Running by Ryn, I passed her up and acted like I didn’t know who she was. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her glance up at me. I kept running at my speed. She had headphones on as well; the only difference was I was positive she had music coming out of hers and I didn’t. I needed to be able to hear her call out my name. If she called out my name.
I could feel her eyes on my back. I slowed down just a notch so she could catch up to me. “Tristan?” I heard her call out. Acting as if I couldn’t hear her, I kept on running.
“Tristan!”
Smiling, I kept up my pace. This was turning out to be a successful run. My plan to run into Ryn on accident while we were both here was starting out with a bang. Inhaling a deep breath of crisp ocean air, I kept up my steady pace. The cool morning air actually made it a great morning for a run. Finally, I felt her coming up next to me. Keeping my eyes straight ahead, I attempted to appear as if I was in the zone. Grabbing my arm she yelled again, “Tristan, goddamn it, stop running!”
I stopped on a dime, causing Ryn to run a few feet ahead of me. Glancing at her, I pulled my ear buds out. “Ryn?”
She leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she dragged in a few breaths. “Jesus, now I realize . . . I’m only . . . a light weight jogger.”
I knew damn well I was running faster than Ryn was able to run. Looking at her like I was confused, I asked, “What are you talking about, Ryn? I thought you’d be heading back to Austin?”
She shook her head. “Nope . . . staying here for two weeks.”
Pulling my head back to act as if I was surprised, I grinned. “Really? So am I.”
Suddenly stiffening her posture, she practically shouted, “Wait. What? You’re staying here?” She started pointing to the sand. “For two weeks?”
Glancing down at the sand, I rubbed my chin. “Well, not in this very spot, but here in South Padre. Yeah.”
Ryn swallowed hard. “I see. Did you have this planned?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, I was playing it by ear, one to two weeks, maybe three. I have the time to take, and I have to burn it before the end of the year or I lose it.”
Ryn stood and stared at me. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or pissed. “You look like you didn’t sleep much last night. Rough night, Ryn?”
Ryn’s eyes widened and she went to talk but shut her mouth and looked back toward the house she was renting. We hadn’t run that far and now I was wishing we would have. Looking, I saw Dodge standing on the back deck.
Fucker.
“Boyfriend?”
Ryn snapped her head and looked at me. “Excuse me?”
Gesturing with my hand, I pointed and asked, “The guy, is he your boyfriend?”
Ryn’s eyes searched my face as if she was trying to read my reaction to seeing some douche bag asshole, who I was pretty sure fucked her senseless last night, standing on her deck.
“Um . . . no . . . he’s um . . . well . . . he’s . . .” Turning to look at Dodge, she began chewing on her lip before looking at me.
“A fuck buddy?”
Her eyes narrowed as her hands went to her lips. “What?”
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know, Ryn, you seemed to be stumbling on your words so I just guessed.” Smirking, I winked at her.
“Are you still seeing Liberty?”
My smile faded a bit. “No. We’re over.”
Lifting an eyebrow, I could tell she was holding back a smile. “How come? You get bored with her and pick up another girl on the side?”
Ouch. That hurt.
“No, she wanted something with me that I didn’t want with her.”
Clearing her throat, she whispered, “And what did she want?”
“Marriage.”
Ryn’s eyes widened in shock as she took a step back. “Oh. Well um . . . I guess I’ll see you around, Tristan.”
My heart instantly felt as if someone had put a vice around it and squeezed the hell out of it. I wanted to take her up in my arms and kiss her. Show her why the fuck buddy couldn’t wipe me from her mind.
I barely nodded my head. “Yeah, I’ll see ya around.” Turning, I went to start running again.
“Tristan!”
I stopped and turned to her, “Yeah, baby?”
Her eyes closed briefly before she opened them and looked into mine. My knees wobbled when I saw the hurt in those beautiful blue eyes. “Why did you bring me to your parents’ for Christmas? Why didn’t you just bring Liberty if she was the one you wanted to be with?”
