Page 17 of Rival Season
“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate,” Hazel goes on almost pleadingly. “It’s just the only idea I have that might actually make him leave.”
“No.” I shake my head, and her face falls.
She forces a smile as she reaches for the door handle. “I understand, it was stupid to ask, I?—”
“Hazel.” I gently grab her arm to stop her leaving. “I didn’t meannoas in I won’t help you. I meantno, your idea won’t work.”
Hazel blinks at me. “Why not?”
“Because I know Weatherby,” I explain. “And if we go down there and act all couple-y, it will just add fuel to his fire, and he’ll want to stay even more.”
AKA, he’ll view this purely as a competition he wants to win, and he’ll objectify Hazel as the prize. I don’t say this aloud, though, because I doubt she wants to hear that’s how the man she was in love with might view her.
Hazel considers my words, and I half-expect her to argue, but she nods. “That makes sense, actually.” She slumps and closes her eyes. “So what do I do?”
“You mean, what dowedo?” I correct. Then, I smile. Because I’m always down to piss Chad-dick off and make him sweat. “And the answer is, we psych him out.”
My neighbor’s eyes pop open, bright and alert. “What do you mean by that?”
“He knows you’re up here with me now, right?” I ask.
Hazel nods.
“Good. Then it’s already in motion.” I step back from her and walk back over to the bed and sit again.
Hazel arches a brow. “You’re going to have to elaborate.”
“It’s simple. We stay right here and let his imagination run wild until he can’t handle it anymore. If we’re downstairs at your place, he can keep tabs on what’s happening between us. And he’ll start making a game plan on how to win you back. But knowing you’re up here with me, right now, and not knowing what we’re doing? That’s probably killing him.”
“Psychological warfare…you evil genius,” Hazel says. Her tone holds some admiration—at least I hope it does, because some part of me wants to impress an intelligent woman like her.
“I bet you a thousand bucks he’s going to text at some point, checking in on you because he’s going crazy not knowing.” I grin at the thought. “And then, when you don’t answer, his mind’s going to start obsessing overwhyyou’re too busy to respond…”
Hazel’s eyes widen and her cheeks turn pink again as she processes what I’ve left unsaid. “Oh,” she gasps. “Smart. I never would have thought of that.”
“Hopefully he’ll realize he doesn’t want to spend his next few weeks being driven crazy, and leave. But if we’re going to wait him out, it might take a while.” I look at her pointedly. “So why don’t you have a seat.”
I’m surprised when she actually listens to my request, moving across the room. She pauses for a moment before perching delicately at theveryedge of the bed.
I smirk. “My sheets are clean, you know. I’ve washed them twice since the last time you stormed up here to lecture me.”
Hazel blushes and shifts her weight so she’s fully sitting. “Yes, it’s surprisingly tidy in here.” She looks around at my room, taking in the dark blue walls where I’ve hung framed prints of the Canadian Rockies, the oak dresser with my TV on it, and the king-sized bed she’s sitting on. I’m not neat as a pin like Noah, but I’m also not a slob. “Chadwick’s room always looked like a bomb had detonated. You could never see the floor through the dirty clothes. I think he was allergic to doing laundry. Or didn’t know how to use the machine.”
Spoiled rich prick probably had a maid clean up after him his whole life. And probably then got Hazel to do it when they were together.
For the millionth time, I wonder what someone like Hazel was doing with someone like that. How they even got together in the first place.
Hazel’s phone pings in her pocket, and I roll my eyes. “That didn’t take long.”
She looks at me in wonder. “Do you think that’s him already?”
“Yup.”
She slides her phone out of her pocket and opens the text, and I lean towards her so I can read it, too.
Cheater Chadwick
Are you coming back soon?
