Page 36 of Force Play
And I think I might like that I’m the one who put it there.
twelve
Lucia
“Where’sLiv?”Iask,carrying my dress over my shoulder as I walk into Rory and Cole’s home in SoHo.
“Said she’s running a few minutes behind,” Ella calls from her place in the kitchen, glass of champagne in hand.
I won’t bring it up, but I know we’re all going to need to help Ella let loose tonight. The fact that she’s drinking right now tells us everything we need to know.
“She just got to the lobby,” Rory chimes as she and Harlow walk over to join us.
Harlow gives Ella a sympathetic look, but she thankfully doesn’t notice. “What color dress are you wearing tonight, Ell?”
“Red,” she answers flatly before taking a deep breath. “Josh has always loved it when I wear red.”
“Makes the green of your eyes pop,” Liv says as she walks through the front door, resting her sparkly blue dress on a hook.
When she hears Liv’s voice, Ella brightens a bit, a teasing look on her face. “Why were you running late, Liv?”
“Oh,” she squeaks. “Just… lost track of time.”
I gaze at her, noticing the way her cheeks are turning pink, and I bust out laughing. “Livvy just got laid!”
“Oh God!” Olive hides her face behind her hands.
“I’m sure you were calling out to God,” Rory says playfully.
Harlow rolls her eyes. “Let’s not give Liv shit, guys. I highly doubt she’s the only one who had sex before coming here.”
Rory points her gaze at Lo. “Guilty.”
Harlow makes a disgusted face before composing herself. “Yeah… me too.”
“Not me,” Ella shrugs. “Just got my period so.”
Before the girls can comment on it, I jump in to spare Ella from having to unload right now. “I’m going on almost nine months with no sex, so I sure as hell didn’t get laid.”
“Your roommate is the king of fuckboys,” Rory laughs. “Can’t believe you haven’t jumped on that yet.”
“Why would Iwantto?” I question. “Ari and I are being amicable now, but we’re not friends by any means. I have no desire to jump on his dick.”
But maybe I do a little bit because he always walks around fucking shirtless…
Harlow looks at me in curiosity. “You’re being nice to Ari?”
I sigh. “We’ve agreed that to make living together tolerable, we need to not be at each other’s throats all the time. We’ve really only made small talk, but it’s more than we’ve done before.”
Ella smiles. “We all told you he wasn’t bad.”
“He’s still annoying,” I reply quickly. “But he might not beasannoying as I originally thought. He’s… tolerable.”
“I’m glad you two are mostly getting along then,” Liv adds. “Ari has always seemed like a nice guy to me.”
“What do you two talk about?” Rory asks.
“Not much,” I shrug. “Just little conversations here and there. I learned his birth name is Jae-Hyun, and he’s a hell of a cook, though.”
