“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “What’s the place? I can meet you?—”
“I’m picking you up, Ivy. Come on.” I rolled my eyes. Like I was gonna have her walk or drive herself to a dinner I invited her to. I wasn’t a monster. If her knee was hurting her too, I didn’t want her pushing it. “Six work?”
She nodded.
Dean’s voice grew louder from the distance, and I flashed Ivy one last grin. “Okay, we’ll talk later. How about you unblock my number? I asked a very serious CSI-related question yesterday that went unanswered.”
I was a little butthurt about the block but understood. We were getting back on track.
“Who said you were still blocked?” she returned, that mischief returning to her eyes. “Maybe I didn’t want to answer you.”
Fuck, I loved her attitude. “Text me tonight. Put me out of my misery. I gotta go show up these quarterbacks.”
Jogging backward, I kept an eye on her as she stood with her hands on her hips. She looked official and like she belonged here. Before we had our fight, she shared she always wanted to be part of a team, and her injury prevented that from happening. I threw that in her face that day (not my best moment), but I could make up for it.
Her birthday was in a few weeks, and I knew she was the quiet, don’t-sing-to-me kind of girl, but I could have the guys do something nice for her. Show her she was part of the organization and definitely had a role on the team.
Yeah. That’d be great. One way to earn her forgiveness and see the smile that I loved. She kept her attention on me, and the warm, pleasant feeling caused an extra pep in my step. I ran faster, sweated more, played better.
The Ivy Factor was back in full force, and I’d do anything to not lose it.
“Did you shower?”
“Are you wearing more cologne than normal?”
“Did you brush your hair different?”
“Seriously, what the fuck? You look extra nice.”
I fought the urge to shove both Mackenzie and Lorelei out of my bedroom. While I generally found their presences comforting, (growing up with three sisters and a strong mom, I was very comfortable around women) they annoyed me.
“I don’t look extra. I always look great.”
“Yeah, but like, you’re wearing a button up?” Lo pursed her lips as she sat crisscrossed on my bed. Mack fed my fish and grinned.
“I recognize the signs. After going through this myself, I totally get it.”
“Get what?” I sprayed another spritz of cologne on my neck. Not that Ivy would stick her nose on me, but if she was close, I wanted her to think I smelled nice. She loved scents, and they mattered a lot to her.
It definitely mattered that I smelled good to her. I’d heard the way she talked about other people and nope. Not me. I’d never smell bad to her.
“You’re smitten.” Mack grinned wide, her now-purple hair tied up on top of her head. “So smitten.”
“I’m notsmitten.”
“You should’ve seen the sexual tension between them at the shelter. It was tangible. Plus, she is sassy but in a subtle way. Not like you.” Lo pointed to Mack. “You’re my favorite, but she was… a quiet firecracker? Is that a thing?”
“Dean told me Callum struts whenever Ivy is nearby, and I find it hilarious.”
My temples ached. “I don’t fucking strut.”
“Yes, you do, dude.” Dean leaned against the door to my room, his gaze instantly going toward Mackenzie. She beamed at him, and I was gonna throw up in my trash can. “He has this cocky ass smirk that he does around her too, and I swore he blushed when she said good job.”
I fought a smile at that comment. Hearing her say good job did make me feel like I could fly because a compliment from her meant a thousand times more. However, hearing my idiot friends talk about it annoyed me. I understood the hypocrisy. Iwas always in their business, but I did not, for one second, like being on the other side of it.
“Okay, all of you out of my room.” I shoved my hands in my pockets of my slacks. So what if I looked nice? It was a fancy restaurant. I wore a decent gray button-up shirt and darker gray slacks that fit my thighs well. Did you know how hard it was to find slacks that fit my muscles? Hard as fuck. So when my sisters and I found a pair that worked, we bought five.
“Absolutely the fuck not. We had to put up with your bullshit for the last year, so you get to deal with ours now. This is what being friends means.” Lo stood and stretched her hands above her head, then yawned. “Where are you taking Ivy?”
