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Later, gathered around the island in Adam’s kitchen, Angel was surrounded by the rest of the women who all wanted her to teach them how to play video games. Jessica seemed especially interested, which wasn’t too surprising considering how much Chris loved to play. Justin did too and was even more competitive.
Which was probably why he was still glowering at Angel from across the island. Kudos to her, she ignored the dark looks she was getting from both him and Patrick. Whenever she glanced at Adam, he grinned at her, and then she would glow as if lit up from some light within. He got the feeling that as long as he approved, and the girls approved, she didn’t much care Justin and Patrick were being sore losers.
Not that he could blame them. She’d wiped the floor with them, with very little help from Liam. On top of that, she could smack talk with the best of them. Once he and Olivia had gotten downstairs, the Domme had soon joined the other giggling women at some of the creative insults Angel had come up with.
It was an entirely different facet to Angel which he hadn’t seen before and it made him wonder how many other hidden sides she had. Sure, the gamer thing was kind of hot, but he’d barely heard her curse until today.
“She played us,” Justin said darkly. “She’s a... a... video game shark.”
“Like a pool shark?” Chris snorted and then grinned at Adam. “You should have seen the innocence shining from her when she suggested Halo. It was practically pouring out of her and these guys fell for it like they’d been dropped off a cliff.” He cackled. “Liam thought he was doing her a favor by offering to be on her team. I think these two idiots wanted to show off.” He laughed again as Patrick and Justin switched their glowers from Angel to him.
“She said she’d played before with her housemates, what were we supposed to think?” Patrick said crossly. “I thought we could go easy on her, show her some things she could take back to show her housemates... I was trying to be nice.”
“Maybe you should ask her to show you the secret passageway she ambushed you from, what, three times?”
“Her housemates are all video game fanatics,” Adam said. “I met them yesterday. Sam, Mark, and Q. They thought I was there for a LAN party.”
“Three guys? She’s got three guys for roommates? Unless Q’s a woman...” Liam frowned as Adam shook his head. “And you’re okay with that?”
“Wouldn’t make a difference if I wasn’t, so yeah.” More so every day, in fact.
“Not sure I’d be,” Liam muttered.
“What, you don’t trust Hilary?” Chris teased, elbowing Liam.
“I do, but... it’s...” Liam fumbled, knowing he’d walked into a verbal trap. He glanced over at the women, but fortunately they were too involved in their conversation for him to have to come up with a viable explanation for his girlfriend. “You know what I mean. I doubt you’d be thrilled if Jessica had been living with a guy instead of Hilary. It’s just... semantics.”
“Yeah, I know,” Chris said cheerfully, popping one of the bacon-wrapped green bean bundles Justin had made into his mouth. “But we would have dealt with it.”
“They seem like nice guys,” Adam said.
As if to mock his determination to be completely jealousy-free, Michael chose that moment to show up, accompanied by Andrew. Since the girls were closer to the front door entrance, they were the first ones to greet the new arrivals as they appeared from the hall.
While he would have liked to say he didn’t even notice Angel’s greeting to Michael, it would have been a complete and utter lie. But what he did notice was almost shocking.
Leigh had been right. The tension, the flirtatious air which had always tinged the air around Angel and Michael had completely disappeared. They hugged, Angel called him ‘Pretty Boy’ again, he growled at her... but something was missing. Some connection between them that had been there before.
Was it as simple as Leigh had indicated? One of them becomes involved in an exclusive relationship and the attraction between them melted away? He’d been prepared to deal with it, knowing Angel and Michael wouldn’t work in the long run—like he and Brooke hadn’t—and they both knew that.
Instead, she now had the same air around Michael as she did around her roommates.
Angel looked over at him and smiled, her eyes bright. The space between them seemed to shimmer with far more intensity than the tension between her and Michael had ever had.
Moving over to the other side of the island, Adam led the way for the rest of the guys to mix things up, undoing the unintentional “boys vs. girls” separation that had occurred.
“Glad you could make it,” he said to Andrew, slapping the other man’s palm in greeting while he snaked out his other arm to put it around Angel’s waist and pull her into him. It was the kind of physical declaration he hadn’t made yet in front of his friends, and Andrew grinned in approval.
“Sorry I’m late. My sister seems to have changed tactics from ignoring my existence to trying to drive me completely insane.” He rolled his eyes as Adam made a sympathetic noise, but he could tell Andrew was kind of relieved Iris was at least talking to him again. Even if she was being annoying.
“Well come on in, shockingly there’s still food left. Although we ate all the cheddar puffs already.”
Angel
Angel lingered as everyone else left. Adam hadn’t asked her to, and she hadn’t said she would, but she wanted to get a few moments alone with him. Not that she hadn’t loved today and spending time with his friends. She’d especially appreciated that he’d invited Mike, who was already blending into the group. It was obvious he and Andrew got along well already, and the other guys seemed perfectly welcoming.
Which was kind of incredible, considering what a tightly knit group they were and how long they’d all known each other. But she guessed they were getting used to hanging out with new people, considering Jessica and Hilary had only started dating their men within the past year.
“So, do you have anywhere you need to be tonight?” Adam asked as he shut the door after Rick, Andrew, and Michael. The look he was giving her made her think of a large predator, pacing around prey he’d already caught and was deciding whether or not it was going to pounce.
