I drain the rest of my bottle, dropping it unceremoniously to the ground beside my chair, and grab the cup from Talon when I stand.
Rolling my shoulders back, I drain the mostly foam beer and drop that to the ground, too. I crane my neck, hoping for the only time since I’ve met her that Sloan is far, far away. Hearing something like that would fucking destroy her, and she spends enough time destroying herself.
I catch sight of her in the kitchen talking to Tia, propped up on the counter, head tipped back in laughter.
“Who did they come with?” I jerk my head towards the door.
“Forget them. They sucked.” Talon’s lips pull back and he waves a hand like it’s of no consequence.
“Fucking losers.” Jay nods, bringing his arm back to ready another throw.
“If Sloan had heard—”
“She didn’t.” Talon shakes my shoulders. “We’ve got her back, too, you know.”
Talon and Jay ended up on the same team as me by chance, really. We all had plenty of interest from other schools. And we ended up playing on the same line because there was something there, innate chemistry, during training camp.
I’m not a big believer in fate or the universe or anything like that. But something, somewhere brought them to me, and dropped Sloan off in the same first-year dorm as Talon’s sister.
Feels a bit like fate, maybe, if there’s such a thing. That we’re all supposed to be together.
I grin at them. “Thank you. She can stand up for herself, you know. It’s just—”
“Yeah, we know.” Jay cuts me off with wide eyes. “Quite frankly, I find her almost as terrifying as the other one.”
“Are you talking about me?” Tia tips her chin up, arms crossing over her chest when she shoves her way towards the table.
Sloan follows behind her, clutching her cup, almost full to the brim with a new vodka soda, holding out a new beer for me.
“Not really.” Jay rolls his eyes, tossing the Ping-Pong ball into an open cup. “I was talking about Sloan. But you are ‘the other one,’ so I guess I was, so to speak.”
Sloan arches a brow. “The other one has a name, you know. Unless you’ve taken one too many hits to the boards and forgotten?”
“Don’t pretend to forget my sister’s name.” Talon hits Jay in the back of the head with his palm before slinging an arm around Sloan’s shoulders, gesturing with his cup towards me and Jay. “You want to play them, Sloany? We need to bring them down a few pegs—each scored two goals tonight, and now they think they’re better than the rest of us.”
“What about me?” Tia’s hand comes off her arm, held up expectantly.
“You can referee,” Jay deadpans.
Tia rolls her eyes. “Fine. No cheating on my watch. That means you, Talon.”
Sloan looks over to me, tipping her head. “Do you want to play?”
“Yeah, why not?” I ignore Talon’s arm around her and grip the back of her head, bringing my mouth roughly to her forehead. “You weren’t going to win at Sudoku anyway. Might as well not win at this, too.”
“Sudoku isn’t a competition.” I can hear the eye roll in her voice.
I shrug, pulling back. “Everything’s a competition when I’m playing.”
She shoves at me, brushing off her shirt and pursing her lips, before looking at Talon. “I think you’re right. They’re both a bit full of themselves tonight.”
“Finally!” Talon raises a fist, triumphant, before steering Sloan towards the opposite end of the table. “Someone understands my brilliance. Hey—what are those things in your ears?”
“Oh. They’re like earplugs. They help with the noise.” She tucks her hair behind her ear, and Talon leans forward, inspecting, like he’s getting a degree in otolaryngology, not economics.
“Can you get me a pair?” Jay glances up at her as he moves the cups back into a triangle.
“Why?” Sloan wrinkles her nose. “Do you think they’re going to be a good accessory for your game day outfits?”
