Page 55 of Weak Side

Claire’s breath was as shaky as her legs. When I finally let her leg fall back to the ground, I bent down and held out her jeans for her, letting our hands skim against each other for a second. Her eyes flew to mine, and I latched onto hers, holding on for as long as she’d let me.

I stood back in silence, watched her slip back into her clothes, and pretended like I wasn’t a fucking fool for touching her like that. But I couldn't help it, and there was no way I was going to be able to forget what had just happened even though I knew for a fact that was what she wanted me to do.

“Well…” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Claire ran her fingers through her hair that I had messed up.

Her swollen lips smashed together as she waited for me to continue.

“How did I do?” I knew I had done a good job—I didn’t need the validation—but a misogynistic part of me wanted to hear her say it.

We stayed staring at each other from across the room, and her lips twitched to curl. The left side of her mouth slowly curved up, and I had to force myself not to smile. “That good, huh?” I asked, rocking back on my heels.

“As if your ego needs any more stroking, Theo.” She rolled her eyes.

I couldn’t help it. I smiled like a fucking fool and stormed over to her. I held my palm out, and she looked down at it hesitantly before putting her hand in mine. I squeezed it and unlocked the door. “Put your game face on, Bryant.”

Her smile shook me to my core, and I pulled her out of the room to flaunt her as my girl, even though we both knew she wasn’t mine.

26

Claire

“Your boy is here.”Angie’s voice snuck up behind me as I punched something into the computer. My finger froze over the wordchickenbefore I played it off and went about my business.

“Who?”

She snickered. “Oh, stop it. The whole table has been staring at you since they walked in. They’re in your section. I know you can see them.”

I half-rolled my eyes and peeked up at Theo, Aasher, Dax, and Ford all sitting in the corner booth with their menus propped up on the table, shielding the bottom half of their faces. It didn’t matter, though. I could still see that they all were sharing shit-eating grins, per usual.

“They just want extra fries,” I joked, spinning around to pretend like I had no issues seeing Theo after what we did over the weekend. A slight throb started to beat in between my legs, and I sighed under my breath.Damn him.Things had seemed to go right back to normal between us, though. We fell into our same routine, acting as roommates and nothing more, but to be truthful, between running back and forth to classes, studying in the library, my extra shifts at The Bex, and rehearsing every chance I could, we weren’t together much. I did, however, listen to his breathing when I finally lay down at night, and the thought of him touching me again like he did at the party always slipped in before I finally fell asleep.

And as for Chad? Silence ensued, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I hadn’t had a single call from my mother either, so I assumed that meant Chad was staying true to his word.

“Get your butt over here, Bryant.” Ford ducked behind his menu as soon as I looked over at him. Theo was grinning at me, and I sighed wistfully as I walked over to their table, knowing all eyes were on us.

“What can I get you guys?” I asked, pulling out my small notepad that I took orders on.

As if on cue, all four of them slammed their menus down onto the table, and Ford tapped his fingers over the top of it. “For you to be our fake girlfriend, too.”

My jaw fell open, and I looked over at Theo. He threw his hands up before showing off his gleaming-white teeth. “I told them you were mine.”

I lowered my voice, leaning into his space. “I’m not your fake girlfriend, Theo.”

“So, you’re my real girlfriend?”

“I could slap you,” I mumbled. Straightening my spine, I leveled my shoulders and glanced around the restaurant. The attention we were gaining was obvious, and the puck bunnies weren’t even pretending not to stare over at the four girthy hockey players sitting in my section.

“Come on,” Ford said, leaning in closer toward me and Theo. “You guys worked effortlessly together the other night—not once, buttwice.”

Aasher, who was quieter than the rest of the hockey players, decided now was the time that he wanted to put his two cents in. “You should get her a jersey with your name on it.” He buried himself back in his phone, and I watched the idea come to life on Theo’s face.

“I do not like the look on your face,” I said, tapping my pen on the paper.

“Take a look around, Bryant.” Theo leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms over his chest. “The puck bunnies are waiting to see what you do.” He shook his head, a lock of his rich brown hair falling over his forehead. His hands landed on top of the table, and I watched as his first finger tapped against it slowly. My heart rate climbed, and sweat started to prickle the back of my neck as I remembered all too clearly how talented those fingers were.He made me come without a clue of what made me tick.

A rebellious chuckle left his mouth, and my face burned when he cocked an eyebrow at me. I huffed and glared at all four of the guys who were smiling. “That’s it! I’m bringing you all salads and water.”

“What?!” Ford squealed, and even though I wanted to pretend like I was annoyed with them—especially Theo—I walked off, holding in a laugh. My cheeks ached from holding back my laughter, and when I got back up to the computer, I put in their usual order and caught Angie smiling at me.

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