et about Ryan’s jealousy. About Dean. About everything but how badly I want to put a million miles between Ryan and his ex.
“She’s trying.”
“You trust her?”
“No.” He sets his phone on the table facedown. “But I want to.”
“She can’t make amends better than asking you to do her a favor.”
“It’s not for her.”
My heart pounds. He’s sharing something with me. I need it. All of it.
“It costs me too much energy hating her.”
“But she deserves it.”
“That doesn’t do shit for me.”
It’s a valid point.
Incredibly mature.
Incredibly unappealing.
“I still hate her.” My stomach churns. I should get over it, for his sake, but I can’t.
“You don’t have to.”
“How could I not? She destroyed you, Ryan.” My voice rises to something much too loud for the family restaurant. “You were about to fall apart. For months.”
He stares back at me with those piercing blue eyes.
“You barely got through it. And she doesn’t even care. She doesn’t care that she destroyed you.”
“I’m here.”
“But you’re—”
“Hopeless?”
“No, I—”
“That’s what you think of me.”
“It isn’t.” I press my palms against the table. “Stop telling me how I feel.”
“Stop making me guess.”
My fingers dig into the table.
“You make me guess everything, Leigh.”
“And you?”
He ignores the question. “It’s been two years. You still haven’t told me why you left Rock Bottom.”
“And you’re always sharing your feelings with me?”