Page 54 of Foolish Games

“He’s a dog like the rest of them.”

“Wait, have you and him…?”

“Nah,” she says. “I’m not his type.”

“What’s his type?” I ask before I can remind myself it doesn’t matter.

“You know, cheer bitches.”

“He only dates cheerleaders?” I ask, huddling deeper into my jacket and feeling unaccountably morose at that news.

“He’s never gotten all official and shit, but yeah, all the girls he’s got a history with were cheerleaders.”

“Wow,” I mutter. “So I’m competing with the entire cheer squad?”

“Hey, you already got him,” she says. “Ain’t no competition. Besides, it’s not the whole squad. Just the ones who give it up.”

I glance back when the guys start hollering about some rock they’re going to roll down the bank into the water. “That’s comforting.”

“Hey, don’t worry. If y’all are dating, he’s not hooking up with anyone else. He has a short attention span, but he’ll be all in while it lasts.”

“Not sure that’s helping.”

She laughs. “Sorry. As far as the other guys, yeah, they’re all pigs, but you’re Bash’s bitch. He won’t let anything happen to you.”

“So, you hang out with a bunch of heathens, and your solution to not getting taken advantage of is to be their bitch?”

“Exactly,” she says, starting back toward the water. “Can’t take advantage of the willing.”

I shake my head and follow her. “Then how come you’re not dating one of them?”

“I fucked around with a couple of them before I found out,” she says. “They’re worse boyfriends than they are friends. Plus, I’ve got daddy issues, so I like them a little older, if you know what I mean.”

When we reach the water again, she sticks the branch in, rooting around for her missing boot.

Sebastian comes over and wraps his arms around me from behind, pulling me flush against him. “What’s she doing?” he asks, resting his chin on top of my head and watching Lexi.

“Trying to find her shoe.”

“What do you say we get out of here?” he says.

“That’s it?” I ask. “This is your big, wild party that’s supposed to impress me?”

“Not everyone’s a founder’s heir,” he says. “We aren’t princes looking for our Cinderella at some snooty ball. We work with what we’ve got, even when it’s just rocks and a frozen pond. But we always manage to have fun.”

“Well, I’m glad you had fun.”

“You wanted to party with commoners, so here we are,” he says. “And the fun’s only beginning for you, Princess.”

“If you throw me in that pond like Lexi, I’m leaving you to walk home.”

He bends and scoops me up over his shoulder in one motion. “Good thing I’ve got friends who can drive me home,” he says, jogging toward the water.

“You better not,” I scream, grabbing onto his neck and kicking my feet.

The other guys are cheering and laughing, and I remember Lexi’s comment about the guys using their physical strength against her. Sebastian skids to a stop at the edge of the water, then slips on the muddy bank, tottering over the ice. I scream and cling to him, and he swings me around, howling with laughter.

“Put me down,” I yell, scrambling off his shoulder.

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