Breakaway (Beyond the Play, #2)(91)

“Want to play?” he asks. “Next game?”

“I don’t think I’ll be good at it.” I wrinkle my nose. “I’m not good at things that involve… whatever this involves.”

“Hand-eye-coordination,” Mia supplies. She quirks up her lips, matte black and as neat as her winged eyeliner, and raises her glass to me. She’s wearing black skinny jeans, heels that I’d break an ankle in, and a halter top that she somehow pulls off despite the highlighter shade of green; people have been staring at her since the moment the party got going. She’ll have her pick at the end of the night, and I’m sure that’ll leave a trail of broken hearts. “You can do a lot more with your feet.”

“That’s what she said,” Izzy says slyly as she glides by. She’s wearing a silver mini dress with white leather boots and plenty of glittery makeup. When Sebastian saw her, he joked that she looked like a go-go dancer, and honestly, the comparison is apt. She did her hair in the bathroom while Mia helped me with my makeup, and now it hangs around her face in big, soft curls. Too bad that if any guy even thinks about staring at her, he’ll get the attention—and not the good kind—of three older brothers. Compared to her and Mia, I feel like a kid playing dress-up.

I reach out and grab Izzy’s hand. “Iz, this looks amazing.”

She beams. “Maybe I should become a party planner.”

“You really could,” Mia says. She gestures at the space with her drink, already down to just the ice. It feels more crowded than before, somehow. I wonder when all these people arrived, and if Cooper knows them all, or if they just heard there was a party at the Callahans’, which never happens, and swung by. It makes my skin itch, the thought of random strangers just showing up. “The thought of being in charge of arranging something like this makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a dart, but you’d be good at it.”

“Mood,” Victoria agrees, accepting another drink from Remmy when he comes around with a cocktail for her and a beer for him. He kisses her lightly on the lips, which makes me smile. “But you’re fantastic.”

“And a little terrifying,” Sebastian adds, right on Remmy’s heels with a beer in one hand and a cocktail in the other. “I bought the wrong salsa, and I had to go back to the store.”

He hands the cocktail to Mia, who looks at it with a singular arched brow before trading him her empty glass for the full one. “You weren’t kidding when you said you’d be my personal bartender.”

Sebastian takes a long sip of beer before answering, “Darling, you ought to know by now that I stick to my word.”

Cooper and I glance at each other. Mia and Sebastian are both flirtatious by nature, but honestly, I don’t even think Mia likes him all that much. Then again, Mia doesn’t like many people, so that’s not generally a good way to measure her interest in someone.

“I didn’t even know there was a wrong kind of salsa,” Cooper says. “That sounds fake.”

Izzy huffs out a breath. “I give you the best Cooper Day since the Rangers meet and greet, and these are the thanks I get?”

He laughs, ruffling her hair. “Thanks, Iz. You’re the best little sister a guy could ask for.”

“Don’t touch the hair,” she grumbles, but I catch sight of her smile. Not for the first time, I wonder what it must be like to be her. She’s so glamorous, but she’s willing to get down and dirty for volleyball, and growing up with three overprotective jocks for older brothers? It sounds so foreign to me I can hardly imagine it. “We’re singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in an hour.”

Cooper groans. “And leave me to stand around awkwardly while you do?”

“It’ll be fun,” she says. “Right, Penny?”

I shrug, blinking at Cooper innocently. “It is a birthday party.”

“I should have known that you and Izzy would be an awful combination,” he grouses. “I regret pushing you to be friends.”

I just reach up and kiss his cheek. “Show me how to play darts.”





55





PENNY





I’m terrible at it, as I could have predicted. I send more darts into the wall than the board despite Cooper’s help, but at least it makes everyone laugh. When the game ends, I lean against the wall gratefully. Being the center of attention, even for something dumb like a terrible darts game, doesn’t make me feel good.

I wrap my arms around my stomach and watch as Cooper chats with his teammates. Even Brandon is here. Evan insisted that Cooper would want the entire team, even the guys he doesn’t get along with that well, to be here. I’m sure he’s just trying to keep things good with the team. It’s why I didn’t protest, because especially now, hockey comes first—but Brandon was an asshole for what he did, and even if Cooper has moved on, I haven’t.

I’m staring. Brandon makes eye contact with me, no doubt feeling my gaze, and raises his beer. I try to smile, but my face feels like plastic.

“Penny, drink?” Sebastian asks as he walks to the kitchen.

A drink can’t hurt. It’s a party, after all. I’ll just eat a bunch of cupcakes to soak up the booze. “Sure, thanks.”

He brings back a slap shot for me and another for Cooper. I gulp it down a little too fast. The whiskey burns my throat, making my eyes water, but I like it. I like the way it settles like fire in my belly. I ask for another, and down that one too.