False Start - Jessica Ruddick Page 0,6

Bec.”

Zizzo cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t it actually called First Blood?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, surprised she knew that. Then again, Becca seemed to know everything and not in a bad way. The girl had a curious mind. She always had. It was how she’d ended up getting a full scholarship. Of course, being female in a male-dominated major helped.

It didn’t take long for me to lose that round of Bullshit. I didn’t care, though. The only thing I was really competitive about was football. No sense getting your panties in a twist unless you knew you could win. Either way, Bullshit had gotten old.

“Let’s switch it up,” I suggested. “How about Spades?”

Beside me, Zizzo swayed. “Is that the one with books?” She dragged out the s in books, making it sound like she was hissing the word.

I leaned close. “Are you okay?” Damn. I really shouldn’t have made her those doubles.

She turned her head in slow motion. Her eyes were wide. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”

“I’m always okay,” I replied. It was more or less true. Not much rattled me. But at the moment, I was a little worried about Zizzo and glad we were at my place instead of at a bar. However, if we’d stayed at a bar, she would be sober. Actually, she would be at home because she’d been getting ready to leave.

Nicole stood. “Does anyone need a refill?”

Zizzo raised her hand. I wanted to nix her request, but I didn’t want to be that guy.

Jimmy got to his feet. “I’ll help you.”

Once they’d gone to the kitchen, Ziz leaned her head on my shoulder. “I really did save you, you know. And I’m going to keep saving you every time I see you with a random girl.”

I bit back a laugh. “Oh, really?” Ziz had saved my ass countless times when it came to writing papers, but it was comical to think of her saving me from a girl. If anything, they needed to be saved from me. I wasn’t a bad guy, but I definitely wasn’t relationship material. At least I never led anyone on.

“Yeah. You deserve someone nice.”

“She might have been nice. But I guess I’ll never know.” Except I’d seen that girl out before, so chances were our paths would cross again. It didn’t matter, though. I’d much rather hang out with Ziz than hook up with a random chick.

Her face lit up. “Hey, let’s call Roman.” She had her phone out before I could comment and held it out so we could video-chat with him.

He answered after the third ring, and his face broke into an easy smile when he saw us. “Hey.”

Roman was the dude version of Zizzo. Though they weren’t actual twins—and couldn’t be identical even if they were because of the whole guy-girl thing—they looked a hell of a lot alike in the face. But the similarities ended there. Roman was more like me—not stupid but definitely not academic. He’d been a running back on our high school football team, but he’d never had any shot at playing in college. So while Ziz and I had gone off to VVU, he’d enlisted in the navy and was currently stationed in Norfolk.

“Roman!” Becca exclaimed.

He frowned. “Are you drunk?”

She nodded emphatically. “Yes. Yes, I am. Carson has been making me drinks.”

I grimaced as Roman gave me a cold stare. “Dude.”

“Oh, knock it off,” Zizzo said. “I’m twenty, a grown-ass woman.”

I hated to break it to her, but she would always have little-sister status, including all the rights and privileges that came with the territory. Roman’s protective streak was ridiculous when it came to her. For that matter, mine was too. Zizzo had always been this cute little thing. Looking out for her was as instinctual as breathing.

“Okay, grown-ass woman,” Roman said. “Are you behaving yourself?”

Zizzo grinned. “Always. But Carson isn’t. Carson never does. Tell him he needs to stop hooking up with random girls.”

So we’d circled back to this again. She seemed fixated on it, which was weird because she’d never said anything about it before.

“Uh… stop hooking up with random girls?” Roman said it as a question, which didn’t make a convincing argument. He had no room to talk anyway.

“Zizzo,” I started, and both of them looked at me expectantly. “Shit,” I muttered.

“Ha!” Zizzo exclaimed. “This is why you should call me Becca. My name is Becca. Say it with me. Bec-cah.”

A smile stretched across my face. “Maybe I’ll start calling you Little Zizzo to differentiate.”

Roman laughed. “I’ve