Page 39 of Meet Your Match
“Hey, I’m not a virgin anymore.”
“Does it count if it’s just the ass?” Maven asked.
That made us all laugh harder.
Maven felt like one of us already.
“Alright, twat lickers,” one of our veterans called. Shane Lomberg, a left-winger who was also the first of us to fight when necessary. “Shower your smelly asses, and let’s get this party started.”
Maven shook her head, writing something in her phone before she tucked it away on a sigh. “Alright, well, you guys have fun.”
“You guys?” Carter asked, frowning.
“Ohhh, no. You’re coming, too,” Jaxson said, pointing at her.
“Me?” She laughed a little, like it was a joke, before her eyes scanned each of us. She swallowed when she looked at me, fidgeting with her hair as she shook her head again. “No, no, this is your night. I’d cramp your style.”
My chest tightened at that because I knew she wanted it to land lightly, but I also knew she actually thought that.
She didn’t think she belonged.
My jaw was a little tighter then, thinking about her douchebag ex-boyfriend and his family. He’d hurt her so bad she had a permanent belief about the people she perceived as “rich” and how they were as human beings.
Which meant she was looking around this locker room thinking there was no chance in hell she’d feel comfortable going out with us for a night.
“Come on,” I said, calling her attention back to me. I waited until her eyes met mine. “Twenty-four-seven access, right?”
I threw out the work line because it was an easy one to get away with, one I knew would make her reconsider simply because she cared about doing the job right.
It was also an easy way to cover the truth, which was that I wanted her to come.
And I didn’t want her going home without me.
“Yeah!” Carter agreed. “You’ve gotta come.”
“I’ll buy your drinks all night,” Jaxson chimed in.
“Don’t listen to these guys,” Will said, standing. “If you want to go home, go home. This motley crew will have you out until dawn if you let them.”
“Leave us alone, Grandpa,” Jaxson said, waving him off. He stood between Daddy P and Maven then to hammer his point home. “Don’t make us beg, Maven.”
“But we will,” I said. “If you want.”
The guys and I shared a look before I dropped to my knees, clasping my hands together with big puppy dog eyes.
“Oh,please, Maven! Please come celebrate with us!”
Jaxson and Carter dropped, too, and we chimed it over and over, like kids begging their mom for an ice cream cone.
Maven laughed, shaking her head before she held up her hands and said, “Alright, alright,alright.” We quieted at that last one. “I’ll come.”
Her eyes found mine when she said those last two words.
And I couldn’t help but lick my bottom lip, hoping for the chance to make that statement true.
CHAPTER 14
I AM THE MAYHEM
