Page 69 of Surviving Lies

Her small smile told me she might be feeling something similar to what I was. And that made my heart swell, among the other body parts. She pulled her hand away, though, pushing both into the pockets of her jeans. Jeans that I knew, if she turned around, would be hugging every curve of that round ass of hers. Her hands pushed the waistband of the jeans down even lower, exposing a stretch of skin on her stomach underneath the tiny thing she called a shirt she was wearing. It drew my attention to her tiny belly button, and the urge to lick around it on my way lower became all encompassing.

She was intoxicating.

“Hey,” she said in a quiet voice. It was nothing I was used to hearing from Becca Reynolds.

“Hey yourself.”

Her eyes moved to the ground, avoiding me now at all costs. It was unusual, this feeling between us that reeked of uncomfortableness. I wish I knew where it was coming from, considering I was knee deep inside her only five days ago. Pushing those thoughts aside was what I needed to do at the moment, though.

“Have fun tonight, Bec,” I said. Reaching down to grab the ball I needed, I felt her eyes on me but resisted looking up. I turned around and walked toward the opposite lane, heading toward my brothers already involved in a rowdy game. They welcomed me with hugs and high fives, a welcomed distraction. The urge to turn and find Becca was pulling on me like she was a magnet. She had to still be there; I felt her. But I knew this is what we need.

Space.

At least tonight.

“Hey, Ty, good to see you,” Nate said as he slapped me on the back.

Being an upperclassman, a senior, to be exact, Nate wasn’t around for the fraternity events quite as much as others. Even though we were in the same “family,” we didn’t see each other very often, so it was cool to be out with him.

“Hey, man, good to see you, too.” We both walked over to the bank of seats near the back of the lane we were playing, and I took a seat. “How’s your semester going?”

Nate fell into the seat next to me and let out a loud sigh. “Ahh, it’s going. Can’t believe it’s my senior year and this is it for me.” He cracked open a can of beer and took a long chug, almost draining it at once. “Christ, this time next year I’ll be sitting at a fucking desk while you’re still here getting your dick wet.” Leaning back, he looked around, scanning the crowd. “You have an admirer. Who’s the hot chick in the pink tank over there?” He gestured with his can of beer toward the lane across from us.

My eyes followed his line of vision, seeing Becca’s striking green eyes peering at me from under her dark lashes. “That’s Becca, my, I guess, ex-girlfriend. It’s a bit complicated at the moment.” Shewaslooking at me, but her eyes shifted away as soon as Nate and I both noticed.

“Well, I have an ex-girlfriend, and she doesn’t look at me like that. Nothing at all like that. You better stay on top of that, dude, in more ways than one, if you catch my drift,” he said, his sarcastic laugh making my stomach churn. “If you don’t, someone else will.”

He had no idea how right he was.

“C’mon, we’re both up next,” he said.

The rest of the night went by in a blur, mainly because Becca continued to send those seductive mixed messages with her eyes. Every time I looked over, I caught her looking at me. And not just looking at me. She waslooking at me.Like, literally eye fucking me. It did wonders for a guy’s ego, and don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t complaining. And maybe I would’ve thought I was making it up if Nate hadn’t seen it, too. But it was happening.

And I fucking loved every minute of it.

“So, Becca wasn’t the tyrant tonight that I expected,” Xander said as he came up behind me. We were getting ready to get out of here since the lanes were closing soon.

“Uh, no, not at all.”

His confusion seemed to match my own.

Becca was a puzzle, that was for sure. Trying to figure her out made my brain hurt, and I didn’t think it would ever be possible. Instead, I decided going along with her current mood was the smartest move.

“How’d you get here?” Xander asked.

“I drove, but I brought Jake and I still need to find him. Well, I need to make sure he doesn’t need a ride. He very possibly got a ride to someone else’s place tonight.” Xander and I laughed about that as we started walking to the shoe return together. “How are things? With Lanie, I mean. I don’t like to ask about Max and all that shit.”

Xander nodded, completely understanding. “OK, I guess. It’s been quiet since him and his dad have been in jail. Karl was put in the witness protection program since he fessed up all the shit he could to rat them out.” Xander shook his head, seemingly upset about that. “I don’t agree with that one. I think he should be in jail, too.”

He caught my raised eyebrows at his last comment.

“I don’t give a shit that he saved Lanie’s life. That was at the last minute; he had plenty of other opportunities he could have helped her and didn’t.”

Karl was Max’s “best friend” back in Texas, and part of the mafia ring. He was also the one that pulled her from Max’s grip in the showdown last year, taking a bullet from Max’s gun to save Lanie’s life. Karl had come to take Lanie away, Max thought, for him. But Karl was going to let Lanie escape somehow from Max. Yet, Xander didn’t seem to care, and I guess I understood.

“Well, she seems to be doing so much better this year. It’s been great to see this side of her, ya know?” I told him. “You’ve made her…happy.”

A huge smile took over Xander’s face at that notion. He remained quiet as we were handed our own shoes and took a seat to put them on. As I came up from tying my laces, I saw him staring at me.

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