“It’s fine, he can join us. I need to take a phone call anyway.”
I looked around to see it was Darius who had spoken. Daniel groaned, slapping Darius on the back. “You gotta go, man?”
Darius laughed, nodding. “I’ll be back.” He walked off and I sighed.
Typical him. Who was it? Another model-girlfriend of his?
“Hey, I’m Blake.”
I looked up to see one of the guys smiling at me.
“And I’m Aluminium,” I said. Henry cracked up laughing and Blake shot him a look of confusion. “Is that really your name?” he asked.
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you mocking my name?”
Blake put up a hand with his palm up, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean it like that, just-”
I frowned, returning my attention to the game. I wouldn’t mind telling him my real name, but the way he was looking at me, I would rather not tell him. And it didn’t help that the others continued to call me Aluminium even after I told them I was Ivory.
I watched the ball rally between Daniel and Henry before Henry scored the point and I cheered. Take that, grey-eyed moron.
We all swapped spots and I switched with Jeffery so he had a shot at the front.
“You single?” asked Blake, switching with Kyle. I shot him a look.
“No,” I said. Well technically, I wasn’t really single and like I was going to tell him that. The way Blake watched me gave me the shivers.
“Hey man, you playing?” questioned Henry. Blake turned around to serve the ball and I sent Henry a thankful smile, which he returned with a wink.
Henry had scored the last winning point, giving us a margin and making us win.
“And someone said girls can’t play,” I said as Daniel walked up to us. He laughed and ruffled my hair like I was some kid.
“Hey!” I whined, pulling away.
He laughed as his other team members joined us.
“There’s a party on the beach tonight. Do you guys want to come?” asked Blake as his two other mates joined us. Mustafa, one of Blake’s friends, was explaining where and when and I barely listened. Darius and I had plans to go to the football and no party was going to sway my decision. I was going to go to that match alright!
“You have really nice legs,” whispered Blake quietly and sent me a wink. I frowned, stepping aside from him that made me end up getting out of the small circle we had all formed.
“I reckon they would be better wrapped around me.”
I stared at him in disgust.
“Hey, leave the girl alone,” barked Jeffrey, looking back at us and Blake laughed, punching his shoulder playfully.
“I’m joking, bro. You never know. She might want to, you know,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. I stared at Blake. What the hell did that mean?
“Back off. She’s taken,” said Daniel, glaring. I stared at the guys I barely met a few hours ago and who were already taking my side. I smiled, my heart swelling with pride. They were nicer than I thought, and I would have never expected that Daniel would stick up.
“Just saying we can share the goods, bro,” he said suggestively, shooting me a smile. I did a double take, my eyes widening. Did he just say what I think he said? Did he think I was some common whore they could pass around?
I opened my mouth to snap at him when I heard another voice.
“We can share.”
My jaw dropped open and I turned around to yell at whoever said that. But then I heard the last part and my heart skipped a beat.
“But the thing is, mate, I don’t share.”
Chapter FOURTEEN
Blake excused him and his friends pretty quickly and left just as quickly after that. I watched as Darius mingled with the guys. Did he mean what – oh come on, Ivory, he was joking. Of course he didn’t mean it. Did you forget that the guy hates you?
“See ya, Aluminium.” I looked up as Henry waved goodbye.
“Where are they going?” I asked. Darius walked over after giving them all a handshake. So business-like.
“Home,” he said. I frowned. Damn, I liked them. They were nice, unlike other people I’ve met in my life. They’ve become my friends. They did not care about our money or our past. They met us on the beach and for all I knew, they probably thought we were like normal people.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as we headed back to our spot on the beach.
“I need to make a phone call and you said you were going to collect seaweed or something.”
“Shells,” I corrected him.
“That,” he said. I grabbed my plastic bag from the ground and walked toward the rock pools while he leaned against the palm tree to use his phone. I rolled my eyes. So much for a break from work.
I didn’t care anyway. I looked down at the rock pools, smiling. Time to find my lovely shells. I bent down to pick up a plain shell, turning it over in my hands before placing it in my bag.