Tavi wrinkles her nose and drinks some more.
“What has gotten into you?” I ask her.
“Not ‘Thor of the Very Big Hammer.’ For that, we’ll have to live vicariously through you.”
Oh, my God.She’s completely off the rails. My gaze shifts to Avery who is trying to hide her shock.
“For fuck’s sake, Tav.” I shake my head with a roll of my eyes. “Sorry, Avery.”
Avery laughs. “I don’t mind. It’s nice to hear women talk sex. I’m the worst. The things I didn’t know before Shane… it was ridiculous.”
“Oh, Shane. And Declan. Plus the Viking. That’s the trifecta of male beauty, right there.” Tavi licks her lips. “Bowing down is really more of a pleasure than a requirement, if you ask—”
“Hush,” Eden interrupts. “Time to quietly drink your cocoa while the women talk.”
Tavi makes a mock pouty face before setting her drink on the tray and lying down on the couch with her head resting on Eden’s lap.
“You never give Erik the time of day,” Eden says, her cool blue eyes boring into me. “Now you’re suddenly staying at his place? Above an abandoned factory? Along the waterfront where bodies are washing up? Arya, my darling, tell the truth. Why are you really there?”
My face flushes like I’m leaning over a bonfire. I tell myself it’s the alcohol. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Who’s the sexiest avenger?” Eden says.
“Black Widow Yelena!” Tavi blurts. “But not for Arya. For her, Thor, of course. She made me watch Valhalla Vikings with her for three straight days.”
Eden raises her brows at me.
“It’s a good series,” I say coolly, which is met with an outburst of laughter.
“Of course,” Eden says, mock serious. She leans back and takes out her phone. “You must be sorry the Viking cut his hair.”
“No, I’m not. Since I did it.”
Damn it, Arya, shut up.
Eden’s gaze flicks to my face as Tavi dissolves into giggles. “Ohreally.”
“Told you,” Tavi crows softly. “She is totally ready to let him bang her.”
“No,” I hiss with my lips and head tingling from my buzz. “The Viking did something heartless that I amnevergoing to forget. So everyone can just calm down. I don’t spread my legs for every hot guy who wants to get laid.”
“Hmm.” Eden’s eyes narrow to slits. “I know things about Sorensen. But apparently not everything. What I can say about the Viking is he’s drawn to you.”
I shake my head incredulously.
“Yes. Because usually he takes off so fast after a blow job the girl’s still trying to get off her knees as the door slams shut. And yet, when the football team finishes in the weight room and comes through the auditorium, Sorensen never walks straight out when you’re practicing. Women’s Volleyball? Soccer? Track? Gone, gone, gone. Arya Peralta in a tight tank and shorts? Suddenly Erik Sorensen pauses to talk with any football players who are slow to leave the area. And now, who has he moved into his fortress of solitude? Right. Are we surprised, Tavi?”
“Nope.”
Rubbing my eyelid, I look up at the ceiling. “At our practices, there’s an entire squad of pretty women, not just me. And now, he’s beingpaidto be my bodyguard.”
Eden barks out a laugh. “Are your parents insane? They would have to be so naive to think all he plans to do with you is babysit.”
Self-consciousness threatens to eat me alive. “He cares more about money than sex. That’s a fact.” I nearly blurt out that he wouldn’t take a blow job when I was practically begging to service him.
“Is that so?” Eden says skeptically. “Quiet. Here comes the cute chef.”
My head turns sharply toward the opening door. My ears are buzzing way too much for me to hear anything properly.
