Page 3 of Sweet Oblivion

“What a bullshit excuse, man. Seriously? What’s it been? Two months? Three? Have you guys talked at all?”His head swivels back to Delaney, and I might fight the urge to hit him over the head with the damn bottle to wipe the smug smile from his face.“Bad news. Looks like karma just stuck Baltimore’s offensive tackle in her path tonight anyway.”

I turn around and bite back a curse. The asshole I just spent an entire game going up against slid into the spot Jamie and Ashton just left.

Oh, fuck no.

Delaney

Why do men think it’s okay to crowd you?

Just because they’re bigger and look like they can bench-press a bulldozer, they feel like it’s their right to get in your space and force you to either be touching themor make yourself smaller. Newsflash—99.9 percent of the time, I’m going to make myself smaller because I don’t want some creep touching me unless I’ve invited him to.

And I didn’t invite him to.

I should have gone home with my sister and her husband when they asked.

Damn it.

Quickly, I glance over at Kaleigh, dancing with some hottie from the team. She’s one of the small group of women I now call friends in Kroydon Hills, even if that’s not something I’m exactly used to just yet. She and I came together tonight, and I’m pretty sure girl code says if you come together, you leave together... right?

The girls like to tease me that they forced their friendships on me, and truthfully, they’re not wrong. Even if I haven’t told them how much I appreciate it.

I’ve never been that girl.

The one with tons of friends.

Or more accurately, the one with any friends.

Friends weren’t an option, when you grew up the way I did.

But that changed when I met my sister, and she kind of forced them all on me.

It’s safe to say that woman is a force of nature.

And even safer to say I’m glad she’s mine.

We met.Imay or may not have played a part in saving her life. And when my house and my father’s bar were seized during the investigation,shemay or may not have, in the nicest, most insistent way imaginable, helped find me a new job and apartment.

It might also be safe to say I might actually need a different ride home.

The hottie she’s dancing with looks like he’s about to fuck her on the dance floor right here in front of everyone without a single care to be given.

Go Kaleigh.

“So...” The douche next to me licks his lips, and his bad breath assaults me as his eyes roam down my shirt and stop on my boobs.Eww. “Are you from around here?”

Oh my God.

“Really?” I murmur, more to myself than to him. I want to ask if that’s the best he can do, but I don’t. I learned to shove my sarcasm down at a young age. Antagonizing someone has never panned out well for me. Instead, sipping my soda and lime—happy to let everyone assume I’m drinking, even though I never do—I lower my eyes. “Not exactly. I’m kind of new to town.”

“Shame...” he murmurs. “I was gonna ask you for a tour of this dump. I thought we could start with your place.”

“I—” An inked arm slides around my shoulder. A massively muscled one. Far nicer than the one currently trying to crowd me against the bar. An arm attached to an even bigger body that smells like sandalwood, sage, and something else.

Something intoxicating.

Something I force myself to ignore for the sake of my dwindling sanity.

Something entirely Ryker Beneventi.