Make My Move (Hannaford Prep #5) - J. Bree Page 0,102

right now.

If she was his then I’d have to just… get the hell over her.

Avery finally decides Harley is the best chance of getting what she wants, so with a glare she pokes him in the chest with a finger and snaps, “Calm the hell down. I'm not having you break my room because you're in a mood.”

That only makes shit worse and when Blaise smirks at him he widens his stance, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting him take a swing at him with Avery standing right the fuck there.

Before I can shove her behind me Avery snarls, “One of you idiots had better start explaining what the fuck is going on. Now. I've never seen you fight like this before!”

No one moves or says a word.

None of us want to admit what the problem is when Lips is sitting right there on the bed watching us and, like lovesick idiots, we all turn as one to look at her.

Her face immediately shuts down.

It’s a bad thing too, a self-conscious tic like she thinks we’re all making fun of her, but there’s absolutely nothing I can say or do that won’t make all of this worse, so I have to stand there and watch as she slides off of her bed and mumbles some excuse about having a shower to give us all some privacy.

When Blaise attempts to help Lips as she hobbles past us all, Harley snarls at him like a fucking asshole, because he can’t handle any of us touching her now apparently, and Avery has to once again step in to stop a full-blown brawl.

I hear her murmur to Lips as they hobble past, “I need a fucking drink after this,” and doesn’t that sound like a fucking plan.

The second the bathroom door shuts, I stalk over to the kitchen cupboards and start searching for the bourbon, because what this situation needs is some fucking alcohol.

“Don’t you dare start drinking before we get to the bottom of this, Ash!” Avery hisses lowly, and I roll my eyes at her without stopping my search.

“It’s pretty simple; Harley has called dibs on the Mounty, but then he’s been too chicken shit to do a thing about it. Blaise and I have respected the dibs for months, but that’s not going to happen anymore.”

There’s silence for a second and then Avery sputters, “Dibs? You freaking idiots put ‘dibs’ on Lips and that’s why you’ve been bickering like children? Did any of you assholes think about what she wanted? That maybe she isn’t a toy you can covet like that?”

I finally find the bourbon and grab a glass, only because Avery will lose what little patience she has left for me if I drink it straight from the bottle. When I turn around, Blaise is already chugging back a beer and Harley is standing tall against Avery’s vicious glare.

“It wasn’t fucking dibs; Ash is just being a confrontational asshole because he’s pissed about this whole… thing. I told them I was interested in her and they both backed off.”

Avery squints at him like he’s dense. “Oh, of course, that definitely sounds nothing like dibs to me! But never mind, let’s circle back to that. Why haven’t you done anything yet? You and Lips spend all day together in class, I’m sure you could’ve found time to say something to her… though she’s not really one for dirty hookups.”

He eyes her off but it’s not in a defensive way, it’s more like he’s judging how much she knows and that piques my interest. “You did fucking hook up with her. I knew it.”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Harley snarls, and there’s nothing more tempting to me than his hackles rising like that.

I smirk at him. “Why don’t we just end this now and go ask her?”

I get one step toward the bathroom door before Harley is in my face. “Open that fucking door while she’s in the shower and I’ll gut you.”

There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s serious, and I’m also not at all surprised at his reaction.

Blaise’s lack of defense on my behalf is a shock though.

He’s never hesitated to throw himself into any fight, but this mess has him drawing back in on himself and if nothing comes from this fight tonight then he’ll be back on suicide watch, because he’s looking moodier than ever.

Harley throws me a glare, but Avery is far more focused on where Blaise is throwing back his second beer, a third