Page 62 of Broken Hearts
“Not the food, the game,” Rhett clarifies. “It’s like hide and seek but you have to squeeze into the space once you find people.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve played.”
“We do it on campus and it’s awe-some,” Mav singsongs the last word.
“We don’t have to play,” Rhett says, but his knee bounces and he’s already got one foot on the floor.
“It’s fine. I could use some fresh air anyway.”
On the walk to campus, Dakota slips her arm through mine and tugs me toward her.
“We’re stealing her,” she says.
“Get your own.” Rhett tries to yank me back, but Dakota’s quicker and she’s strong, too.
She whips me away, leaving Rhett gawking after us. “No. This isn’t happening. You guys have forced me to hang out with you and your boyfriends and girlfriends. Hell, I even had to pair up with those two—” He points to Adam and Reagan. “I finally brought a girl and I want to hide with her.”
“Correction. He wants to make out with her in the dark,” Heath says.
“That too.” Rhett gives me puppy dog eyes.
“You kept her in your room all evening, and now it’s our turn.” Dakota smiles smugly at him. “Boys against girls. Go hide. We’ll even give you a few extra minutes.” She’s biting back that smile now and mutters, “You’re going to need it.”
The guys perk up at that.
“We get to hide?” Rhett asks.
“Unless you’re worried?” Dakota challenges.
Mav scoffs. Rhett rubs his hands together. They start off, already scheming where to hide.
“Remember the rules,” Ginny calls after them. “No going inside or on top of buildings.”
They don’t answer, but she laughs and shakes her head. “What are the odds that someone gets hurt?”
“Adam will guarantee that doesn’t happen,” Reagan says. “He’s done nothing but stress over it all week.”
“Sounds like my brother.” She tilts her head and her hand goes to the end of one blonde braid. “You know, he’s a pretty decent human sometimes.”
“How long until we go find them?” I ask. They’ve wandered off far enough I can no longer hear them talking.
“We usually wait around five minutes,” Reagan says. She’s nice, beautiful too. She has these dimples that I can’t stop staring at.
“I have no intention of finding them.” Dakota lowers herself to the ground and sits with her legs crossed.
“What?” Ginny’s laughter tinkles out into the night, but she sits beside her friend.
Reagan shrugs, and we join them, sitting on the grass in the middle of campus.
Dakota pulls out her phone and starts some music before answering. “It was the only way I could get you three away from your men. They’ve been very clingy this week.”
Reagan sticks out her lower lip and leans her head on Dakota’s shoulder.
“It’s true,” Ginny says. “Heath sat in the bathroom today while I shaved my legs because he wanted to—” She raises her hands and makes quotes. “Spend more time together.”
“Anything not to think about the game,” Dakota says.
“Not Adam. It’s all he’s thinking about,” Reagan says. “He watched game film all night long.Allnight. When I woke up for classes this morning, his laptop was sitting on his stomach and he was passed out.”
