“Perfect,” I smirked.“Who doesn’t love tacos?”
Truthfully, it actually wasn’t the tacos that was the problem, and we both knew it.Shrader Street was on the ‘bad side’ of town, and me and my car would definitely stand out if we went there to eat.Now, while I had no idea how comfortable Rya was on that side of town, this could very well be a test of my manhood, too.If we ran into any kind of trouble, we’d definitely find out what I was made of.
“I don’t get off work until four-thirty,” she said, letting me know that we were probably looking at a six-ish timeline, which was fine by me.
“Okay, then...six?”
“Okay, six it is,” she replied, and it wasn’t lost on me-or the two spectators in the room-that she didn’t sound exactly happy about it.
I waited for a few awkward seconds before I said, “Baby, I’m going to need your phone number in case something comes up.”
“Quit calling me that,” she ordered, finally addressing the endearment.“And why can’t you just call here and ask for me if something comes up?”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Rya, your phone,” I replied, my tone no longer a playful one.
Reluctantly, she pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocked it, then handed it to me, and I immediately set Kyle down, wasting no time entering my number, then texting myself to make sure that I had hers in return.This woman wasn’t eager to go out with me, and I wasn’t ignorant of that.
Once I handed back her phone, I said, “I’ll see you Friday.”
“I’ll see you Friday,” she echoed, and continuing to ignore our audience, I grabbed Kyle’s carrier again, then walked out of the lobby without another word for Rya or her two co-workers.I was too happy with finally getting a date out of her that I didn’t want to risk ruining it by opening my big mouth again.
It wasn’t until I got in my car that I finally let out a relieved sigh, and even though I made it a point to work out three-times a week, I was going to have to go extra hard these next few days if we were going to have dinner on goddamn Shrader Street.
Chapter 13
Rya~
I was nervous, and I wasn’t going to even pretend that I wasn’t.
After I had agreed to go out with Koen, I’d gone running to the back to tell Dalton all about how I had agreed to a date with him, and I’d even told him about how I had insisted on going to Guillermo’s on Shrader Street.Of course, once I had mentioned Shrader Street at six in the evening, Dalton had gone ballistic, demanding that I choose somewhere else or cancel the date altogether.
In short, he’d been pissed.
I’d also had to listen to a full hour’s worth of lecturing because that was in the best friends’ rules.No matter how insane, if the lecture came from a place of love, growth, or concern, then we were obligated to listen and learn.
