He uses finger quotes aroundnon-date. I try to hold back my cringe, which is more so because I cannot stand weddings and other shit like that. They make me so uncomfortable. It’s literally the ultimate public display of affection and I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t make my skin crawl. Am I a hypocrite because yesterday I kissed Dacen in plain view of anyone who might have happened to be looking? Yes. But it was dark, so…
Besides, the physical part doesn’t bother me so much as what it conveys.
Dacen purses his lips and plants his fists on his hips. “Why do you look like you’re being waterboarded right now, Ryne? It’s a wedding, not a torture chamber. You eat good food, have some cake, maybe dance a little. It’s not the end of the world.”
I stare at him stonily with my arms crossed. “What do I get when I win?”
“Ifyou win, what do you want?”
I tap my fingers against my sides while I consider my answer. “I’m not sure, so I reserve the right to call it in at any point in the future when I decide what I want.”
Dacen raises an eyebrow but nods once. “Okay. Deal.”
We shake, and instead of letting go I tug him forward so our chests touch. “Just so you know, Dacen, I never lose a bet.” I flick my tongue against his ear and then drop his hand and step back.
“It’s totally cheating, Ryne, if you distract the other person by being all sexy.”
“I think that means I win by default then.” I leave him standing there, absorbing my meaning, and go wait by the rest of the team as the ref starts to run through the rules.
Once the ref finishes, Dacen steps up behind me and squeezes my ass lightly. When I glance back at him, he murmurs in my ear. “Just soyouknow, flattery will get you nowhere. You’re going down.”
I turn to face him while the guys move around us to enter the play zone. Blood pumps wildly through my veins as my heart pounds in my chest. This is where I thrive, this is my playground, and this hot-ass dude trying to stare me down is going down. Dacen’s eyes narrow into tiny slits at my expression. It’s cocky and arrogant, yeah, but I can one hundred percent back it up with action. I will absolutely win this bet. I pull my mask down and lean in.
“Game on.”
The paintball match starts and I salute him and jog away. I sneak around and slip behind a barricade undetected, and watch as he moves in and around various obstacles. I’ve been playing paintball since I was eight. I can navigate this place with my eyes closed and know a thing or two about strategy. I slip in and out, working my way around while keeping him within my sights and staying out of sight of everyone else as much as possible. After ten minutes with absolutely zero sight of me, Dacen’s body language starts to get frustrated. I smile behind my mask. He’s got his free hand planted on his hip and his shoulders raise up and down with a sigh. There’s a wooden platform off to his side and I sneak my way up the back of it until I’m standing above him. He’s none the wiser and I chuckle quietly.
“Hey, sexy,” I call out in a deep voice. Dacen whips around and looks up at me. I jump down and land in front of him, my boots thudding as I hit the ground. “You’re too close for me to fire, so consider yourself hit.”
“Aw, shit.”
* * *
Dacen rodewith me over to the paintball place, so when we’re done I drop him back off at school. He sulked the whole way here and it was absolutely hilarious. Besides pouting, he spent most of the time messing around with the music on my phone, playing weird shit until I couldn’t stand it anymore. When I pull into the parking space next to him, I shut the truck off and hop out, then grab one of his bags and throw it in his back seat after he unlocks it.
“Are you seriously going to continue to sulk in silence because you lost the bet? You’re such a big baby,” I tease.
“Maybe.” He juts his chin out but I catch the smile on his face as he turns to throw his other bag across the driver’s seat onto the front passenger seat.
“What did I tell you about pouty babies?” I box him in between his open door, the doorframe, and my body.
Dacen’s eyes flash. “That’s really not a deterrent. But good game, Ryne. There, I’m being a good sportsman. Let me know when you figure out what your prize is.” His attitude comes back out and I roll my eyes. Some days I don’t know if he’s capable of going more than a few sentences without slipping it back into his tone. He pecks my lips, then follows it with a second, slower press of his lips to mine. It’s hot when he initiates contact between us. “I better go. Robin Stark is probably crossing her legs if my mom’s not back yet. Good game for real, both of them. You kicked ass on the soccer field this morning, and you won our bet fair and square. I’ll hold up my end of the deal, whatever it ends up being.”
He smiles and starts to twist around to get into the front seat but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. When he turns back around I pull him over until he’s propped up against the side of the vehicle. He looks up at me questioningly when I step between his legs and slip my hands beneath his shirt, resting them on his waist. I have no idea why I’m about to open up this can of worms, but I’m going to do it anyway. Actually, I know why. That light in his eyes, when it flares even brighter because of me, it’s addicting. Dangerous and addicting. I stroke my thumbs over his warm skin. Dacen settles one hand on my hip and traces a pattern on my chest with his other.
“Why do you need someone to go with you to that wedding anyway? Won’t you already know most everyone there? It’s not like you’ll be alone.”
He pauses whatever pattern he’d been tracing. “That’s exactly the problem, I know nearly everyone there. My mom filled out a plus one for me way back when she RSVP’d. It was, like, last spring or something.” He blows a puff of air out the side of his mouth and continues. “At the time I thought I’d take Christopher although I hadn’t gotten around to actually asking him. But things changed, and then we moved. Now my cousins are all gonna rag on me when I show up sans date because they’re immature like that. Some of them anyway.” Dacen frowns and chews the side of his lip. “I guess I could call Christopher. I’m sure he’d be up for a visit and I could still invite him.”
Oh. Fuck. No. You won’t.
I’m aware thoughts like that make me a jealous, possessive dickhead and I have no right, but it doesn’t change the bitter jealousy running through my blood at the vision of him with that dude. Only a dick would be jealous of someone’s past because it isn’t changeable and therefore it’s a waste of time to dwell on. And we’re not even together. So am I jealous? Of his past?
Yes.
I wish I were the only one who’d ever run a hand down his body, feeling each and every well-defined muscle; the only one who’d ever tasted his bottom lip and sucked it lightly until he moaned; the only one who’d ever taken him into their mouth and had him shouting out their name as he came. These thoughts crash around in my head and leave me feeling… something. It’s written all over my face, I can tell by the way Dacen’s expression transforms as he watches me. His eyes soften and he reaches up to touch my cheek. The unexplainable intimacy of the moment is a stark contrast to the jealous beast trying to claw its way out of my skin and leaves me feeling all sorts of confused. I look down at the ground to hide my frustration.
“Ryne?”
