or you'll get upset with me."

" Ryan ."

I didn't have a chance to argue about it. The zookeeper finally appeared from the mesh wall and my mouth fell open.

Two birds tittered on her arms. The two hornbills were gorgeous, the exact birds from Bird Pants . Ever since the dinner with Henry Miller, I stopped watching the show. All the episodes were deleted off my phone. But for one single morning, I could push the creator out of my mind and just marvel at them.

"Oh," I whispered. "Ryan."

Mallory held out her arm in slow motion. "Now, we're…not doing the Bird Pants names anymore?"

Oh my god. We're naming them?

My heart squeezed in my chest and I reached for Ryan's hand, gawking at the birds. If I would've pictured hornbills before this, I would've thought about a pair of cute handful of feathers. But these were some damn big birds, at least three feet long and their fake beaks were enormous.

Mallory held out her arms to the fake branches behind us and the one on the left took the cue, bobbing his way down her arm, the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life.

"No." Ryan shook his head. "I don't think so. This isn't going to work for us."

I'd been so focused on the birds, I hadn't even noticed Ryan next to me, muscles taunt. He didn't lift his eyes off of the birds for a second and subtly shifted to the side.

"What'd you mean?" I asked, my voice low.

"This isn't going to work. We need something else."

The photographers stood up with their cameras but the zookeeper tried to figure out the problem.

"Mr. Cross, this isn't okay? If you're uncomfortable with birds, this is the time to tell me. These are wild animals and they'll detect pulse differences and body language. They'll react to it. It's not a problem to—"

"No, that's the opposite of Ryan." I couldn't believe the concern. "He's the most…professional person you've ever met. Wait, are you scared of birds?"

Ryan shook his head once. "No."

"But…we can't meet them?"

"Yes."

" Why ?"

"I thought they'd be smaller."

It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when I glanced over the little wall he'd put up in front of me, Ryan didn't have the effortlessly cool look he always did, relaxing on a practice field or getting pushed with questions from reporters. He was tense. He was more than tense. His jaw was locked tight.

I resisted the smile. "Oh my god, Ryan."

"They're very docile," Mallory offered, the birds bobbing up and down on her arm, waiting for their chance to join us.

I tried another approach. "They're getting new names, huh? What were the old ones?"

"Uh….I shouldn't…they were named after words that you can't repeat on daytime television."

The laugh was easy from me, but Ryan was still hard as stone, refusing to budge. He could be so damn stubborn. I rested a hand on his shoulder and he stiffened.

"Hey?" I pressed the side of my face against his bicep. "Thank you."

"No."

Damn. He knows me too well.

"Ryan, they were somebody's pets," I pointed out.

He snorted. "The tiger was too."