“Ha ha.” She pinched his waist.
“Ow. You’re such a bully.”
“I heard that,” said a voice she hadn’t expected to see until Friday. A grinning Damon Sinclair smirked down at her. “Still using and abusing strange men. Why am I not surprised?”
CHAPTER 8
Marlie stared. Hard. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Her aggression only made her giant’s grin wider.
Will glared at him. “What are you…” His anger faded as recognition set in. “Demon Sinclair?”
A few people glanced over at his raised voice.
Damon glanced furtively around. “Hey, man. Keep it down, would you?” Then he stared at Will’s arm over her shoulder. “And how do you know my future wife?”
Marlie blinked.
“My sister?” Will cracked up laughing. “Got a whip and some chains? If so, you’ll need more to tame Mad Marlie.”
Mortified, she pulled back to punch her brother in the arm.
“Kidding.” Will ruffled her hair, and while she batted his hand away, he spotted someone in the crowd. “Hey, Cade’s waving me over. I need to go and say hi to someone. Don’t leave.” He reached out to shake Damon’s hand. Like pumping water from a well.
Marlie did her best not to laugh.
“So awesome to meet you, man,” her brother continued. “You’re my favorite player. I mean it. I’ll be right back.” He hustled away, looking over his shoulder at Damon, worried his idol might disappear.
“Your family is weird,” Damon said. “But nice.”
“No, they’re just weird.”
They regarded each other, her with curiosity, him with satisfaction.
“How did you sneak your way in here?” she asked. “Because you’re a little too big to go unnoticed.”
He chuckled. “Cade’s a friend of mine. His brother and sister-in-law are throwing the party.”
“Yeah. I’m here with Jeff. You met him this morning. He got us in through Will, who knows Cade.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah.”
They stared some more until she broke first with, “So, no dick pic?”
Unfortunately, she said it just as one of those odd lulls in conversation hit the party, and her words rang out.
Damon hid his face behind a huge hand while Marlie turned red.
Around them, people started laughing. Then conversation returned to normal.
“Great timing, Marlie.” Damon’s grin threatened to split his face in two.
“Laugh it up, killer.”
“I prefer Demon. Though Killer in Bed has a nice ring. But then, you wouldn’t know. I couldn’t even tease you because I was ordered not to send any enticing images.”
