“Suit yourself.” He dropped it so easily, far too easily, before he moved around the group and let everyone draw a name.
He stopped directly in front of me and drew his own name out of the hat. There was only one sheet of paper left, and he pushed the hat back in my direction.
“Not happening.”
He shrugged his shoulders before moving on to his buddy, Eli. Eli reached inside and opened the paper with a giant grin on his face.
“Frankie’s name better not be in that fucking pile, Lucas.”
He held up his hands innocently. “Never.”
Then I watched in horror as the boys all started showing off who they got. Eli turned his paper around, the paper that Lucas had meant for me, and I stared down at Allie’s name.
“That’s not fucking happening.” I tried to grab her name from Eli, but he quickly moved it out of my reach.
“Yes. It is.” He tucked her name into his pocket as if that would somehow make a difference. “I’ve been dying for a chance to get a piece of her sweet ass for years. Did you see it practically hanging out of her shorts tonight?”
I lunged at him before I even had time to think about what I was doing, but far too many guys jumped in to stop me.
“Give me her fucking name, Eli.”
“Hell no.” This one came from Lucas. “You said you didn’t want to play.”
“I changed my mind. I’m in, and I want Allie’s name.” I would do anything to keep her from being a part of this. I could just picture her with Eli, falling for his stupid fucking charm.
“Too late.” Lucas grinned and someone pushed against my chest to force me to back up. “I gave you multiple opportunities to participate, but you don’t need help with pussy. Remember?”
I was going to kill Lucas. He used to be my friend, one of my best friends, and he was one of the only people who knew about what happened between me and Allie. He was one of the only ones who knew that I used to be head over heels in love with the girl.
“Lucas, I’m not fucking around.”
He stepped up, his face just inches from my own, and I should have pummeled him right then and there. “I’m not either. It’s Eli’s job to get in Allie’s pants now. I think you should probably give up after all these years.”
“You’re not going to touch her.” I stared at Eli, and I could practically feel his fear. Good. That meant he knew I wasn’t fucking around. He wasn’t going to touch her. Not if I had any say in it. Not if I could stop him.
“There’s nothing you can do to stop him.” Lucas laughed and moved away from me. “Allie has hated you for years after how mean you’ve been to her. She won’t listen to you if you try to warn her. She’ll just think you’re being the same cruel asshole you’ve always been.”
He was right. Fuck. Both of us knew it. If I told Allie that Eli was only into her for a bet, she would absolutely think I was just being a dick. The girls would too. They had watched me be an ass to her time and time again. I wouldn’t blame them. I would think the exact same thing.
But as much as I hated Allie, I couldn’t sit back and watch her get hurt or humiliated by them. Lucas and his boys were nothing but douchebags, and Eli was one of the worst.
I may have been cruel to Allie, but I would never really hurt her. I would never do the things that I knew Lucas was capable of. I didn’t know if Eli was capable of those things too, but I wasn’t about to sit back and find out.
“Then I’ll make her fall for me.”
Lucas laughed along with half the guys standing around us, and my heart felt like it was trying to beat out of my chest.
“If that’s what it takes to keep you all away from her, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“Allie will never fall for you, dude.” Lucas took a long swig of liquor. “It’s a losing battle.”
She wouldn’t, but I still had to try. If I could convince Allie to fall for me, to spend time with me, then I could keep her as far away from these assholes as possible. Then that was what I would do.
“Then I guess you all have yourselves a bet.”
Chapter Two
Allie
Carson Hale was the biggest asshole I had ever met.
He had been for a long time. For far too long. He had been this way ever since he decided that he no longer wanted to be my friend.
Because we were friends once upon a time, whether he wants to remember it that way or not, and he was the one who decided that what we were was over.
He made that decision, and I lost my best friend and the boy I had been secretly in love with all in one day.
Now he hated me.
And he made sure to take every possible opportunity to remind me of that fact.
I could usually deal with it. I had learned a long time ago to just let his comments roll off my back like they didn’t even matter, but it was becoming so much harder these days. It wasn’t just his comments either. It was watching him parade around with any girl he could get his hands on like he was constantly throwing them in my face.
I knew how ludicrous that was.
He didn’t care about me. He sure as hell wasn’t worried about making me jealous.
But it felt that way. I felt like every move he made was a deliberate act to get under my skin. It was something he had become very good at too.
Because I was jealous. I didn’t even know who the hell Carson was anymore, but I was still jealous of every one of those girls who got to know him. Who got to have a piece of him that I would never have.
That I never got the chance to have.
I lifted the shot Josie just handed me and pressed it to my lips. The liquor burned, but it also eased the deep ache in my chest. At least a little. I couldn’t believe that he said I looked like a slut.
Not only were Josie and Frankie dressed almost identical to me tonight, but we were also the most modestly dressed girls at the entire party. The girl that had been on his lap had on less fabric than my bra and panties, and he had the nerve to say I looked like a slut.
I grabbed the liquor bottle and filled the shot glass again.
I could see the concern in Josie’s eyes and the way she kept looking at Frankie. They thought I was likely to snap, and they weren’t wrong. I could feel my blood boiling, every bit of hate I had for Carson spilling over the edge.
I threw back the next shot as I avoided her gaze and looked around the party. Everyone was having a blast. The music was blaring through the speakers, people were dancing and grinning, and I hated that Carson had put me in a bad mood.
“Come on.” Frankie grabbed my hand in hers and pulled me to the center of the living room. “Let’s go dance.”
There was no way I could refuse her. Instead, I followed behind her and tried to plant a smile on my face to match hers, and I let her twirl me around in a circle before a genuine smile took over.
“You’re a terrible dancer,” I yelled the lie over the music, but it made her smile bigger.
“That’s what I hear.” She shimmied her chest in my direction before finding the beat of the music. “But they say terrible dancers are really good in bed, right?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged. Frankie and I were probably the only two girls at this party who were still virgins. “Your guess is as good as mine.”