Page 76 of Tempting the Player
“Who could blame him?”
She snorts a laugh. Felix drapes an arm around her shoulders when she takes her place next to him. She fans her face. “I’m dying. I need a drink.”
“The fridge in my room is stocked with black cherry hard seltzers.”
Her favorite kind. It’s sweet, but I didn’t miss the way he conveniently put those in his room.
“Don’t steal her away all night, Walters.” I wag a finger at him, and he tries to hide a mischievous smile.
“We’ll be right back,” Dahlia says as they start to walk off. “Ten minutes tops.”
“Make that fifteen,” Felix calls over his shoulder.
I turn to Hendrick when they’re gone.
“How are you doing?” he asks.
“Good. Better. Thank you for tonight. For everything.”
His lips part with a smile. “You’re welcome. Need another drink?”
“Yeah. I think I sweat out the last two.”
As I turn to walk back into the house, Mackenzie appears in front of me.
“Hey.” There’s an awkward beat where we stand there staring at each other. I’m surprised to see her. She and Ted rarely come to the jock parties. Finally, I snap out of it and lean forward to hug her. “Did you just get here?”
“Just leaving actually,” she says and looks from me to Hendrick and then back at me again. “Ted has a class with a couple of the football guys, so we stopped by, but it’s not really our scene so we’re gonna head out.”
“I’m glad I ran into you,” I tell her honestly.
“Me too. I wanted to thank you for whatever you said or did to get Paris to let us perform at the Spring Fling.”
“I didn’t do anything. She was raving about how good you were. You are going to kill it.”
“I hope so. I know everyone wishes it was you singing instead.”
I hate that she feels that way. “Your voice is incredible. I’m not just saying that.”
“Thanks. Ted keeps telling me that too, but I’m nervous. We have four new songs, but they’re all still a little rough. Maybe you can stop by sometime and listen? Eric listens to you better than anyone else.”
“Definitely. I’d love to hear the new stuff and help any way I can.”
“Really?” She smiles with such relief it makes me feel like a jerk for not doing it sooner. “I would love that.”
“Absolutely. I’ll be there,” I assure her.
“Thanks, Jane.” She motions with her head toward the door. “I better go. Ted’s out front grabbing a sober ride.”
“Bye.” I wave as she heads inside.
Hendrick waits until she’s completely gone from view before he speaks. “How come you don’t want to sing at Spring Fling?”
“It’s complicated,” I say, then realize that’s total bullshit. “I’m nervous about singing in front of a big crowd now that everyone knows who I am. What if I get up there and freeze or mess up the lyrics? It’ll be shared a million times before I step offstage.”
“Oh, I see, we’re playing the worst-case scenario game,” he says seriously, nodding and shooting me a sly smile. “You could also get struck by lightning while up there or a bear could rip through the crowd and attack. All equally likely.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Those are not equally likely.”
