Loving War(18)
“You call pushing the bride’s sister into the pool playing nice?”
Well, hell. It’s not like I can tell him that I did that out of jealousy. Tria’s right about keeping our shit quiet. Dane will flip out right now, because he’ll think I’m screwing around with Tria to get at Rain. God forbid something not revolve around the two of them. Considering how sudden my inexplicable attraction to Tria is, I doubt I could convince him otherwise. My relationship with my brother is fragile at best right now. Not that I can blame him.
“That was a fluke. I thought something was—”
“Is this about getting Rain’s attention?” he asks in interruption. “I mean, I get it, Kode. Really. I do. But Rain and Dane belong together. And honestly, haven’t you fucked with that enough?”
A mistake when I was eighteen will haunt me forever amongst the five of us. God help me if Rain ever finds out that I took the letter she left for Dane. If you ask me, they were both too prideful and stubborn to be together if that’s all it took to tear them apart.
“I’m not trying to get Rain’s attention. Believe me; I think I got the message loud and clear. She’s always looked around me to see Dane. Her rejection wasn’t a surprise, Mav. It just pissed me off. A lot of things piss me off, so it’s not that big of a deal.”
His eyes scream liar, but I ignore the silent remark as effectively as I ignore the massive headache that is punishing me for too much liquor last night.
A swish of long black hair catches my attention, and like a magnetic draw, I’m forced to look up as Tria walks in. Her smile is forced as she follows a girl to a table to sit… alone. And of course she’s wearing a tight dress that fits in too well with Vegas.
Does she ever wear anything else out? Because I’m going to be a raging lunatic if she keeps dressing like that.
Five restaurants. This hotel has five restaurants, and she ends up in the same one as me.
“I feel bad for her,” Maverick says, blowing out a breath.
“Why’s that?” I ask absently, watching the girl who is unaware of my eyes on her. This corner spot isn’t as exposed as her window seat. The place is pretty dead, considering it’s a late breakfast and it’s the least popular restaurant in the place.
“Ash and Raya didn’t come, and Tria doesn’t really know anyone besides Rain and Dane. Then you go and push her into the pool. Now she’s sitting here and eating alone.”
My jaw grinds as I watch her, feeling the urge to go join her. She twirls her finger along the top of her glass of water, her eyes staring out the window at the crowded sidewalk outside.
Corbin walks in, his eyes searching and landing on Tria who looks up and immediately goes still when she sees him. He forces a pleasant smile before scanning the room for us. Dale joins him at his side, and the pair spot us together. The second they move in our direction, Tria’s hazel eyes come up to meet mine, going wide in her face.
She says something to herself, while averting my gaze, and she shifts her attention back to the window.
“If I invite her to come sit with us, are you going to behave?” Dale asks when he reaches us, always sounding so damn mature.
“I’ll behave.” The words are clipped, but only because I want to be the one to go save her. She’d probably panic if I went and asked her over.
Just as Dale walks away, the waitress brings a tray of drinks that Maverick must have ordered for us. I’ve never been so happy to see a glass of orange juice in all my life, and I start guzzling it as my eyes drift over to where Dale is trying to talk Tria into joining us.
“Rain wants us to be friends with her. We’re adults now. I realize we didn’t like Tria in school, but we’re seriously old enough to at least be dignified adults. That includes you, Kode. Try not to do anything crude while she’s around,” Corbin says.
The word crude applies to everything I want to do to her. Images swirl through my mind, memories from both nights. Tria’s body underneath mine, the sounds of ecstasy and my name falling off her tongue as her body writhed against me. The sweet taste of her—
I choke and sputter the orange juice when the citrus finds the wrong pipe, invading my lungs like an acidic assassin. Everyone looks at me, and I wave off the attention while coughing louder, trying to get air that isn’t infused with the irritating liquid.
Tria walks up, her face a mixture of resentful resign and confusion when her eyes land on me having my strangling fit.
“Wrong… pipe,” I say through a rasp strain, earning a few mocking snickers from my asshole cousins.
Tria’s lips twitch, but she doesn’t say anything or react other than that as Dale takes the seat next to Corbin, leaving the last available seat next to me. Tria takes it without looking my way again, and I refrain from scooting my chair closer.