Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

I glance down at my moo shoo and scooch it across my plate. “I think you
need to get out a bit more, if you find me witty, Zenzero.”
He’s still looking at me when I peer up. Clearing my throat, I take a long
drink of water. “You were saying, about Maddox? Before I made you aspirate a
wonton.”
Ren blinks away finally. “He frustrates me. He should show you and every
other person he crosses paths with a lot more respect. But Maddox is still the
asshole jock that I’m sure he was in high school.”
“Which you weren’t.”
“No, I wasn’t. I was good at sports, but I was also the kid who got emotional
in tenth grade English when our class read aloud Romeo and Juliet.”
I bite my lip so I don’t laugh. I think that’s insanely endearing and healthy,
that Ren’s in touch with his soft side, but I know firsthand how hard it is to tell if
someone’s laughing at you or with you. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.
In the past, I wouldn’t have thought anything could bring Ren down. I
wouldn’t have worried about laughing. But in the past few days, Ren’s shown
me that much more lies beneath that chipper smile. All I ever knew him to be
was this effortlessly upbeat, hunky, talented guy. The sun shone out of Ren’s
ass, the world was at his fingertips, and secretly, that level of happy-go-lucky
perfection grated on me.
But what Ren’s shown me is that inside this mature exterior of the pristine
swan, there’s a long-ago ugly duckling. A sweet, awkward dork who never
really fit in, who still maybe doesn’t feel like he fits in anywhere. And that
means we have a metric shit ton more in common than I ever thought.
Not that commonality is important. For someone I’m not attracted to. Who I
don’t want to sleep with. At all. Ever.
I clear my throat and try to straighten my posture on the exercise ball. “So,
having to rub shoulders with Maddox bothers you. The punching bag is how you
deal with your frustration that the bullies are still at large.”
Ren glances up from his food, looking surprised. “Among other things,
yeah.”
“Well, listen.” I snap a fortune cookie in two and give him one half. “If it
makes you feel any better, you got the last laugh. Matt’s a mean-spirited prick.
His reputation is shit, and I think we’ll end up having to pay another team to take
him. Then look at you, look where you are.”
Ren accepts his fortune cookie. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
I almost fire back a blunt remark about false modesty, but I’m stopped by
this newfound knowledge he’s given me: Ren honestly doesn’t see himself how
everyone else does. He isn’t feigning humility or fishing for a compliment. He