I don’t approve of this loop hole.
And, I kind of want Rhys Reid to shop for me too.
Easy, I said my stylist would do it.
CAROLINE
Potato, potato
IVANNA
That phrase doesn’t work via text.
Chapter forty-two
Rhys
Midnight Kissin’
"Thankgoodnessthingsdidn’tmaterialize with that hockey player." Zara says as she plops down on the sofa in the recording studio.
"What do you mean?" I ask her as my mind fills with Duncan.
Actually, no, that makes it seem like I've stopped thinking about him for any significant stretch of time.
Duncan has been, fuck, heison my mind constantly.
I hear his laugh when passing groups of friends on the sidewalk when I take a walk between recording sessions.
I see his amber brown eyes behind every eyeglass frame.
I smell his bright and woodsy aroma in every mug of coffee or glass of Scotch I bring to my lips.
"My friend Lydia is dealing with the boys on her team getting named to all sorts of lists." Zara laughs as she scrolls.
"What kinds of lists?"
"Well, like this," she turns her phone to me and a gasp slips from my lips. I cover it quickly with a cough. And swallow thickly before fully processing what I’m looking at.
Duncan is smiling rakishly at the camera, his hair falling forward across his forehead, eyes wide and bright behind his glasses, his suit shirt almost scandalously unbuttoned.
My fingers tingle with the phantom memory of the coarse texture of the space over his heart.
And above his photo in title case lettering the words "Hottest Puck Boys Ranked" and my heart stutters like a record scratch.
With sweaty palms, I carefully hand the phone back to Zara. She resumes scrolling and my vision blurs at the edges.
Because I’m suddenly trapped in an alternate reality.
Duncan going back to his one-night-stand habits.
Duncan in bed with someone else.
Duncan realizing he’s absolutely boyfriend material and making some other man the happiest in the world.
Lennox is late, or maybe I’m too early like usual, but I need to cancel. Today is fucked. There’s no way I’ll be able to record anything worth keeping.
Plus it’s New Year’s Eve, who works a full day today?
