Page 50 of Rebound
I laugh quietly, pushing away the whiskey glass. I don’t need alcohol when I can get drunk on Lavinia. “You’re such a pretty little liar, you can make the Devil believe he’s mistaken about his life choices.”
“Please, the devil will be so lucky to have my attention.” Lavinia tosses her hair over her shoulder, and in her eyes, I see the shimmer of confidence that had been lacking months earlier.
“You’re the only person I know who can challenge the devil,” I say. “Maybe next time you can wear my jersey to a game.”
“Jersey privileges have to be earned,” Lavinia says.
I finger a curl of her hair that’s resting on her neck, and Lavinia shivers. There’s something about having her full attention on me that’s entirely too intoxicating. No, that’s not it, exactly. Intoxicating has such negative connotations and nothing about those gorgeous green eyes on me feels negative.
When Lavinia looks at me, I feel like I’m tethered to earth by the strongest pull of gravity.
“You’re making this awfully hard.”
Her eyes hold a challenge as they meet mine. “Did you think this was going to be easy?”
My hand is so close to her pretty throat, and I have this possessive urge to wrap it around her neck and pull her mouth to mine. Lavinia turns, resting one foot on the rung of my stool, her legs trapped between both of mine.
“I don’t mind as long as I know what the benefits will be,” I say.
“What makes you think you’re going to survive the game long enough to even know the benefits?”
I smirk. “I never play a game I can’t win, Vinny girl.”
“And I play to win, so I guess we’re at an impasse.”
Drew is suddenly looming behind Lavinia, his glare trained at me. “Vin, come see to your best friend. Pretty sure she’s trying to convince Reese to quit hockey.”
“Although how is anyone supposed to win if your brother is glaring at them?” I mumble.
Lavinia sets down her drink, turning to face her brother. “Drew, stop glaring at Roman. You’re making him nervous, and he can’t perform.”
I choke on my tongue and Lavinia laughs, walking to where Jules is surrounded by my other teammates. Drew is still standing in front of me, his arms crossed, his perpetual frown marring his face.
“You’re not the Callahan I want to spend time with,” I remind him.
“Stay away from my sister,” he grinds through clenched teeth.
“That didn’t work when we were sixteen and it’s definitely not going to work now, Drew.”
Lavinia announces that she and Jules are going down to dance and my eyes follow her as she walks out of the VIP room. Before she leaves, she turns to look over her shoulder, her eyes connecting with mine. When she sees me watching, her mouth tilts up into a smile, an eyebrow raised in challenge.
If the good girl wants to play, who am I to deny her?
EIGHTEEN
LAVINIA
The door closes behind us and Jules looks at me, shaking her head as a slow smile lights up her face. I laugh nervously. I feel almost…giddy. Like I’m sixteen again and talking to the cute boy I have a crush on. Only, that cute boy is now a hot as hell man I have a crush on.
“Can you tell I have no idea what I am doing?”
“No, it looked like you two were seconds away from ripping off each other’s clothes,” Jules says. We walk down the little hallway to the stairs that lead back down to the club. It’s louder out here and we have to shout to be heard over the music.
It’s already way past my bedtime.
“We weren’t even talking about anything that involved ripping clothes.” I have to grip the railing as we walk down because these stairs are treacherous. I grab Jules’s hand because I don’t want her falling.
“The looks said it all,” Jules shouts in my ear.
