“Is this someone you actually like?” Callie asks.
“Absolutely not,” I shoot back. “It’s just?—”
“Great banter?” Lilah supplies.
I clamp my lips together. “It’s nothing serious. Just a distraction.”
Sloane arches a brow. “And yet, here you are, practically vibrating while Big D lights up your phone.”
She’s not wrong.
And that’s the problem.
“Are you sure there’s nothing more to it?” Lilah asks, gentle but knowing. Almost as if she can see right through my lies.
“Nope.” The smile I force feels brittle around the edges. “Honestly, I think it’s already run its course.”
By the looks on their faces, none of them are buying it.
“Anyway…” I clear my throat before quickly changing the subject. “The auction’s this weekend. You should have seen the way Oliver was sulking about it. He’s going to positively squirm on stage.”
“I can’t wait to watch,” Sloane says with a laugh.
“I bet Oliver will go for the highest bid,” Lilah adds.
My brows snap together as I frown. “You really think so?”
Three gazes pin me in place as more heat crawls up my neck.
My phone vibrates again. It’s a steady and relentless onslaught against the tabletop. Unable to take another second, I flip the slim device face down. But the noise continues to reverberate through the wood until my pulse kicks into a frantic tempo. One that somehow echoes my core, even though he got me off just a few hours ago.
That’s the moment I realize how screwed I am.
Even worse than that?
I have no idea what to do about it.
6
Oliver
The locker room vibrates with post-practice energy as showers hiss in the background, skate blades clatter into stalls, and steam curls off the tile as it mixes with the tang of sweat and soap.
Zane plants himself in the center of it all with nothing more than a white towel slung around his hips. “I don’t want any of you to feel bad when I go for double what you clowns pull in at the auction,” he announces. “Everyone around here knows I’m the main attraction.”
Knox looks up just long enough to snort. “Buddy, the only thing you’re headlining is a cautionary tale.”
Laiken doesn’t bother glancing his way. “It must be exhausting to be that arrogant and that wrong.”
Steele towels off, water spraying the tile as he shakes out his hair. “You should really think about hydrating, Holloway. You’re losing a lot of electrolytes running your mouth so much.”
Zane grins, completely unfazed, while laughter and more jabs ripple through the room.
As tempting as it is to unload on him, I bite back the comment that’s poised on the tip of my tongue.
I don’t have the patience for him today.
My head’s still buzzing from what happened this morning with Rina.
