Page 23 of Free Fall

Who would disagree with that?

10

After dressing in Mrs. Parker’s craft room, I walk out in my new outfit and make sure to immediately find Sasha. She’s not attached to Reid anymore, but she is surrounded by all her bitchy friends out on the back deck, sitting next to the fireplace. I peek my head out. “Hey, thanks for the outfit, Sasha.”

She does a double take, and I watch as her smile fades into a scowl.

“Hey, is that your shirt?” one of her friends asks.

I give them all a wave and then leave to go back into the house. The dining room is set up as a beer pong area. The living room couches are pulled back for a makeshift dance floor in the middle, and the kitchen is beer central.

I go there first to start my plan. After filling my cup from the keg, I down that immediately, and then fill up another one.

“Whoa,” I hear a voice say.

I turn just as I top my cup off. The guy’s eyes widen. “Holy shit. It’s you.”

I tilt my head. My first instinct is that he’s probably realized I’m Brady’s sister, but I don’t think he’d have that smile on his face if he did.

He puts his hand over his heart. “You don’t recognize me?”

My mind flits to Ezra, but that can’t be it either. I’ve seen pictures of Ezra, and even though both him and the guy in front of me are super cute, this guy isn’t Ezra. “Sorry, I don’t,” I say.

I try to maneuver around him, but he stops me. “Let’s try this. Maybe if I walk away.” He turns and struts away, picking up the back of his shirt as he does so, showing off his ass.

I laugh but shake my head anyway when he turns toward me.

He groans. “You’re killing me. How about if I had Winthrop scrawled across the back of my football jersey?”

It clicks then. This is the wide receiver from the opposite team. The one who’d said he’d wished he’d caught that ball in front of me. Even though I get it now, I shake my head. “Sorry…”

He laughs. “Now you’re just teasing.”

I lift my shoulders. He’ll never know. He’ll definitely never know I checked his ass out when he walked back across the field. “So, you played for the other team today? Kind of ballsy coming here to party, isn’t it?”

He leans against the counter. “I’m not a sore loser. I knew Spring Hill was going to kick our ass.”

“Is that so?”

He drops his head. “You have more than a few players who are best in the state. Yeah, I’d say we had no chance whatsoever.”

“Not confident, huh?”

A smirk plays over his lips. “Oh, I’m confident. Just not in the areas I know can be improved upon. Meaning…” He places his cup down on the counter and reaches for my hand. “You should come dance with me now.”

My eyes widen at his invitation. I catch a glimpse of Lex looking at us. Ordinarily, I would’ve turned the guy down. Not because I’m not interested, but because I’m unsure of my dance moves at this point in my life, but I have a plan to execute.

I hold up a finger and then down the rest of the beer in my cup. Hopefully I’ll have a buzz by the time we get too into the song. I glance over at Lex as… Winthrop—I’ll have to ask his first name—leads me into the living room. I hope Lex was paying attention to how much beer I just had. If these guys are hell bent on babysitting me, they can do just that.

The beer is sitting like a lead-weight in my stomach, but Winthrop—whose first name is Chad—knows just how to dance, so I’m not self-conscious. His hands stay on my hips. Sometimes they move to my lower back, but they always return to my hips where his touch isn’t forceful but firm. We dance a few songs before he goes to get me another beer, then we sit out the next few, drinking, but are back on the dance floor after that. By this time, I don’t have a care in the world.

Lex comes up to try to get me to dance with him, but I dismiss him, turning toward Chad. Chad looks up at Lex, but whatever happens, he looks back down at me shortly after Lex walked away. “Ex-boyfriend?”

I laugh in his face. “Um, no. Not at all. Friends with my brother.”

“That explains the look then. Your brother isn’t going to show up next, is he?”

Pain slices through my heart. I stumble on my feet and Chad has to catch me. “You know what? I think I need another drink,” I tell him.

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