“It’s two in the morning, Jax. It’s late.”
“Not late enough for you, I see,” he said, taking a step closer. “Do you need me to take you home?”
I shook my head. “No, I drove and I only had one glass of wine. I think I’m okay.”
About that time, another car pulled into the driveway. What the hell? Did Evan always have people showing up at all hours of the night? A door slammed and I rushed past Jax to the side of the house to see who it was. It was Luke, in a pair of khaki shorts and a green T-shirt,. He started toward the front door, but I stopped him.
“It’s locked,” I shouted. His eyes went wide, but when I walked into the light, he visibly sighed.
He approached me slowly. “I thought you were Lara.”
“Nope, just me.”
“And me,” Jaxon called out, coming around the corner.
Luke narrowed his eyes, the tension growing thicker as they stared each other down. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
I stepped out of the way as they faced off. Jaxon smirked and stood beside me. “I came to join the celebration. I happen to be a part of the team, you know,” he said.
Luke scoffed. “Yeah, but you know very damn well you’re not welcome here.”
“Whoa, okay, what’s going on?” I said, backing up and away from them.
Keeping a venomous glare on Jaxon, Luke said, “Dumbfuck here has a habit of fucking people he shouldn’t. He only cares about getting *, no matter the cost. Evan banned him from coming here.”
I scoffed and turned my own glare on Jax. “Then what are you doing here?”
“I’d like to know, too,” Luke snarled.
While they faced off, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Something moved inside the house. “Luke, someone’s inside. I just saw movement.”
“Ah, it’s probably one of the guys who passed out on the floor somewhere. I’ll check it out.”
Luke took off for the back door and I followed behind him. But Jaxon grabbed my arm before I could get to the door. “Maybe you should stay outside with me,” he suggested.
“Why? It’s probably just one of the players.”
“Yeah, but you don’t know that. Is it so bad to hang out with me for a few minutes?”
Clenching my jaw, I looked down at his hand, which was still wrapped around my biceps. “It’s going to be bad if you don’t let me go. I’ll be happy to give you a busted lip to go with your nose.”
Immediately, he let me go and stepped back, lifting his arms in the air. I stopped at the door and watched him disappear around the side of the house. As soon as I heard him take off in his car, I rushed inside. Luke was in the living room, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t see anyone, not unless they’re hiding,” he said in a low voice. “But I honestly don’t think any of the guys would do that.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it was just something I imagined.”
“Could be. Do you see anything different?”
I looked around the room, then started down the hall. That was when I noticed Evan’s bedroom door. “Luke,” I whispered, waving him over. I put a finger to my lips and pointed down the hall. “His door is shut. I left it open.”
Knowing Evan was asleep, I followed on Luke’s heels until we got to the door. We could hear movement inside, but I couldn’t tell what was going on. “Stand back,” he said low. “I’m going to open the door.” The light was off in the hall, so I had no clue how he expected to see anything. When he opened it just an inch and peeked inside, his eyes went wide. “Holy fuck, it’s Lindsey.”
“What the hell? What is she doing?”
Luke snarled and slammed open the door, bolting inside. There was light shining into the room from Evan’s bathroom, but all I could see was Luke rushing in and grabbing a naked Lindsey and hauling her over his shoulder. “You have got to be kidding me,” I growled as he raced past. Lindsey shrieked and pounded on Luke’s back as he carried her down the hall. Evan stirred and sat up in bed, his eyes squinting from the light.
“Summer?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Go back to sleep.” He lay back down and almost instantly fell back asleep. Lindsey’s clothes were on the floor, so I hurried to pick them up before Evan could notice. The last thing Luke and I needed was Evan to be drunk and pissed off. It was clear he had no idea what Lindsey was doing. I had a good guess.
I was fuming by the time I got into the living room. Lindsey sat on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders with Luke standing guard. I threw her clothes at her feet. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
She glared at me and then turned her head. “I don’t have to tell you shit.”
Luke scooped up her clothes and threw them across the room. “If you don’t want to be locked out of this house butt-ass naked, I suggest you answer the fucking question,” he snapped.