The Friend Zone (Game On, #2)(55)

Take a break. Not be together so much.

Hurt slams through me so hard that my knee jerks, hitting the underside of the table and almost knocking it over.

“Sorry,” I mutter, as she scrambles to keep her cup from falling.

I want to shout at her that this is the worst f*cking idea she’s ever come up with. That taking a break sounds like torture. But she’s not finished ripping my heart out.

“And if you’re not always with me, you can…you know… go out. With girls. Hook up or whatever.”

I’d like to think her expression conveys the same misery as I feel. But I can’t be sure. I can no longer think straight. “Kind of hard to do that,” I snap. “When the entire campus will soon think I have a flatulence problem.”

She cringes. “Right. Sorry. But I doubt anyone will believe it. Or even care. Most women obviously would overlook anything to get to you.”

Oh. Joy. I don’t give a ripe f*ck what other women believe. I don’t want to be with anyone other than Ivy. Her helpful comment makes me want to scream. And then another horrible thought hits me.

“Wait, why are we talking about hook ups?” My voice is rising, along with my panic.

Her gaze slides away from mine. “Well… We’re both clearly in need of some sexual relief. Why shouldn’t we find it—”

“Am I cramping your style? Blocking you from all these potential dates you have lined up?” I don’t even know what I’m saying. Panic has me by the balls. She’s slipping away from me, and I can’t seem to hold on.

Her eyes narrow. “You think I can’t get a date?”

“Hey, I did not say that.”

The tension leaves her with a sad sigh, and she slumps a little. “This is getting off track, and we’re sniping at each other, which is not what I wanted.”

I rake a hand through my hair and blow out a long breath through my nose. “Are you…” I take another breath. “Do you want to go out on dates?” I’m going to be sick. I’m going to f*cking throw up. All over f*cking Java Cup.

Her lips pinch. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s time that I do.”

Mac. On a date.

The cup in my hand crumples, sending hot coffee splattering every which way.

“Shit.” I jump up, shaking coffee off my hand.

Mac jumps up as well, grabbing napkins to mop the mess, until she sees my hand. “Did you burn yourself?”

She touches my reddened hand, but I snatch it away. “I’m good.” My throat is closing in on me. I can’t be here. I back away, tripping over the leg of a chair before righting myself.

“Gray,” she says in a soft plea. “I’m just trying to fix things.”

“Use me,” I blurt out.

Ivy stills, the space between her brows furrowing. “What?”

“You want to f*ck someone. Fuck me.”

She rears as though I’ve spit on her face. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” I snap, a little desperate now. “You want to have sex. Have sex with me.”

“We. Are. Friends.” She enunciates every word through her clenched teeth as color rises over her face.

“Oh, please, Ivy. You came on my fingers. I think we’re way past just friends.”

Bad route to go. Bad f*cking route.

Her face flames red, her nostrils flaring. “You *. You think because you got an orgasm out of me that I’m now some sort of easy lay—”

“No, Ivy. No.” Fisting my hands at my sides, I lean in, lowering my voice. “That is not what I meant, okay? Just that we’re obviously attracted to each other. And there’s this tension. So why not alleviate it by—”

“No,” she hisses. “Screwing around will ruin everything. Not to mention that you’re one of my dad’s potential clients.”

A sharp breath shoots through my lungs, as if she sucker-punched the air out of me. “Your dad? You’re worried about my relationship with your dad?”

I let out a strangled curse, and rake my hand through my hair, the urge to rip it out making my hand clench. The guys had warned me about this, but I never imagined she’d think the same.

Gaze sliding away, her chin firms. “It would make things awkward, complicated between you two.”

“Then let’s make this simple. I won’t pick him as my agent.”

Ivy’s hair swings over her shoulders as she whips around to glare at me. “No. You can’t do that. I won’t be responsible for him losing you as a client. Do you have any idea how shitty that would make me feel?”

“And what about us? Am I that expendable to you?” Fuck if my voice doesn’t crack.

“Of course not.” She wraps her arms around her middle, taking a step back. “But it’s foolish to enter into a relationship with you if he’s going to be your agent.”

“We’re already in a relationship, Ivy.” My voice bounces over the walls, turning heads, drawing stares. I put my back between the room and Ivy. “And it’s the most important one of my life.”

The words barely leave my mouth when it hits me just how much I want a relationship with her. Ivy has been my girl all along, the One. I’ve just been too scared, too cautious to fully admit it to myself.