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Scout moved down to stand next to me. “You’re going to Kira’s?”
I glanced up. “Don’t touch me right now.”
He gave me a dark, wolfish grin, his eyes smoldering. “Because you want me to or you don’t want me to?”
“Both.” I made a point of looking straight ahead.
“Let me give you a ride to Kira’s. Theresa can go with your cousin.”
“Like that wouldn’t be obvious.”
“Your cousins know.”
“Theresa doesn’t.”
“She suspects, and who cares?”
“I do.”
“You lie well. So lie.” He smiled. “Well.”
“You’re such an ass.”
“That’s why what we’re doing works. You don’t want to like me as a friend. I can be an ass to you. You like it.”
I was burning, just having him solely focused on me. And damn him because he was making sense. “You’re still an asshole.”
“And you can be a bitch.”
I shrugged. “Truth.”
“Let me give you a ride. You don’t even have to make something up. Garcia knows. She won’t say anything.”
“I’m not going to do that to her. I’m not that kind of friend. Stop asking. You know what kind of guy that’s making you.” I shot him a look because he’d just been on Theresa about doing the same thing to me that he wanted me to do to her. Ditch her for a guy.
He eased back. “I had to ask because, if I hadn’t, you’d be thinking, Why didn’t he ask?”
I rolled my eyes, though, there was some truth in that too.
The crowd started to thin, so we began moving down toward the restrooms. I moved ahead, and Scout lingered, responding to people who said hello to him. When we got to the area where the restrooms and concessions were, Kira and her friends were standing in a group.
“Ramsay!” she called. Her smile got bigger when she saw Scout. “Hey, Scout. You and Cohen doing anything tonight?”
Scout glanced at me. “Heard something about a party?”
She blinked a few times before straightening. “Yeah. I mean, yeah! At my house.” Her eyes slid my way. “Who do I thank for your presence? It’ll be twice this year. It’s a record.”
He stared at her, an impenetrable wall. He didn’t comment.
She blinked a few more times. “Okay then. Tell Cohen I said hey.”
He moved out, and his hand grazed the back of mine as he went past.
A couple of guys fell in step with him, but Scout wasn’t like them. It was obvious. They were talking around him, and at him, and he barely gave them the time of day.
It wasn’t just in the way he had built his body or that he was taller than them. It wasn’t even in his tattoos. Though, he wore a T-shirt tonight and I fully appreciated all the tats on him now. He had a full sleeve on one arm in full display for everyone.
But it was more.
It was in the way he walked. It was in the way he just was, the air around him, how he said nothing but that spoke volumes, how he barely did a thing and everyone was aware of him. It was in how he held himself, as if he had decades of experience on the guys around him.
The guys around were a little jumpy, cocky, and excited.
They were normal. Scout was different.
And though he and I were surrounded by so many others as we began heading to the parking lot, Scout glanced back at me and I was zapped. It was like we were the only ones walking in that moment.
I was in such trouble.
50
RAMSAY
Everyone knew the instant the football players arrived at Kira’s party. A whole wave of greetings rose up in the house. I was in the kitchen, waiting with Clint. Theresa ended up knowing a group of people so she was with them outside, and Gem had disappeared into the basement. Turns out, she’s a gamer. And really good at it.
Scout had headed out after the game. I was assuming he was doing the same thing as us somewhere, waiting on Cohen.
But since the team lost, we’d been waiting for Trenton and Alex.
Alex came in first, holding his fist up and bumping it with a bunch of guys on his way to where we were in the kitchen. “Hey, hey.” He nodded to a few more people, then came around and gave me a hug. “Hey.”
He lifted his chin up toward Clint. “Hey.”
“Yo.”
I stepped back, frowning. “How are you?”
He grimaced. “I want to drink. Who’s driving tonight?”
“Uh . . .”
He took my drink and downed half of it in one gulp.
“Not you, apparently.”
He frowned, taking another drag from my drink. “What?”
“Nothing.” I started making myself a second drink.
“Hi, Alex.” Kira came over.
“Kira. Nice party.”
“Only the best for the best.” She posed, lifting her head and fluttering her eyelashes.
He grinned at her. “Cool.”
“Kira! Kira!”
“I’m being called away. I’ll talk to you guys later?” She gave a wave before heading off, passing Trenton. She touched his shoulder, giving him a smile.
