Page 20 of Wicked Savage Cruel
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 tocarpe diemand 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.”
TEN
Roman
I’m going to murder my best friend for getting me into this. Allie and Henderson are kicking our asses. They’re two cups away from handing me my ass and a fucking bikini is not going to be enough to cover it.
Allie’s eyes are glassy. The booze is hitting her hard, but with a grin on her face she raises her hand, shoots, and lands the damn thing in my cup.
Fuck.
She jumps up and down, her tits bouncing with the motion, and Henderson high-fives her.
Emilio grabs the cup. Downs it in one swallow and then takes aim.
The fucker misses and I bite back a groan.
Shit.
“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him, low enough that only he should hear but I don’t miss Dominique’s dark chuckles behind us. He’s enjoying this shit. He’s probably hoping we lose, too.
