The Man I Want to Be (Under Covers)(16)

If he thought she'd gotten to him when they were younger, he was reaching all-time highs in temperature now.

"Tyke, I'm sorry. Sam and I had no idea. If I would've known, I would've told you."

"Huh?" he said, trying to focus on what his friend was saying, but his eyes were glued on Kenna.

She smiled at one of the other bridesmaids he couldn't remember the name  of. A peppy blonde. Kenna fanned herself and lifted her long red mane  off her neck, and he nearly charged her right there. He wanted his lips  on the column of her neck. Wanted to hear her whimper. He wanted to work  his way down her body and back up again until they both got out  whatever frustration they were still holding on to.

"I repeated that I was sorry," Ash said. "But, like I said, your dick's so twisted you can't even hear me."

Kenna caught him watching her, so he turned back to Ash. "Tonight's about you and Calder. Let's fucking drink."

Ash hesitated, probably to see if Tyke was going to jump off the deep  end, then he laughed. "Yeah, okay." Clinking his glass against Tyke's,  he lifted it in a toast and then drank.

Luke made his way over with a satisfied smirk.

"Oh, hell," Tyke said, sliding his forearm across his mouth to get the  droplets of beer left on his beard. "What now? If you say we have to  dance on the bar in G-strings because Cass wants it for her wedding, I'm  done. Tell her to go fuck herself."

"You have issues, you know that?" Luke said, stopping at their side. He  shook his head, but his grin belied the negative effect. "Seriously,  Tyke. You need to get laid or something."         

     



 

No kidding.

Luke slapped a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Gear up, men. The ladies want to  play drinking games. They actually think they can take us. You believe  that?"

Ash chuckled and looked at Bryan. "Didn't you tell them we have the grizzly bear on our team?"

Tyke's back teeth clenched. "Fuck you, man. We were kids. No one even calls me that anymore."

"Take it easy on him, Ash," Luke said through his own laugh. "I need him. I've got a blow job riding on this game."

Tyke harrumphed. "Don't you think you two have done it enough this week?  Jesus, you're getting married. Shouldn't she be cutting you off by  now?"

"So much to learn, little Padawan," Luke said. "So much to learn."

The trio approached the other end of the bar, where a large group  gathered to watch. Five women lined one side of a rectangular table,  already in place and waiting. Two men were on the other side, watching  Ash, Bryan, and Luke approach. The first, Sean Sawyer, stood about six  foot with sandy-blond hair and light-colored eyes. He had a baby face  that drove women nuts. Right now he was rocking the start of a five  o'clock shadow he'd probably started growing about a month ago. He was  team leader for another four-man DEA team like Ash was the lead for  Luke, Bryan, and Jason. Sawyer and his team had backed them up on some  crazy shit. Sawyer was a good guy.

The second man at the table was one of Sawyer's teammates, Tyler Murray.  While he was taller than Sean, Tyler wasn't as broad. What he lacked in  muscle mass he made up for with agility and speed. The guy was like a  jujitsu master.

"Where's Reese?" Tyke asked.

Luke gestured with his chin to a table a few feet away.

Jason sat with his cute blonde, smiling over a set of drinks. The two seemed in their own world together.

Red plastic cups had been placed on the table in preparation for the competition, five on one side and five on the other.

Tyke sidled up to the middle of the table across from Cass, but Luke  checked him hard in the shoulder. "Nice try, asshole. You're anchor."

Looking at the far end of the table on the women's side, across from  where he was going to stand was Kenna. Of course. Because his friends  hated him.

"Kenna," he said, standing across from her.

"Bryan," she said just as evenly.

"You ready for this?" he said. "I mean, I don't want you to feel bad  when you girls lose. Calder's got a lot riding on this game." He leaned  in like he wanted to tell her a secret. "And we're pretty fucking good."

She made a thoughtful sound deep in her throat and didn't look very worried.

He couldn't be happier to have something else to focus on other than all  the unresolved shit between him and Kenna. Nothing like a good, healthy  dose of competition to ignore one's real problems.

"All right, everybody," Maybel's voice shouted over the din of the bar.  The eighty-something woman was in a sleeveless shirt and skirt down to  her knees. Her gray hair was more fluffy than normal, and she wore pink  lipstick on her usually bare lips. She was the fourth member of the  old-lady squad. She lived on the same street in Baltimore as Sam and  Ash, Rose, and Celia. "Some ground rules. One round. That's it. Winner  takes all."

" 'Cause that's all we're going to need to beat you guys," Sam said across the table at Ash.

Ash and Luke exchanged looks, laughing.

"Don't touch your cup until the person before you is finished and their  cup lands upside down," Maybel went on. "Any premature actions will  result in your team's forfeit."

"You hear that, Tyke?" Luke jabbed him in the side. "Don't blow your wad prematurely. I need this."

He grunted but didn't comment. There was a reason Tyke was anchor. Calder was usually the one who choked.

Sending Kenna a cocky grin, he cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this."

She mirrored his move. "Yes. Let's."

He wanted to laugh. Little five-foot-nothing woman thought she could outdrink Tyke? Hilarious.

"Everyone ready?" Maybel shouted.

Ten murmurs of agreement sounded around the table as onlookers watched in anticipation.

Bryan looked into his cup at the light amber liquid, then to Kenna. She  was watching him with a self-satisfied gleam in her eye. As if their  previous conversation had given her plenty of ammunition to kick his  ass.

"And … go!" Maybel shouted.

Samantha and Ash each picked up their cups and guzzled them. Ash dropped  his cup onto the table about three seconds before Sam. Sliding it to  the edge, he wore a look of concentration as he used his index finger to  flip the cup over. His first try missed, and the cup landed on its  side. Sam started flipping her cup.         

     



 

"Come on, you dickhead! Christ!" Tyke yelled down the table.

"Not helping!" Ash said, keeping his eyes on the cup. He flipped it again, and this time it landed upside down.

"Yeah!" the crowd shouted. "Go! Go!"

Sawyer's throat worked as he drank. He placed the cup on the edge of the table and started flipping.

Sam finally got hers to land the right way. "Come on, Grandma! You can do it!"

Aw, how sweet. The chicks were cheering one another on. Ha. This was a  high-stakes game of flip cup. Not a friendly match of tennis.

Rose lifted her glass and placed it to her mouth.

Sawyer flipped his cup, and it landed upside down.

Tyler immediately grabbed his beer and chugged it.

Rose downed hers in one shot, and on the first try, she flipped her cup over and it landed perfectly.

"Woohoo, Grandma!" Sam shouted.

Rose dropped her chin once and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief from her pocket.

Estelle reached for her beer.

"Come on, Aunt Estelle," Kenna said. "You've done this a million times. Bring it!"

Estelle did bring it. Like Riddick Bowe brought it to Evander Holyfield.  She finished her drink in record time. The guys were waiting for Tyler  to flip his cup. And they still had Calder and Tyke to go.

What the actual fuck. Tyke was starting to sweat. How were the women  closing in this fast? He eyed his beer again, envisioning himself  downing it in one shot and flipping his cup in one try.

The women would not win.

Finally Tyler hit his mark.

Luke drank from his beer. He dropped the cup onto the table at damn near the same time Cass started flipping hers.

"Goddamn it, Calder!" Tyke said, his pulse pounding so hard his heart might crack right out of his ribs. "Come on!"

Bryan looked at Kenna, who was grinning.

His fingers started to tingle. As soon as Luke finally landed his cup, Tyke was going to take these women down.

In three …

Two …

The second the lip of Luke's cup touched the table, Tyke grabbed his cup  and placed it to his mouth, opening his throat. He slammed it onto the  table and flipped it.

Shit.

Flipped it again.

Fuck.

Flipped it a third time.

Kenna had just picked up her own drink. She swallowed and lowered it to the table.

Damn it. His heart was definitely going to break his rib cage.

"What the fuck, Tyke!" came shouts from the other end of the table.

"What?" he shouted back, keeping his concentration on the cup. "You  idiots get twelve years to get it, and it's left up to me to clean up in  two seconds?"

"That's why you're the goddamn anchor!"

He flipped his cup again, and the thing wouldn't sit. The cup's lip hit  the table, wobbled side to side, and it tipped over, rolling. Tyke  inhaled a deep breath, adjusting the cup on the edge of the table-