“I’m leaving before anyone sees me.” I turn to walk back down the hall.
“Bossman!” Ekon calls out, stopping me and drawing the attention of every person in the room.
I can feel a particular set of cobalt blue eyes searing into the side of my face as I turn toward the crowd of hulking players mixed with people I don’t know.
The flat is a modest size, modern but warm, with mid-century style furniture; big enough that people aren’t on top of each other but small enough that it still feels homey.
“Hi,” I grimace, giving a meek wave.
“Ach! Don’t worry, bossman. You can come in. We won’t bite,” Ekon says as he swings an arm over my shoulder, ushering me further into the flat.
“Not unless you ask us to,” Davies shouts from the kitchen.
A moment later, Myles comes barreling around the corner and wraps Aanya in a hug, dipping her low and planting a kiss square on her red lips to the sound of the whole team cheering. When she comes back up for air, she looks dazed and happy, and I can’t find it in me to piss on her evening by leaving.
“I need a drink,” I mutter under my breath.
Am I in hell?
Connor Davies is on his third magic trick of the evening, each one worse than the last. The misplaced confidence of men is a truly staggering phenomenon to behold.
During the second mind numbing trick, Lottie arrived, dressed in floral printed denim pants with a fitted green crop top, hair unbound and wild around her face. When she spotted me, her blue eyes brightened, and she beelined in my direction. I noticed several eyes following her every step, but she’s either unaware or unaffected, because she kissed my cheeks before plopping down on the couch, where we’re now slowly being tortured by parlor tricks.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” she says before taking a sip of her drink.
“I was conned.” I point to where Aanya stands, snuggled into Myles’ side.
Next to them, Tieran is telling a story I can’t hear from where I’m sitting, but it’s making everyone around him laugh, and I wish for a fleeting moment I could be over there instead of keeping my distance on the other side of the room. Not just to be near him, but to be a part of a group—to have a place where you know you belong.
But I can’t, and the delusions my brain keeps cooking up need to stop.
There’s a connection between us, that much is obvious. I wouldn’t have hooked up with him in a pub bathroom otherwise, but it was purely a physical thing. It was a natural conclusion that my body reacts every time I see him, because I know what it’s like to have him—and it’s good.Sogood. It has absolutely nothing to do with how funny and caring he is.
Stop it, Jade.
“For my next trick,” Connor starts.
“Man alive, he loves to hear the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he?” Lottie murmurs beside me, making me snort.
“Maybe for his next trick he can make himself disappear,” I whisper.
Lottie chokes on her drink, and the motion catches Temu David Blaine’s eye.
“Lovely of you to volunteer, babe. Come stand by me.” He grabs her hand, tugging her off the couch, and she gives me a brief look of panic before mouthinghelp mein my direction.
“I wanna see how this shakes out.” I shrug.
“Traitor,” she hisses, making me laugh into my drink.
Ekon and Finn, two of our biggest players, sandwich me on the couch after Lottie joins Connor in the center of the room.
“This can’t be good,” Finn says over my head to his friend.
“Certainly not for Cap’s sister. Are you having a good time, Bossman?” he asks me.
“It's been…revolutionary.” I try to scoot away, to get some distance, but I’m only met with a secondary wall in Finn.
Yes, I’m definitely enjoying my night of slow torture. On one end, I’m being forced to entertain party tricks by the team's misogynist, and on the other end, I can’t stop covertly tracking where Tieran is in the room. Both things are irritating me. I need to get out of here.
