Page 26 of Resist Me

“Shit,” I muttered. “Can I opt out?”

“No. You shy?”

“Not shy. I just have a sliver of dignity in the abyss of my soul.”

To my surprise, West laughed beside me. His hand came down on my shoulder. “Come on. Do you think you’re better than all of us?”

I almost said yes but thought better of it. Turning fully to face him, I rolled my lips.

“Fine,” I replied. “Let’s see if you’re capable of sharing the spotlight, puppy.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m not opposed to using one of my new kitchen knives to cut off your dick.”

My nose wrinkled. “I’d never let you anywhere near it. What do you say?”

He studied me for longer than was comfortable. I couldn’t tell if he was going to agree or not and I considered rescinding the challenge.

“Come on,” Kai taunted. “You’ve been nipping at each other’s heels all season. You owe us all some entertainment.”

A handful of the football players voiced their agreement. West broke into a grin, probably spurred on by the attention. Jumping tohis feet, he held out a hand. I ignored it, getting up and taking the microphone from Brooks. West grabbed another one and cleared his throat.

“I get to pick the song,” he said.

“Fine.”

Too Sweet by Hozier began playing and I couldn’t help but smile. I hated to admit it, but the song was catchy. And little did he know, I could hit every note thanks to my parents’ tutelage.

When I winked at West, his brows went up. I didn’t even look at the screen because I knew the song embarrassingly well. To be fair, it was all over TikTok, but I also had it in my playlist.

I hit the line, ‘I think I’ll take my whiskey neat,’ and Sen’s mouth dropped open. He looked at Kai who appeared impressed and amused. When the first chorus ended, I motioned for West to take over. His tongue pushed against the inside of his cheek, then he shook his head and went for it.

It wasn’t great, but the guy was fearless, I’d give him that. And he loved the attention. He went all the way in, using his arms and doing a dumb dance that made me laugh. When he got close to me, I reared back, but after a moment, I decided to just go with it. We both belted out the last chorus together, a chaotic masterpiece of a dying raccoon coupled with my on-point performance.

His fingers came around the nape of my neck as we sang the last line. When it was over, he turned to our little crowd, still gripping me. His thumb stroked across my skin as he released me and I glanced sidelong at him before I set the mic down and returned to my seat.

“I am shook,” Brooks said. “You gave me chills.”

“Shut up,” I laughed. “It’s just karaoke.”

“No, karaoke is a bunch of inebriated people screeching into a microphone. That was a whole performance.”

I brought the beer to my lips, then shrugged. “I don’t do things halfway.”

“It shows. You’re cool, Linc. We should hang out sometime.”

Raising a brow, I stretched my arm over the back of the couch. “You wanna hang out.”

“That’s what I said. And before you get any ideas, I’m locked in a little will-they-won’t-they thing, so I’m not trying to explore yourbody.” He surveyed me for a moment, then shook his head. “You’re hot as fuck, but like I said, nothing like that.”

I saw his gaze move briefly to something on the other side of the room. Since I didn’t want to be obvious, I forced myself not to look.

“Alright, Brooks. I’m officially intrigued.”

“Don’t ask,” he muttered.

I really wanted to, but he clearly wasn’t going to divulge any information. Maybe I could crack him eventually or figure out who he’d looked at a minute ago. Drama in my own life was the literal worst, but hearing about others offered me a certain satisfaction.

When West dropped into Brooks’ lap, I scooted backward. He planted a kiss on his forehead and let out a sigh. It was ridiculous, but I also noticed the way he put a hand over his side. There was the barest tick in his jaw to betray that he was in pain. His pride was going to be the death of him.

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