No one else behind her.
Everyone is looking over at Sullivan Minnie Meadows.
The corner of my mouth inches up, just slightly. Seeing Sulli stick up for herself tonight and draw boundaries was hot. Even if her anger was partially directed at my friend.
She’s in boxer shorts and a tight tank top, dark-brown hair twisted in a messy bun. “Hey…” she says with uncertainty. “What’s everyone doing?” We all know she hates missing out on things, and she’s already glancing back up towards the kitchen.
Like she’s pulled between the men down here and being with the girls in the kitchen. I smell the sweet scent of brownies cooking in the oven.
Maximoff gestures to Farrow and tells his cousin, “He’s about to pierce Oscar’s nose.”
“Really?” She walks further in. “Do you know how to?”
“Yeah, do you know how to, Redford?” Oscar says, not sounding nervous.
Donnelly smirks.
Maybe Farrow pierced his own body before.
Farrow rolls his eyes at Oscar. “Stop moving, man.”
“I’m still. I’m still.” Oscar leans back on the pool table and doesn’t move.
Farrow tears open the packaging to a piercing needle.
Sulli wavers between approaching Maximoff or coming over to Akara and me.
Akara motions her here.
She hesitates.
We exchange a glance. Yeah, Akara still needs to be dug out of a ditch. I reach over and grab a new beer from a case, my dog tags clinking against my chest.
“She looks confused,” Akara says under his breath. He’s two seconds from shouting her name.
I pop the tab of a new beer can, licking foam off my thumb. Her eyes rest on me for a second, and I try to appear nonthreatening. But I’m six-seven and often wear a good amount of severity. Not as much as Thatcher Alessio Moretti, but I’ve seen my reflection. And I can look like a scowly motherfucker.
I watch Sulli keep glancing between me, Akara, and then towards Maximoff. When she sees her cousin in a back-and-forth with Farrow, she decides to head towards us, the only men still looking at her.
“Hey.” Her voice is tight, squared jaw set even tighter.
“Want a beer?” I ask. “Water?”
“I can get it myself.” She wedges between our builds and our heads turn, watching as she bends down and digs a water bottle from a case on the floor.
Akara has a hand on his radio. “You’re still pissed?”
“Yeah…sort of, I guess. I don’t know. It’s hard not to fucking be…” Her face scrunches and when she stands back up, she avoids our gazes and has trouble twisting off the water bottle cap with her bandaged hand.
Akara reaches out. “Let me, Sul—”
“I’ve got it,” she snaps.
A smile pulls at my mouth, and I almost laugh. Alright, I actually laugh. Fuck it.
She looks more confused at me.
“You’ve gotta stop giving Akara a hard time, mermaid. That’s my job.”
Akara fits on a baseball cap backwards. “He’s not wrong.” His voice is light, but his concern is still on Sulli.
She nears and stands right between us. “Hilarious.” She jokingly slugs his arm, then my arm, and it ends on an awkward beat.
Akara isn’t her “bro” as much as he’s in denial and thinks he is, and I definitely don’t see her as one of the fucking guys.
Her face reddens and she mutters, “I shouldn’t be here. What the fuck am I doing?”
Akara cuts in, “Hey, we’re just talking, Sulli. It’s good. Talking, working things out. It’s what friends do.”
“Friends?” she questions like she’s still not sure he deserves that title after keeping a secret about her boyfriend.
I tell her, “We like you here.” I put a hand on the back of her head, just for a short second, and a breathy noise ejects between her lips.
Her chest falls and rises, and her green eyes flit from me to Akara. Like she just realizes she’s standing between our towering builds.
I glance down her body. Fuck me. My muscles flex, and I look to Akara out of the corner of my eye. He sees what I see.
Her nipples are hard.
Unmistakable, they push against her tank top. My blood cranks up even more. If we were in public, we’d block Sulli from public view and camera lenses.
Akara glances at her nipples, then nails a death-glare into me.
Like I turned her on.
Mother of Christ, I didn’t arouse her on purpose.
Akara fits his earpiece in as temp guards talk over comms. “Want me to get you a jacket?”
I think she’s going to say something like, I want you to stop looking at my tits.
Instead, she shakes her head and her eyes noticeably plant on