Page 8 of Play For Me

“I’d hardly call this epic drama,” I say. “I mean, I didn’t even make Travis bleed.”

“You’re really losing your touch, Ceece,” Cade says, reappearing at our side. He’s smirking. “Don’t worry about it, though. I made sure to draw some blood in the name of family honor.”

“Cade!” Violet squeaks. “You didn’t!”

“It’s not my fault the idiot was so drunk he didn’t see my foot when I stuck it out.”

“You tripped him?” I ask and laugh when my cousin nods proudly. “Well done. Difficult to prove it wasn’t an accident.”

He gives me a little bow. “I learned from the best.”

“You’re both nuts,” Violet says, but I can tell she’s fighting a smile. Then she looks around the room and sighs. “Can we go now? I’m really not in a party mood anymore.”

“Sure, Vi,” Cade says, which is pretty big of him, considering that I know he was hoping to hook up tonight. “Let’s head home.”

“Oooh, can we get ice cream?” Vega asks, bouncing in her ridiculously high heels as we start to make our way through the crowded room. “I bet ice cream would cheer you right up, Vi.”

“Fuck ice cream,” Cade says. “What we need is fast food. Greasy, salty, fast food.”

“But I want ice cream,” Vega whines, giving Cade the kind of pout that always gets her dad to do whatever she wants—but rarely works on the rest of us. When he doesn’t cave, she turns back to Vi. “Please, Vi? Don’t you think ice cream is the perfect medicine for a break-up?”

Violet rolls her eyes. “Sure, Vega. I’m sure ice cream will help.” Then she slips her arm through mine as we follow them. “I think you might need something stronger than ice cream,” she murmurs so only I can hear her.

“What are you talking about?”

She grins. “To help you forget about that dude’s abs. I saw the way you were drooling when he took his shirt off.”

“You must be drunker than Vega,” I say haughtily, and she laughs.

“Uh, huh. Sure.”

I don’t bother telling her that it doesn’t matter how much I may or may not have drooled over Solomon Barnes’s mini strip tease. There’s no way I would ever,evercrush on a guy who had been such a jerk to my cousins.

Hot abs or not.

FOUR

SOLOMON

“Don’t touch the radio,” Emery says for the hundredth time since we got in the car. Jason, predictably, ignores her.

“I can’t stand this emo shit, Em,” he complains, reaching between the front seats to jab at the touch screen. His sister smacks his hands away.

“I’m driving, I pick the music.”

Jay huffs loudly and collapses back into the bench seat behind us. “You’re such a child,” Em mutters.

I ignore them, watching the blur of scenery outside. We’ve left the urban sprawl behind us in exchange for the rolling hills, dry rugged vistas, and sparse vegetation past Santa Clarita.

I love this drive. I love watching the world change outside my window, the properties becoming fewer and farther between, the colors changing to more muted sage greens and tans. I love knowing that the bigger the sky feels, the closer I am to my destination. By the time we reach my grandfather’s place in the rural hills near Acton, Los Angeles will feel a million miles away.

“You doing okay?” Emery asks, her voice practiced and even. She’s trying too hard to sound casual, the way she does when she doesn’t want to let on that she’s worried about me.

“Doing fine, Em.”

I can tell she wants to push more and I’m relieved when she drops it, instead.

It hasn’t been the easiest thirty-six hours for me. It never is, when I freak out the way I did at that damn frat party on Friday. I didn’t leave my apartment at all yesterday, and the only reason Em and Jay managed to get me out this morning is because my grandfather is expecting me and the last thing I want to do is worry him.