Page 39 of Ring Rust

Jasper looked at his feet and shrugged. “He’s not?—”

Ryan scoffed.

“Shawn is a nice guy,” Jasper said.

“Sure.”

“You look tired.”

Ryan huffed out a laugh. “Thanks.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean you look bad. You just look exhausted.”

“Well…” Ryan said. “Yeah. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Inside, there was an eruption of laughter—probably unrelated to the awkward and painful situation Ryan and Jasper had found themselves in, but it felt pointed.

“You know, I almost didn’t come to the party,” Jasper said.

“Yeah. Me too, but Beni said I wasn’t allowed to stay home and mope anymore.”

There was no immediate response from Jasper, just a quiet nod. A sick part of Ryan hoped that meant maybe Jasper had been staying home moping, too. But, considering he was here with a handsome dork wearing an ugly sweater, he didn’t think so.

“I thought you were bringing someone tonight.”

Ryan turned his head to look at him, his eyebrows pinched. “What?”

“I thought… I heard that.”

He narrowed his eyes in Jasper’s direction, secretly enjoying the awkward shuffle of Jasper’s feet because he wanted him to feel a fraction of the pain he was.

“What do you want? Why’d you come out here?”

“I just… I saw you walk outside and you didn’t have your coat, so…”

Ryan glanced at Jasper’s empty hands, then back to his face. He raised an eyebrow and watched as the thought behind Jasper’s eyes died before turning into words. Nothing to say to make this less awkward.

“I don’t know,” Jasper said finally. “I just wanted to check on you.”

Ryan scoffed. “Right. You do so much checking on me these days.”

Jasper flinched. Barely, but Ryan was sure he saw it.

“That’s not fair,” Jasper said quietly.

“No?” Ryan said, stepping closer. Heat rose in his chest. “You walked away from me. From us. When I was lost and I needed you, you left me. You’ve spent nearly two months showing me nothing but contempt. And now you want to tell me you were worried I wascold?On a heated deck, by the way.” He pointed to the warming lamps above them, the same ones he’d installed two years ago, with Jasper sitting nearby.

Jasper took a step back, placing some distance between them. “I know,” he said. “But…”

“Tell me why you came outside.” Ryan stepped forward again, crowding himself into Jasper’s personal space. He couldn’t help it. He was hurt and embarrassed, but he needed to be close. “And tell me why you gave away my watch.”

“I gave away the watch because I forgot to find a gift, and it was still in the box in my dresser. I grabbed it on my way out the door, and Stevie wrapped it for me.”

“Did you do it to hurt me? Because you knew I’d see it?”

Jasper sighed and scooted further back. “To be honest, Ryan, I have no emotional connection to that watch, despite you buying it for me. And I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”

“Well, that’s really nice of you to say.”