Chapter 9

December 24th

10:50 a.m.

"So who is he?" My sister twisted in her seat to face me, her curious gaze meeting mine and a playful smile dancing over her lips.

"Who's who?" I played dumb, staring out of the window as the snow gradually receded into the distance, replaced by bare trees with frost sparkling on the branches. She cleared her throat, and I sighed, turning back to meet her gaze. There was no point in pretending to ignore her—she would get it out of me eventually. Olivia Payne knew exactly how to manipulate me into sharing my secrets with her. Except…that wasn't strictly true. I'd never told her what I'd felt for Ryan and how I'd tried to kiss him that night at the pub.

From his position in the driver's seat, her boyfriend, Luke, smirked at me via the rear-view mirror. He spun the wheel, taking us off the main roads and onto the winding lane that led to the cluster of houses in Stroud in Gloucestershire, the town where our parents lived. As did Ryan's parents.

Ryan. Last night with him had been…

With a concerted effort, I tore my thoughts away from the very, very good night I'd had, not only reconnecting with him but acquainting myself with various parts of his body that I'd never imagined I'd get to study up close and personal.

Luke was still eyeing me with a smirk on his face. "You might as well just tell her, mate."

"You two are so fucking nosy. Haven't you heard of privacy?" I glared at them both, pretending to be more annoyed than I actually was when all I wanted to do was shout it from the rooftops. I'd slept with Ryan Jackson. The best shag I'd ever had in my life, and I knew that he'd ruined me for all other men. Not just physically but emotionally. Fuck, the way I was invested in this man.

They were both staring at me expectantly, although Luke's gaze kept dipping to the road—thankfully, because we did not need an accident. I sighed in defeat. "Fine. It was Ryan. Ryan Jackson. We met up last night, and that's all I have to say about it."

Olivia's jaw dropped, and Luke's brows pulled together. "Ryan Jackson…" he muttered. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"He works at the gym," I told him.

My sister's jaw dropped for a second time, and I laughed. She reached out, lightly punching Luke in the arm. "Luke! You never told me he worked there."

Luke shot her a sideways glance, his lips curving into an amused grin. "Baby, why would I have mentioned him? I had no idea who he was. Still don't. Are you going to fill me in?"

"Ryan was my best friend when we were little." I leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes. Might as well give them the whole story—or a condensed version, at least. "We fell out when we were eight after I accidentally pushed him off the monkey bars at the park. He broke his arm, couldn't go to sports summer camp, and refused to speak to me. Both of us made mistakes, and I could honestly kick myself for not trying harder. Long story short, we didn't really speak for years. Uh. When we left school, I tried to speak to him, but things got messed up, and then I moved to London the next day. I joined the gym, as you know, and we reconnected. One thing led to another, and yeah. You don't need me to tell you what happened afterwards."

With a sigh, I admitted the rest. "I've kind of been into him for a long time, and I never thought he would ever be into me in that way."

I opened my eyes to see Olivia biting down on her lip, her gaze soft. Luke had returned his concentration to the road, but his amusement had disappeared.

"You were into him? I had no idea," Olivia eventually said. "I remember how upset you were when you fell out as kids, but I thought…I don't know. I thought you got over it. You had your other friends, and I know that childhood friendships change all the time. I suppose I didn't think much of it."

"It wasn't really… I guess I didn't realise I liked him like that until I was around sixteen or something. But I told myself it was an inconvenient crush, and I kept it hidden because I knew he didn't feel that way. And there was the fact that we barely spoke to each other. Oh, and I thought he was straight. So…yeah. It's been a bit of a shock, but you know." A smile curved over my lips. "It turns out that he likes me back."

Shifting in her seat, Olivia reached her hand back to me, her fingers finding mine and gently squeezing. "Oh, Sam. I'm happy that you guys are working things out. So that's why you came sneaking into the house at 5:00 a.m. this morning?"

I nodded. It had been so hard to leave Ryan, both of us warm and happy in his bed, but I knew I had an early start with Liv and Luke, driving back to our parents' house for Christmas. I'd ended up getting an Uber home in the early hours of the morning. Neither of us had wanted me to leave, but I had no choice. On the plus side, Ryan was also going back to his mum and dad's house for Christmas, albeit the following day, and we were both hoping we'd have time to meet up. He'd given me his number just before I'd left, along with a kiss that had made my head spin, and promised to text me.

"Is he coming back for Christmas?" Olivia asked me as Luke carefully steered the car into the driveway of my parents' home.

"Yeah, but not until tomorrow morning. He's going to text me." I gripped my phone in my hand. "I hope."

Through the car window, I saw the front door of my parents' house swing open, my mum and dad appearing in the doorway with wide smiles. And matching Christmas jumpers. I shook my head at the sight, my own smile lifting my lips.

Following my gaze, Olivia smiled, too, wide and bright, and then turned back to me. "He will. And if he doesn't, text him. Don't let him go this time."

"I won't."