Page 94 of Chasing Lynda

The guys all react at the same time.

Dodge snickers. “The fuck you do!”

Bennett shakes his head, his concerned gaze sweeping over my face. “Don’t worry, GT. You don’t have to play if you don’t want to.” He then looks at Skip. “Take out the fucking dance thing or choose someone else.”

Carter nods in agreement. “Yeah, seriously. You wanna dance, have the balls to ask a girl without making it part of a stupid bet. We aren’t fifteen anymore.”

Zane shakes his head at our host. “Damn right.”

Skip lifts his chin in a defiant stance. “What’s your fucking problem, huh? If you’re so sure to win, I don’t see why you’re so worried. Plus, I asked for a dance, not a fucking blowjob.”

Dodge takes a menacing step toward his neighbor, his fists clenched at his sides and a hard tick in his perfect jaw.

I know where this is headed, and while I feel an indescribable warmth at the way he’s ready to protect me again, I know that he shouldn’t risk hurting his shoulder anymore than it already is.

Not that I wouldn’t take care of him again in a heartbeat; the thought makes that warmth descend all the way down to my lower belly where it pools in an ache that throbs in sync with my heartbeat. “It’s fine. I’m game,” I say, taking a step forward and offering Skip my most challenging glare, all the while I brush my arm against Dodge’s.

He pulls me close with a gentle hand on my waist, his eyes flashing silver under the fairy lights and tiki torches that illuminate Skip’s backyard. “Are you sure, sexy girl?”

I nod, unable to help the grin that spreads on my face when I place a soft kiss on Dodge’s cheek. “I’ll be fine, Dodge.”

I then march toward Carter, grabbing his hand and sauntering to the beer pong table. “Come on Skip,” I challenge him. “Show us what you got.”

Carter shakes his head as he offers me the first ping pong ball, unable to hide his amusement. “Why do I think that Skip has just signed his own death sentence by picking you as my partner?”

I smile back. “Because he has,” I say with a wink in Carter’s direction before turning to face our opponents. “I’m the undefeated beer pong champion of my entire high school class!”

***

Carter

GODDAM!

If I was attracted to Lynda before, drawn in by her sweetness and feistiness, the way she obliterates Skip at beer pong makes me downright hard.

I mean, seriously.

She wipes Skip’s smug expression off his face throw after throw. “Holy shit!” I laugh as I take the cash Skip hands me with a thunderous scowl. “I guess if I wanted a beer, this was the wrong way to try and get one! You didn’t miss one shot.”

Her smile is adorable, she’s preening under my praise. “Shut up.” She giggles. “My mom kept telling me that arrogance isn’t a pretty quality on a lady.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulders, walking her to the wrought iron table where the guys have been sitting. They planned to cheer us on, but they’re as surprised as I am by how quickly Lynda won the match. “It isn’t arrogance if you’re truly unbeatable. It’s like Dodge with football, before he got hurt. I wish you’d seen him play. He had all the biggest teams in the NFL fighting to draft him.”

Her smile softens. “I hope to find some videos of him playing. I’d love to see it.”

The obvious warmth in her eyes and in her tone as she talks about Dodge should make me jealous. And fuck, it does makes me hella jealous of course; but the way she seems to care about my best friend also makes me happy.

That doesn’t mean I won’t fight tooth and nail for Lynda to choose me when everything is said and done. It’s a little confusing and I hate that winning Lynda’s heart will mean happiness for one of us and disappointment for the other three. But what’s the alternative?

“Fuck, GT! You’re the most badass beer pong player I’ve ever seen! I don’t think Skip will ever insist on challenging us again after the lesson you just taught him!” Bennett’s compliment pulls me out of my own thoughts and I grin, nodding at him in agreement.

“You can bet on it. Teaches him right for being a fucking weirdo and not having the balls to ask Lynda to dance.”

Zane agrees with me. “Just a weirdo would try to bet on something like that when the woman he’s trying to get attention from doesn’t give him the time of day. We should’ve doubled the bet and really hurt him in the wallet.”

I chuckle, looking in the direction of the house where Skip stormed back into, no doubt to go and heal his bruised ego with whatever’s his drug of choice tonight. “Talking of which.” I take the roll of hundred dollar bills I got from Skip out of the back pocket of my khaki shorts. “These belong to you, beautiful.”

She recoils as if she’s been burned, refusing to take the money from me. “No, you guys should keep the money. I don’t want it.”

---