“No, you must make him come to you,” she admonished her gently. “You’re with us. If he wants you, he can cometoyou,” she finished.
I saw Ava roll her eyes, but she clinked her tumbler against Mia’s and then mine. “Fine. Cheers!”
We all took a drink, and I studiously avoided looking at the three men walking toward us. I knew what Mia was doing, but I wanted to tell her it wouldn’t make a difference. The two of them were like magnets: either Ava went to Jett or he to her. He didn’t see it as a power play; he was as eager as Ava was to be in each other’s space.
“You look fucking incredible,” Jett told Ava as he wrapped his arms around her. Ava smiled, and then we lost the two of them as he kissed her in greeting.
“You had a good game,” I said to Ash, and he nodded, although he avoided looking at me. “You’ll be playing for the conference championship if you keep this up.”
“Should be,” he answered, and I watched him look at Mia. “I have no idea what you’re supposed to be,” he told her.
“You didn’t read comics?” Mia asked him with surprise. “I’m Mystique.”
Ash’s eyes flicked to mine, and I helped him out. “X-Men, she’s the shapeshifter.”
“She’s blue?” Ash asked me as he looked at Mia. “If she’s a shapeshifter, why is she blue?”
“Superheroes aren’t their jam,” I explained to Mia. “Which is why I never got to do this before.”
“They really did come as football players.” Mia shook her head in sympathy at me. “They must have sucked so bad when you were younger.”
“Weare standing right here.” Gray’s dry tone didn’t bother Mia at all.
“You didn’t even wear the tight pants,” she protested as she obviously checked out Ash’s ass. “I mean, the jeans are nice, don’t get me wrong, but the pants . . . ya know.”
“You want to see my ass?” Ash asked her with a grin.
“Well, not yours,” Mia answered as she looked around the room. Her sights landed on Ben Kowoski, the backup quarterback. “His? Absolutely. Mama’s hungry,” Mia said with a gleam in her eyes.
“You’re such a horndog,” Ava said as she slapped her arm. “Plus, Ben has a girlfriend.”
Mia pouted and then stretched on her tiptoes to see over the crowd as Ben turned. She gave a low whistle. “Girl can still look,” she said as she settled back down and took a drink of her cocktail. “And I have no problems looking.”
“You having fun?” Jett asked me, and I turned to give him my attention.
“We are,” I said with a quick nod. “The maze in Cardinal was so much fun. We came in last.”
“That’s . . . good?” His look was quizzical, as if he couldn’t understand me being pleased at the result despite my nodding. “So, superheroes?” he guessed.
“Supervillains,” Mia corrected him. “We’re the hot bad guys . . . well, girls.”
I heard the snort beside me and chose to ignore it. Jett turned his attention back to Ava. “I think I like it,” he said to her as he pulled her in closer.
“You’re not the only one. Quinn just got hit on, like completely,blatantlyhit on,” Ava told him. “My jaw was hanging open and everything, and she just brushed him off, with style. It was epically smooth.”
Jett’s eyes flicked to the dark presence standing beside me and back to me. “Denzel?”
“It was harmless,” I told him as I hid behind my drink. Gray reached over and took it off me before lifting it to his mouth and downing my margarita. Mia opened her mouth to protest, but I saw Ava nudge her to be quiet.
“Thirsty,” Gray growled when he finished. “Need another, be right back.Jett!”
Jett hesitated and then followed his brother to the kitchen, and the four of us stood in silence for a moment before I heard Ash grunt out a laugh.
“How the fuck didn’t I see it before?”
I knew he was talking to me, and I turned to face him, bracing myself for whatever was coming.
“I’ll catch you all later,” he told us instead, and I watched him walk over to Ben and the rest of his teammates, and I was selfishly relieved that I had yet again managed to avoid this conversation. I looked away from him.
