Page 8 of Not Before Game Night
“Mia, I don’t need advice, and not about him,” I cut in, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.
I had three sisters and they were all very similar. Very beautiful, had the sex drives of animals, and talked about sex non-stop, like they had to have it to exist.
They were also very fickle. From one to the next, they were the kind of women who were what I called easy to manipulate, and while I knew that sounded terrible for me to think, it was true. They’d only just now become more mature as they’d each found their men. I didn’t want to have to go through the type of shit most of them went through to find my guy.
Gage was the only one of my cousins who I hung out with on the regular because I’d always been able to talk to him and reason things out. He was always on guard and ready to take charge.
Like now.
He full well remembered how Cole was ten years ago and would never assume otherwise because so many years had passed.
I should be the same and not get bamboozled into thinking his continuous stares meant anything other than him just looking at me.
“Sometimes advice is good,” Mia stated.
“And sometimes it’s bad,” Gage replied, answering before me.
“Sometimes, I just want nothingness,” I jumped back in.
Gage actually looked happy with that answer.
“I’m gonna grab some drinks, and then we’ll go,” he interrupted and headed to the bar. I could tell he’d had enough of Mia. He’d never been as forgiving as her of Cole’s mishaps. I also thought his presence was probably a reminder of the past.
Gage’s parents had the worst divorce ever, and I knew he deeply resented Cole for spilling the family secrets out in the open when he wasn’t prepared with the hit himself.
“Vanessa, you know what I mean, right?” Mia said, tapping the edge of the pool table.
“I know what you mean, and we are not having this conversation in relation to that guy,” I snapped, but then her eyes widened and sparkled with delight as she looked over my shoulder.
I turned and wished I hadn’t.
Because he was right there.
He’d walked up to us and stopped practically a breath away from me.
“What guy?” he asked with a bright smile. “Anyone I know?”
That voice… his voice. As much as I knew ignoring him was best, there was never anything I’d ever been able to do when I heard that voice. Deep, rich, very masculine, and what got me was it was filled with an air of seduction. Always.
Our eyes locked as he stared at me, and looking away wasn’t something that crossed my mind.
“Well, Mr. Cole Buchanan,” Mia intoned, “if you’re lucky, you just might find out.” She looked from him to me, and her face brightened the way it did when she thought she’d done something good.
“Yeah?” he asked her, but he was looking at me.
“Yes, you just might,” Mia answered for me.
Poor Mia. It seemed like she believed she was doing me a favor. If only she knew. Of course, I’d never told anyone I’d been foolish enough to throw myself at a guy like Cole. But then she probably wouldn’t have thought my sixteen-year-old self would have thought to do something like that. Sometimes I couldn’t even believe it.
“No,” I said in an expressionless tone, stopping the conversation before it could go any further.
“No?”
“No.”
“This is the first we’ve spoken in ten years, and it’s a flat no?” His gaze clung to mine, and those champagne-colored eyes of his darkened with desire. Desire I’d never seen in relation to me.
“It’s a no, whatever it is.” This was such a weird conversation.
