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“To Ava.” I gave him a look, my eyes flicking upwards. “Who’s the Kade-obsessed onenow?”
The guy said, “You guys are dicks.”
Blaise turned on him. “There are like fivefuckingbars in this entire house, his house. Read the silence and go help yourself somewhereelse.”
The guy flicked him off before marching back into the house.
I laughed. “Man, in college, you’d have that guy eating pavement after the first smart comment he made.”
Blaise sighed. “You have to beextremelyprofessional in my job. That would be unbecoming of me, especially if someone caught it on video. Also, how old are we?”
I snorted. “Never too old for a fun beatdown.”
He sighed. “I kinda miss those days. I’m only able to channel that into my playing. The coaches love it.”
“And the fans.”
“Them too.”
We both shared a grin before I went back to my evening’s entertainment. Ava. And got a jolt. She was staring at me. I knew I wasn’t imagining the fear in her eyes. “I gotta go. My girl’s looking ready to panic. Again.”
I took my beer, finished it in one gulp, and handed him my empty cup.
Blaise made no move to take it, but I let it go as I started across to her.
Behind me, Blaise cursed then laughed.
15
AVA
Iwas learning that all those years in high school, there’d been a reason I worked. Other than needing money, and that was because I sucked at socializing. Literally. I’d felt Zeke watching me all night, so that was distraction number one. The other distractions: everything and everyone.
I mean, it was all good things.
I knew this wasn’t high school and a “mean girl” wasn’t going to come in and make fun of me. That wouldn’t happen with Aspen and Bren by my side, who I’d always liked in high school even though I didn’t get to know them that well. Well, Aspen. Bren, I knew her a little bit more. Bren was a protector. That’s how I thought of her, and when she and Aspen arrived at the party, they’d been trying to be casual, but also mixing in the questions between the normal conversation.
How did this happen?
How was I?
Bren had made a point of being around after my grandmum’s funeral. Her sister-in-law owned Manny’s so it wasn’t a hardship for her to come in there, but I knew she came in a lot more when I was working. She cared. I knew she did. She did the usual, asking how I was, etcetera, but she watched me too. I knew she cared. I knew my bosses cared. What Zeke said, I knew people cared, but I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Extreme low self-esteem? Was that it? Or no. It was family stuff. It was because when my dad left, when my mom lost her legs, we were in crisis mode.
Crisis mode. I didn’t think I was in it anymore.
Or was I? Did I need to plan accordingly once Zeke got bored with me? Probably, but… I couldn’t bring myself to go there. I gave him a look now because he’d not stopped watching me all night, and it was having an effect on me. I was flustered, nervous, awkward, and feeling oddly shy all at the same time. And tongue-tied. Or was that the same thing? Probably the same thing. I’m sure it was.
Bren and Aspen were talking about someone I didn’t know when Zeke glided over.
“Ladies.” He gave everyone a smooth smile. “You called, my new roommate?”
I frowned. “I did?”
“Your look. It said, ‘help me.’” His smile grew. “I’m helping. Whatcha need?” He looked at my drink, and an eyebrow rose. “Another drink maybe?”
“What?” I was mortified, thinking Aspen and Bren would think I needed his help to get away from them. I didn’t. I didn’t know what I was doing, but his other question threw me, and I looked down. I didn’t even know what I was drinking. I hadn’t had a sip of it.
“Come on. Let’s go.” He reached for me, taking the cup first and handing it to Bren.
