“Did you come here for a one-on-one meeting with your straw?” Dan asks with a dramatic tone. “Do you want me to step outside so you can have a moment?”
“I’m just trying to purge a very disturbing image I’ve just seen on my way here.”
“Disturbing?” He slides closer, pushing his iced coffee aside and waggling his eyebrows. “Do tell.”
“I just saw Nicole having sex with Christopher Vans in our pool house.”
His grin disappears. It’s only for a split second, but I notice it. I also notice how his face scrunches and his shoulders tense.
He goes back to grinning just as fast. Only, it seems a bit forced now. “Eww. No more Netflix and chill in your pool house.”
I roll my eyes. “I just told you I’ve seen Nicole have sex and that’s your first thought?”
“Does Nicole’s sex life need commentating?” He has his rare poker face as he speaks. “She’s not even a good fuck.”
“How would you know that?”
He takes a long slurp of his drink and shrugs. “Looks like it.”
“Don’t you think this has King’s hands all over it?”
“Captain’s?”
“I mean, Christopher is his closest friend.”
“Was. Since Chris was benched, Captain doesn’t look in his direction twice. He punched him at the beginning of the year for being useless.”
“That’s harsh. Is a person’s worth calculated by how well he plays?”
He lifts a shoulder. “Captain is all about winning and he doesn’t sugar-coat anything when it comes to slackers. He even had a few choice words for his cousin the other day.”
I fumble with my straw, humming. Something in my gut tells me Christopher sleeping with my step-sister isn’t a coincidence. Maybe he’s pretending to be on non-speaking terms with Levi in public, but they’re plotting something in secret.
“Here I thought you were too dreamy-eyed about your crush.” A mischievous look takes over Dan’s features.
“He’s not my crush.”
“I’ve known you for three years, and I haven’t seen you so caught up with someone as you are with Captain.”
“He threatened me, remember? I’m doing whatever it takes to protect myself.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Bug!”
“Admit it. You like him.”
“I hate him.”
“I bet he hates you, too.” He waggles an eyebrow. “Is this some sort of foreplay? Roleplay? Some other kind of kinky stuff?”
I hit his arm. “You’re a pig. Does everything have to be about sex with you?”
“They do,” he says matter-of-factly. “Tell me you don’t think about Captain in a sexual way.”
“I don’t!” I say too fast, too defensively. But even saying the words bring back how much I look at Levi’s lips when he’s not kissing me and how much I don’t want to break apart when he does kiss me.
Damn the bastard for getting me addicted to his lips.