“You look pissed,” Rain says while coming up beside me.
After pouring another glass, I nod. “I’m furious.”
She exhales loudly, her eyes looking around. “What’d he do?”
It’s sad that she already suspects him. But she has no idea what’s going on here.
“Nothing I won’t punish him for.”
Her eyes go wide in fear. “Tria, you can’t play this game with Kode. He doesn’t fold. Ever.”
We’ll see about that.
His back is turned now, his attention on Courtney Hughes as she runs her finger up his chest. Rain calls my name as I walk away, my heels whining as I pound them into the hard surface on my way to the man I hate in this moment.
Rye says something to me, but I deliberately ignore him, knowing damn well that will only fuel the chatter around me. He never sees me coming, so he doesn’t know to brace for impact. With one hard, unexpected shove from my small hands, Kode stumbles, losing his balance, and yelps before crashing into the pool.
I glare at him under the surface as the water splashes up to hit innocent bystanders in their expensive apparel. Stunned silence descends upon the crowd while Kode pushes up to the top, surfacing with murderous eyes that immediately find me.
“Mistake, Tria. Big mistake,” he threatens.
I dust my hands, proving I’m not scared of him, and I salute him with my middle finger on my way back into the house. Dane’s driver is out front, and he quickly runs around to the passenger side door to open it for me when I ask him to take me home. I’ll grab a cab from there.
I climb in, ignoring the laughter that is now booming from the backside of the house. This is going to be a dirty war, and there’s only one way to win. It’s not like I can go head-to-head in a battle of cruel attacks with him. I’m no match.
But there’s one game I can win.
***
KODE
She’s asleep. In my bed. Naked. Does she really think it’s going to be that easy to get out of this?
I flip on the light before I begin stripping out of the dry clothes I borrowed from Dane. Tria stirs just barely, but she doesn’t open her eyes.
“Feel better now that you’ve thoroughly pissed me off?” I ask the girl who I know isn’t really asleep.
“Much,” she says in a clipped tone.
I don’t know whether to fuck her or grab her up and toss her into the ocean right now. Ignoring my cock’s input, I move to her side of the bed to glare down at her.
“I think we need to talk about what the hell happened tonight.”
She smiles up at me sweetly, her eyes fluttering open, and she shifts up onto her elbows so that the sheet slides down and reveals her perfect tits. How dare she look like every fucking wet dream I’ve ever had when I’m trying to be pissed.
“You mean you’re ready to apologize to me?”
My mouth falls open in shocked disbelief.
“Me? Apologize to you? Tria, you started this. I just reacted. You owe me the apology.”
She yawns as though I’m boring her and lies back down while pulling the sheet back over her bare chest. I almost demand for her to remove the sheet again while we discuss this, but it’s probably better that she doesn’t distract me.
“You started it, Kode. I was the one who reacted. You spent most of the night flirting with one girl who has fucked you, and another who clearly wants to. When you want to apologize, just let me know.”
She closes her eyes again, acting as though her conscience is clear enough to sleep.
“Tria, you’re the one who refused to tell anyone we’re together, and you told me to treat you like I used to in front of everyone.”
Her eyes open again, and they narrow at me. “I didn’t tell you to let to girls paw all over you.”
Okay, so she has me there. “I was trying to make you jealous,” I admit.
“You succeeded. It also means you’re admitting that you started this.”
Her eyes close again, and she shifts so that she’s on her stomach, letting the sheet travel down her bare back. It’s times like these that I hate the fact she loves to sleep in the nude.
Deciding it’s not worth the effort to keep arguing with her, I move to climb in on the other side of the bed. I’d rather be fucking her than arguing anyway.
Wearing nothing but my boxer-briefs, I slide in behind her and wrap my arms around her waist before assaulting her neck with a rough trail of kisses.
“Uh… what are you doing?” she asks, but she only angles her head to give me better access.
“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” I ask while running my hand down her hip, slowly working my way toward her—
“Ow!” I yelp, drawing back the hand she just pinched the fuck out of. “What the hell was that for?”