Slow Play (The Rules #3)(24)

He sends me a look, one that says he does not like me saying that in front of Lucy. Well, tough shit. That’ll teach him for getting all cautionary tale on me. “You shouldn’t lead her on.”

“I’m not leading her on. I don’t like her like that and she knows it. I like someone else.” The second the words leave my mouth I want to grab them back, stuff them down my throat and hide them away in the darkest, most secret place inside me. Where they belong.

Lucy’s eyes go so wide I’m afraid they’re going to pop out of her head. “Who do you like?” she practically breathes.

Gabe crosses his arms in front of his chest and tilts his head, looking full of doubt and muscles. “Alex.”

I say nothing. Just pull my phone out of my back pocket and send a quick text to Kelli.

Where are you?

She replies almost immediately.

You would LOVE to know stud.

“Are you texting Alex?” Lucy asks excitedly.

I ignore her, my fingers flying over the screen. I’m pretty good at this typing with thumbs thing. And why the hell is Kelli calling me stud? She’s so f*cking weird.

Tell me.

You’ll be jealous.

Now you have to tell me.

Playing video games with a bunch of sweet nerds. They’re kind of cute.

I frown. Kelli doesn’t like nerds. Well, that ex of hers was a total dickhead, but not what I would consider a nerd. Huh.

Why would I be jealous of you playing video games with dudes?

There’s someone else here who you might want to see.

I lift my head, my gaze meeting Gabe’s. He frowns at me. “What?”

Shaking my head, I realize I can’t f*cking speak. It’s like a giant ball is lodged in my throat and I can’t swallow past it. I know who’s there with Kelli. I can’t hardly believe it but it must be true.

Who is it?

Her name begins with A.

And ends with A.

Alexandria.

My phone dings.

She’s here with her boy.

Who’s her boy?

Steven.

Fucking shit. If I could hit something I would. Right now.

Forget this text crap. I hit dial and impatiently wait for Kelli to answer.

“Took you long enough. I figured you’d call me seven texts ago,” she says in greeting. There’s a lot of noise going on in the background, including the sound of male voices and excessive gunfire.

“Where exactly are you at?”

“Hold on,” she says irritably before she pulls the phone away from her ear. “I’ll be right back,” she tells whoever she’s with. I hear protests, most of them male and she laughs, letting them know she won’t be gone long.

Her groupies. How sweet.

“Okay,” she says a few seconds later, sounding out of breath. It’s quieter in the background, no more gunfire and hers is the only voice I hear. “Um, I’m at a house.”

I want to growl in frustration but keep it in check. “Whose house?”

“Here’s the funny thing. I’m at Alex’s house. Can you believe it? She lives with these two guys and they’re so hilarious, like I can’t stop laughing whenever they talk. And they talk a lot. We were playing Mario Kart earlier and they totally kicked my ass. I mean like, they decimated me, and Alex too. Now they’re all playing Call of Duty and I’m kind of getting bored.” She pauses. “You should come over.”

My heart is racing. So hard it feels like it could pound right out of my chest and land on the floor. “Alex is playing Call of Duty?” I find that unbelievable.

“No, of course not,” Kelli immediately says.

“Then where is she?”

“Sitting on the couch looking ready to pass out. She had a rough day.”

I start to pace. I don’t like hearing Alexandria had a bad day. What does that mean? Is she all right? Did something bad happen? Or is she just tired?

“There’s no way she wants me there. I’m not coming over.”

“You need to be here. You showing up will blow her freaking mind. Trust me. Plus, that Steven guy is trying his best to show he can be the sweet, charming potential boyfriend she wants and I think it’s starting to work.” She whispers that last part.

“Bullshit,” I mutter. No way. I saw how those two interacted together last night. They had about as much chemistry as two pieces of dry toast.

“No, I’m dead serious, Tristan. Things are getting sketchy over here. You need to stake your claim before he steals her away.”

“Like he can,” I scoff. Like he has anything to steal from me. Alexandria’s not mine.

I can’t put any claim on her.

“He’s super into her. Girls love that sort of thing.” Kelli pauses, her voice lowering even more. “I think she really likes him. He’s so nice. That’s what she told me.”

“That’s all he’s got? He’s nice?” I laugh, but it’s forced. Worry gnaws at my gut. Not that I’d ever admit it. “You can’t f*ck nice, Kel. You can’t have a good time with nice,” I stress.

Kelli sighs. “Yeah you can, Tristan. Some girls want nice. Nice is safe.” She pauses. “A girl can count on nice, and we like that. We like that a lot.”

“If she wants a nice guy, then she definitely doesn’t want me.” I’m the farthest thing from safe and nice and we both know it. “If she’s into Steven, she can have him.” It about kills me to say that. Why, I don’t know.