“Hey everyone,” Shelby sings, walking up with Tess. “Having a good time?”
“We’re having a great time,” Doc replies.
“I love your costumes by the way,” Shelby adds. “So clever. Who thought of it?”
“Jake,” Sanny and Doc say at the same time.
Behind them, the man himself enters the circle. “That would be me,” he calls. “Pretty awesome, right? At first, I wanted to do Jungle Book and make Mars be the bear, but Cay refused to put on the red speedo—well, he refused to wear it in public,” he adds with a wink.
Sanny glares at his partner. “You know I can withhold sex from you, right?”
“Yeah, but you won’t,” Jake replies, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “You like it too much. And I don’t blame you. I’m pretty great in bed,” he says at me.
“I don’t need to know any of this,” I mutter.
“Are they always like this?” Shelby asks with a giggle, looking at Tess.
“Um, this is actually pretty tame, honestly,” she replies. Her cheeks are flushing pink. She’s trying not to look at me. Trying not to think about me.
Good luck, sexy devil. Before I’m done with you, I’ll be the only thing on your mind.
If I stare at her a moment longer, I may just self-combust. “Well, I’m gonna go get some food,” I say to the group. “I made Shelby an oath to try her Southwest egg rolls.”
“Yesss,” she slurs, saluting me with her wine glass. “And don’t forget about the chipotle mayo dipping sauce!”
I nod and bow out, not sparing Tess another look. I duck through the kitchen, exchanging the beer I don’t want for a bottled water. Then I pass into the dining room. I’m not hungry; I’m just trying to distract myself. I’m maintaining forward motion. A shark always has to keep swimming, right? If I stop moving, I’ll think about Tess. And if I think about Tess in those black fishnet stockings, I’ll get hard. And if I get hard, I’ll scare the rookies.
I’m turning the corner into the front hall when I feel a tug at my hand. Eagerly, I spin around, ready to pull Tess into my arms. I stop short when a girl in a bedazzled black wig steps into my space.
“There you are,” Cleopatra says. “Come dance with me.” She presses in, her body rubbing against mine.
“Whoa, I think you might be lost, sweetheart,” I say, trying to take her hands off me. But she has two and I only have one. The other is holding my water bottle. Just as I bat one of her hands down, she puts the other one on me.
“I waited and waited for you,” she whimpers. “I want you so bad.”
“Unlikely, as I’ve been here all of fifteen minutes,” I reply. “Okay—fuck—” I drop the water bottle to the floor, grabbing her with both hands. Gently as I can, I spin her around.
She’s still wiggling, pressing in at me with her ass. “I just wanna dance—”
“No, no, no.” I bend away from her. Fuck, she’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s doing at this point. “You know what I think we should do? Get an Uber and go to your house.”
“My house?”
“Yeah, let’s blow this party. Do you know where your house is?”
“Yeah, but I’m allowed to stay out all night,” she says, trying to put her arms around me again. “We can go to your house. I promise it’s okay.”
I groan. “Jesus, how old are you?” If Patty brought an underage girl to Shelby’s birthday party, I’m gonna cross check him to death.
“Nineteen.”
Thank God.
“Come on,” I grunt, trying to get her to walk in front of me without our bodies touching. “Fuck—stop—”
“Ryan?”
I go still, glancing over my shoulder to see Tess looking at me, her eyes wide. Actually, she’s not looking at me, she’s looking at us—me and Cleopatra, my hands clinging to her as she pushes her ass against me, wiggling like a fish. I say the only thing I can think to say. “Help me.”
She blinks. In moments, her look of hurt surprise vanishes and she’s rushing forward. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s just drunk,” I say, grateful that she’s not questioning me. “She showed up with Patty. I don’t know where the hell he is. If you see a tall, blond gladiator, punch him in the face.”
“Will do.” She steps around to my other side and places a hand under Cleopatra’s chin. “Hey, honey. I’m Tess. What’s your name?”
“Tegan,” the girl replies.
“How you feeling, Tegan?”
“Tired,” she slurs. “And bloaty. God, why won’t he just fuck me already?” she whines.
“Oh, sorry, honey. This one’s taken,” Tess replies.
“What?” Tegan whines again. “Noooo. But I want him.”
“I know,” Tess says, patting the girl’s shoulder. “But in love, as in life, sometimes there are great disappointments.”
“We need to get her out of here,” I say over the girl’s head. “I was trying to ask for her address to put her in an Uber.”
“I don’t know if we can trust anything she says at this point,” Tess replies. “Do you think Shelby will mind if we put her in a room upstairs?”
“Goddamn it. If she pukes all over the place, Shelbs will make me pay for it.”
“Make Patty McHotAbs pay for it,” Tess says with a glare. “If he’s her date, he needed to take better care of her. She’s completely toasted.”
“Oh, he’ll pay for it in more ways than one,” I assure her. Nothing that a few sets of suicide sprints won’t fix. He’ll be puking up his breakfast at next practice.
“Let’s get her upstairs,” Tess says. “Can you carry her with your knee—”
“I got it.” I scoop Cleopatra up in my arms and move towards the stairs.
Tess follows behind, snatching my discarded water off the floor.
The stairs open to a large game room area where some of the guys are playing video games. No one pays us any mind as Tess and I cut left towards the hallway that leads to the bedrooms.
“I stayed here once,” I say over my shoulder. “This is a guest room,” I say nodding at a door.
Tess slips between me and the door as she opens it. “Whoa—ohmygod,” she cries, throwing a hand up over her eyes.
I peer over her head to see a half-dressed Novy and Morrow spit-roasting some blonde girl. Novy is closer, his back to us. They both turn to the door at the same time, eyes wide.
“Get the fuck out,” Novy barks, still thrusting into the girl from behind. His toned ass is on display, pants around his thighs.
The girl between them pops off Morrow’s dick. I think my brain explodes when Poppy turns to face us, eyes wide, those tight blonde curls now disheveled. “Ohmygod,” she shrieks, a look of horror on her face as she locks eyes with me.
“Oh my god,” I bellow back as Tess pulls the door shut with a quick, “Sorry, carry on!”
I just stare at the closed door as I digest this new information. All the pieces snap into place: Novy and Morrow’s shitty attitudes over the past few weeks, their weird vibes of being in a lover’s tiff. It all makes sense. They’ve been fighting over the same woman…and that woman is Poppy Fucking St. James, our public relations manager.
But…how? I mean, Morrow is a super nice guy, so that tracks. But Novy and Poppy hate each other. They’re like cats in a bag. Half of our media training sessions are the result of Novy doing something to piss her off. I guess it’s true what they say about love and hate being a thin fucking line—
“Ryan…” Tess brushes her fingers down my arm.
I shake my head, trying to clear it. “Right. Fuck.” I shift my hold on Drunk Cleopatra and move down the hallway. “Come on, over here.”
“But these are the kids’ rooms—”
“The kids aren’t here,” I reply. “They’re all over at Shelby’s mom’s house tonight. Just open this door before I drop the Queen of the Nile.”
She hesitantly opens the door, peering inside. “Empty,” she says with relief.
We step inside Addie’s bedroom, and I move over to the pink princess twin bed, dropping Cleopatra down onto it. She groans, immediately curling on her side into the fetal position, her wig askew.
Tess takes charge. “Here, honey. I’m putting a trash can beside the bed, and there’s a water on the nightstand.”
Cleopatra just groans.
“She’ll be out soon.”
“Yeah, and then she’ll be hurting in the morning,” Tess says at my side.
“I’ll have Josh and Shelbs check on her,” I assure her.
Tess shakes her head.
“What?”
“It’s just so reckless, you know? What if she had done her little bump and grind trick on someone other than you? What if they weren’t as noble?”
“She’s safe here,” I say, putting my hand on her shoulder. “Shelby and Josh won’t let anything happen to her.”
And just like that, my sexy she-devil is crying. All the distracting thoughts of my defensemen double-teaming our PR manager disappear in a flash.
“Hey, hey, what is this?” I say, pulling her into my arms. “Why are you crying?”
She presses her face into my chest, her arms holding tight to my hips. “God, it’s nothing—it’s—I’m just being ridiculous. I’m—it was a hard day and—it’s nothing.” She shakes her head, trying to pull away from me. “God, I fucking hate crying. Lately it feels like it’s all I do.”
“Whoa, hey. Stay. Tell me.” I place my hand under her chin and tip her face up. “Tess, look at me. What happened?”
She shakes her head again, eyes closed. “I don’t—Ryan, don’t. Let’s not talk about it. I can’t talk about it, okay? Not tonight. Not here. Not now.”
And now I know it has to do with Troy. Man, fuck that asshole. I fucking hate him. I hate the hold he still has on her. I just want her to be free of him.
“I just really missed you,” she admits, and my heart does a somersault. “I needed you today. I’m starting to feel like I need you, Ryan, and I think that’s scaring me a little. I don’t really have anyone else here except Rachel, and you’ve been such a good friend, but I can’t put that on you. I can’t burden you.”
Friend, she calls me. Not lover. Not boyfriend. I’m just her friend. Ryan Puppy Langley, the nice friend she’s casually deep throating. It’s better than nothing.
“Hey,” I say, cupping her face. “Look at me.”
She takes a deep breath before tipping her face up. She’s so beautiful. She’s got thick black eye makeup on tonight, and those bright red lips could stop traffic. Pair that with the horns and this lacy red bra thing, and I’m ready to get on my knees and beg.
But that’s not what she needs right now. She needs comfort and reassurance. She needs her friend. “You’re safe with me,” I tell her. “Cleopatra is safe, and you’re safe too. Nothing will touch you when you’re in my arms, I swear to God.”
Her hands that were clinging to my hips soften. Slowly, she brushes them up my sides and under my leather cut to splay over my chest. She drops her gaze, watching where her hands touch me. My body heats all over, loving the feel of her closeness. I want her. I crave her. But I’m going to respect her boundaries and move at her speed.
“Ryan.” Her hands smooth over the planes of my chest.
“What do you need?” I say, voice low.
Her hands go still as she looks up into my eyes. Parting her lips, she says the word that is music to my ears. “You.”
