I lean closer to him. “You realize you lasted exactly seven seconds after swearing to a vow of silence, right? I have no choice but to leave. We can’t have you thinking actions don’t have consequences—”
“Stay,” he says, reaching out to grab my hand. He laces our fingers together, pulling my arm across his stomach. “You were talking about scalp massages.”
“Mhmm,” I reply, swallowing down the emotion in my throat.
“I’ve never had a scalp massage.”
“Give me my hand back,” I whisper.
His fingers tighten around mine. “No. You’ll leave.”
I smile. “I won’t leave. Give it back, and I’ll pet your head.”
He lets go of my hand, and I brush it up his bare chest, letting the tips of my fingers graze his warm skin. Using a gentle touch, I stroke my fingers over his soft hair. I scrape lightly along his scalp with my nails.
He groans, following my touch. “Keep talking. Hair mask.”
I curl my other arm under my head, continuing to pet him as I talk him through my hair mask routine. He doesn’t last five minutes before he’s crashed out asleep.
19
The sound of my phone buzzing on the side table wakes me up. Each vibration sends it skittering along the dark wooden surface. I snatch for it one-handed. I don’t even pause to read the caller ID.
“Hello,” I grunt, my voice hoarse with sleep.
“Good morning! How’s it going, Langley?” comes the way too chipper voice of Shelby O’Sullivan.
“Morning,” I reply.
“Oh, did I wake you?”
“S’fine,” I mutter. “I should be up anyway.”
On the other end of the line, she laughs. “Sounds like someone had a long night.”
Her words kickstart my brain. The events of the previous night come rushing back to me, and I almost give myself whiplash with how quickly I turn to look at the other side of the bed.
Tess is gone.
Of course she is. Did I really expect her to spend the night with me? Still, it was so nice to fall asleep to the sound of her voice, the feel of her gentle touch. I don’t like how much I’m frustrated not waking up next to her too. I’ve gotta deal with this crush before I do something truly embarrassing like beg her to hold me. Maybe Doc will let me sweat it out in a brutal PT session today.
Fuck, Shelby is still talking at me a mile a minute. She’s been talking this whole time.
“—about ten minutes out from the house, and I just thought I’d call ahead to make sure you had time to get yourself ready to open the door.”
I sit up, feeling stiff all over. “Ten minutes,” I echo.
“I’ve got all the goodies here for you, and some of them are even nutritionist-approved.”
“Sounds good.”
Outside in the hall, I hear a door shut. Tess is up and moving around. I don’t want to miss her if she’s about to leave. I jerk the blanket off me and swing my legs off the side of the bed, reaching for my crutches.
“—and Josh arranged to have Lauren Gerard come pick you up for your PT at 9:00 a.m.—”
“Yeah—hey, Shelbs,” I say, raising my voice. “I need to hop off here and go ask my roommate something really quick.”
“Oh, I’m sorry—wait—roommate? Is Mars staying at the house still? Did he move back in? Ohmygod, is something wrong between them already?”
The speed at which this woman flips from unbothered to unhinged is truly astounding. One whiff of gossip, and all the WAGs pounce like a pack of feral hyenas. It would be easy to complain, but we all know the actual players are even worse.
“No,” I say, wobbling on one foot like a drunk flamingo. “It’s not Mars, Shelbs. The Prices are fine. More than fine. They were here last night. You’ll meet her when you get here—”
“Wait—her?”
Shit.
“Ryan Langley, do you have a puck bunny in that house?”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“—can’t believe you. Don’t think I won’t tell Josh. Your first priority should be your recovery, not adding notches to your bedpost—”
“Okay, byeeee,” I say, drawing out the “e” as I hang up on her.
I tuck my phone into my pocket and swing forward on my crutches, not bothering to get a shirt. I hurry into the main room and look around. She’s not out here, but she was. The kitchen smells like fresh coffee, and there’s a few new dishes drying on the rack. Her laptop and legal pad are stacked beside a leather backpack on the table.