Page 36 of Redeeming Rabbit

“You jerk face!” She leaned across the distance between our two recliners to punch me in the shoulder.

“You’re kinda violent when you drink.”

“I’m always violent. Alcohol diminishes my reservations.”

“At least you still talk like a snob.” I killed her character again, wondering if I should go easy on her. But we were drawing a crowd now, and every one of my asshole brothers was rooting for her. Even after she’d robbed them blind at darts. Fucking traitors, every single one of them.

A bullet grazed my character, and I ducked him behind a rock. Elenore grinned at me, and the manic gleam in her eyes was somewhat terrifying. “Is the bunny wabbit hiding now?” she teased.

I peeked around the rock, but she nailed my character in the head before I could fire off a shot. Everyone cheered as the death message flashed across the screen, and I reloaded. She killed me again as I was settling into position. I made the next kill, but she took me out three more times, winning the game by one kill. The minute “Victory!” flashed across her screen, she launched herself out of her chair into the most ridiculous superhero victory pose I’d ever seen, one fist pointed at the sky, the other at her side like she was about to punch someone.

“Take that! Girls can’t shoot, my ass. Do not play with me, Roger. I will hook up with your dad and make you call me mommy.”

I chuckled. Drunk Elenore was something else. “You’d have to find the motherfucker first.”

Her expression fell, making me regret my words, but everyone closed in around her, urging her on. The traitorous bastards were still congratulating her when Tap practically ripped my arm off as he yanked me away from the crowd and confronted me.

“Is that really Elenore Owens?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Is that her last name?” I hadn’t known it. Rolling my shoulder to ensure it was still in its socket, I played it cool.

For now.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded.

“Getting my ass kicked by a girl. You should try it sometime. Maybe it’d make you less of an uptight dickwad.”

Zombie tried to high-five Elenore, but they missed, and she stumbled forward. We were far enough away from the group they couldn’t hear us, but I kept one eye on Elenore. I didn’t think my brothers would try anything, but I’d made her a promise, and I didn’t want to fuck it up.

Tap sighed and leaned against the wall. “I never should have said that shit in front of Elenore’s place.”

I eyed him, suspicion engaged. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone in this club is dealing with shit.”

I paused a moment, wondering how the hell to unpack that. “Are you… Are you trying to apologize?”

He released another sigh. “Forget it.”

He started to leave, but I stopped him. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. Well, not completely. I legitimately can’t tell if you’re fuckin’ with me.”

“No. Yeah. I’m sorry, okay? Sasha and I talked about it, and she pointed out that I might not have handled our last conversation in the best possible way.”

Knowing Sasha, I’d bet she kicked his ass. The thought made me smile.

“The point is, I shouldn’t have said shit.”

I was so damn shocked he could have knocked my ass over with a feather. In my astonishment, I must have taken my eye off Elenore because she surprised me by joining us, bumping her shoulder against mine.

“Hey, Tap.” She tilted her glass toward him in greeting. It was a fresh drink, and whoever had served her would get an earful from me. She slid her arm over my shoulder and leaned against me. “I see you’ve met Roger. We’re together, but that’s none of your business.”

I stared at her, shocked. That wasn’t exactly what I’d told her to say, but it was close. Had I known she would actually do it, I would have brought out my phone and recorded Tap’s slack-jawed reaction.

When he recovered, he held his hands up and backed away. “Yes, ma’am.”

I leaned over and breathed in the scent of her shampoo, amazed and unworthy. She’d stood up for me. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for this woman. In the following hours, I did, however, learn that I was a horrible babysitter. And she was sneaky! I swear, every time I turned around, she had a fresh drink. Thankfully, it was a weeknight, so everyone retired relatively early. By the time the common areas cleared out, Elenore had given most of her darts winnings to the bar and was in no shape to ride on the back of my bike. Instead, I looped her arm over my shoulder and half-carried her upstairs to my room.

“You know what?” she asked as I ushered her through my door.

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