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Right now, all I want is to make sure he doesn’t think Sulli is free to be asked out or set up. She’s taken.
“Sulli isn’t single,” I tell him, unleashing this truth in one blow.
He leans back, dumbfounded. “Why didn’t she say anything about that?”
“Because she’s dating Banks, her bodyguard, and it’s not something she wants out in the public. You can understand that, right?”
His brows rise. “Yeah…wow. Yeah, of course.” He nods for a while and stares haunted at the table. “So Banks…” He looks to the door where Banks left, and worry crests his eyes. “He’s not going to have any hard feelings, right? I just don’t need a pissed off Roman god trying to smite me down.”
Roman god?
I almost laugh.
I lift a shoulder. “Don’t hit on her again, and you won’t have to find out.”
Coach Reed nods. “Yeah, thanks for the warning. I appreciate it, Akara.”
My stomach tenses. I don’t want to be on The Rodent’s good side, but I have a natural habit of trying to deescalate situations. To remove the fire out of a fight.
I leave the private room with weight bearing down on me.
I told Ryan Reed that Banks and Sulli are dating. That realization hits me all at once.
Good.
I’m tired of all the Kitsulli praise when Sulletti gets crickets. A part of me hopes Coach Reed blabs to the wrong person and this ends up online. Maybe Tumblr will make Sulletti fan pages. Maybe Banks can come out on top for once.
I make a pitstop at the hostess stand. “How can I get my hands on three pizzas? One vegan?”
“Right now?” she asks.
“Right now.” I open my wallet.
Down three-hundred later, I’m walking out with three large mystery pies. We parked in a deck around the block. Once I’m on P3, the floor deserted, I open Booger’s passenger door and realize Sulli and Banks are in the backseat.
“—I’m more used to being everyone’s buddy and pal, not being the girl that gets hit on,” Sulli says, mid-conversation with him.
“Guys were probably interested in you. You just didn’t notice.”
“Like you?” Sulli asks, then sees me. “Kits.” The look in her eye says, come here.
Keeping the pizza boxes on the passenger seat, I abandon that side and slip into the back with them. Sulli sprawls lengthwise across our laps. With her ass on me, her legs rest on Banks.
“Hey,” I whisper, cupping her face. “You okay, Sul?”
She nods strongly. “I feel good that I didn’t run away. At least he knows now that I’m not interested in him.”
Banks rubs her legs.
I ignore the knot in my stomach that’s pushing me to tell them what I said to Coach Reed. I don’t want to. They’re going to be pissed, and I’m not breaking this moment for anything. I tell Sulli, “You adulted so hard back there.”
Her lips lift, matching mine. “Thanks for letting me stand my ground.” Her eyes fall to Banks. “Both of you.”
“Anytime, mermaid.”
“Oh hey, and I didn’t have to use any codewords tonight. Another success.” Her head swings to me. “What’d you say to him anyway? Banks told me you were having words.”
“I told him not to hit on you again.” It’s not a lie, but it’s an omission of the complete truth. It’s good enough. “And he won’t,” I assure Sulli. “He touches you, he’s dead.”
Sulli nudges me like I’m overly dramatic.
I playfully cup her ears. “She thinks I’m nice.”
“She’s not wrong,” Banks says, surprising me.
Sulli sniffs the air. “Is that…pizza?” She leans forward, nearly crawling into the front. “Kits!” She brings the pizza boxes to the back. “My hero.”
“My hero,” Banks combats. “How the hell did you swing this?”
“How I swing most things.”
“With your fists?” Sulli says, like that can’t be right.
“With his words,” Banks counters confidently.
“With my money,” I say.
“Take it back,” Sulli tells me. “We don’t want it.”
Banks closes the top.
“Come on. You’re both starving.”
“Let me pay you back then,” Sulli says.
“No, it’s a date.”
“Akara and I can split the cost,” Banks adds.
“Wait…” Her brows spike. “This is a date?”
“Yeah, why not?” I eat a slice of plain cheese. “It’s a drive-in without the movie.”
Her lips rise.
Banks smiles off her smile, and soon, they’re both digging in. With our girlfriend lounged across us, we bite into pizza and talk about the best toppings, which veers into a thousand other directions. Donuts. South Philly. Mermaids. Disney movies. Gyms. Muay Thai. We laugh and smile and laugh harder, and I’m so dang happy with them.
Just crammed in the backseat of an old Jeep. Eating three-hundred dollar pizza. Even after the painful moments, the saddened minutes, we find joy together.
But behind that feeling, I’m holding my breath.
If you loved her at all, you wouldn’t do this to her.
Ryke’s declaration is still ringing in my head.
28
SULLIVAN MEADOWS
Ever since no bugs were found, we’ve been back at the penthouse. This morning, Akara spots me on a weight bench in the penthouse’s home gym. Love my old bench in my room, but the home gym has a fuck ton more plates, and I’m going heavy today. Using all my strength in my core and arms, I heave the barbell overhead.
