Page 24 of In It to Win It

My eyes widen.

“We did testing today,” he explains to me, apparently seeing my confused look.

Damn. I don’t want him to talk to me.

“And for the Condors, too,” Lacey adds. “How did the first day go, Théo?”

“Can’t talk about it.” He nods at JP. “The enemy is here.”

Lacey’s mouth falls open. “What? You mean you guys can’t even talk about hockey?”

“Better not to. In fact, he probably shouldn’t even be here.” Théo gives JP a smirk.

“You invited me!” JP shakes his head. “Asshole.”

I find myself studying his mouth. His lip was bleeding the other night, but it looks okay now. In fact, it looks beautiful . . . sexy . . . He looks up at me, catching me. His eyes grow hot.

Shit.

I stare down at my wine.

“Okay, then, we can talk about something else,” Lacey says. “How about politics?”

The guys groan, and I grin.

“Okay, then, let’s talk about how Batman is not a true superhero,” she says.

I laugh.

“Of course he isn’t,” JP says. “He’s a fictional character. Therefore not a true superhero.”

“Oh, come on!” My eyes bug out. “The very definition ofsuperherois that it’s fictional.”

“Says who?” JP meets my eyes, his chin jutting.

“Says me.” I frown. I actually don’t know why I said that.

“Taylor’s right,” Lacey says, consulting her phone. “Wikipedia says a superhero is fictional.”

Now I lift my chin at JP with a satisfied smirk.

“Okay, then. He’s not a superhero because he doesn’t have superhuman abilities.”

“What?” My eyebrows pull together. “Sure he does. He has superhuman strength. He just doesn’t brag about it.”

“That’s not superhuman. He just works out a lot. Plus he has money to buy a lot of gadgets.”

“There’s no way working out a lot is going to give you the strength to punch someone across a room. I mean, I guess he can’t fly, and he was never horribly mutilated or bitten by a spider or whatever, but clearly he has superhuman strength.”

“No.” JP shakes his head. “He just has training and money.”

“Ugh.” I can’t believe I’m hearing this.

I catch Lacey and Théo exchanging glances at our heated debate, and I sag back into my chair. Why am I arguing about this with him? It’s Batman, for cripe’s sake. “Whatever,” I mutter, and drink my wine.

“When’s your first game?” Lacey asks JP brightly.

“No hockey talk, remember?”

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