Breaking All the Rules novel Chapter 43

I see Owen sitting at a table outside the café with some of his teammates. Just the sight of him makes me angry. How dare he go around telling everyone we're dating! Now Ian hates me and it's all his fault, okay maybe not all of it is his fault. I never should've gone out with him in the first place. Had I known Ian liked me I never would've gone out with Owen. I've made such a mess of my life and there is no fixing it.

I march toward Owen and stand in front of him, arms folded against my chest. "Hey, Kamdyn." He says looking me up and down taking in my short skirt and heeled boots.

"We need to talk." I say through tight lips.

"Okay." His friends laugh and someone punches him in the shoulder when he stands up. Once we're out of hearing range he says, "What's up?"

"Why are you going around telling people we're dating?"

"What?" He looks confused. "I'm not, all I said is we went out and I really like you." He

reaches for my hand but I pull it away. "I do really like you."

"I told you from the beginning I'm not looking for a relationship."

"I know. We're keeping it casual. I just had to brag about how I finally got you to say yes. That's all. If I knew you wanted to keep it a secret I wouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

I feel my anger dissipate, now I feel guilty for confronting him. I didn't tell him not to tell anyone so how would he have known? "No, I'm sorry, I've just had a crappy week."

He rubs both of my arms with his callused hands. It's a little chilly today and I'm really regretting wearing a skirt. I really should've worn pants and a light jacket today. I shiver from the chill of the wind. "You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm just a little cold."

"Wanna wear my coat?" He starts shrugging out of his coat.

"No, it's okay. Really." He ignores me and puts it over my shoulders anyway.

"Better?" I nod and he grins. "I do have a confession to make, I may have bragged about going out with you because I saw McAllister was sitting at the table next to ours and I wanted him to know you were with me. I'm sorry about that."

I gape at him. "Why would you do that?"

He shrugs. "I guess I wanted him to know you went out with me. I can't stand that guy and I just wanted to rub it in his face."

"You shouldn't have done that. Ian is pretty upset about it."

"Yeah, I figured he would be." He says looking away from me.

"Now he's not even talking to me."

"I'm sorry. It wasn't my best moment." He grabbed my hand. "I promise to make it up to you. Wanna grab something to eat tonight?"

I pull my hand from his grasp. "No, I have plans. Sorry."

"You're going to make me work for it aren't you?"

"Yeah. I've got to get to class." I start to walk off then stop. "Don't make me a pawn in your game of torturing Ian. It's not fair and if that's the only reason you even started talking to me then don't bother talking to me anymore."

He takes a step toward me. "That's not why I started talking to you. I really like you. I just saw an opportunity to mess with McAllister and I took it. I'm really sorry."

I held up my hand. "Don't mess with him anymore. He's a good guy and a good friend and now he won't even talk to me because of you. We're not even dating and now he thinks we are. What you did was really messed up."

"Kamdyn, I'm sorry."

I nod before walking away. I can't blame Owen for all of it, I know it's my fault too, I should've never gone out with him and now Ian is hurt because of it. What a mess my life has become. Ian is one of my best friends and now he won't even talk to me.

I don't know how much time I'm supposed to give Ian, but it's been a week and I still haven't heard from him. The fact that he could so easily forget about me hurt, it was killing me not seeing him and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. Maybe he's already over me.

The only good that's come from all this is my new friend I've made in Owen, he's made good on his promise to make it up to me. He brings me a Frappuccino every morning after my first class, we always meet at the café and he already has it waiting for me and a table saved, no more long lines. We just sit there and talk until our next class and he's a really good listener. I'm really glad we've became good friends. I've hung out with him and his friends a few times and they're pretty cool too. I don't know why the baseball team is always giving them crap, they're funny and make me feel welcome. It does make me miss hanging out with the guys though, they remind me a lot of them. I try not to think about them that much, it's like once Ian stopped talking to me so did they. I expected that but it still hurt.

"You got plans tonight?" Owen asks me.

"No, not really." I take a sip of my Frappuccino.

"Want to hang out tonight, maybe see a movie or something?"

"A chick flick?" I ask with a grin.