“Someone you do not want to know.” I tipped back a swig of beer.
“Luckily, she goes to school at Wyoming, so you’ll never have to meet her,” Zoe said. “Especially since it seems you have enough on your plates putting up with her spirit sister.” She shuddered, and I noticed Tarvi inching a little closer to her.
“We don’t want Tory Miller at our party, but we’d love to have you.” Tarvi turned on the charm again, his brown skin making his best smile even brighter. His hooded bedroom eyes left no one at the table in doubt about his interest in Zoe. The guy was shameless.
For a long beat—that made it awkward for the rest of us—the two of them stared at each other before Zoe turned her gaze on T.
“What do you say, Taryn? We could go for a little while, see what it’s all about.” Her wheedling tone said she knew my girl well.
Taryn’s stiff body said one thing: her mouth another. “Maybe if we stop by my place first so I can drive my own car...”
“I’ll drive you home whenever you want,” I said. “Better yet, I’ll give you the keys to my car when we’re at the party.”
She heard my unspoken offer:I won’t leave you thistime.
Pulling in a long breath, she nodded at last. “Okay. But when I’ve had enough, I’m leaving.” Though she trained her gaze on Zoe, I understood her words included me too.
“You really don’t like parties, do you?” Finn asked Taryn.
“Some parties are fine. I’ve just not had great experiences with football parties.”
“Yeah, but we’re not in high school anymore,” Zoe reminded her.
Taryn shot Zoe a look down her nose. “The way that Tory girl and her buddies acted implies exactly the same people attend football parties in college as in high school.”
Leaning his forearm on the table, Bax caught my eye. “Apparently, you threw lame parties back in the day. Maybe it’s good you haven’t helped us with ours so far.” To Taryn, he said, “You’ll have fun tonight. We won a big game today, and Fitz and Tarvi always get the best people to DJ when the bash is at their place.” He reached his fist across the table for Tarvi to bump. “You’ll have fun,” he pronounced—a foregone fact.
The tension I sensed in my girl’s body said she didn’t believe him, but she didn’t argue either.
“This will be a real celebration with one of the heroes of the game in attendance,” Finn said, lifting his mug to me.
“From what I saw, you were all heroes out there. That strip sack you had was impressive.” Zoe smiled at Finn. “It’s no wonder you recovered the fumble on that play,” she said to Bax, “what with you living together and everything. You probably talk strategy all the time.”
“A girl who knows football. You’re just becoming more and more interesting,” Tarvi said. “Did you enjoy the offense too?”
She shot him a flirty side-eye. “Danny and Callahan O’Reilly had pretty big games.”
He snorted a laugh.
Throwing him a bone, she added, “A certain running back looked pretty good out there too.”
I bumped Taryn’s shoulder with my own as we watched her friend’s antics with my teammate, and we shared a grin.
“Looks like the offense is beating the defense in the post-game.” Tarvi waggled his brows at me. To Bax and Finn, he said, “You two might have some luck at the party.”
I wasn’t sure Bax had heard him since he was busy texting someone, and I couldn’t get a read on Finn’s expression, though I had the distinct impression he wouldn’t be looking to hook up with anyone at the party. Come to think of it, ever since Homecoming, he’d been subdued.
Huh.
When the check came, both Taryn and Zoe reached for their wallets.
Tarvi put his hand over Zoe’s at the same time as I covered Taryn’s.
“You keep going up in my esteem, girl,” Tarvi said. “But we’ll get the tip.”
Her eyes saucered. “You want us to buy dinner? For four football players?”
With a laugh, he clarified. “The three of us—Bax, Finn, and I—have NIL contracts with this place. On game days, the pizza and beer are on the house. But we always leave a tip, so we need the check to know what that is.”
