Page 54 of Soul Of A Villain

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Page 54 of Soul Of A Villain

“Probably, but I’m happier way out here.”

“Why’s that?”

I shrugged. “I lived on campus for the first couple of years because of soccer. But it felt so claustrophobic. And the guyson the team—don’t get me wrong, most of them are great, but soccer was like, a religion for them. It was life. But for me, it was just a way to get out of my hometown. I was good at it, but I never cared about it the way they did.”

Quinn’s dark brown eyes were glued to mine, and I felt warmth creeping up the back of my neck. Ilikedhaving his eyes on me.

“Mix that with the fact that when you’re on campus, you’re never really away from your classes, your professors, and all that academic stuff and it felt…too much, I guess. It started to seem like the only thing in the world. I needed to get out.”

“So the three of you ended up in Park View?” Quinn asked. “Why not pick somewhere closer to campus?”

“Oh, Raf and Amir already lived out here. I was just lucky that they had a third bedroom.”

Quinn frowned. “Aren’t they students too?”

I laughed. “Oh, God no. That’s funny though. Raf is twenty-seven, and Amir is twenty-nine.”

“How did you guys meet, then?”

“Work.” I paused. “Well, no, that’s not quite right. Amir and I used to run the same six-mile loop around the monuments on Sundays, and one day we got to talking. He’s actually the one who told me about Heartbreakers Anonymous, and helped me get hooked up with them.”

“I’m trying to imagine that conversation.” Quinn laughed. “How do you tell someone they’re hot enough to work as an escort without sounding really creepy?”

I wrinkled my nose. “We don’t really use the word ‘escort.’ It has some baggage. But it was actually pretty funny how it happened…”

I spent the next half hour telling Quinn about how I’d joined Heartbreakers and met the rest of the team—a story that involved an over-eager Dachshund, water balloons, and frilly pink bedroom curtains turned into a dress. He seemed fascinated, though he did slip and call me an escort a second time.

We kept passing the bottle back and forth, and after a few more swallows, I started to feel mellower. I handed the bottle to Quinn and watched him take a long drink, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. My fingers itched to stroke his skin, to lick his neck, to taste the vodka on his tongue. I bit my lip, remembering how sweet his mouth was.

“Ryder? Ryder!” Quinn snapped his fingers a foot from my face.

I blinked. “Hmm? What?”

“You drifted off there. I said your name like five times. Everything alright?”

He had that concerned look on his face again. I flushed, wondering how he’d feel if he knew what I’d just been daydreaming about.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I’m fine.”

“Really? Or are you finally going to tell me what you were upset about earlier?”

“Upset?” I asked.

“When I came over. You were staring at your phone like you couldn’t decide whether to throw it out the window or crush it with your fist.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“About your phone?”

“No, about me being upset. Am I really that transparent?”

“I don’t know. Who else said that to you? What was the context?”

“My friend Tessa. Well, she’s a client. But also a friend. And the other day, she said I was being…” I trailed off, realizing what I was about to say. I’d been hung up on Quinn that night with Tessa. “Nevermind.”

“I’ve got a guess, if you won’t tell me,” Quinn said.

“Hit me.”


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