Page 13 of Play the Game

All it takes is a quick trip down memory lane, and I’m spiraling.

Six

EMORY

My arm hasa mind of its own. It uncrosses, and my hand clamps onto Kane’s wrist with swift speed.

“Don’t,” the word hisses from between my teeth. It comes off as a reprimand, but it’s more of a friendly warning—at least that’s what I tell myself.

Kane’s wrist flexes beneath my grip, and I arch an eyebrow at him. “You don’t want to touch someone like her.” My heart thumps hard, and I want to reach inside my chest and squeeze the muscle until it relaxes. “Trust me,” I add. “Do not touch the women in this place.”

I hear Scottie suck in a sharp breath, and I make the mistake of looking up at her. What I expect is a dirty look laced with resentment, but what I get is something that irks me even more.

Fear.

Panic.

Terror.

When she meets my eye, something hitches in my chest, and it irritates me so much that my fingers begin to tighten on Kane’s wrist.

“Ah, you’re right,” he agrees, pulling his arm back.

I force myself to look away from Scottie. I nod at Kane with our silent conversation, and the rest of the show our own personal stripper puts on is a little less risky than before. Scottie’s movements are jerky instead of fluid, and it’s clear that Kane’s flirting did something to her.

I don’t care to find out why.

The only thing I care to find out is if she has deleted the photo of us. Then I’ll toss her out of my head like a piece of trash.

“Cherry.” Malaki leans forward onto the tabletop and taps his fingers against the shiny glass. “What do you like to do for fun?”

“You trying to ask out a stripper?” Hayes smirks over the frosted glass of his beer. He’s what we call a bench jockey—only playing in the game if someone gets hurt.

Malaki grins. “Why? Were you planning on asking her out?”

Scottie’s soft voice breaks up their conversation. “I can tell you that I don’t date hockey players for fun, so you might as well just move past that.”

My sarcastic snort has everyone’s head swiveling in my direction. Scottie pauses mid-spin.

“You got something to add there, Mr. Grumpy?” Hayes asks.

I shrug and seemingly get more comfortable in my seat. I refuse to look away from the little blue-eyed devil as her tiny scowl deepens. “She does something else to hockey players for fun, and it’s definitely notdating.”

Suddenly, Scottie and I are the only ones in the room. It feels like she’s putting on some type of show just for me when she wraps her long leg around the pole and arches her lithe body backward, putting herselfrightin front of me. The ends of her fake red hair touch the tip of my barely touched beer, and her sweet scent makes my nostrils flare. I swallow the tight knot in my throat when I accidentally dip my gaze to her breasts.They’re a handful each, and her skin looks silky smooth.

I hate that she’s taken my breath away more than once now.

I also hate that I can feel my dick twitch the longer we stare at one another.

She has me by the throat.

But I’m about to haveherby the throat.

The song ends, and it’s time to go, but not before the guys try to get Cherry to give Kane a lap dance for his birthday.

“It goes against the rules of the club.” She gives a little shrug of her shoulders. “Sorry, Devils.”

Everyone, but me, throws money at her feet, and she happily swipes up the cash with her hand and walks off into the back.

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