“Allie!” Aaron shouts as soon as I step into the living room. He must have come inside after I left the bonfire. “Come play with me.” He’s standing in front of the dining table. Red cups set up to form triangles on either end.
I smile but it’s forced. “I was wondering when the beer pong games would begin,” I say and head toward him.
The cabin is packed and I have to weave my way through the sea of bodies to get to Aaron. No one bothers to get out of my way but when I finally reach him, he tugs me closer, an arm wrapping around my shoulder as he lifts a beer high in the air. “I’ve got my partner. Who’s brave enough to be our challengers?” Cheers go up and I can smell the beer radiating off him as though it’s seeping through his pores.
How many has he had?
I pull away from his hold and shake my head. “I’m not really in the mood to play tonight. But I’ll watch.”
His bottom lip juts out. “Aw, come on, Allie.”
I shake my head. “N— “
The leggy blonde from earlier steps up beside Aaron. “Hey, Henderson. I’ll be your partner,” she purrs.
He looks at her and I track his gaze as he takes in her barely covered body. His lips press into a tight line but his eyes don’t leave her. I can tell he’s tempted so I decide to give him a nudge in the right direction.
“Cool. Thanks,” I tell her. “I appreciate you taking my place.”
She sneers at me. “I’m not doing you any favors. Why are you even here?”
I suck in a breath, taken aback by the open hostility. I open my mouth and then close it. Unsure how to respond. A few other girls beside her start laughing and I stumble back a step.
“Good one, Sarah,” a girl remarks.
The blonde, Sarah, beams at her friends and then turns back to me with an obvious look of contempt. “Really, though. No one wants you here. Why don’t you slink back to whatever stuffy prep school you were expelled from? I’m sure Daddy Warbucks can help you out.”
“Hey. Not cool.” Aaron finally comes to my defense.
The girl rolls her eyes. “Come on, Aaron. You know she doesn’t belong here.” She wraps her arms around his neck and mashes her breasts against his chest. “Send her away already so you and I can have some fun,” she whines. The sound grates on my ears. Does she think guys like that?
Aaron’s gaze flicks between us with uncertainty.
Seriously? He invited me.
Anger ignites in my chest.
Seeing my expression, he pulls her arms away from his neck and takes a step back. “Sorry, Sarah. Allie’s my friend. I’m not cool with you talking to her like that.”
Her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open for a second before she snaps it closed. “Excuse me?”
He shrugs and runs a hand over the back of his neck. “Look. I know— “
“Screw you! Your loss, Henderson. Don’t expect to get a second chance.” She brushes past me to leave the room, shoulder checking me along the way. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from lashing out at her and turn grateful eyes toward Aaron.
“Thanks. You didn’t have to do that,” I mutter.
He shrugs. “Yeah. I did. I invited you. And Sarah can be a real bitch when she wants to be. She doesn’t usually seek me out at parties like this. She’s younger but she’s with the ‘elite’ crowd.” He makes air quotes for the word elite and sighs. “We don’t run in the same circles. But she’s my neighbor. We sort of grew up together and sometimes she can be a decent human being.” He pauses as though choosing his words carefully. “She’s used to being the center of attention. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she only came on to me right now because you showed up.”
Oh.
“I’m sorry. That’s a crappy thing to do. Are you into her?” I ask, not wanting to cock block him because, yes, he did invite me and I’m grateful he came to my defense, but if he wants to carpe diem and all that, I won’t stop him. I know how guys can be sometimes. If he were Felix, he’d have gone with her, had his fun, and then apologized to me later.
But Aaron only shakes his head. “No. Not really. I know the kind of girl she is and that’s not what I’m after. I think between the beer and her boobs, I got a little confused.”
I can’t help but grin. Aaron has a sheepish expression on his face as he says, “So, any chance I can change your mind and convince you to be my partner after all?”
I start to shake my head but then I spot Emilio, Dom, and Roman as they crowd into the space. Emilio’s smile is wicked as he looks at me and says, “Come on, vanilla. Let’s play. We can make things interesting.”
Great. Vanilla again. I scowl, but I’m curious now. “What sort of interesting?”
“If we win,” He points to the three of them. “You wear a bikini the rest of the weekend. Day and night. No exceptions.”
I snort. Typical. “And if I win?”
He shrugs. “What do you want?”
I consider this. I don’t know if they’re any good and I don’t know if Aaron is either but I do know that I am. As long as Aaron isn’t god-awful, there’s a decent chance we can win. I’ve always been one of the guys and beer pong is a party go-to. Julio and I use to make off at parties like thieves. We’d make things interesting with cash on the table, but this is my first party with this crowd, and I don’t know what the expectations are here. They don’t really seem like the gambling type.
I’m still riding a decent buzz so I decide to focus on that and turn tonight around despite my ex’s call and Roman’s strange behavior.
“If I win, you three wear bikinis all weekend. Day and night. No exceptions, either.”
The crowd cheers on the idea and Emilio’s grin widens while Dom and Roman’s matching scowls deepen. I don’t even bother trying to hold back my laugh.
“Alright. Alright. I can get behind that.”
“No,” Dom says. “You fuckers have at it. My black ass is not wearing a bikini.”
Emilio chuckles. “But Dom, you’d look fine as fuck in one and you know it.”
His scowl deepens even more and I clutch my stomach, laughing, as I picture Dominique in a bikini. “Alright. You get a pass,” I say when I can catch my breath again. “But only because teams need to be equal. Two on two.”
I turn to Aaron and he gives me a reassuring smile. He’s in, even though I’m pretty sure if we lose, the guys only care if I’m the one in a bikini. Good thing I bought one today.
Then I turn to Roman and lift a single brow. I’m almost positive he’ll bow out like Dominique did but he surprises me when he grabs a ping pong ball and says, “Rack them up.”
