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She was embarrassed. It seemed like a small thing, but she was shy, and she probably thought most of the dumb meatheads watching us right now were hot and didn’t want to admit she was a fully functioning human female in front of them.
I grabbed a pad and stood.
Folding my arms over my chest, I fixed one of the players leaning over us with a cool glare.
“It’s mine. Got something to say about it?”
Silence fell. Four pairs of eyes fixed on mine and didn’t dare glance away. I stared the ringleader, Evan, down. He was the quarterback at HHH and thought that made him God’s gift. He was insufferable.
“It was just a joke, Winter,” Evan muttered.
“Really?” I stepped closer to him. “Tell me another joke about my vagina. I dare you.”
The silence was deafening. Honestly, I was abusing the fact that the players, without exception, knew my father was the team’s biggest donor and that they couldn’t afford to upset me.
“Whatever, who cares?” Evan said after a moment, backing down. “I’m sorry, Jessie. My bad.”
“Oh, and FYI — there are no such thing as big vaginas, just small dicks…got it?” I called after him and his idiot friends, still staring him down until he dropped back into his booth and shut his dumb mouth.
“Thanks,” Jessie mumbled as she stood beside me and put her backpack on.
“No problem. You can’t let them get to you,” I told her.
She nodded, a small smile playing around her lips. “I know I shouldn’t but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard.”
“Yeah, I know. Some jerk will always be able to get to you. The key is not to let them see they managed it…poker face, that’s the way,” I squeezed her arm, feeling oddly maternal over her. I knew exactly what the football team was like, and I hated the thought that they were continuing their reign of terror over impressionable cheerleaders now that Selena and I had graduated from HHH. Selena had always been able to put them in their place when she’d been captain.
Jessie smoothed her expression and I nodded approvingly. “That’s it. Now, shoulders back, head up, and walk like you own the place,” I smiled at her.
She sauntered toward the doors, trying out my advice. It was amazing what a good poker face could do for confidence. I’d worn mine for so long, I’d forgotten what I looked like underneath. Until last night. Ugh. Why did everything remind me of last night?
I headed back to my table and grabbed the empty soda glasses. “I’m getting us refills,” I told Selena.
“Whatever, I’m not eating, remember?” Selena said, a French fry dipped in ketchup already halfway to her mouth.
The path to refill the sodas, however, brought me dangerously close to the hockey team. There were a few of them, plus the Ice Gods themselves, near the kitchen. I quickly scanned the group and immediately felt a dark, intense pair of eyes on me.
Asher. I didn’t look at him, but I could tell that he was staring at me. Last night skittered through my mind, my insides shivering. That insufferable asshole. I shouldn’t be scared to meet his eye. I should show him I was unbothered by last night’s antics. He couldn’t scare me that easily, even if that wasn’t strictly true.
I was scared of how turned on I’d been.
Scared that he’d unlocked some dark and violent need I’d never known I had. Something the stuffed shirts I’d dated to please my dad hadn’t come close to exposing.
Poker face, Winter, remember? Swallowing my nerves, I sauntered past and waved at Eve, who was sitting between her psycho brother and her boyfriend, Beckett. I met Asher’s eye and flipped my hair back over my shoulder, dismissing him and his attention like it was nothing.
Who’s the bitch now, Martino?
My flash of bravery lasted until I had passed their table and reached the ice machine. I filled both our glasses with ice and then moved to the soda.
I was almost finished filling the second cup when a deep voice made me jump and spill soda all over my hand.
“Tell me the truth, Your Majesty. Which one was redder this morning…your ass or your forehead?”
I took my time setting down the drinks, ignoring him as much as possible, and wiping my sticky hand on a paper towel.
I didn’t expect him to touch me. I wasn’t prepared for it. His hand wrapped around the uneven strand of hair he’d cut, and he tugged hard, forcing me to stare up at him. He was standing right damn beside me.
“Nice haircut.” He smirked.
