the letter values. “Plus the double-word score… Fourteen points.”
Brooks is quick to protest. “That’s great for the first turn.”
“If you think fourteen points is great, then you’ve never played Scrabble with my dad.”
He laughs. “Coach Jensen is a Scrabble Nazi?”
“Oh, he’s nuts about it. He’s the kind of player who puts down those two- or three-letter words on a triple-word score, and the next thing I know he’s beating me by two hundred points.”
“That’s no fun,” Brooks replies. “I play for the words, not the points. Connelly, it’s your turn.”
Extending vertically from his “B,” I add the word butt.
“As in, ‘bubble,’” I explain innocently.
My roommate flips me the bird. “Oh fuck off.”
Brenna grins at us. “What am I missing?”
“He has a bubble butt,” I tell her.
“I have a bubble butt,” he says glumly.
“Oh. Cool?” Brenna’s amused gaze lowers to her tiles. She rearranges a few of them as she tries to come up with a word.
“Do you want to see it?” Brooks offers.
“Not really—”
“Nah, let me show you. Just be honest and tell me what you think of it.”
Brenna glances at me. “Is this for real?”
“Afraid so. His girlfriend pointed out his bubble butt and now he has a complex about it.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Weston objects.
I rephrase. “Fuck buddy?”
“I’ll accept it.” He hops to his feet. “Okay, Jensen. Look at this.”
My idiot roommate shoves his sweatpants down to his ankles, presenting his bare ass to my…girlfriend? Fuck buddy? I honestly can’t fill in that blank.
I see Brenna’s lips quivering in the candlelight, as if she’s trying so hard not to laugh.
“Well?” he demands. “Thoughts.”
Her gaze focuses on his backside. “You’ve got a nice butt, Weston,” she concedes. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
He hauls up his sweats. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. It’s a great ass.”
A grin stretches his face. “Say that again.”
“No.”
That grin shifts to me. “Your girl likes my ass. She’s into me.”
“Nope,” Brenna says cheerfully. “I don’t know where you got ‘I’m into you’ from that, but I can assure you I am not.” She uses one of the “T’s” to put down the word trolley.
“Good one,” I say.
“Thanks, Jakey.”
Brooks flops back onto his pillow mound. “Jakey? Is that what we’re calling you now?” He sounds delighted. “I like it. I’m using it all the time.”
“Sure thing, Brooksy.”
“I take it back. I do not like it.”
“That’s what I thought.”
As the game continues, it’s more competitive than I expect, especially with Brooks in the mix. Our scores are so close it’s impossible to predict the victor. And while I’m having a good time, I’m not giving one hundred percent of my attention to Scrabble. I keep sneaking peeks at Brenna. It’s hard not to. The girl is a smoke show. And I love hearing her laugh. Every time she does, the musical tone makes my heart beat faster.
When Brooks goes to use the john, I move closer to Brenna and slide my hand beneath her sweater.
I’m rewarded with another laugh. “We’re in the middle of a Scrabble game and you decide to stick your hand up my shirt?”
“Yup. Can I leave it here until he gets back?” With a wicked grin, I squeeze her left tit.
“You’re so weird.”
“Nah.”
She snorts. “You can’t always say ‘nah’ to whatever other people say about you.”
“Why not?”
“Because…well…I guess I don’t know why not.” She pauses suddenly, one ear cocked toward the window. “Hey. The thunder stopped.”
“Power’s still not back,” I point out.
“No, really? I thought the candlelight was just setting the ambience for our threesome.”
“We’re having a threesome?!” Brooks exclaims as he bounces back into the room. He looks like an elated little kid. “For real, Connelly? You didn’t want to have a threesome with Kayla but you’ll do it with your girl and—oh dear God, why am I complaining? Shut the fuck up, Brooks,” he scolds himself.
“Kayla?” Brenna echoes.
“His girlfriend.”
“Not my girlfriend.”
“You were going to have a threesome with them?” Brenna narrows her eyes.
“Not at all.” I glance at my roommate. “And make sure Kayla knows that, because I don’t need her ambushing me naked in the kitchen anymore.”
“Oh no, a naked girl in the kitchen! We need to install an alarm system! Someone get us a guard dog!” He gives an exaggerated eye roll. “Anyway. Are we doing this?”
I let him down not so gently. “We’re not having a threesome, now or ever. This new ass-flashing craze of yours is bad enough.”
Brenna’s gaze strays toward the windows again. “I should probably go soon.”
“Wait until the power’s back,” I say gruffly. I don’t like the idea