Kaige picks it up, glaring at the smug jackass from earlier. “Seriously?”
Without an ounce of remorse, he lifts his hands, expecting it back. “Sorry ‘bout that.” To Sabrina, he adds, “You’re welcome to play with us if you’d like, though.” Two of his friends share a nervous look behind his back, so at least they aren’t completely fucking stupid.
Sabrina politely declines, but Kaige is grinning now, and I massage my temple to stave off my building headache, because there’s no way this is going to end well if Kaige’s counterpart is involved. Of all of them, I would’ve bet on it being Reid or Bo that snapped at her nearly being hurt, but I should’ve guessed as much. Kaige’s wolf gets his rocks off by lulling people into a false sense of security, and then completely destroying them.
“Happy to.” Tossing the ball in the air once, Kaige catches it as it comes down, gaze bouncing between the nine remaining men. “Catch.” Whipping it harder than any of them had up until now, one of them manages to catch it, but it knocks him off his feet and under the surface.
Coming up sputtering, he narrows his eyes at Kaige as if he can laser it off. Drawing his arm back, he launches it back with more force than before, but while he never takes his eyes off of him, he throws it at Slade.
Who snags it before it caves his face and laughs, the sound more lighthearted than anything I knew the man was capable of.
All of us look at the guy like he’s lost his damn mind except for Sabrina, who’s grinning ear to ear. Swimming over, she braces one hand on his shoulder and cups the other so we can’t read her lips while she whispers in his ear.
Turning to face her, he presses a quick, hard kiss to her lips before agreeing. Sending her my way, Slade passes the ball to Damian before hoisting himself out of the pool and immediately disappearing.
“What’s he doing?”
Sabrina folds her arms on the ledge beside me. “If you want me to spoil the surprise, you’re going to have to actually get in and play with us.”
“Someone needs to be on watch,” I argue, to which she gives me a withering look.
“And you’re going to protect me from the nine frat boys hyped up on caffeine currentlyinthe pool from all the way over here?” Pushing off from the side, she lazily swims backwards into what’s quickly becoming a battlefield with as viciously as the guys are smacking that ball. “If some other people show up, sure, go back to your perch. But until then-”
Her statement tapers off into a squeak when Reid yanks her out of the way as Cinjin is sent flying back several feet with the force of stopping the ball. Tongue in cheek, I slide into the water, swimming over to where Reid still has her held hostage.
“Alright, now where’d you send Slade?”
Swiping water out of her face, she bites back a smile, and honestly? She could tell me anything right now and I’d be relieved, if only because that smile actually reaches her eyes. “Dollar store on the corner.”
I don’t get the chance to interrogate her further, diving forward to intercept the ball when Boden fumbles it. Getting a solid grip, I seek out my target, launching it at the overconfident jackass and smirking when it hits his shoulder with an audible smack, bouncing off to where Damian can snatch it before any of them and go for a double hit.
Before long, Slade returns, standing on the side of the pool with a trash bag like a low budget, jolly old Saint Nick. One after another, he tosses some children’s play balls in; the light, rubbery plastic, cheap kind.
“You sent him on a weapons run? Like you haven’t already nearly lost your head withoneball in play?”
Catching the one Slade tosses her way, she tucks it under one arm before lifting her hand and splaying her fingers. “It’s not fair, I can’t palm a volleyball like you guys with your freakishly large hands.” Without even turning around, she cuts off Cinjin before he does more than open his mouth. “Didn’t say I didn’t like them or that you don’t put them to good use, said it wasn’t fair.”
Grinning at her back, he left himself open, the ball nailing him in the back and sending him face first into the water. Chuckling, Sabrina returns to making her point. “Anyway.” Holding up the new ball, she demonstrates how she can actually get a grip because it has more give. “Now I can play, too.”
Turning around, she jumps partially out of the water, throwing it across the pool. She doesn’t have the same force behind it that the rest of us do, but she has surprise on her side since up until now, she wasn’t actively playing. It nails one of them directly in the face, and he simply blinks, stunned, before grinning. Snatching it up, he returns fire, but dials back the velocity to a safe level since he’s actually aiming for her.
When it makes its way to me, I toss the volleyball out of the pool, sending it rolling towards the lounge chairs. While they’re pulling back when they aim for Sabrina, they’re still going all out when targeting the rest of us. Last thing we want is an accidental slip-up that can get her genuinely hurt.
Reluctantly, I’ll admit it’s actually... fun. I can’t remember the last time that I did something simply for the hell of it. How can I justify wasting time on things like this when there’s so much that needs to be taken care of, or my time could be better spent picking up some extra jobs in town so no one back home will starve during the winter? It lasts all of twenty minutes before it becomes abundantly clear that they’re using this as a way to flirt with Sabrina, subtly getting closer under the guise of the game. She isn’t buying into any of it though, completely ignoring their attention. She simply uses it as an opportunity to nail them; and not in the way any of them are hoping.
Logically knowing she couldn’t care less doesn’t mean shit; not to me, and not to the feral demon prowling between my chest and head snapping his jaws at nothing. With every smile or subtle wink tossed her way, the pressure builds until the skin on my arm splits a fraction, stinging at the rush of chlorine on the open wound. Rubbing the heel of one hand over my chest in a bid to ease the ache, I use the other to grab one of the balls and take aim. Waiting until they’re all distracted by the rest of the pack, I adjust my angle, and whip it forward with everything I have.
Hitting my target on the side of his head, it bounces off to nail another, sending them stumbling apart and farther away from Sabrina. They glare daggers at me, promising vengeance, but I point at Kaige, throwing him under the bus without remorse. As they converge on him, Boden bands an arm around Sabrina’s waist and strides across the pool, dropping her off closer to me. Stepping in front of her to act as a living shield, he gives her a chance to catch her breath while she massages her shoulder.
“All good?”
She waves me off. “Yep. Just using muscles that I haven’t had to in ages.”
Without turning around, Bo says, “Don’t worry, pretty sure date day comes with a back massage.”
Eyes sparkling with amusement, she replies, “Oh, does it now?”
He chuckles. “If not, it should.”
