Page 64 of Tamed (The Courtside King Duology 1)

Kai’s brows hiked.

Huh.

Scott sounded pissed.

Max rolled his eyes and downed another shot of whiskey. “Bet I can guess on one finger who someone is.”

Kai looked at him. “Tad?”

“Yeah,” Max grunted. “Scott’s new friend.”

Ah, so he knew about their situation, too—and didn’t exactly look thrilled about it, going by that scowl on his face. Evidently, Max wasn’t a fan of secrets, either.

Kai shrugged it off. What Scott chose to do behind closed doors was his business.

His gaze slid back to Breck, still on the dance floor with that bombshell. His long, lean body still moving like sex. Kai wouldn’t mind getting him behind a couple of closed doors. His eyes roamed down Breck’s body, fixating of their own volition on his hips. The way they moved like rolling waves at the base of his spine. Kai’s mouth watered, his manhood firmly nudging his fly. Breck may be wasted, but it didn’t show when the guy was dancing.

Oops. No wait.

Kai winced and took that back, watching as Breck elbowed his gyrating partner in the chest. She yelped and palmed her boob. Breck blanched, apologetically reaching for her, his foot coming down atop hers as she instinctively stepped back. Thrown off balance, her arms went pin-wheeling, her wildly flailing hand plowing into his face. Breck barked in alarm and covered his nose, stumbling into a bystander.

Kai fought back a grin, unable to help it.

If anyone should stop drinking, it was definitely Breck. He was even less stable now than he was in the bathroom, when he’d gotten so agitated that he’d nearly lost his balance. Right around the time Kai had offered to show him what he’d just shown to Scott.

Sighing, Kai crossed his arms and conceded to a truth; his reaction to Breck in that men’s room hadn’t been the best. He’d been prideful in his own right and that wasn’t okay. He needed to reassess himself. Figure out why he behaved that way. It wasn’t like him and made him uneasy. Breck affected him in ways that were proving hard to control.

If nothing else, he should dial back the flirting. It clearly stressed Breck out and—

Kai stopped himself. Shook his head. What was he thinking?

He should forget about Breck all together and just let it go. For shit’s sake, the guy was practically Ryan all over again. Self-absorbed. Career-obsessed. Egotistical.

And still so young, with a maturity level sometimes that wasn’t the best.

But then Kai felt it. Breck’s gaze again. So potent and palpable, Kai couldn’t help glancing his way. Their eyes met. Breck froze, caught staring. He quickly donned a scowl, then threw one of his customary glares. Thing was, it didn’t look genuine this time. It looked forced. Like he didn’t really feel it and was merely reacting out of habit.

Come back, jeja, Kai willed again before he could stop himself. I promise to behave myself this time, and be nice.

Breck’s lips parted, as if he’d just heard Kai in his mind. He swallowed, then his gaze slid down the length of Kai’s torso… only to abruptly snap back to attention, as if breaking some trance.

Kai smiled a little, his foolish insides warming.

Breck shuttered his expression and quickly looked away—then proceeded to do something completely unexpected. He stopped dancing, turned, and walked back to his table, flat-out ditching his dance partner without a single word. He didn’t sit down, though. Just started gesturing to his friends. Insistently. At one point, he actually peered over his shoulder at Kai.

Kai averted his gaze just as Max growled beside him. Kai stilled in surprise and lifted a brow. The man was downright bristling.

Damn. What murdered his mood? Kai followed Max’s stare. Oh, hell. That’s what.

Sean trapped in the clutches of some over-aggressive drunk.

“Hold this,” Max bit out, shoving his whiskey glass at Kai.

Kai took the thing. “If I hold it, I drink it,” he warned, hoping to dissuade Max from leaving. Because, hello, Scott’s ornery roommate looked ready to rampage.

“Knock yourself out.” Max stalked toward the dance floor like a pissed-off grizzly.

“Shit.” Kai watched him go. “Do not get into a fight.”

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