to see and be seen at these parties.
And that’s why I was here, right?
Make an impression. Leave ’em wanting more.
Ugh, all my usual mantras made me want to curl up and nap.
I was about to open the car door when Hannah stopped me. “Just think about it, okay?”
I knew what she meant. We had friend ESP like that. She wanted me to be straightforward with Jax. She wanted me to put an end to this.
But where was the fun in that?
The pulsing music did nothing to help my headache.
Fun. That’s what I was here for.
I put my game face on, but I knew my friend well enough to know that she would probably not be having much fun tonight. “How about this?” I said as the three of us walked toward the sound of a booming bass. “I’ll think about being honest with Jax tonight if you promise to get out of here early.”
She glanced over in surprise. “But you need a ride home.”
“I’ll find a ride,” I said with a wave of my hand. “But you have a game in the morning.”
River nudged her arm on the other side. “She’s right. You do need to be on in the morning.”
Hannah pulled a face. “Okay, fine. I’ll leave early but you need to promise to call us for a ride if you can’t find a safe way home.”
I nodded. “Fair enough.”
I spotted Jax laughing it up with some of his buddies on the other side of the lawn. “There he is.” I grinned at my friends. “Wish me luck.”
I was just about to peel away from them when Hannah caught my arm and leaned in close so River wouldn’t hear. “You know the real way to play a player?”
I arched a brow as she echoed my own words. “Yeah. Beat ’em at their own game.”
She shook her head. “Don’t play along.” She bumped my hip with hers. “He can’t win if you don’t play.”
I looked up to the night sky with a groan. “I hate it when you’re all reasonable.”
She laughed. “You hate it when I’m right.”
I nodded. “And that.”
10
Jax
She was here.
My heart started thumping way too hard when I spotted her.
Of course she was here. She’d said she’d be here.
Ryan shot me a look from where he stood by the keg. His scowl spoke volumes and I was certain my smirk didn’t help his foul mood.
The fact that her eyes lit up when she spotted me?
Yeah, that didn’t make him look any happier.
“Here comes your girl,” one of Ryan’s buddies from the wrestling team said, making every guy around me laugh. Word had spread quickly amongst my friends and there were side bets going about whether I’d do the unthinkable and get Rose Parson to commit.
I didn’t laugh. I was too busy maintaining eye contact with the freakin’ goddess of camping.
Seriously. How did this girl manage to make outdoor-wear look hot?
She broke off from her friends and her gaze never strayed from mine. My breath was coming in weird gulps as she got close because—man, when she kept you in her sights like that, it was hypnotizing. Mesmerizing.
It was dangerously intoxicating this pull she had. She was everything bright and shiny, and it had nothing to do with her neon-colored hair. She had this ability to turn something on inside of her that had every eye focused on her, it had every guy wanting her and every girl wishing they could be her.
It was charisma, I supposed. It was why she’d be a star one day, whether she had any talent or not. To be honest, I had no idea if she had talent. I’d never been to a high school play before. What was there to see? A kid from my class singing about heartbreak or something stupid like that?
No thanks.
As she drew close, she reached for the red plastic cup in my hand. “For me? You shouldn’t have.”
I let her have it, grinning at the attention she’d just called to herself without even trying.
No, scratch that. She had tried. She was always trying. She was on even when she was sporting an L.L. Bean vest. She just played it like she wasn’t trying.
I shook my head as I watched that knowing smile flicker on her lips. Her eyes were filled with mischief and a seductive edge that would have made any male with a pulse react.
I was definitely a male and I had a pulse, so yeah…I reacted. Even as I reminded myself that it was all