I grin wider.
God, she’s annoying.
I’m in.
One of the boys from baseball drifts over then, offers the girls shots, gets politely dismantled by Texas in six seconds flat, and retreats looking stunned.
I watch the whole thing with something close to admiration.
“You collect men just to kill their confidence?”
She takes a sip from her drink and glances toward the shoreline again.
“No. They donate it voluntarily.”
I look where she’s looking.
Vale.
Still down by the water.
Still talking to people.
Still somehow managing to seem half removed from everything around him like he’s listening to another life under this one.
And there it is.
The first real annoyance of the night.
Because Texas isn’t looking at me or interested.
She’s fielding me.
Swatting me around.
Letting me be entertainment.
But the real track of her attention keeps circling back to Vale.
I shift closer.
Not enough to crowd her.
Enough to interrupt the line of sight.
“You gonna make me fight a basketball player for your attention?”
That pulls her eyes back to me.
“Can you?”
I look out toward the water again, let my shoulders roll once.
“I could probably fold him in half, but people get weird when you dent the NIL assets.”
Her friend laughs.
Texas almost does.
