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“You gonna play, or what?” Theo asked and tipped his chin toward my hand of cards.
I tossed the cards I didn’t want toward Theo, but my head wasn’t in the game. The music was earsplitting, and the noise from the people packed into my house was pissing me off. But I knew if Kennedy was here I wouldn’t be so grumpy.
But for party time it was relatively early still, only nine, which told me it was probably too late for Kennedy, and that she wouldn’t show, even if she had said she’d come.
And didn’t that fucking suck?
I lifted the can of beer to my mouth and took a long drink from it. It was piss water beer, but this was my fifth and I was already starting to feel buzzed. I’d been nursing the same beer for the past half hour, and it was starting to get warm as hell.
New cards were tossed to each of us and a silence descended. One of the guys tossed some money to the middle of the table, the pot growing.
I had a shit hand, so folded just as everyone started showing their cards.
“A flush, motherfuckers,” Raif said and grinned, spreading his cards down.
I looked at the front door again. Still no sign of Kennedy.
“You in for another hand?” Theo asked and I shook my head.
“I need some air.” I stood and headed out back before anyone could respond.
There were a handful of people there, the sound muted with the door shut, but the music still loud enough you could make out what it was. I should tell everyone to leave. I’d feel a hell of a lot better. I was honestly surprised the neighbors hadn’t called the cops on me for a noise complaint. But the night was still young.
I moved over to the back of the house and rested against it, seeing as the two patio chairs I had were currently occupied by groping couples. I must have stayed like that for ten minutes, just clearing my head, trying to figure out how I’d actually feel if it came down to Kennedy not showing up. Shit, I really wanted her to come. But I wanted to spend time with her when there wasn’t a houseful of drunken people here, when it could just be the two of us, where I could be honest with her.
I let my head rest against the back of the house, brought the beer can to my mouth, and finished it off. After crushing the can, I tossed it in the trash by the back door. If I thought hard enough, I could see myself happy and not giving two shits about what anyone thought about me loving Kennedy. But her reputation and how she felt meant more to me than my happiness.
The sound of the back door sliding open had me looking to the side and seeing one of the guys I’d just been playing poker with step outside.
I hadn’t liked him from the moment he’d opened his mouth and started showboating. It was an annoying fucking trait that grated on my nerves.
“Didn’t realize anyone could be let in,” I heard someone say, a female laugh following the words. Curiosity had me pushing away from the house and looking through the sliding glass door.
And then I saw her. Kennedy. She was flanked by that same asshole who’d picked her up earlier today. Were they dating? If so, I’d put a stop to that bullshit right away.
Kennedy was mine.
She had a red plastic cup in her hand and brought it to her mouth. She didn’t drink, I knew that, but here she was trying to fit in. God, I loved her. She had come here because of me, because I’d asked her. Who knew how many beers she’d consumed already, but that had the protective side of me rising up. I wanted to shelter her, keep her away from all of this.
I didn’t miss some of the guys checking her out, my innocent little Kennedy who didn’t even realize how drop dead fucking gorgeous she was.
I narrowed my eyes at the asshole beside her. I didn’t think she was dating anyone, but whoever this guy was looked pretty cozy with her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder, keeping her close.
A low growl left me and I clenched my jaw.
The guy who’d come outside pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one end in his mouth and lit the other end with a lighter. The girl standing beside him had come from nowhere, her arm around his shoulder, this “fuck me” look on her face.
He inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in as he looked down at the girl. “I mean seriously, who the fuck invited the nerds to the party?” he said, smoke billowing out in front of him.
