Page 79 of A Little Jaded
“You can’t do that,” Dylan pushes. “You guys live together, he’s like family?—”
“I know.” Finley sighs, picks her phone up again, and checks the screen. “And I also know I’m done thinking about all of this. Someone take my phone. Actually, someone take all the phones.”
She pushes her cell into the center of the table, and I follow suit, gladly adding it to the pile in hopes of keeping myself from checking to see if he messaged me. Everett. I shouldn’t care. But the radio silence? It’s messing with my head.
With a smile, Ophelia opens her clutch, confirms each phone is on silent, slips them inside, and closes it up. “There.”
“Thank you.” Finley smiles at her friend. “Now…what do you say we dance?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EVERETT
The girl deserves a damn spanking.
As soon as the thought rises, I tamp it down, ignoring the guilt in my chest. It doesn’t make me like him. I know I’d never hurt her, and thanks to our conversation after the first time I met her dad, I know Raine knows it, too. Even so, it doesn’t erase the similarities between me and Drake. The way we can be controlling. Stubborn. Unwilling to bend.
Could I be like him? Fuck, no. But am I too controlling sometimes? Am I fucked up for wanting to smack Raine’s ass for hanging up on me? Will she think I’m like him if I call her?
I set my phone back in the cupholder and scrub my hand over my face. After Raine hung up on me, I went back inside the reception hall and faked a stomach bug. Shae and the rest of her family bought it with ease. Shae walked me to my car and thanked me for coming. For saving her from a night of asshole comments.
After confirming I’d paid Reeves’ debt for borrowingShae’s puppy, I gave her a hug in case anyone was watching from the windows, then got the hell out of there.
Anxious, I pick my phone up again and dial Griffin.
“Hello?” he answers.
“You back at the rink yet?” I grunt. The team rode the bus to an away game, but it ended an hour ago, so they should be close.
“The game was good,” he replies. “We won. Thanks for asking.”
“Answer the question,” I bark.
“We’re about to pull in. Why?”
“Have you seen the girls?” I ask. “Heard from them or anything?”
“All right, now you’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
“Finley picked Raine up so they could hang out.”
“So?”
“So, you really think it’s a good idea for Raine to be away from the cabin without protection?”
“You worried about Drake?” he prods.
I’m worried about a lot of things. Like Drake having some magic crystal ball telling him I’m not around tonight and Raine’s free game to fuck with. Like I hurt her feelings by being Shae’s plus-one tonight. Like other guys looking at her when I’m not sure where we stand. Ever since our kiss during game night, things have been…different. And I don’t know if it’s only me or if she’s feeling the same thing. I don’t know if I'm imagining her lingering looks or if they’re real. But I do know the idea of Raine being out of the house without me by her side when I don’t know where we stand leaves me feeling like razor blades are skating across my skin, and I don’t like it.
“Where are they?” Griff prods.
“They didn’t tell me.” I frown, opening the tracking appfrom when I picked Raine up on the side of the road. My mouth lifts. “They’re at SeaBird.”
“Well. How far are you?”
“Ten minutes,” I answer.
“We’re pulling into the rink right now. I'll meet you there.”