Ruin Me (31 page)

“Well, you figured wrong.” She gives a friendly face, as if everything is chill as fuck. “I’m meeting Mandy for lunch.” She reaches out and knocks on her door. It opens quickly and Mandy peeks her head out. “Hey, lady.”

“Hey, Piper. I just need a minute.” She suddenly closes the door again.

“Hmm…” Piper hums.

“Have you heard?” I ask.

“Heard what?”

“She and Shawn broke up…
again
.”

Piper sighs. “That would explain the urgent message I got from her asking me to get down here as soon as possible.”

“It happens about once a month or so,” I fill her in. “I’m sure things will be back to normal in a few days.”

“Good.” She crosses her arms and leans against the wall with her eyes fallen on her feet.

The door opens again and Mandy steps out into the hall. “Let’s go,” she says quickly. She grips Piper’s arm and pulls her away.

“Mandy…” I call after her. “Can we talk?”

She looks back at me and wrinkles her nose. “Not right now, Kai.”

Piper shoots a confused glance over her shoulder. “See you later, Kai.”

I grit my teeth, unsure if I’m angry or happy with how casual her tone is. “Yeah, later,” I say back. I watch as she struggles to keep up with Mandy’s fast pace.

“What’s gotten into you?” I hear her ask as they turn the corner.

I stare at their door. I don’t want to return to Shawn empty handed, so I reach out and knock.

The door opens a few moments later and Nina smiles up at me. “Hey, Kai,” she greets. “Mandy just left.”

“I know, I saw her,” I say. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“Why does Shawn think he and Mandy broke up and the two of you are together?”

She scoffs and raises an eyebrow. “Dating one of you really is like dating all of you, isn’t it?” she asks.

“So, it’s true?” I ask.

“It’s a
little
true.”

“How little?”

“Look, Kai…” She leans against the door frame. “I don’t want to be rude, but… I’m not going to talk about this with you. It’s not really any of your business.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not,” she argues. “I get it. You guys are all really close and I’m sure any outsider is immediately considered a threat to Homeland Security, but I haven’t done anything wrong here.”

“I didn’t say you did,” I say. “I just want to get all the facts so I can help out my friends.”

“That’s really nice of you and all,” she says, “but maybe you should focus on your own love life for a little while, because from what I hear, you already have your hands pretty full.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she closes the door on me.

Empty handed.

I knock again and the door swings open.

“What?” she snaps.

“Have you ever thought about me naked?”

She stares back at me with annoyance. It feels so good, I smile down at her. “No,” she scoffs before slamming the door again.

Maybe Shawn is right. At least, he’ll feel good about that for a little while until I can fix this.

Chapter 30

Piper

I keep silent as Mandy leads me outside. Whatever happened, it’s got her riled up good. Kai told me they broke up, but I’ve seen a Mandy break-up before and it’s never like this. She’s shaken up to the core, but she usually shrugs off things like this.

Damn, Kai is handsome.

It was nice seeing him again, although I don’t much care for how casual he appeared. It was an act, I could see it in his eyes, but I don’t understand why he felt the need to be like that. Has he made up his mind? If so, why hasn’t he contacted me? What’s taking him so long anyway? He either wants me or he doesn’t. It can’t possibly be that difficult to—

“Piper…”

I look at Mandy. “What’s going on, lady?” I ask her.

She sits me down on a bench at the center of campus and avoids my eyes as she speaks. “I think I’m dating a girl,” she says.

“Okay…” I wait patiently for the punchline.

“Nina, specifically,” she continues.

“And what makes you think you’re dating your roommate?” I ask.

“Last week, Shawn and I had a three-way with her.”

“Whoa—” I grab her wrist. “What, when?”

“It was the night of your dinner party.” She looks at me with hesitation. “I didn’t tell you because I figured I’d wait a day or so until you and Kai worked out your stuff first.”

“Yeah, well…” I shake my head. “We’re
both
still waiting on that.”

“He hasn’t called you yet?”

“Nope. Complete radio silence — but forget about that. What happened between you and Shawn? Kai said you broke up.”

She nods. “It’s been
tense
since the night with Nina. I mean, it was a
great night
. We all had a good time, or so I thought.”

“I see where this is going…” I mutter, nodding slowly.

“He kept asking questions about me and her,” she continues. “Apparently, our moans sounded
different
when we did stuff without him and we both seemed a little
too
experienced
with each other. You know — basic first-time three-way male nonsense.”

“He knows you’ve been with other women before,” I point out. “Of course, you know your way around one.”

“Yeah, well…” She sighs. “That argument did little to dissuade his accusations of dorm room treachery. Anyway, we had a big fight last night and I was so pissed off, I… kind of went back to the room and Nina and I… got handsy with each other.”

“Sounds like a real complicated situation,” I smile.

“I knew Kai would immediately intervene,” she says. “He always does. So, I called you and hoped you’d get here to rescue me before he tried.”

“Kai intervenes?” I ask.

“On Shawn’s behalf,” she answers. “Every time he and I have a fight, Kai swoops in and talks me out of leaving him for good. Each time, I think,
‘Nope. This is it this time. Shawn and I are done.’
But then…”

I smile. I can’t help it. “Yeah. Kai’s pretty good with words.”

“He certainly can be…” She looks over at me and rolls her eyes. “When he actually uses them, anyway.”

“Exactly…” I shake my head. “Why hasn’t he called me yet?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “He asked for your number days ago.”

“He did?”

She nods.

My pulse slows. “I guess that means he’s done with me then.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do.” I look out at the grounds and watch as two guys throw a football back and forth. Neither of them catch it and they spend the majority of their time fumbling about to pick it up. “He wouldn’t sit on this, Mandy. Either he’s in or he’s out. If he’s in, he would have called. If he’s out… well… he probably just moved on.”

“I’d offer to talk to him for you, but then I’d feel like a lame-ass hypocrite,” she says. “I can’t exactly avoid him about my break-up and get involved with yours, too.”

“I don’t want you to talk to him anyway,” I say. “He’s a big boy. He can make his own decisions.”

Mandy sighs. “You should talk to him while you’re here, though.”

I shake my head. “There’s nothing I could say to him that I haven’t already said,” I claim.

“That is completely false.”

“I appreciate the advice, but I think I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, Mandy.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

I glare at her from the corners of my eyes. “I’m holding steady.”

Mandy glances around as if she smells something foul. “Jeez, what the hell happened to you?” she spits.

I sit back. “What do you mean?”

“You have been called many things, Piper Lynch. Doormat isn’t one of them. Until now.”

I keep my eyes from rolling back. “I’m not a doormat. What the hell is this about?”

“You’re
really
just going to sit back and wait until the day when Kai Casablancas may or may not decide he wants to be with you?”

“I left the decision up to him,” I argue. “He wasn’t sure, so I gave him time. What’s wrong with that?”

“The Piper I know would never have given him the option to drag this out,” she says. “She would have said
it’s now or never
then walked away. You would never have bothered with this will-they-won’t-they crap before.”

“I—” I trip on my words. “It’s different now.”

“It’s really not,” she says. “Kai is just another guy.”

“No, he’s not.” My lip shakes. It’s a foreign feeling. I’ve never had to explain myself to Mandy before. She and I have always just understood each other. Even when we didn’t agree, we understood. “I’ve never loved anyone like this before.”

“All the more reason to push him harder, Piper. Isn’t that the whole reason why you came back here in the first place?” she asks. “I mean, it sure as hell wasn’t to see me —
your best friend.”

“Hey…” I stare at her and she looks away. “Low blow.”

Mandy sighs and reaches up to scratch her nose. “Sorry…” she mutters. “I’m pretty emotionally drained at the moment.”

I extend my arm and wrap it around her, pulling her in to lay her head on my shoulder. “I’m pretty sure awkward three-way break-up drama earns you a free pass,” I tell her. “Don’t worry about it.” I plant a friendly kiss on her head, much to the delight of a few passing athletes in jerseys. I roll my eyes. “My god, there’s no difference between high school and college guys, is there?”

She chuckles. “That’s usually why we aimed a little older, if I recall.”

“Maybe you’re right, Mandy,” I say. “Maybe we have changed.”

“Fucking Europe, man…”

I laugh. “So, what are you going to do?” I ask as I push my fingers through her thick, brown locks. “Shawn or Nina?”

She sits back and licks her lips. “Well… while Nina is fun, I don’t want to date a woman. At least, not right now.”

“And will you go back to Shawn?”

“If he’ll take me,” she mutters.

“If he won’t, we could always run away with each other,” I joke.

She grins. “Don’t tempt me, succubus.” She rises to her feet and holds out her hand. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” I take her hand and she pulls me off the bench.

“We have some conversations to have.”

I try to pull my hand away, but she keeps a firm grip on it. “Mandy…” I say.

Her fingers entwine with mine. “Come on.”

I let her pull me along. “I’ll support you with whatever you need,” I tell her, “but I’m not talking to Kai.” Her grip on me is so tight, my fingers begin to throb.

***

Mandy doesn’t even knock when we reach Shawn and Kai’s room. She pushes the door open and pulls me inside along with her. I once again try to take my hand away, but she refuses to let me go.

“Will you let me go, please?” I ask her. She twists around me and pushes me into the room in front of her. “What the hell, Mandy?”

The door slams closed behind me and I glance around the room. Kai stands up from his desk with a concerned look in his eyes while Shawn lingers on his bed. I turn back to Mandy to find she’s planted herself in front of the door. She flicks her wrist behind her and loudly locks it.

“Okay…” she addresses us all. “No one is leaving this room until we work out our shit.”

“Mandy, come on…” I say, avoiding Kai’s stare.

“Nope.” She shakes her head. “If there’s one thing that can be said about the four of us, it’s that we never say what we need to say unless we’re trapped together in small, confined places. Case and point: The trains in Europe.”

“Mandy, what are you doing?” Kai asks.

“I’m fixing this.”

Shawn stands up and walks over to her. “Please don’t break up with me again,” he says to her. “I’m just an idiot. You know that.”