“Here you go, man.” Ash nudges the bottle into my hand.
“Thanks.” I drag my eyes away from her retreating back.
“Better forget that.”
“What?”
“Rayne. Rayne Webber. She’s the one running for mayor.”
Forgetting is easier said than done, but could I be any more obvious? “I met her today at Gabriel’s office. Just checking out the competition.”
My pulse recognizes the bullshit. And I’m not sure Ash buys it either.
We switch sides of the net and play another hour, until the sun finally slips away and the air cools.
Walking back to my place, sweat and sand cling to my skin. I already know what’s in store for tonight.
Lights out. White noise on. Meds beside the bed—a last resort.
And my mind replaying every moment with Luna… and the way she looked with the sun on her face.
Sleep’s going to be a fight.
Chapter Eleven
Rayne
“Mom sent me the announcement,” Lot says, and I see her on the screen tapping her finger to her thumb, giving me props. “So proud of you.”
“Congrats, Rayne,” Dice adds, sliding his handsome face into frame with the diva cat Miss Queenie. Her resting snarky expression is a twin to Lot’s.
“Thanks,” I say, dully. The effort to muster the excitement I should be feeling, out of reach.
Lot shoots me a side-long glance. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I shrug it off. Seeing DK at the beach had wrecked every intention I had to put him out of my mind. Shorts showing off those fine, thick legs. All sweaty and gorgeous, staring like he wanted to throw me down in the sand without a care for who was watching. I stepped fast, getting away before I did something dumb, like let him.
“I’m just tired.”
But Lot knows me too well. “Dice, let me talk to my girl real quick.”
“Sure.” He presses a kiss to her temple.
I love that my cousin has a man who treats her right, but this longing for DK is making me envious as hell.
“Good luck with campaigning,” he says, scooping up Queenie.
“Thanks, Dice.”
Once he’s out of shot, Lot leans in, one eyebrow quirked. “So what’s really going on?”
“Can’t I just be a cranky, tired bitch?”
“Yeah. But that’s not it. I’d think getting some good D and announcing your run would have you floating, not sulking.”
“I’m not sulking.”
“Girl, you really gonna make me work? ’Cause you know I’ll go full-excavation on your ass, if I have to.”
