Page 62 of Play It Off

“And pretty accurate too. But hey, it’s just a suggestion on my part. If you want to keep up this charade, go for it.” Nico offers me a smile, and it feels genuine. “I’m dealing with my own shit, and it makes me snappy. Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s cool.” I incline my head toward him, and his smile fades, though his eyes are still friendly. “Let’s forget all about women tonight and keep the peace. What do you say?”

“I say that’s a great idea.” Nico holds out his hand, and I slap it, then perform the intricate handshake we invented our freshman year. When we were young and full of hope. Not that my hope has died, but I’m a much more realistic person nowadays. “To getting drunk.”

“To getting drunk,” I repeat in agreement.

“And possibly getting laid,” Nico adds.

I drop his hand, taking a step back. “I said we were going to forget women, asshole.”

Not like I can, but it sounds good, right?

“Yeah, well, a man can still want some pussy, am I right?” Nico laughs, and I see right through him.

He’s playing this all off, and while I’m laughing, too, there is only one pussy I want—and damn, that is such a crude way to think of Sienna.

Chapter Twenty-ThreeSienna

I am ready to party, and the black dress that I’m wearing feels like armor, save for the fact that my boobs keep threatening to fall out of it. Not wanting my brother to see me with so much cleavage exposed, I’ve got an oversize denim jacket on, which is coming in handy since the air has turned chilly once the sun went down.

Everleigh and I have been locked away in her room for hours, preparing for this party, and not once, not a single time, did I mention what happened between Gavin and me last night. Haven’t mentioned Ryland to her either. I’m almost afraid to. I know if I tell her I had sex with Gavin, she’d probably lecture me about how he’s using me—after she asks that I give her all the dirty details.

And if I tell her that I also went on a date with Ryland? Oh, forget it. She’ll encourage me to keep seeing him. I can hear her now, telling me to let go of Gavin and move on once and for all. But now that we’ve had sex so many times, it’s going to be near impossible to let Gavin walk out of my life. No way. I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. That man is into me.

He was jealous of Ryland. Jealous. That still blows my mind. He couldn’t bear the thought of me being with Ryland and barged his way into my house—and further into my soul.

Yeah. I’m so gone over Gavin. And while I am in a tight predicament when it comes to Ryland not wanting to give up on me and sending me flowers, I can’t tell Everleigh about that either. I’m so used to doing things on my own without anyone’s input, I know I can handle this little situation I got myself into. I’m positive Ryland will leave me alone. Eventually.

It’s wild how I had zero men showing any interest in me and now I’ve got two wanting their shot. Poor Ryland. If Gavin wasn’t around, I would totally go for him, though I would be doing it just to see what could happen. I didn’t feel much chemistry between us.

But the heart wants what it wants—and so does the body. My heart and body are dead set on Gavin Maddox. Doesn’t matter how foolish that seems or that I could be wasting my time.

I want him. Still. Badly. And I’m pretty sure he wants me.

That’s why my makeup is perfect and my hair looks great, thanks to Ever’s help. The strapless dress is sexy, and I’m sort of ruining it with the denim jacket, but whatever. The moment I take it off in front of Gavin—oh, a girl can dream—I can only imagine his reaction. His eyes will pop out of his head, and he’ll start to sweat before he drops to his knees and proclaims his undying love and devotion to me.

See? I have it all planned out. Oh, and I’m also completely delusional. Undying love and devotion? I’m exaggerating.

The moment we exited Everleigh’s room and ventured out into the living room, we separated and lost each other. There are so many people already here, and the music is loud. Conversations are happening all around me, people shouting and screaming as they try to be heard over the loud bass throbbing, and I push my way through the crowd in an attempt to get to the kitchen. It takes a little longer than it should, but I finally make it, heading straight for the fridge, where I stashed a bunch of seltzer drinks. I pull out a High Noon and crack it open, not bothering to check the flavor because I love all of them.

“Where’s Everleigh?” I turn to find Frank smiling at me, a familiar blonde trailing behind him, her nose wrinkling in disgust when he mentions the name Everleigh.

The blonde’s name is Portia, and she’s Nico’s ex ... I don’t even know how to define what they had. Were they actually boyfriend and girlfriend? Sort of, but not really? They went out for a few months, and she was a nightmare. Clingy toward Nico and mean to all the guys and especially to me. Like I was after her man or whatever.

Dumb.

And now she’s here tonight and hanging out with Dollar? That’s odd.

“I don’t know. I lost her,” I tell him, keeping my tone light. I don’t even bother looking at Portia or acknowledging her, and she does the same to me. She’s so rude. But I’m being rude, too, so whatever.

“I’ll go look for her outside.” Frank turns away from me, and Portia trails after him, both of them headed outside while I watch them go, perplexed by this turn of events.

Chaos always reigns at big parties.

I move about the house and talk to people I know, saying hi to familiar faces. Getting pulled into hugs by various Dolphins team members who all know who I am. I feel like their little mascot, the sister of Coop who’s at every game and party, and while I love talking to them, I’m constantly on the search for someone else.

The only one I really want to see. But he’s nowhere to be found.

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