Page 44 of Rebellious

After I made the deal with Aspen, I got out of the pool and went back home to change into swim shorts while Aspen’s parents cooked dinner. A couple hours later, we’ve all made it back into the pool with drinks.

“Want to play a game of volleyball, chicken style?”

I cut him a look. “Not really.” Chicken style is playing with someone on your shoulders. We’ve done it a couple times at parties. It serves no purpose other than to allow Drew’s girl of the night to grind on his neck for a couple of games.

“Come on,” he chides. “Me and Vee against you and Asp.” He tilts his head, a sly grin emerging. “Or you and Vee and Aspen and—”

“No.” Aspen is not getting on his shoulders.

“That’s what I thought.” He laughs. “You in or not?”

“What are we playing?”

Aspen glides through the water, her mood far perkier than earlier. “Pool volleyball, chicken-style.”

He had her at volleyball. “Sure!”

Drew winks. “Cool. Take a knee, Bennett.”

No chicken-style anything

Aspen

“You heard him—kneel.”

I’m pretty sure it’s just me enjoying watching Bennett’s throat work as he levels me with a look that is so not amused.

Taking his beer, I flash him a wink and down the last little swig he used as an excuse to dawdle. “Oops. No more excuses.”

Bennett glares, standing there and making no move to kneel or otherwise get moving. The air is thick with tension, which gets a chuckle out of Drew.

“You ready, Vee?” he asks.

Vee grins, pulling up onto the ledge of the pool and motioning for Drew to back up between her legs. “Come to mama, Drusila.”

Drew, never one to turn down a good time, backs up, never taking his eyes off Bennett. He’s enjoying putting Bennett in a precarious situation. I’m sure it’s exactly the payback he intended. He told me about Bennett punching him this morning.

He also tried to weasel out what happened between Bennett and me to cause that particular mood swing. Of course I didn’t tell him, but Drew knows us. I’m sure he knows it’s the same argument we have all the time.

“Let’s practice while these two have a silent argument,” Drew says once Vee is securely on his shoulders. He tosses her the volleyball and casts a teasing look at Bennett. “Chop, chop, brother.”

It’s like Bennett is in shock—pale, stiff, and unmoving. Swishing through the water to his side, I grab his arm, pulling him down and planting a kiss on his cheek. “What’s it going to be, QB? You in this game or not?”

Bennett bites his lip, his teeth sinking in harder than they should. “Yeah, I’m in.”

Normally, knowing I’m about to straddle Bennett’s neck would send all kinds of giddy feelings through me. But those feelings started earlier and never left.

He promised.

One day.

No rules.

That, my friends, is a freaking miracle—a crazy, sexy, exciting miracle. Bennett knows I plan on violating every rule we have in those twenty-four hours.

Every. Single. One.

Bennett Jameson, for one blessed day, will be mine with no rules, no stipulations, and no barriers. Unless the guilt kicks in and he takes it back.

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