Page 127 of Reaching Avery
“You got it, sweet thang,” Mav said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
I rolled my eyes. “You and your pet names. I’m going to puke.”
But really, I loved them. Each time he called mebabeorbabyit made my stomach do flips.
After stopping by my house to let Declan know my plans, we went out to eat before hitting the pool hall. Ricky was already there when we arrived, wearing a backwards cap and leaning over the table to hit the eight ball in the top left pocket. He scratched instead.
“About time you guys showed up,” he said, straightening his stance. “I’ve been here for years.”
“We knew you needed the practice,” I casually said, adding a side shrug.
Ricky cut his eyes at me. “Boy, you is evil. Like, if you were a toy, you’d be a Lego. One of the small ones you never realize is there until you step on it in the middle of the night barefoot.”
“That’s very specific,” I said, fighting a laugh.
“Garrett from the coffee shop is stopping by to hang with us,” Maverick said after getting a stick and chalking it. “I hope that’s cool.”
“Totally,” Ricky said.
I didn’t miss the way he checked his shirt, though, smoothing it down before taking off his hat, running his fingers through his dark hair, and replacing the cap back on his head. The mention of Garrett had put him on edge.
“You wanna rack them?” Mav asked, grabbing the triangle and placing it on the table.
It took Ricky a moment to realize the question had been directed at him. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Garrett arrived about five minutes later, and right when he walked up to the table, Ricky’s face lit up like the fourth of July.
“Sorry I’m late,” Garrett said in an apologetic tone. “I had to drive from campus and traffic was worse than I thought it’d be.”
“No problem at all.” Ricky smiled and leaned against the stick.
“Why doesn’t he get the third degree for being late, but we do?” Maverick asked, furrowing his brow. “I call shenanigans.”
Ricky blushed before saying, “Shut your Clark Kent face and break.”
As Maverick grabbed the cue ball and placed it on the green felt, I watched the way his muscles moved under his shirt, and how his thick arms flexed as he bent to take his shot. Damn he was hot. And the way his stare flickered to mine before he hit the ball made me shift my weight to my other leg and discreetly adjust myself.
I knew every inch of his body, and the sounds he made when I touched certain parts of it. The memory was singed into my brain—and my heart. We’d had so much sex lately that it was a miracle I could even walk. The physical release was out of this world incredible, but it was the emotional connection when we did it that I loved most.
“Looks like we’re solids,” Garrett said, slapping his hand on Ricky’s chest.
Ricky looked at the spot he’d been touched before lifting his gaze to the shaggy blond haired guy in front of him. “Yeah. Looks like it.”
Now, I wasn’t an expert at picking out flirting or any of that… but Ricky was acting strange. Well, stranger than his usual behavior.
Perhaps—just like the rest of us—he had a secret too.
It was Garrett’s turn after Mav made in three of our balls and missed, so he lined up his shot before popping it into the pocket. He missed his second shot.
“It’s your turn, babe,” Mav said, coming up behind me and kissing my shoulder.
I smiled.
Maverick was the cheesiest, most die-hard romantic I’d ever met, and I wouldn’t change a thing about him.
