Page 10 of Rival Season
“What the hell is going on here, Hazel?” Chadwick seethes.
I open my mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. Because I also have no idea what the hell is going on here.
“See, I’ve wanted to ask Hazel out for ages. But I don’t mess around when someone’s in a relationship…because some of us have standards,” Penn says pointedly. “The minute she was single, I finally had the chance to ask her out, though. Your loss is my gain.” Penn winks at Chadwick.
Yeah, he definitely heard most of our conversation.
Chadwick looks like he’s ready to commit murder. It’s probably a good thing he’s injured; otherwise fists would be flying.
“Well, I need to get my girl to bed,” Penn says, using his arm around my shoulders to steer us toward the door. “You know how hard she works. Hazel needs her rest.”
“This isn’t over,” Chadwick says through gritted teeth.
I honestly can’t tell if he’s talking to me…or Penn.
Penn opens the door just enough for me to slip through then he follows closely, making sure the metal door latches so Chadwick can’t follow us.
“You okay?” he asks once we’re safely inside.
I stare at him, my wits finally coming back. “What was that?”
Penn holds his hands up, his bag of takeout dangling in one. “Just trying to help.”
“Well, Playboy, I don’t need your help,” I snip, the words coming out as hateful as a slap in the face.
“Right,” he says, taking a step away from me toward the stairwell. “Suit yourself.” His hand reaches out to open the door, and I close my eyes, hating how I’m taking my frustration with Chadwick out on him. I should stop him and apologize. I could explain that it’s been a long week and I’m exhausted…but I don’t. Partially because I’m embarrassed that this serial-dating, party-loving, obnoxious guy from upstairs is trying to helpme, a PhD candidate who should have her life together. I also can’t muster the mental energy to deal with any more drama tonight.
“Nice slippers, by the way,” Penn says with a smirk, before he disappears through the door, and my chance to smooth things over is gone.
With a heavy sigh, I press the button for the elevator and step onto it when the door slides open. On the short ride up to the second floor, I replay my conversation with Chadwick, wondering how I ignored every warning sign during our relationship. I thought he’d at least be apologetic, that he’d regret his actions and regret hurting me. But he genuinely doesn’t care about me at all.
And that might hurt even more than finding out he cheated.
CHAPTER 5
PENN
Sitting in a dimly lit,downtown dive bar with my roommates, I hum along to “Cherry Pie”by Warrant. This place is so decrepit, they’re still playing music from a jukebox…but I like the vibes. The music is merely background noise for the bar’s trivia night that Ally dragged us to, hushed whispers from each trivia group nearly drowning out the lyrics to the classic rock song.
“Kangaroo,” Noah says in a low voice.
“Or a koala?” Ally whispers back, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder as she looks sideways to make sure the next table can’t hear her.
Noah nods. “Oh yeah. Good guess.”
“And there are emus,” Fisher adds, his green eyes scarily thoughtful. “And those weird little duck billed things. You know, with the stingers? They live there, too. I saw them when I was in Cairns.”
“Platypus,” Noah supplies, and I suppress a smirk. He’s such a nerd.
“That’s the one.” Fisher makes a finger gun at the answer page. “Could be that, too.”
The three of them frown, deep in thought. Meanwhile, I busy myself with grabbing the pitcher of beer from the table and topping up my pint glass with the flat, slightly stale liquid. Fisher’s is also empty, so I fill it up, too.
“Thanks, Matthews,” he mutters distractedly as he taps his fingers on the sticky tabletop. “What do you think the answer is?”
“I didn’t even hear the question,” I admit, glancing down at my phone in my lap—we’re not meant to use them during the quiz—and seeing my sister texted me.
Fisher shakes his head in dismay. “The question was, what’s the national animal of Australia?”
