Page 75 of Holiday Hostilities

I nod, but before we take a step, Dallas appears out of nowhere and claps Aaron on the arm. “You up for an afterparty?”

At the mention of the wordafterparty,Jimmy looks up eagerly. His gaze moves from Dallas to Aaron, and he immediately puts two and two together to make seven. “Afterparty at the captain’s house!” he cries.

“Hell yeah,” Colton chimes in, moving towards us.

“We’re in,” Sofia adds, her arms around Jake’s waist.

Aaron looks around at all of them, and then looks down at me, his face unreadable. “What are we gonna tell them?”

A flicker of disappointment moves through me—as fun as an afterparty sounds, I was looking forward to some TV stabbings and trying to beat Aaron’s perfect Scrabble record. That game is growing on me like a rash.

And, okay, if I’m beingveryhonest, I was looking even more forward to spending some alone time with him tonight. The tension between us feels loaded, heavy and thick in a way that’s tangible. It’s got my head in a spin, because I’m becoming acutely aware that I’m feeling a certain kind of way about Aaron. It’s a feeling that almost scares me.

Maybe this is for the best. We can have fun with the others for the rest of the night, and by the next time I’m alone with Aaron, my feelings will hopefully be more in order.

“I say we tell them to come ready to party,” I declare.

This makes him smile. “Raincheck on the movie and Scrabble night?”

“Deal.”

29

OLIVIA

It’s after midnight, and the party at Aaron’s place is going strong. Most of the Cyclones have shown up—save for Seb and Maddie, who went home to relieve their babysitter—as well as a bunch of other people. Some I recognize, some I don’t.

Music is pumping from the speakers, the Christmas tree is glittering in all its glory, and the drinks are flowing freely. Someone ordered several pizzas, which are now stacked haphazardly all over the living room. A few people are locked into rowdy, festive party games.

Usually, an event like this would make me feel uncomfortable and have me moving from group to group like a rogue puzzle piece, trying way too hard to fit somewhere.

Not this party.

After a couple glasses of champagne at the gala, I’ve switched to Diet Coke because of my round-trip flight tomorrow, along with the fact that I’ll be looking at apartments in the morning. But I find I don’t even need the social lubricant of alcohol to take the edge off right now.

“Go go go go go!” I cry, howling with laughter as Stefani stands on a chair and attempts to wiggle another gold hula hoopover Aaron’s head. He’s already spinning two, his hips gyrating wildly, and it might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

Jake, on the opposing team, is somehow successfully spinning three, and Colton and Lena are attempting to slip yet another hoop over his head.

The game is called Five Gold Rings, and the object is to get someone from your team to spin five hula hoops at once. It’s ridiculous in the best way.

“Add a fourth one to his arm!” someone calls out, and Triple J throws a hoop to Aaron. He sticks an arm out and somehow manages to catch it, which makes everyone cheer uproariously.

“I’m going to need a video of this,” I say with delight. “Be right back.”

I duck out of the living room and head to the kitchen, where I left my phone charging. I’m walking around the corner, still chuckling to myself, when a couple of quiet voices in the hallway stop me cold.

A man whose voice I don’t recognize is comforting a woman. A peek around the corner confirms that I don’t know either of them, but I canalsoconfirm that she is a very, very pretty redhead.

“I don’t know why you care so much about her, Tessa.” The man shakes his head. “She’ll be old news before you know it.”

“She’s Jake Griswold’ssister,” Tessa hisses back and I become even more still and quiet. They’re talking about me? “He must be serious about her. He’d never just screw with his teammate’s sister.”

I startle, taking a step further back so I’m fully out of sight.

What the hell?

Who even is this Tessa? And why on earth is she apparently so bothered about me?

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