Page 88 of Honey Pot

“You called for fun, and here I am. We playing teams?” I asked as I leaned over the pool table to come eye to eye with Ella.

“Me and Mary,” she pointed, “against you and Dean.”

“That’s a bad—” Clementine started, but Ella shushed her.

“Losers streak through the campus library.”

Dean’s face turned pale.

“Hell no.”

“Scared to lose?” Ella arched her brow at him. “Didn’t take you for a coward,Franklin.”

“Don’t call me that.” Dean laughed as he shook his head. “Fine, but in underwear. No full frontal! The last time this happened, Cael and I were put on a twenty-four-hour hold and missed a game.”

“Good thing it’s off-season.” Ella shrugged and held out her hand.

Clementine scooted in beside her and whispered, “are you sure you don’t want Zoey as a partner?”

“I want you.” Ella didn’t take her eyes off of me. “We won’t lose.”

God, I loved it when Ella got that look in her eye. We walked into this game at a loss but it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to mess with Clementine’s focus.

“You better hope you wore your pretty bra, Plum.”

Clementine turned bright red as I extended my hand, full of shit, and shook Ella’s to seal the deal. She groaned and tugged her short brown hair up into a tiny, messy ponytail as Zoey handed her the pool cue along with a rant of advice.

“She’s going to kick our asses, isn’t she?” Dean sighed as we turned around to figure out our strategy.

“Probably with her eyes closed.” Arlo didn’t miss a beat, laughing from his spot at the table where he watched proudly.

“It’s disgusting to see how in love you are. Put it away, man.” I turned away from the table and back to Dean. “She’s got a disadvantage playing with Clem, but it means nothing. She’s too smart to make a bet she can’t win.”

“So why the hell did you agree to it?” Dean asked, fear in those big sea-glass eyes.

“BecauseI’m bored.” I smiled so hard it hurt my cheeks. Most days, it was hard to feel that fire that drugs helped ignite but, for once, I finally felt like myself.

“Fuck sakes!Thatshould be your middle name. The phrase‘I’m bored’gets us all in more trouble than anything!” Dean groaned dramatically and thrust a cue at me before helping Zoey rack the balls. I wasn’t very good at pool. The last four games we played for keeps, I lost. But Dean wasn’t half bad when he was sober.

“Give me that.” I took the beer from his lips as he aimed to down it and shoved it at Van. “I need you sober if we’re going to have a chance.”

“Seriously?” He rolled his eyes and pouted.

“Do you want to streak through the library?” I asked him, turning my hat backward on my head. “Because I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.” Dean laughed. “It’s like your favorite activity next to skinny dipping and taking shelter dogs for walks.”

“True.” I shrugged. “Well, for your sake, you’d better win.”

“Rock, paper, scissors for start.” I held out my hand to Clementine.

It was a game we played as kids when we wanted to shaft our chores off on each other. Clementine never won and, thinking back on it, I think she might haveletme win… I scowled. All the times I had her do my chores so I could sneak off with girls, leaving her alone, she had let me do that.

“What, no ladies first?” She tilted her head to the side, breaking my thoughts.

I wanted to kiss her so bad my breath hitched in my throat.

“I don’t see a single lady here,” I said instead, looking around the table. “Except maybe, sweet, innocent, Sour Patch.” I winked at Zoey, who smiled and framed her face with her tiny hands.

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