Page 82 of Fake Shot

“And why’s that?” I ask, crossing one foot over the other as I lean back farther.

“Because when we finally have sex, it’s going tomeansomething.” He steps up close, spreading his legs so one of his feet is on either side of mine. “And no amount of begging me for my cock is going to convince me to sleep with you before then.”

My laugh is a bark. “I’m notbeggingyou for your cock!” Ireach one hand behind me to steady myself on the pool table, but my palm lands on one of the balls, it moves under my weight, and I fall backward onto the table.

Lying there across the hard felt table, with a ball under one of my shoulders and Colt looming above me, I can’t stop laughing. Of course that would happen, and of course he looks mad about it. To everyone else, he’s the happy-go-lucky goalie, but apparently I bring out this always-glowering side of him. Lucky me.

Actually, it is kind of lucky,I think to myself,because annoyed Colt is HOT. He always has been, which is probably why I’ve always taunted him.

“Alright, then,” my sister says, stepping up next to him. With the darkness behind her and her fair skin lit up by the light above the table, she looks like an angel. A mad angel, who God would send down to punish the wicked.

I must say as much, because she rolls her eyes and says, “I’m not an angel, Jules, and I’m not mad.” Then she looks at Colt. “How much did you let her drink?”

“Like three and a half drinks.”

“Well, she’s clearly had enough.” Audrey reaches her hand out to me, and I grab hold, letting her pull me up to a sitting position. When we’re face to face, I realize that she looks like she could use a hug. So I wrap my arms around her and give her the biggest bear hug possible.

“You’re very huggable,” I tell her.

“You’re very drunk.” She’s using herI am not amusedvoice that she uses on Graham when he’s done something she finds funny but shouldn’t, like when he sticks French fries up his nose and claims they’re extra-long boogers.

“I’m only a little drunk.Trust me, I know the difference.” Ilet go of her then, and almost lose my balance again because my butt is perched on that narrow wooden ledge around the table, but she and Colt both reach out for me, each grabbing a different arm. “And I’m not going to do anything stupid this time. Colt promised he wouldn’t let me,” I tell her, then look at him. “Right?”

“Right. But I am taking you home because that third drink hit you harder than I thought.”

“It was probably the fourth.”

“What? I took the fourth away from you after you had like two sips.”

“Yeah, but you set it on the counter there,” I say, pointing to the empty glass where it sits on a ledge along the wall. “And I drank it when you weren’t looking.” I sound so damn pleased with myself.

“Oh my god, are you a fucking child?” Audrey asks with a laugh. Of course she’s laughing—alcohol makes me funny.

“Don’t know.” I shrug and look down at my body, which appears fully grown to me. “I don’t think so. I think I’m too big to be a child.”

“Jesus,” Audrey laughs. Then she turns to Colt. “I hope you’re planning to walk home. She needs the fresh air and some movement to help sober her up.”

“Yep, walking all the way,” he confirms with a nod.

“But we’re a long way from our house,” I whine.

“No, we’re not. We can be there in twenty minutes. Provided you can walk in a straight line.”

“I totally can.” My head bobs in agreement like I’m reassuring both of us, even though I have no idea if that’s true. Everything is pleasantly fuzzy. But the thought of walking home with Colt’s arm around me opens up the possibility, in my mindat least, that I’ll be able to convince him to sleep with me. Surely, he needs to do something about that massive erection he was grinding against me a few minutes ago, just as much as I need him to do something about the painful ache between my thighs.

I hop off the ledge of the table, but the ground’s closer than I expect, and so when my feet hit it, I topple toward him. Wrapping my arms around him, I’m hoping to pass it off as intentional, and say, “Let’s go!”

He tucks me under his arm, and turns me toward the table of our friends, but then I realize if we’re walking home, I need to use the bathroom first. Audrey offers to go with me because she seems to think I’m not capable of peeing alone while tipsy, and when we come out of the bathroom, Colt’s over at the table.

There are two additional women there now, and I’m not sure when they arrived, but I don’t like the familiar way one of them is resting her hand on Colt’s arm while she leans into him and whispers something in his ear.

“Who’s that?” I ask Audrey, nodding my chin toward Colt.

“Oh, do you remember my roommate from college? Jasmine?”

“From senior year? The one who basically ghosted you after you got pregnant and couldn’t go out partying with her?”

“Yeah, the very one. I haven’t seen her in years, but when she showed up here tonight and I invited her to sit with us, I regretted it almost immediately. Apparently, she’s...familiar...with a lot of the guys on the team.”

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