Page 67 of Scrimmage

He gives me a sheepish smile. “I invited Ava. So I guess what I’m really trying to get at is that you can’t be pulling the shit you normally do tonight. No reckless flirting. No hanging on me. For God’s sake, do not call her Stacy.”

Now all of it is making sense.

“I am so far from mad!” I squeal. “I swear, I will not tell Ava she has a great rack. I can’t promise that I won’t embarrass you, though.”

“You’re really okay with it?”

“Yes! This makes the Alexi and Koda situation worth it. Actually, now I can bug the shit out of them so they’ll never come with us again.” I give Cole a menacing grin.

“Alright.” Cole laughs, the dimples in his cheeks popping out. “We’re gonna meet her at the bar.”

“What the hell are we waiting for?” I shove him out, snatching the bottle from his hands.

We head into the kitchen and everyone is standing around. Vale is on some long winded explanation about something I don’t care about, per usual. I see he brought his own bottle of wine, and I have to hide my laughter. Alexi looks calm, cool, and collected as Vale speaks. I wonder what’s going on in his mind. Dark eyes glare at me from across the counter. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.

Penny’s eyes drop to the bottle of tequila in my hand. “What have you done, Cole?”

“She threatened me,” he lies.

“Told him I’d call his mom.”

Cole rolls his eyes. “You’re going to try to do that anyways.”

I realize Koda isn’t glaring at me. He’s looking beside me. I loop my arm through Cole’s, and he accepts it easily. Once we get to the bar I’ll avoid him like the plague, but it won’t take that long to send Koda into a spiral by the looks of it.

“Ashy!” Alexi uses the opportunity to escape Vale. “Is that how I sound to you?” he asks out of the corner of his mouth.

“Oh no,” I whisper. “Vale is infinitely worse.”

He rocks back onto his heels. “Got it.”

“We should probably get going,” Cole reminds us, using his bicep to escort me.

The humidity is heavy in the night air. Thirsty Thursday is already in full swing. Alexi is talking to Cole about football. I can feel Koda’s eyes burning into my back. I pull a blunt out of my pocket and light it, taking deep puffs, and drop back a few paces. I know Cole doesn’t mind weed, but with the whole Ava thing he really shouldn’t show up smelling like marijuana.

Someone snatches the blunt and throws it onto the sidewalk, stomping it out.

“What the fuck?” I spin around, staring straight up at Koda.

“It’s bad for you.”

Everyone is already twenty feet in front of us. I’m losing my lifelines quickly.

“Good thing I come prepared.” I pull out another, holding eye contact while I light it.

He’s about to say something when Cole calls back to us. “Hurry up, Ash. Once Bear is gone you know Jake won’t let us in.”

“What is he talking about?” Koda’s eyes flick to Cole, who looks uneasy.

I blow smoke into his face. At some point it'll make him snap. “Guess you’ll find out.”

I skip off, passing Alexi and Cole. I hand Penny the blunt and she takes a deep puff, handing it over to Vale, and we rotate. Vale is somewhat tolerable when he’s stoned. Maybe it’s because I’m stoned.

“How do you always have the best weed?” his voice rasps with the smoke, blowing rings into the air like a show off.

“Top secret security clearance,” I giggle. Vale and I both dislike each other, but every now and then he acts like a real person.

The tattoo shop looms ahead. While the shop is on the upper level, there’s a stairwell that leads to a basement where the bar is. We finish up smoking before heading in the door. I slide down the railing and flail off.

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