Page 17 of Break Away
Ryan rubbed a hand over his mouth, badly hiding a smile.
I handed Charm a water. “How is the academic support system working out?”
Charm took the glass, her cheeks going barely pink. “Lethal at thesis statements. Terrible at explaining symbolism without insulting dead men.”
“Dead men wrote a lot of nonsense,” Ryan said.
Charm turned toward him. “You called Tennyson emotionally unemployed.”
“He was.”
“He was grieving.”
“Then he should have gotten a job and a therapist.”
Bliss made a soft sound of pure delight.
I looked at Charm and lowered my voice. “Cee, I say this with love and one hundred percent support. Whatever you are thinking, do it.”
Charm’s mouth dropped open while Ryan’s eyebrows lifted.
“Aura,” Charm said.
“What? I’m pro-education.”
“You’re basically telling me to fuck Ryan.” She glanced at him and gave a small, apologetic shrug.
“I am living vicariously.”
Ryan looked at Bliss. “Has she been like this all night?”
Bliss sighed. “She found out Easton got captain.”
The humor shifted too fast.
Ryan’s eyes moved to me without pity or curiosity, only that quiet assessment that made people feel like he had found the bruise without touching it.
“He earned it,” I said before he could ask.
Ryan nodded once. “He did.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t.”
“That was implied by your face.”
“My face rarely implies. It usually accuses.”
Charm reached across the bar and touched my forearm with two fingers, a small, elegant tether. “Are you okay?”
I gave her the smile I used on customers who complained about ice. “I am thriving.”
Bliss made a noise. “She is not thriving.”
“I am thriving with hostility.”
Charm’s eyes softened. “That sounds exhausting.”
