Page 90 of What Are The Odds?
“Stella and Ava,” I clarified.
I hope they were free. Levi had an away game. He wouldn’t like that I had agreed to go. Especially because he couldn’t come with me. But I did really want to go to a game. I’d seen them on TV and read about them in books. College football games sounded nuts. And it’s not like I’d be there with Ryker. He’d be playing, and there’d be so many people in the stands he wouldn’t know where to find me.
Ryker beamed. “Great. I’ll sort out some tickets and get them to you.”
48. Hard yakka
Levi.
Grace listened attentively as Tripp described the smoothie he’d made for breakfast. He was going into way too much detail, including the brand of muesli he’d used. We were in the kitchen, eating dinner. It was takeout. None of us had been assed cooking. Grace had picked it up on her way over. I’d coerced her into staying over almost every night this week. If I couldn’t lure her with my comfy bed, dirty talk tended to do the trick. I’d been doing it all day. Now I was as horny as they came and ready to get her upstairs. But I couldn’t do that just yet. No. Apparently I needed to share Grace with the guys. Tripp’s words. She had less than four mouthfuls left of her dinner. After that, time was up. When she set down her fork to question Tripp about the yoghurt he’d used, I groaned. So did Ryan.
“You’re putting me to sleep,” he grumbled. “Let’s talk about me.”
Will snickered. “What about you?”
“The girl I hooked up with last weekend hasn’t stopped messaging me. She wants round two on the couch.”
“Then go round two?”
“Nah. Because then she’ll want round three and round four and–”
I interjected. “We see where this is going.”
“Should’ve done Levi’s trick,” Tripp suggested.
Grace arched an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“Never give out your number, only get theirs. Makes it easier to dodge the crazies.”
If Tripp wanted me to spend more time with Grace outside my bedroom, he wasn’t going the right way about it. The prick loved throwing me under the bus. I checked for Grace’s reaction, expecting her to get annoyed. Instead, she laughed in disbelief before shaking her head. She was always level-headed, never overreacting or making a fool of herself. I was trying to take a leaf out of her book. I’d made sure I didn’t react when I got a message from Summer telling me Grace had seemed friendly with Ryker in the gym. And again when Grace mentioned she was going to his game. I trusted Grace. I trusted Grace. I trusted Grace. One more time for the little voice in the back of my mind. I trusted Grace. That didn’t mean I shouldn’t be worried. What was Ryker doing? Laying the grounds? Staying close enough in the background to swoop in if we ended things? That wasn’t going to happen. He was wasting his time. Grace walked her plate to the sink.
“What time is your bus leaving tomorrow arvo?” she questioned.
All four of us stopped eating, gaping at Grace.
“Arvo?” Tripp asked, one eyebrow arched.
Grace rolled her eyes. “Afternoon. Whatever.”
I stared at her, amused. I was so used to her accent now, that sometimes I forgot she was from the other side of the world.
“Take a seat, Hughesy,” Ryan said, pushing her back into a barstool. “This is going to make for great content.”
He readied his phone. Grace shook her head.
“Drunken video, remember?”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna hold. I have dirt on your boyfriend. If you don’t comply, I take him down.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of dirt?”
“A lot. Including a photo of him passed out naked on the kitchen floor.”
Her gaze cut to me, a smirk playing on her lips. Yeah, not one of my finest moments. It’d been after a night at Lastlings. The boys had snuck a shot of vodka into every beer they bought me. Assholes.
“Fine,” Grace obliged. “But only if I get to see the photo of Levi.”
Ryan nodded. “Deal.”
