Page 23 of The Trouble with Players

“You may just get what you wish for and end up alone.”

“Unlike you, I don’t need other people to make me happy.” I stormed off, feeling my heartbeat slamming in my chest.

Once I entered the guest room, I dropped down onto the edge of the bed with shaking hands and beads of sweat along my hairline.

Dammit.

Why did I let him get to me?

These interactions were doing a number on my mental health. I knew why my mother wanted me there, but maybe I couldn’t handle it. Because the nightmare this morning, and my body’s reaction right now, told me this was just the beginning.

* * *

Loud music outside woke me from a sound sleep. I checked my phone and it was nearing midnight. I sat up and threw my legs out from under my covers. I crept to the window and found a patio filled with people.

What the hell?

Girls and guys jumped into the pool, laughing and splashing around like they were at some Spring Break pool party.

That son of a bitch was throwing a party at my house.

I tugged on shorts and marched downstairs, unable to believe he’d think throwing a party was okay.

“Hey,” Sam said as soon as I stepped outside.

“Why are you here?” I asked, my eyes taking in the thirty to forty people taking over my patio and pool.

“Hello to you too,” he said.

I shook my head. “Sorry. I just meant, why is Crew throwing a party?”

“He said your dad’s out of town. I kinda wish he was here so I could meet him.”

I ground my teeth together. “Where’s Crew?”

Sam looked around until he spotted him, then pointed toward a chair by the pool house “Oh, he’s with CC.”

My head whipped around, my eyes narrowing when I spotted him sitting there with a bikini-clad CC in his lap. God, could he get any more predictable?

“Hey, great party,” a guy said as he passed by me.

“I wouldn’t know,” I clipped.

A group of guys and girls cheering around the table drew my attention. There was a guy and girl on each end of the table. One of the girls rolled a pair of dice. She and her partner dropped their heads back in frustration as their opponents bumped fists when they saw the dice.

“Strip!” someone called.

They all cheered as the girl pulled off her bikini top and the guy dropped his bathing trunks. They bolted toward the pool and jumped in.

Sam laughed. “I’m gonna get a drink. You want one?”

I shook my head, and Sam took off for one of the coolers. I looked back to where Crew was, wanting him to shut the party down. But he’d disappeared.

“Everybody in the pool!” someone yelled.

Half the party took off for the pool and jumped in.

Arms grasped me around my waist from behind. I struggled to get free, but I was pulled to the pool. I held my breath at the last second before we plunged under water. Only then, did I finally pull free and surface. I looked to the guy who’d pulled me in and shoved him. “Idiot!”

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