Page 17 of Offsides

Jealousy pumps through my blood, harsh and savage. I want nothing more than to grab the coat I left at the entrance, wrap it around her, and hustle her out of here.

But that’s definitely not within the bounds of our normal friendship. Regular Eli would never do that to regular Dani.

But regular Dani would NOT dress like this!

Still. I’m not such an idiot as to think she’d respond favorably to me demanding she cover up and leave.

Dani’s eyes widen when they clash with mine. “Eli,” she says, her voice sounding breathless in a way that has my blood rushing to my cock. I can’t count how many times I’ve dreamed of hearing my name in her voice like that. Except the circumstances were entirely different. There were far fewer people around, for one. Like, zero besides us. And far fewer clothes too.

Clenching my jaw, I make a grabby motion toward her cup. “I’ll get you some water.”

Her brow furrows. “I actually wanted to try the hard cider Dylan was telling me about. He said it’s kiwi strawberry. That sounds good.”

All I do is grunt, because fuck that noise. She doesn’t need some girly sounding cider that she’ll probably suck down like juice and then fall into bed with whoever’s nearby—Dylan, probably. If he’s the one telling her about the drink choices, it’s likely that he’s planning on sticking to her ass like glue all night.

“I can get my own drink,” she says, her voice noticeably cooler. But I’m not going to be shaken off that easily.

I follow her to the breakfast bar where Dylan has mixers and liquor on the counter plus an assortment of beers and, apparently, hard ciders. She grabs one, but I take it from her before she can find a bottle opener.

“Hey!” she protests.

“Dani. Come on. What are you even doing?”

She crosses her arms and looks me up and down. I try my best to keep my eyes on her face and not let them dip to where her posture has her tits smashed together and pushed up like she’s presenting them for inspection, because Iknowshe absolutely isn’t doing that. But I can’t help it. My eyes betray me, dipping for a glance followed by a longer, lingering look.

“Oh my god,” she huffs, throwing her arms in the air. “You’re as bad as they are!” She thrusts her arm to the side, indicating the group of guys she just extricated herself from.

“What are you even doing with them?” I crowd closer, hating how accusing I sound but unable to stop myself. “And looking like that?”

Her chin tips up, defiance in every inch of her body—and lord help me, I’m noticing so many things about her body. “Looking like what, exactly?”

There’s clear warning in her tone, and I know I need to tread carefully. Tearing my eyes from her, I shove a hand through my hair and clear my throat. “Please. You know what I mean. Looking likethat.”

“No, Eli. I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. What exactly do I look like?”

“Like … like ...” Both hands are in my hair now, gripping it in frustration. “Like agirl!”

I know as soon as the words leave my mouth that it’s absolutely the wrong thing to say. But I’m not sure if there was any chance of there being a right thing to say.

Her face closes down. Completely. I’ve never seen her look so stony.

“I see,” she says quietly. “And what, precisely, do I look like the rest of the time?”

I make a variety of strangled noises before finally stammering out, “That’s not what I meant.” In response, she arches one perfectly manicured eyebrow. The question plain.What did you mean then?

Taking a deep breath, I do my best to calm the raging storm of jealousy and frustration I’m experiencing. “Come on, Dani,” I return just as quietly. “You know you don’t usually dress like this. And you have to know that’s why you’re getting the kind of reaction you are.”

She nods slowly, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Right. The reaction where I learn my best friend is actually a misogynist asshole.”

Apparently my relief was too soon. “What?” My eyes practically bug out of my head. “How am I the asshole? And a misogynist?”

Scoffing, she shakes her head. “Honestly, Eli, I expected as much from Dylan and his crew. But I thought better of you. I thought that mybest friendwould have my back. Support me. See me for me, regardless of what I’m wearing.”

“What do you mean?” I interject. “I do!”

She shakes her head again. “Obviously not. Or else we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I shouldn’t be surprised, though, should I? Not after karaoke night. You saw me dressed up, realized I was a girl, tried to get in my pants, and when I didn’t go for it, you decided we should just ‘pretend it never happened.’” She makes sarcastic air quotes around the last bit.

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