Give Me More (Salacious Players Club #3) (28)

After getting our key to the room, Isabel and I head back out to the car.

“Well…” I say as I drop into the passenger seat. “They only have one room.”

He stares at me like he’s waiting for me to explain.

“With one bed,” Isabel adds.

“You’re kidding,” Drake replies.

“Sleepover,” I say, trying to lighten the mood, but he doesn’t look entertained. With a heavy sigh, he drives the car around to an empty parking space.





When we get into the room, Isabel goes straight for the shower, leaving me and Drake alone in our awkwardness. He doesn’t even hesitate as he reaches for the bottle of tequila he packed in his bag.

I open the minibar and find some cold beers, so I grab one out and pop the top. It’s funny to think I would have never paid twelve dollars for one hotel beer ten years ago, but we’ve come a long way.

“Room service?” I ask, grabbing the menu.

“I’m not hungry,” he mutters after swallowing down a shot without so much as a wince.

With a scoff, I toss the menu down in front of him. Isabel is still in the shower, so she can’t hear us. If she could, I wouldn’t be so hard on him because she’s always trying to protect him or go easy on him, but right now, I’m done with his attitude.

“All right, fine…” I mumble.

“What?”

“Deal’s off. If you’re going to keep brooding about it, then we can pretend I never said anything. Okay?”

With a scowl, he pours another glass. “I wish I could forget it, Hunt.”

“What is your problem? There’s no damage done.”

“What about last night?” he asks, looking offended.

“What? One kiss?”

He takes the second shot and stalks over to the fridge to take out the other cold beer. “Drake, just fucking talk to me.”

When he finally turns toward me, I’m surprised to see the hurt in his eyes. “You assume that I just fuck anyone, anytime, and my feelings don’t get involved.”

I flinch. “What? I don’t think that—"

“Yes, you do. You think it means nothing to me, that I’ll just sleep with Isabel so you can get off on it, and then I’ll walk away like nothing happened. Is that how you think it will go?”

Jesus. Is that what I thought would happen?

“Drake, I didn’t—"

“It’s fine, Hunter. Just drop it, okay?”

As he cracks open his beer, I let his words sink in. Peeling the label off my bottle, my eyes keep dancing up to his face, and I wish I could let this go, but I think he might have just opened up a whole new can of worms.

“I don’t think that about you. I just…assumed that you were better at separating feelings from sex. I thought it would be easy for you.”

“With other people, it would be.”

“But not with Isabel?” I ask.

And when his eyes slide their way up to my face, it steals all of the air out of the room. “Not with either of you.”

Just then, the bathroom door opens, and Isabel emerges from the steam in nothing but a towel wrapped around her slender frame.

“Forgot to grab my pajamas,” she says lightheartedly, before tiptoeing across the room to our suitcase. The room is still drenched in tension as Drake and I stare at each other, those words hanging heavy between us.

I don’t know what he meant by that or if my imagination is getting away from me, but when he included me, he didn’t mean me in a sexual way.

“You guys ready for bed?” Isabel asks, after coming out a minute later in her flannel pants and tank top.

Without another word, Drake and I take turns in the bathroom, averting our gazes as we pass each other. Then we climb into the bed, putting Isabel in between us.

“This reminds me of the time we went camping and it was so cold we slept in the back of the SUV,” Isabel says with a smile.

I hug her close, looking across the pillow at Drake, staring back. “That was a fun trip,” I say.

“Yeah, it was,” he adds.

With her pressed against my body, there’s a sliver of space between her backside and Drake’s chest. And as the two of them reminisce, I think about what he said. About how sleeping with Isabel would put his heart at risk, making him more attached to her than he wants to be.

I’m ignoring the part where he included me because he clearly doesn’t mean it in the same way he means Isabel.

And call me crazy because there’s a part of me that wants him getting emotionally involved. I don’t want Drake just having meaningless sex with Isabel. I want it to mean something. I mean, I know he can separate sex from emotions, but I don’t think I want him to.

Is this cruel of me? To set my best friend up for heartbreak? Or do I know, deep down, I would never let that happen? That, somehow, I can still protect him after all of this is said and done.

Clicking the lights off behind me, I bathe the room in darkness. With the small amount of light coming from the city through the window, I stare at Drake again. I’m an asshole for this, but I’m also a little bit drunk and I’m tired of playing around with this idea. I’m ready to make it happen.

Tugging Isabel closer, I press my mouth against her ear as I whisper, “Drake looks lonely over there. Why don’t you cuddle with him?”