Frigid

“Kyler Qui

Sydney

The di

But with him looking at me like I was the only thing he needed in his life? I was starting to side with the crawling-into-his-lap part when a voice made to get guys drop their pants slithered over my skin like snakes.

Forcing my gaze away from Kyler’s dark brown eyes, I saw a girl I barely recognized. Took me a few minutes to remember her name was Corie. We’d gone to high school together. Had no idea what she’d been up to over the years, but I remembered who’d been up her several times in high school.

My gaze traveled over her red, skintight sweater. Corie had boobs dreams were made of. She looked at me, and I knew she dismissed my presence outright. Like there was no way the fact that Kyler was sitting next to me at a table meant anything.

Any other time, this probably wouldn’t have bothered me. If anything, I was used to random chicks approaching Kyler everywhere we went. The boy was well-traveled, but right now, after everything? Yeah, it did not make me feel warm or fuzzy.

Andrea muttered something under her breath as Kyler turned slowly. “Hey,” he said evenly. “How’ve you been, Corie?”

Corie popped a hand on her hip as her red-painted lips spread into a smile. “I’ve been good. Haven’t seen you around lately. Guess you’re home for Christmas?”

“No shit,” Andrea muttered under her breath, and I was sure Corie hadn’t heard her.

Ta

“Yeah, I’m home for a little while.” Kyler dropped his arm along the back of the seat behind me. “Then we’re heading back to school.”

If “we’re” was a hidden code for something, no one got it, especially not Corie. She tossed pretty blonde waves over her shoulder, and then crossed her arms. Even my eyes went straight to her cleavage. “I’m on break, too, from Shepherd, until the fifteenth of January. We should get together.”

It was like I wasn’t even sitting there.

“I don’t know about that,” Kyler replied diplomatically. “I’m going to be real busy, but it was good seeing you, okay?”

Corie blinked, and her lips formed a perfect O. I was doing the same thing. I couldn’t even think of a time that Kyler had shot down a pretty girl. Granted, it could be because I was sitting right there, and given our newly acquired history, he was being a little more discreet than normal.

My gaze caught Andrea’s and she had this biggest cat-ate-every-canary-in-the-cage grin, and I couldn’t help the smirk that graced my lips.

“Well, call me. I’ll make time for you, if you make time for me.” Corie smiled, but it lacked the confidence of earlier. “See you around.”

Kyler nodded.

After Corie bounced off somewhere, silence descended on the table and the smirk slipped away from my lips. Unease turned the food in my stomach and I wished I hadn’t eaten what I had. Ta

Even our friends.

Because right now, Ta

Even if Kyler and I got past this and moved on as friends, our friends would always be uncomfortable. The weight of that knowledge settled on my shoulders and I slumped down, wanting nothing more than to go home and crawl into bed.

The truth, no matter what Andrea said or I wanted to believe, was that Kyler wasn’t the kind of guy who was into commitments. And if he wanted to be with me, he would’ve called or done something after I left. Anything other than drinking himself into a stupor, and of course he probably wanted to salvage our friendship. He was…he was a good guy like that.

Andrea smiled at me, and she seemed to sense how far my mood had plummeted. “You ready to get out of here?”

Ignoring Kyler’s sharp look, I nodded. I don’t think at that moment there was anything I wanted more than to get the hell out of there.

Chapter 23

Kyler

The girls made a quick exit, leaving Ta

“That went brilliantly,” I said, rubbing my temples.

Ta

“That was just awkward?” I couldn’t believe that Corie had popped by our table. Syd and I seemed to be getting somewhere and then BAM, a blast from the past. Perfect fucking timing. “I’m sure Syd enjoyed that.”

He took a swig of his beer. “Buddy, you need to tell me what happened between you two, because a week ago, Sydney probably would’ve been irked about that, but she wouldn’t have cared that much. So stop with the bullshit and tell me what happened.”

I arched a brow at him.

Ta

“I am a giant ass.”

He tipped his chin down. “Do tell.”

The last thing I wanted to be doing was talking female problems with Ta

Ta

“Shit. You and me both.” I ran a hand through my hair. “So yeah, I fucked up. Royally.”

“Well, people have fucked up more than you have, bro. Trust me on that.” He leaned forward, expression serious. “The shit with Zach is fucking terrible, but you didn’t know that stuff was going to happen. Sydney’s a reasonable girl. She’ll get over that.”

“I don’t think I can get over that.” I paused, staring at the table. “The fucker hurt her because of what I did in my past. If it wasn’t for me, she never would’ve gone through that.”

“But you didn’t do that to her.”

“Is there really a difference?”

“Yes,” Ta

I got what he was saying, but it would take a lot to absolve me of that guilt.

“And that’s not the big issue,” Ta

“Shit.” I raised my hands. “I really don’t know. I mean, when Syd asked me about her, it was before anything went down between us. I didn’t think Syd really thought of me any different. All I said was that Sasha and I weren’t like that. And we’re not. We hooked up once over a year ago. I just wasn’t thinking when I said it to Syd.”