“She’s fine, Lenny.” Liam flashes a smirk. “I’ll take good care of her.”
Lennon furrows her brows at the unwanted nickname. “Don’t call me that.” Then she laughs as she pushes Hunter out of her way and walks out of the kitchen.
I watch as Mason grabs a new beer from the fridge, cracks it open, then stands silently as he drinks it. I’d feel bad for him, but seriously, what did he expect? Tell me we can be just friends and then act like he gives a shit what I do?
I don’t think so.
“I bet I can kick your ass at pool,” Liam blurts out. “Wanna play?”
“You have a pool table?” I ask as I pour myself another shot. If I’m going to get through this night, I can’t be sober.
“Hell yeah. It’s in the back room. Let’s go, new friend.” He flashes a wink and smirks at Mason, and it’s then I start putting the pieces together.
He knows.
He knows that Mason and I hooked up, and he’s either trying to rattle his friend, or he’s giving him shit for not pursuing anything with me further. Either way, I don’t mind being his pawn in this game. I’m well aware of the bro-code and know that Liam isn’t hitting on me, which only fuels me to play along.
“I’m in!” I tell him as we link arms, and he leads me to their game room.
“You know, this really isn’t helping the whole frat boy image,” I tease as we each grab a cue stick.
“You can take the college out of the frat boy, but you can’t take the frat boy out of college. Pi Kappa Alpha! Pikas, baby!” And then the roars of his repeated words echo from the living room.
“I take it your frat brothers are here too,” I say, laughing.
“Hell yeah. We only graduated a few months ago, and a lot of them stuck around. Hunter, Brandon, and Mason too.”
Of course.
“Kilan is here, too. He lives across the street, and we’ve been partying with him since we moved into the neighborhood a couple of years ago. He’s an investor or some shit, so he’s always traveling, but when he’s home, he likes to relive his youth through us since he spent his college days stuck in a book. He’s in his thirties now, so we like to give him shit about trying to keep up with us.” Liam cackles.
“Guess I never got into that stuff very much.” I shrug, watching as he racks the balls. “I went to a few parties but never joined a sorority.”
“We all played football, so it was kind of expected. But I can’t say I regret it. Made a shit ton of friends for life, got into a ton of shit too. But you only experience college once, so…”
“So you went balls to the wall?” I chuckle as Hunter and Mason enter.
“Twenty bucks says she takes your ass to the cleaners,” Lennon goads, dragging Brandon behind her.
“No way,” Brandon says, laughing. “Sorry, Sophie. I’m gonna have to bet on Liam this time.”
Lennon looks at him with her mouth open. “Betting against my sister?”
“Babe, he’s basically a pro.” He waves his hand out for emphasis. “Been playing for years.”
“I’m pretty sure he majored in pool,” Hunter adds.
“He’s also drunk as hell,” Lennon counters, but we both know that’s not why she’s betting on me.
“I’ll go in on that bet,” Mason interrupts. “Fifty bucks on Sophie.”
“Asshole,” Liam mutters with a grin. Yep, he definitely knows our dirty little secret.
“Seriously?” I finally say. “I thought this was for fun.”
“It is. Show me whatcha got, Soph,” Liam taunts with a devilish grin. “Hell, with that outfit, I’d bet on you too.”
Mason growls behind me, making me smile. Liam’s eyes meet mine, and he winks.
“Alright, let’s do this.” I stretch my arms out and link my hands together, pretending to crack them as if I’m about to do real damage.
“Ladies first,” Liam says, removing the triangle and hanging it up.
Though I’m pretty confident, I’m also wishing I hadn’t taken those last two shots right about now.
“Kill ’em, Soph,” Lennon cheers, and the guys all chuckle.
With my back hunched over and my legs parted, I line up my shot and narrow my eyes on the balls as I stroke the stick over my thumb a few times. Then I slam the cue ball and watch the striped and colored balls fly across the table. When a striped ball goes into one of the pockets, Lennon cheers.
“We calling it?” I ask Liam as I walk around, trying to find my next shot.
“Sure, let’s play by the rules.” He grins, standing on the other side. The fact that we’re secretly on the same side sends a thrill through my body. Even if it’s just to make Mason mad or jealous or whatever, I’m game. He had the nerve to fuck me in a bathroom and then say we could only be friends—which is fine, whatever—but he doesn’t get to act as though he’s concerned about me now. I stupidly gave him my number, and in the past month, he never texted or acted like he gave a shit until the moment another guy gives me attention.