Page 41 of Mostly Loathing You

Hannah appears, much to my dismay, to ask Sage something, which unfortunately sparks an idea for Sage.

“Do you want to play beer pong with us? Justin needs a partner.”

Hannah’s eyes divert to mine for a split second before she smiles in Sage’s direction. “Sure!”

My attempts to avoid her tonight are officially foiled. The bright side, at the very least, is that she’s on the other side of the table.

“Have you ever even played beer pong?” I scoff.

“Once or twice.”

I regret asking almost immediately.

“Left corner cup.” Hannah lifts her arm to toss the ping pong ball, her dress riding up her leg in the process. She appears to be wearing some sort of boy shorts or Spanx underneath, but it doesn’t stop my imagination from going haywire.

With a plop, the ball lands clean in the left corner cup, allowing her a second turn. I toss the ball back across the table as she calls out again.

“Back right.” Once again, the water splashes as she makes a clean shot.

“Once or twice?” My brows draw upward as she looks up at me.

“Once or twice…or I was the Tau Kappa Iota beer pong champ for Greek Week three years running.”

“Once or twice, my ass,” I chuckle, fishing the ball out of the cup before setting myself up to take my shot.

“Don’t I get another shot?” Hannah pouts, exaggerating her voice to sound almost childlike in her plea.

“House rules, princess.” I wink, earning a huff in response.

Despite my attempts to get her to lose, the game ends in record time with Hannah sinking multiple shots every time the ball is in her hand.

“Okay, this isn’t fun anymore.” Sage laughs despite her words before grabbing her cup off the edge of the table and walking away, effectively ending our game.

Hannah walks by my side of the table. I expect her to justwalk away, but she pauses before she looks up at me. “You know, you have the confidence of a much taller man. You should work on that.”

My mouth falls open, completely flabbergasted, so much so that I can’t think of a single thing to say. She disappears into the crowd before I get the chance to get a word in edgewise.

At this point, the party is in full swing and, thankfully, I lose Hannah in the shuffle. However, I want to shake myself for allowing my eyes to still scan the crowd, trying to find her. The moment I spot her, my stomach sinks.

If I had a nickel for every time I scanned a room and found Hannah sitting on a guy’s lap recently, I’d have two nickels. That’s not a lot, but it’s enraging that it has now happened twice.

Hannah is sitting on Justin’s lap, whispering something in his ear that causes him to laugh.

Oh, give me a break, she isn’t that funny.

My stomach drops at the sight as I pull my beer to my lips, gulping down the remaining liquid in an effort to quell my irritation.

After what happened no more than five days ago, she’s all over some guy she doesn’t even know. It’s taking everything in me to not say anything right now, but my patience is wearing thin.

I latch onto Sage’s arm as she walks by, halting her advance in Gabe’s direction.

Their dynamic is weird—has been since we met Sage, really—but I would argue that neither of them is in the right place to be talking to one another, not with both of them drunk.

“Kiss me,” I plead, but it comes out more of a demand.

Sage laughs, which I try not to take personally. “I would rather gnaw off my own arm, thanks.”

Okay,thatI take personally.

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