“Be there in a sec,” he replied.
Thankfully, I could hear Joel’s footsteps echoing down the hall. “I guess we better go, huh? Have you had anything to drink?”
“A little bit of water.”
“Well, no wonder you got a cramp. You should know better than to play in that kind of heat and not drink plenty of fluids. Any dumbass would know that.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I have my own nurse watching over me.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned on my heel and started for the door. “I’m going to get you a bottle of water.”
His chuckle echoed all the way out into the hall. There were drink machines all around, so I got two bottles of water and hurried back into the locker room. A flash of bare skin caught my attention and I stopped, holding in my gasp. Evan had his back to me and was naked, his skin glistening. It had been a long time since the vision of a man’s body had turned me on. I’d thought that part of me had died. My body tightened and my clit twitched, igniting the carnal tendencies I had buried deep. I missed the way it felt to have a man inside of me, kissing me, touching me. I wanted to feel the pleasures of that again. After I watched Evan fully dress himself, I moved out of the shadows and cleared my throat.
“Took you long enough, didn’t it?” he asked with a smile on his face.
I handed him the bottles and thought of the first thing that came to mind. “The drink machines were being difficult. Now drink up so we can go. I’m ready to see what you guys consider a party.”
He winked and opened one of the bottles, guzzling it down. “Don’t worry, sunshine. You won’t be bored, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
If anything, that was the last thing on my mind.
—
There were vehicles lined up and down the street and all across Evan’s front yard when I pulled up. Partygoers were everywhere. “Do you know all of these people?” I asked as I got out of my car. Women in bikinis traipsed around the yard like supermodels. Lara had been to a ton of these blowouts and had told me what they were like, but I’d thought she was exaggerating like she always did.
Evan laughed. “I don’t know them all, but so far I haven’t had any issues.”
“That you know of.” The last thing I expected was for him to grab my hand, but he did and guided me to his backyard. There was a bar set up with a guy and a girl serving drinks, a swimming pool that was full of people, and even a dirt bike track out in the distance. “Do you still ride with Luke?” I asked.
“Sometimes. I haven’t recently since the season just started. The last thing the team needs is for me to break my neck.” He pulled us over to the bar and asked for a beer while I took a glass of white wine.
“Will he be here tonight?” After our last encounter, I figured I was the last person he’d want to see. Sighing, Evan guided me away from the bar to his back porch, where Kate and Cooper sat talking to Derek and Brianna.
“Honestly, I haven’t talked to him. He called but I didn’t answer.”
Before getting too close to the others, I stopped him. “I know he’s your friend, Evan. Don’t let his problems with Lara come between you two. She wouldn’t want that, and neither do I.”
“I won’t, I promise. But I don’t want to talk about him right now.” He threw back his beer and tossed the bottle in the trash can. “It’s time to have some fun.” We joined the others on the porch and spent three hours laughing and carrying on just like normal people. There was a whole party going on around us, but I didn’t pay attention to all of that. Evan had a solid group of friends that I enjoyed every minute of talking to. I didn’t really have that many of my own friends. I’d moved around so much that it was hard to keep them. By the time I moved back to Charlotte, my friends had all gone their separate ways.
“These things are fucking awesome,” Derek shouted. He tossed another Jell-O shooter in his mouth and swallowed it down. It had to be his twentieth one. I sipped on my glass of wine because I knew at the end of the night I was driving home. Evan, on the other hand, had a contest with Cooper and Derek to see who could do the most shots. They all ended up toasted.
“Is this what they usually do at these parties?” I asked, glancing back and forth from Kate to Brianna.
They looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Most of the time, when they win a game. They celebrate by acting like idiots,” Brianna claimed. She had stayed sober so she could drive Derek back home.
She stood up and Derek smacked her ass. “Woman, you know you like it when I get drunk. I can last for hours this way.”
Face blushing, she thumped him in the ear. “All right, let’s go. I think you’ve had enough.” I think they all had. The party had died down and a majority of the people had already left. Evan put his arm around my shoulders, but I could feel his body leaning heavier against my side.