Slow Play (The Rules #3)(40)

Shep goes still. “Don’t go in there.”

Him saying I shouldn’t makes me want to go in there even more. “What’s the harm in seeing what’s going on?”

“Aren’t you the one who told me you didn’t want to see them passing vibrators around?” he points out.

I might’ve said that very thing back at the bar but that was hours ago. Now I wanna see it. I wanna see something.

I also want to know if Alexandria’s in there. I swear I can feel her presence but that’s ridiculous. I can’t want Alexandria. To want her is to want—more. More than I can give her, more than I can accept, more than I can deal with. Relationships are bullshit, all the girls I’ve ever been with are greedy bitches who demand the whole damn world and yeah…

It’s gotta be the booze affecting my mental state. I drank too much, my head is spinning, I’m starved for more mushroom pastry things and the need to see Alexandria is damn near overwhelming. Just to catch a glimpse of her, even for a few seconds. That’s all I need.

All I can want.

Pushing away from the kitchen counter, I head toward the living room, Shep falling into step behind me, right on my heels.

Fucker.

“Don’t go in there,” he warns me, his mouth practically at my ear. I swat him away but that doesn’t stop him. He just keeps talking. “Jade will murder us both if we ruin her party, you know. And you really don’t want to face her wrath.”

“I’m not scared of her. Besides, we’re not going to ruin shit,” I say. “Maybe we can be the entertainment.”

“I think they have enough entertainment,” he retorts as he grabs my arm, stopping me. “Come on, you should go to bed.”

“I don’t want to go to bed, Dad.” I jerk my arm out of his hold. I hate it when he tries to tell me what to do. “I’m not tired.”

Shep glares at me. “I forgot how belligerent you get when you drink.”

“Shut up. I’m fine,” I mutter as I stroll into the living room as if I didn’t have a care in the world. Shep doesn’t follow me and I’m glad. This is my moment to shine with a bunch of amped up women who’ve done nothing but obsess about sex all night. Talk about an opportunity.

“Good evening, ladies,” I say with my biggest grin, spreading my arms wide like I’m on display—just another sex toy for one of them to possibly enjoy.

Clearly, I’ve lost my damn mind.

I go completely still when Tristan walks into the room, looking so good I sort of lose my breath when I see him. Kelli’s sitting next to me on the couch and she jabs her elbow in my ribs, making me jump.

“What an *. He’s not even looking at you,” she whispers out of the side of her mouth.

I say nothing because there’s no point in denying it. Tristan doesn’t even look my way. And all I can do is watch him as his arms drop to his sides, his smile faltering the slightest bit. His eyes look wild. Bloodshot. And that smile on his face can only be described as sloppy.

He’s drunk. Or at least has a good buzz going.

“Tristan.” Jade sounds mad. She worried before the party started that the guys would show up and somehow ruin everything. “What are you doing here?”

“We just got home, baby.” He winks at her. “And now the party can officially start.”

“Where’s Shep?” She sends all of us a panicked look. The only ones remaining beside myself are Kelli, Lucy, and the girl who gave the demonstrations, Toni. And by the interested glow in her eyes, I can see she doesn’t mind Tristan stopping by at all.

“In the kitchen shitting his pants,” he says cheerily. “You scare the hell out of him I hope you know.”

“Fuck off, Tristan,” Shep yells from the kitchen.

Jade’s cheeks turn red and she rises to her feet. “Well, sorry to disappoint but the party’s over.”

“Hey Jade. Who’s your friend?” Toni asks as she gets up from the couch to stand beside her.

“Tristan,” he says, thrusting out his hand, one of those notorious charming smiles on his face. A smile I’d like to slap off if I could.

She takes his hand, shaking it slowly, not letting go. “I’m Toni,” she practically purrs. I swear she just batted her eyelashes at him. “Aren’t you delicious?”

Kelli starts to giggle uncomfortably while anger simmers in my veins. Fine, we’ve all been sipping on wine and munching on delicious food the entire night, talking about the dirtiest things possible. When a handsome man walks into the room, of course someone is going to start flirting with him.

It’s been an evening of revelations. I heard stories about Shep that I can never scrub from my brain. Lucy blushed so hard whenever someone asked her a question we just knew that Gabe does all sorts of dirty things to her. She even admitted she freaking loves whatever it is that he does, making all of us extremely curious—and a little jealous. Kelli shared a few escapades, Toni is dirty as hell and doesn’t hold back, Jade’s other friends spent a ton of money on various sized vibrators, heated lube and edible underwear. And I sat there like the most boring person in the world, keeping what few stories I do have to myself.

I had a great time.

And now the guy I’m interested in, the guy I’m hot for, who kisses like a dream and acts like a nightmare is flirting with some woman who’s at least ten years older than him.