The Hazards of a One Night Stand (Hazards #2)(33)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Reed and I have been talking about going out to my grandparents’ beach house. Want to come with?” Juliet wasn’t super wealthy or anything, but her grandparents had a place on an exclusive island about a half hour outside the city.

“Sure! I’ll ask Aaron.” The expression on Cara’s face said it all. She was already picturing herself on the beach with her other half.

“Oh. I don’t want to be the fifth wheel.”

“You won’t be. Tanner would come.” Juliet smiled. “You don’t have to share a room if you don’t want. He can sleep on the couch or something.”

“Oh. Tanner?”

“Bingo!” Juliet yelled out.

“What?”

“I caught you.”

“Caught me?”

“If you were into Tanner, you’d be excited. And it’s not about sex, because I gave you an out there. You don’t want Tanner, you want someone else.”

I shook my head. “No. I just don’t want to spend a weekend with any guy, okay?”

“Just answer the question. Are you into Tanner or Colt?”

“Neither.” I was tired of lying to them, but I wasn’t ready to admit what had happened at the practice field.

“Okay, then let’s take care of part of this. Tell Tanner that.”

“I will.”

“Do it now.”

“No. We’re having lunch.”

“And he’s walking this way right now.” Juliet nodded toward the door behind me.

I groaned. “No way.”

“Hey, ladies.” Tanner slipped into the empty seat next to me. Mental note. Always sit next to someone.

“Hey, Tanner,” Cara said. I said nothing.

“Don’t I get a hello?” He turned his attention to me. “I didn’t know you girls ate lunch here.”

“Where did you think we ate?” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. This meeting was as far from random as Gasden was from being a major bustling metropolis.

“I don’t know. There are plenty of eating establishments in the area.” He grinned.

“Well, aren’t you going to get food?”

“Maybe later.” He put an arm behind my chair.

Juliet gave me a look. She was challenging me and trying to get me to do the right thing. The problem is, I didn’t know what that was. Breaking up with Tanner was necessary, but how I did it was important too.

“Mallory?” Tanner said my name and I realized I’d just missed what he’d been saying.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Cara and Juliet laughed in a forced ‘this is awkward’ sort of way.

“I was asking what you were up to this weekend.”

“I’m not sure.”

“So you’re not going out to the beach?” He looked at Juliet. “Reed mentioned you were inviting your roommates too.”

Damn Reed.

“Cara’s probably in. Mallory doesn’t know yet.” Juliet shot me a well-meaning look. She was trying to help.

I turned to him. “We need to talk.”

“Here?”

“Let’s go for a walk.” I wrapped up my mostly uneaten sandwich and slipped it into my bag. Only eating part of my lunch was becoming a bad habit. Hopefully, I’d have the appetite to finish it later.

“Sounds good.” He stood up. “See you around, girls.”

“Bye.” Both Juliet and Cara gave me their best game faces. I hoped he didn’t notice. I didn’t want him to think we’d been plotting this the whole time. I guess it didn’t matter anyway.

“I wanted to talk to you too.” He held open the door, and I walked out.

“What did you want to talk about?” Maybe he sensed the same thing I did. That things weren’t working.

“Jana.”

“What about her?” Was he going to admit he still had feelings for her?

“I don’t want you to let her ruin what we have going here.”

“Excuse me?”

“I didn’t want to say anything about it the other night, but this morning I could tell something’s different. You’ve already assured me you’re not into Colt, so it’s got to be Jana.”

“I don’t want to hurt my sister.” That much was true. She was really sweet and aside from her drunken bitterness had always been nice to me. Using Jana as an excuse could be an easy way out without having to confess about Colt.

Tanner stopped at a bench and gestured for me to sit down. “You don’t have to hurt her. We broke up ages ago.”

I sat, placing my bag next to me on the bench. “Still, I can’t do that to her.”

“So that’s it? You want to break things off because I dated one of your sorority sisters before you even met me?” Instead of sitting on the other side of my bag like I expected, he moved it, and sat down beside me.

“I haven’t even talked to Jana about it.”

“Then talk to her and get back to me. This is pointless.”

“Okay. Fine.” I needed to stop playing games. It would only lead to someone getting hurt. “I don’t think it’s going to work with us.”

“Don’t go into acting, hon. You suck at it.”

“I’m not acting.”

“You’re worried about Jana. I get that.”

“It’s more than that. I don’t want to keep seeing you.”

He smiled. Was he crazy? “Dinner next weekend? Or better yet, let’s spend next weekend at the beach together.”

“What part of ‘I don’t think it’s going to work’ don’t you get? I don’t want to go out with you anymore.”

“You are not breaking up with me.” His voice rose and his eyes widened.

“We were never in a relationship so technically this isn’t a break up. It’s more of a ‘thanks, but no thanks.’”

He laughed. “All right. Let’s take a break. Talk to Jana, clear your conscious. I’ll call you in a few weeks.” Without another word, he stood up and walked away.

Had that just happened?

Chapter Sixteen

“Why aren’t you ready to go?” Cara walked back from the bathroom wrapped in a plush purple towel.

I set aside the sociology text I was skimming through. “To the Kappa party? I’m not going.”

“Why not?” She slipped into the pink dress she had lying out on the bed.