Page 20 of Very Unlikely
After lifting his head from Desiree’s lap, Holden stitches his brows. “Didn’t you hear? Coach canceled this afternoon’s session. Some shit about having new recruits to whip into shape.”
“We’re getting new teammates this close to the opener?”
Holden purses his lips before nodding.
“Weird.” After a shrug to brush off his unease, Lennox drifts his eyes to me. “I guess that can mean only one thing.”
“We’re ordering pizza and staying in?” I answer, aware that isn’t how he operates but willing to give it a shot if I get to keep him to my greedy self for the rest of the day. He’s had a lot of attention this afternoon, and although he’s yet to ask my opinion on which admirer is less psychotic, I don’t see that remaining the case now he knows he has the equivalent of a night off. Coach Randall doesn’t commence training on Wednesday until noon. A half-day is his equivalent of a rest day.
I flop my head onto my beach towel when Lennox replies, “We can attend Flynn Maxwell’s party tonight.”
“Who?” I ask at the same time Holden’s eyes pop out of his head.
“Flynn Maxwell… the lead singer of Wanting Wombats?” When Lennox nods, Holden scampers off Desiree’s lap as if she told him she has a yeast infection before slapping Lennox’s back like they’re best friends. It’s stupid of me to get jealous about his playfulness, so I won’t mention it. “Do you think you could add an additional two onto your invite?”
After letting him stew long enough for a sweat mustache to form on his top lip, Lennox lets him off the hook. “I don’t see why not.” After returning his slap, he adds, “He said I could bring the entire team because even then, the ratio of women to men wouldn’t even out.”
When Holden rooster calls before barging a chuckling Lennox in the shoulder, Desiree responds to their show of pigheadedness before I can. It’s for the best. I can’t get angry that my best friend is excited about a possible ‘date,’ but Desiree sure can since she and Holden are much more than that.
“I was hollering for Jamison,” Holden pushes out in a flurry when Desiree storms toward their section of the hotel. “I swear I was, boo. You know you’re the only girl for me.” When Desiree’s strides remain solid, he slings his eyes to Lennox, grimaces, then takes off after her like a bat out of hell.
“I hope she makes him grovel,” I mumble while standing from my sun lounge.
Some of the annoyance heating my veins slips away when Lennox places his hand on the curve of my lower back to guide me to our room. He’s done that almost every day we’ve been here as well. “I’m sure he will. He has it so bad for that girl I don’t doubt his accolades were for me. Why fish when you’ve already hooked the biggest catch?”
When the thought of his ‘fishing’ tonight makes my skin crawl, I double the lengths of my stride. I make it almost to our patio before Lennox catches up with me. My plan to keep his hands far away from me goes to shit when his entrance into our room sees him heading straight for the aloe vera gel he keeps stocked like supplies are about to run low.
“I might have a shower to weaken the sting of the burn today.”
Lennox’s eyes pop up from the goop he’s lathered his fingers with to me. “Are you sure? Your neck is pretty red.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I pray like hell his liar radar is off today. I couldn’t sound more dishonest if I tried. “You can also go to Flynn’s party by yourself if you want. I’ve had a little too much sun, so you can’t trust that my psycho radar is working.”
He rubs the aloe vera into his boardshorts like they’re nowhere near as expensive as they are before arching a brow. “We agreed to attendallevents together this summer.”
“We did. I just figured you’d rather have some alone time. To…you know…” I gesture my hand to the crotch of his pants, “… relieve tension.”
Jealously smacks into me hard and fast when he mutters, “If my libido is your excuse for not living a little, you havenothingto worry about.” After angling his head to hide his smug grin, he adds, “And I’m also not willing to let a piss-poor excuse like that renege on our deal. You shook on our agreement. That’s as equivalent as an officially signed contract, so get your ass in the shower, Cocoa, so we can get this show on the road.”
With my gills too green to acknowledge the dip in his tone during his last two sentences, I call him an asshole before storming into the bathroom to prepare for a night out that’s most likely going to hurt like a bitch.
8
Summer
“Stop fiddling. You look amazing.”
That’s easy for Lennox to say. He didn’t google tonight’s host while purposely hogging the bathroom so he’d have to attend tonight’s event with smelly armpits and his cut jaw hidden by two days’ worth of scruff.
Flynn Maxwell isn’t just some random Ravenshoe local who likes partying on a Tuesday afternoon. He’s a global superstar who, along with Ravenshoe’s first rise to fame group, Rise Up, put this town on the map. He’s toured the globe, and on more than a hundred occasions, he has been reported in the gossip magazines as an out-of-control ladies’ man.
He and Lennox will get on like a house on fire—regretfully.
“He’s right, Summer. You look beautiful.”
I thank Desiree for her compliment with a smile just as our cab pulls down a long and elaborate driveway. Flynn’s summer home could rival Lennox’s dad’s if the lawn, pond, and every inch of the balcony on the second story weren’t filled with bodies. There are droves of people, and Lennox appears more than eager to learn just how many of them are single.
While rubbing his hands together in a scheming manner, he slips out of the cab, then passes the driver a bundle of bills. The gurgling of my stomach slackens when he bobs back into the cab to offer me a hand. When he commences our walk into the zoo-like atmosphere, I try to claw my nails into his arm, but before they’ve secured an unbreakable bond, he slips from my grip as readily as Holden does Desiree’s.
