Page 15 of Tangled Rose

Chapter 10

Downstairs, we stop off in the kitchen, and Aria marches right up into the middle of the action. My eyes are immediately drawn to Beau, who has stopped bartending to hand someone something. Whatever it was, it made the guys hella happy. Tickets of some sort? I dunno. As soon as Beau turns back around and starts pouring, Aria sneaks in and snags two drinks directly off the island. “Thanks, Beau.”

“Dude. Those weren’t yours, Aria.”

She hands one to me, immediately clinking our cups together before downing some of her stolen drink. At the look on Beau’s face, I try to hide my grin by taking a sip.

He shakes his head and starts mixing again, all while eyeing me. “I see you finally decided to join the party.”

“It’s so damn loud I couldn’t sleep. Aria convinced me to come down.”

Aria gives Beau a sly grin. “Don’t worry. I’m taking care of her.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of,” he huffs. I think he’s kidding. Maybe.

Aria wiggles her perfect brows. “You just wish she wanted you taking care of her.”

He stares at me, and it gives me chills. His expression is stone-cold. “Nah. Lyla wants nothing to do with me. Isn’t that right?” His gaze locks on mine.

I press my lips together, giving him my best glare. No one says anything for five very uncomfortable seconds.

Aria smirks, laughing. “Goddamn, the sparks coming off the two of you could burn the fucking house down.”

My eyes dart first to her, then him right before he grits out, “Fuck you, Aria.”

“In your dreams, Beau.” She blows him a kiss, and winks. I laugh internally. This girl knows how to push all of his buttons.

He grumbles some more but I’m pretty sure he knows she’s messing with him. They’re definitely old friends.

I purse my lips, glancing between the two of them, and tap the granite with my knuckles. “Can I have a shot? I have a feeling I’ll need one to deal with all this BS.”

Beau’s brow hikes up but he picks up another cup, splashes some rum into it and slides it over to me.

After I down it, I meet his gaze. “Thank you. See you later.” Then I mouth the word manwhore at him.

I can tell it doesn’t quite connect at first, but when he realizes what I’ve called him, he bristles. “Yeah. I’ll see ya later, Seven.”

I flip him the bird as I walk away.

Beside me, Aria can’t quite stifle her laughter. “He wasn’t joking. You two really did get off on the wrong foot, didn’t you?”

I shrug. “Maybe. I don’t care. So, tell me everything else I need to know.”

Aria gives me a grin and points to a low wall in front of some shrubbery. It’s apart from the action, but still where we can see and hear everyone. “So first, you should know that the word has gotten out. Micah and Beau’s harem of girls got cut loose this weekend.”

“For real? Like a legit harem?” Jeez. I was only joking with him about his hot tub harem. It seems like I was more on target than I ever could have dreamed.

She gives a devilish grin. “So first, know that I’m the head cheerleader, but I’ve never taken part in any of their shenanigans. Beau and Micah… they kind of had this group of cheerleaders—again, not me—who they’d fuck on the regular. They shared them. Neither of the guys were interested in dating anyone exclusively.”

“And Beau tried to convince me he wasn’t manwhoring around.”

Aria tilts her head to the side, wrinkling her nose. “I mean, I think—and this is totally my opinion—back when all this started, they didn’t want to commit to anyone. So they figured if there was a group of like-minded girls who were willing to be fuck buddies, they’d all use each other to their mutual satisfaction.”

“That’s gross.”

“Eh. It’s whatever. Guys think with their dicks. And personally, I think that trio of girls they hooked up with were so desperate to be with someone popular they didn’t care how it happened.” She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “It sounds repulsive at first, but think about it this way—are the guys who date and dump girl after girl any better? Or the ones who have girlfriends and cheat on them? I don’t think so. They’re worse.” She snorts and takes a sip of her drink. “Anyway, all of them were fine with their arrangement for a while and then Alora went off the fucking deep end when Micah decided he actually wanted to date Daphne.”

“Sounds like a whole other story.”

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