Page 81 of Hate Game

He chuckles. I sip more of my yummy drink.

The last time we saw one another was a year ago when I was the target for his and Mason’s target practice with BB guns.

“How’s your crew?” I ask.

Tyler’s friend group is more like a gang slash dance group who are nice one moment and scare-your-pants-off-with-their-savagery the next. I would not want to mess with anyone from his “crew,” and I haven’t since Riley introduced me to Tyler when I was sixteen.

“They’re wanting another round of target practice.” His eyes crinkle at the corners.

I laugh. He’s joking, but I’m serious when I tell him I’m in. He can make arrangements with Mason. “But I’m inonlyif you’re also a target.”

“Would that make us a couple? If so, I am so in, baby.”

His smile widens. What a flirt! I swat his shoulder as he leans in closer. “Ew. As if. You’re old.”

He belts out laughter. “Sixty is old. I’m twenty-six.”

“Who’s a couple? Who’s old?” Malice comes over and sits on the barstool next to me.

“Tyler is,” I say. I make introductions. “Tyler drove from Montgomery.” I reach for Malice’s hand. He intertwines our fingers. “Malice and I are planning a weekend trip there sometime after the new year. I spoke with Arie earlier, and she said she would introduce me to her brothers.”

Arie showed up and then left the party an hour in, saying something about doing reconnaissance for a class project.

“The guys who flip houses for a living?”

“Yes. Have you met them?”

“Yeah, they’re cool. Montgomery might be a big ass city, but owning and running a business is a small world. Cool, Nine Lives. Let me know when you’ll be there, and we’ll plan on hooking up.” He shows me his pinky. I wrap my small one around his thick finger. Malice tightens his hold on my hand and says low in my ear, “Nine Lives?”

“I’ll explain later,” I say out the side of my mouth. Maybe. But if I tell him about my patrol with Mason and how we use BB guns to chase away the bad guys, he’ll wonder whether it was Mason who shot out the cameras.

I’ll text Mason later to see if any of his friends have anything against the Sterlings, especially Malice’s family.

Tyler stares at Malice and then at our hands intertwined against my side. He arches a brow but doesn’t say a word. The front door opens and closes behind us. Tyler’s eyes light up.

“My little sis is here.”

I’ve never met Ever Moretti. Riley said she is the nicest person and has the most protective brother. Tyler loves his little sis so much that he hired a bodyguard to keep an eye on her. He must be the tall, hulking, muscular guy standing behind her. Tyler waves his sister and her bodyguard over.

“Hey, sis, Gage, meet Nine Lives, Rue Lee, a.k.a Riley’s little sis, and Malice, Midnight’s cousin from Cambridge.”

Me and Ever hug. The guys bump fists. I steal a glance at Gage. He is as tall as Mason and just as scary looking with his tattoos. He’s wearing a gray T-shirt that hugs his impressive upper torso and brings out the gray in his light blue eyes.

Tyler slings his arm across Malice’s shoulders, tips his head at Gage, and leaves Ever and me alone after he says, “Malice, my man, let’s play a game of I ask a question about Rue, and you answer truthfully, or God help us…”

He steers Malice outside the sliding glass door toward the heated pool. Malice looks back with his eyebrow raised. I shrug. I have no clue what kind of game Tyler is playing. Or what questions he plans on asking Malice.

“Finally, I get to meet Riley’s little sis. Where is she by the way?”

“She’s here somewhere.” I glance around the first floor of the three-thousand-square-foot house. “She’s probably playing hide and seek with Midnight.”

Ever laughs. “And here I thought that was a rumor spread by Midnight for funsies.”

“He wishes. Riley came up with the idea. A way of losing him quick when she needed to make a clean getaway.” I lean in and say in a low voice, “It was usually after she stole something of his. Payback for whatever it was he did to someone else because of her.”

Ever shakes her head. “Those two. Can’t live with one another and can’t livewithoutthe other.”

“Yep,” I agree. “It’s been like that for I don’t know how long. I can’t think about Riley without thinking about Midnight.”

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