Play With Me

Hunter’s miss.
    I never thought
a single shot could get an entire room this tense. Including me. Ryan cleared
his throat, his gaze moving back and forth between me and the white ball.
Suddenly he dropped his forehead to the edge of the table and laughed. “Take
your money, Just. I give up.”
    The room cheered
as though the unthinkable just happened. Justin pressed a kiss to my cheek and
hurried to grab the bills. I stood rooted to the spot, staring at Ryan, who now
braced his palms on the pool table and hung his head. But when he looked up,
there was this flash of amusement in his eyes again.
    “I’m so sorry,”
I mouthed, not even trying to raise my voice over the other guys’ celebration.
    “ You are
banned from this room,” he mouthed back, a smirk on his lips. Then he walked
around the table, slowly, measuring me with each step he took. I pressed a
little harder against the wall, welcoming the coolness seeping through my top.
    He stopped right
in front of me, the cue in one hand, the other placed against the wall next to
my head. “You just cost me fifty bucks,” he drawled with a smile.
    “Yeah, I know.”
I put on a poor puppy look. “But he really, really needs this comic
book.”
    That made him
laugh. “Siding with the enemy. I should have known.” With his hand on my back,
he ushered me through the arch in the wall, back into the main hall. “For
tonight, this room is off limits for you.”
    “Oh why?”
Playfully pouting, I glance up at his roguish eyes. “It’s so much fun to watch
you…screw up.”
    He wouldn’t let his
smile slip as he leaned in a little closer. “Off you go.”

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    4
     
     
    I WIGGLED MY
fingers at Hunter and left the guys to their game. It was time to look for Tony,
anyway. But finding him in a place brimming with two hundred people was
impossible. On the plus side, I ran into a few more friends, and Susan
introduced me to her older brother and a few of his companions. One offered to
get me another drink. When he suggested Corona, I told him I didn’t drink
alcohol.
    “Fruit juice
then?”
    “Sounds good.”
    He got me berry
soda in a glass and popped in a straw. Wearing a hat, he looked a little like
Bruno Mars. He made an interesting conversation partner over the next hour in
which he refilled my soda three times. In the end, I saw his lips moving but
didn’t really get what he said. I also felt the need to frown a lot and lean
against the wall for support in the suddenly swaying room.
    “You okay, hun?”
the guy asked.
    The guy with the
hat. Did he tell me his name? And when did his twin brother come in? The boy melted
into him, then appeared again. Something was very off here. I rubbed my brow.
“Not so sure,” I said, having trouble to get the words out. I also spoke extra
slow in case he had the same trouble like me and wouldn’t understand a thing.
    The world tipped,
and suddenly I was in his arms.
    “Whoa, girl, you
meant it when you said you didn’t drink, huh?”
    I smiled at his
face so close to mine. Sure I meant it. What did he think? That I was a liar? I
picked up his hat and planted it on my head. “My turn to be Bruno for a while.”
    “Hey, what’s
going on here?”
    “Tony?” I
cheered, trying to locate where his voice came from. And then he was right
behind me, pulling me away from Mr. Mars without his hat. I turned in Tony’s
arms and beamed at his oh so worried face. “Where have you been all night. I
tried so hard to find you.”
    “Where did you
look? At the bottom of the wine cooler?”
    I decided I didn’t
have to understand that and let him pull me to the rear, into the kitchen.
“Whoop,” I slurred with a loopy smile as he grabbed my waist and lifted me onto
the counter. He usually stood half a head taller than me, but sitting here, we
were on eyelevel, which I really liked. He had such pretty blue eyes.
    His hands
planted firmly besides my hips, he stood in between my dangling legs. This
awkward pose made my brains go wishy-washy and majorly turned me on. I dipped
forward and touched my forehead to his, grinning as I stared into those sapphire
gems.
    Tony laughed,
but it sounded nothing like his normal, easy laugh. He straightened me on the
counter. “How many drinks did you have?”
    “Hey, why so
worried?”
    “How many ,
Liza?”
    Not liking his
commanding tone, I sighed heavily, puffing my bangs out of my view. “There was
this half bottle of beer, and then some Sprite. The soda.