Page 50 of Pinky Promises

“I thought you were our secret weapon, man. What the fuck happened?”

Cal finishes chewing his bite and wipes the corner of his mouth with his napkin. His eyes meet mine for a brief second.

“I guess I was just distracted.” He shrugs.

“With what?” Asher’s voice reaches an octave I assume was similar to before experiencing puberty.

“Who cares, babe. It’s your birthday, so why don’t we focus on you getting older rather than a childish game.” Hadley glances over at me, sensing something going on between Callum and me, and winks.

I mouth a “thank you.”

By the time we leave the bar and make it back to our apartment, we’ve lost track of how many times Asher brought the loss back up.Poor Hadley might be waking up in the middle of the night to him grumbling and may have to smother him with a pillow.

“Tonight was fun.” I pat Cal’s chest as I pass him where he stands holding the front door of our apartment open for me.

“It was, even if we lost.”

I chuckle as I toe off my shoes and hang up my purse on the hook. “Aww, don’t be a sore loser. It’s not my fault we’re better at laser tag.”

He rolls his eyes, which only makes me laugh harder. I just want to keep taunting him. “Ooo, maybe the girls and I can find a laser tag league to join since we’re so good.”

We’ve always had a playful friendship with teasing each other, but now I enjoy where that teasing sometimes gets me.

He steps beside me and places his hand possessively on my hip. “Let’s not forget, B, how you distracted me so that you girls could win. Sono,you won’t be joining a league anytime soon.” The alpha tone of his voice has my panties beginning to dampen. Maybe it’s time I make it up to him, and we could finish what we started.

“Well, I’m going to go to bed.”

I turn to head to the bedroom, but I see that he doesn’t move. “Night.” I twist around and hold my hand out in between us. “You coming?”

He looks down at it with a confused look on his face. “I thought that we said no sleeping together.”

I shrug. “I also said no kissing in public, but that rule seemed not to matter a few times tonight if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah, thanks for that…Asher is never going to let me live that down.”

“You better hurry up, Mr. Murphy, or my offer is going to expire.”

Quick footsteps follow me, and arms wrap around me from behind. I wasn’t expecting it, so we sway side to side while catching our balance. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve been right here, babe.” I hate how much I love him calling me that.

“I mean sleeping with you in bed.”

“Oh, is that it? Or you just miss waking up to my face buried between your legs.”

My body temperature raises. “That’s always a bonus, but I’ve missedyou.”

“As long as you don’t knee me in the balls again.” I laugh at the memory but instantly feel bad when I see his wince.

“How many times do I need to tell you it was an accident and that I’m sorry.”

He hums an “uh-huh.”

We both strip out of our clothes and get under the covers of my bed. Cal slides in behind me and wraps his arm around my waist, taking the big spoon spot. “I’ve missed you, too” is the last thing I hear before I drift off to sleep, content and happy.

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