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He squinted. “I could be totally convinced. Really, wouldn’t even take much. We can just keep the doors locked.”
I laughed. “No, we can’t.” I patted his chest as I took possession of his boxers. I set them with my clothes and headed for the door. “We’re celebrating.”
“Right,” he exhaled. “Celebration. Put a little swing in those hips because the party in my pants is all about celebrating you.”
I groaned and stared at him.
“Too much?” He gave me a cheesy grin, and a real laugh bubbled up through me.
They were idiots sometimes. All of them.
But they were my idiots.
“Maybe a little.” I held my thumb and forefinger together, and he winked. There was no mistaking the pleasure in his eyes when I laughed. Archie was worried about me, and he was trying to cheer me up.
It worked.
“Heading out,” I called to Coop.
Archie covered my hand on the doorknob, and we wrestled it open together, laughing to find Jake and Ian had finally made it up the stairs. Jake raked an appreciative gaze over me and smiled, but Ian’s expression shuttered as he glanced from me to Archie behind me.
“It’s about time you slowpokes got up here,” I said, refusing to be embarrassed, even if my face heated.
All the air seemed to be sucked out of the hall as we stood there in that awkward frozen tableau.
“Finally,” Coop declared as he left the guest room. “I thought I was going to have toMission: Impossiblemy way in there to get you two out.” He squeezed right past Jake and Ian to sling an arm around my shoulders and tugged me out into the hall. “Move it or lose it, guys!” he called back as we headed for the stairs with Archie right next to us.
It wasn’t until we were outside in the heat that the shiver hit me. No way Coop missed it this close to me, but I bumped his hip and slipped away before I dropped my phone and bracelet on the table, then I raced forward and dove into the pool.
We were going to have fun tonight, dammit.
Bad decision bagel or not.
Chapter Six
Are You For Real?
Jake
“’Not a chance in hell’?” Bubba quoted my words back at me as Coop disappeared inside with Frankie. “Really?”
“Her? In a dress that’s thinner than cotton while on your bike to go to Homecoming? Yeah, that definitely falls in no chance in hell.” I dragged my backpack out of the back and then locked the car.
“You think I’m going to take her on the bike?” Bubba stared at me, his expression tight. To be honest, we hadn’t said much to each other the last couple of days.
“I don’t know what you’re going to do. I didn’t expect you to take off on Frankie or bail on me, so what do I know?”
“Apparently enough to make decisions for her.” The barest edge of hostility frosted the words.
“I don’t let my friends do stupid shit,” I told him bluntly. “I tried to stop you on Saturday, too. But you wouldn’t listen. Now…she thinks you’re out. While she puts on a great show, it’s eating away at her. Personally, I think she has enough problems, she doesn’t need any more.”
The only thing keeping me from punching him—particularly after he had to bail on lunch to hang out with Sharon and the kill-me-now club—was Frankie. It would ruin her day. We were here to celebrate that killer scholarship.
I didn’t know a more deserving person. I came clean about my own scholarship, and she’d been thrilled for me. When I’d admitted I’d worried about the fact she hadn’t gotten it, she’d laughed at me and called me sweet.
Yeah, I was sweet. On her.
The fact that I got to spend the whole night with her pretty much made all the crap parts of the week worth it. Even the anger management—wasn’t that a joke?
