Page 63 of Take The Risk

​Ugh…how much had she had to drink?

​“Good! Let’s see who our first contestants are.” She reached into the hat, pretended to rummage around, and then pulled out two pieces of paper. “Erik and Cady-Jo, time to shake your groove thing!”

​Erik and Cady-Jo smiled, happy with the pairing.

​One by one, Alex started to pair people off. Luke, who was one of Ty’s employees and friends, with Helen. Louise with Prescott. That had me sitting up straighter. I’d thought nothing of this game, believing she wouldn’t do it. Sure enough, Isaac, who was on break from working the bar, got paired up with Olivia.

​“Next is…Ty and Phoebe!”

​She did it. She really did it.

​Damn it. I should have known this was a setup. Alex continued to pair people off until she was paired with Preston. When she finally deigned to look at me, she gave me a saucy wink. Like that was going to make this better.

​Prescott nudged me. “Maybe I can convince him to trade.” He jerked his head to Ty’s now empty seat.

​“Not a chance,” Ty growled, stepping to the other side of my chair. Holding out his hand, he said, “This dance is mine.”

​“No!” Alex glared at my hesitation. “You have to do it. It’s the rules.”

​“This is a bullshit game,” I whisper-snarled at her.

​“And one you know the rules of,” she whispered right back. “Now dance with him. He deserves it.”

​Oh, did he now? I fumed, knowing she knew something I didn’t. I’d seen her drag Ty down the hall and figured I’d have to help her flee the country. Her shoving me at him with her rigged game hadn’t occurred to me.

​Ty closed his hand around mine, pulling me to my feet. “This way, sweetheart.”

​Sweetheart?

​My heart, the stupid recalcitrant organ, thudded hard in my chest, and I ruthlessly smothered the feeling. You know all you need to about how he feels about you, Phoebe. Don’t be suckered in.

​Ty pulled me onto the dance floor, Alex dragging Preston behind us.

​To my horror, I watched her wink at the DJ. A second later, Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” began. I cringed, wanting to run away. I couldn’t do this.

​“Come here.” Ty pulled me close, his hand finding the small of my back, his other hand holding my hand up. I stiffened, not wanting to be close to him. Okay, so my body really wanted to be close to him. It was my head and heart that wanted body armor first.

​“Hear him out,” Alex ordered, then spun Preston away with her.

​What the hell? She was supposed to be my best friend, and she was…

​“I screwed up,” Ty sighed, and my head snapped around. He was staring at me like I was the only thing he could see. He pulled me closer till there was no space between us. I instinctively looked around, trying to put space back where it should be.

​“I owe you an apology,” he said gravely, turning me so I couldn’t see anyone but him.

​“Whatever. It’s over. I don’t want to talk about it.”

​He closed his eyes with a pained look. “I fucked up, but you need to know I wasn’t—I was an asshole.”

​Yes, yes, he was. Still, it hurt me to see him looking so…not like Ty.

​Being me really sucked…

​“It’s okay. Things are fine. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just move on.” I hated each word that came out of my mouth. I didn’t want to move on. I wanted to curl up and cry. I was pathetic. Ty had been a dick to me, and I couldn’t handle seeing him upset…

​“It’s not okay,” he contradicted me. “Fuck. There are too many people here. But what happened this week, it isn’t what you think.”

​Yeah, I was sure it wasn’t. The week he’d had to work with his dad, something that had been preplanned when I’d signed my contract with him, was over, and now he wanted to make finishing my reno less awkward.