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Okay, most of the time.
Not that I would ever admit that to her. Lily would only tell me how I’d find somebody one day. If only I opened myself up to guys more.
That was the whole point though; if you opened yourself up, you were vulnerable. I couldn’t be vulnerable. Not again.
“Okay, can everyone settle down.” Bottle of beer in hand, Mr. Ford stood and ran his eyes over the section of the restaurant we filled. “I’m only going to say this once. When you head back to your rooms, you go straight to your rooms, and I don’t want to see any of you until first thing in the morning. If I hear so much as a whisper of you breaking the rules, it won’t just be running suicides you’ll have to worry about.” His eyes fixed on the guys. “You got the job done tonight. You represented this team, and you did Rixon proud. Don’t disappoint me now.”
A rumble of, “Yes, Coach,” went around the room.
“Okay, get out of here. Coach Macintosh and Coach Huckley will escort you up to our floor.”
It was a mass exodus as the team eagerly filed out of the restaurant. Kaiden lingered. Aaron and Cole too.
“You did good tonight, Son,” Aaron’s dad said, fist bumping him. “Go get some sleep.” His lip curved knowingly.
“Ash,” Jason warned, and he threw up his hands.
“What? They know not to break the rules.”
Aaron fought a grin. “Night, guys, catch you all tomorrow.” His eyes found Poppy, and she ducked her head.
The two of them were so obvious, but neither of them had fessed up to being anything more than friends.
The girls got up too. Poppy hugged her mom and dad while Sofia did the same. Lily was next, her dad whispering something to her. It didn’t take a lot to figure out what he’d whispered when she swatted his chest and turned firetruck red.
“Night, Peyton,” Felicity said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Night,” I said, following Lily out of the restaurant.
The guys were waiting for us and we all rode the elevator together.
“Party in my room?” Bryan said. “I managed to smuggle some vodka and snacks in.”
His eyes were heavy on me, but I didn’t meet his stare. He came anyway, pressing his body against the side of mine. “Hey, Myers, you okay?”
I lifted my face to his and faked a smile. “Peachy.”
“Listen, about you and Sean—”
“There is no me and Sean. He obviously got bored with Layla and decided to come crawling back to me. And now he’s pissed I didn’t want to hang out again.”
He flinched, anger simmering in his eyes. We both knew the lengths to which me and Sean had hung out.
Everyone did.
My eyes fluttered shut as I inhaled a small breath. When I opened them again, I saw the reflection of Lily and Kaiden kissing in the mirror behind me. My expression must have betrayed me because Bryan piped up, “Can you two at least wait until you’re behind closed doors?”
“You’re just jealous, Bry,” Gav snorted.
Bryan’s heavy-lidded eyes dropped to me again, but I glanced away. His lust was like a living, breathing thing, swirling in the air around us.
The second the door pinged open, I said, “I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“No,” Ashleigh said. “You have to come.”
“You go. I just want to sleep.”
“Pey,” she whispered, concern glittering in her eyes, but I waved her off.
