Page 37 of The Golden Boys
His head cocks to the side and his eyes dim. “And here I was, thinking you’d behonoredto serve me, Southside.” The tip of his tongue slides between his lips, wetting them, and my attention goes there before meeting his gaze again.
“Sounds like you’ve confused me with one of your groupies.”
After speaking, I nod toward the handful who followed the team in tonight. The train of sickeningly feminine perfection that filed through the door with them.
They’re all from the dance squad, I imagine, but the only three I recognize are Joss, Ariana, and Heidi. Parker’s fall turned out to be worse than anyone thought. The sprained ankle she sustained would keep her on the sidelines at least a few weeks.
Whoops. My bad.
On cue, bubbly laughter flutters from their pink, glossed lips and I prop both hands on my hips.
The motion grabs West’s attention and his gaze slithers down my body, inch by inch. Realizing he’s checking me out, I swallow hard, feeling an unexpected degree of tension explode between us. It swirls in the air like a hot, thick fog.
It isn’t lost on me that he’s hot as sin, but it’s easy to overlook when he’s calling for his minions to make my life a living hell.
Suddenly coming to himself again, his gaze flashes toward mine.
“I think we’ll stick around,” he declares. “And I expect you to be on your best behavior, Southside. Wouldn’t want anybody to cause a scene, now would we?”
Chapter 12
BLUE
“Blue-Jay?”
My eyes fall shut when Uncle Dusty approaches from behind.
Well, there goes keeping West out of my business. Didn’t exactly want him to know the diner belongs to a relative. In fact, the less this dick knows about me, the better. An enemy should never know your vulnerabilities, the chinks in your armor.
In my case, those vulnerable spots are my family.
“This one of your new friends, sweetheart?” Dusty steps closer, wiping his hands on the towel draped over his shoulder.
“Yes, sir. Name’s West.”
Hearing him answer for me, I shoot him a look. One I wish could kill his ass in real life. We’re nothing even remotelycloseto friends.
“Nice of you to stop by, Son. What brings you kids in tonight?”
Son? What type of upside-down dimension am I living in right now?
“Cypress Prep played South Cypress tonight,” West answers, doing his best to charm the pants off my uncle. “We just stopped in for a bite to eat.”
“Ah, Friday night football. Good memories.” Nostalgia marks my uncle’s gruff voice. “Hope you didn’t put too bad a whoopin’ on our boys, though?”
The two laugh together, and I throw up in my mouth.
“Only enough to pull out a win, sir,” West answers, being all sweet. “It was a close game, but we turned things around in the last quarter.”
“Good for you. And no offense but, as nice a kid as you seem to be, I’m still hoping we can give you boys hell this season.”
Another fake laugh from West has me wanting to sprint out into oncoming traffic.
“May the best team win,” he answers with a grin.
“Absolutely,” Dusty agrees, peering around West to glance at the rest of the team. “I see you brought a few friends with you.”
Continuing with the good guy act, West chuckles. “Yeah, a few. I hope it’s okay that we stopped in. Blue just explained you guys are short staffed tonight. We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”