Page 31 of Deceptive Games

“You’d be right,” Jensen grinned, kicking his legs a little to try and splash us from across the pool. “I can’t picture you two being friends as kids. Luke was a sour-puss when he started at Ashburn Valley Academy.”

“You guys tried to bully me,” Lukas deadpanned, making Jensen shrug.

“I was on your side. You know what Holloway’s like once he has his sights set on someone. In his defense, you looked like you’d be easy to bully. I didn’t know you’d start swinging at him like that.”

“He learned fast not to fuck with me,” Lukas smirked, his fingers teasing my waist as he absently pulled me closer. Being this close to him felt weird as well as normal. I’d spent years curled up with him as a kid, watching movies or just hanging out. He’d been going through puberty the last time we’d been that close, his voice cracking randomly and his muscles getting more defined.

Now, he towered over me and had become more broad in the shoulders.

I looked at him as if I hadn’t seen him since we were kids, reaching a hand up to trail my fingers across the tattoo and making him shiver. The angel wings spanned across his whole chest and pecs, the feathers looking worn and broken.

His arm tightened around me, but that was the only sign that he was paying me any attention as he listened to whatever Jensen was saying.

I flinched when water flicked me in the face, and I turned to find that Jensen had walked around the pool and was now sitting on the edge beside us, a shit-eating grin on his face as he watched me.

“Oh good, you’re still here. I thought you were having a stroke or something,” he joked, taking the whiskey. “I asked if you wanted pizza for dinner.”

“Oh, yeah. Sounds good,” I answered as I focused on him properly, jerking my hand away from Lukas when I realized that I was feeling his abs. He let me swim away from him, but I could sense his eyes on me as I ducked under the water and pushed off the wall with my feet, swimming across the pool.

I stayed under for as long as I could before moving to the surface, noticing that Lukas had pulled himself out to sit beside Jensen to share the whiskey. A groan left me when Lukas’ phone rang, but he just gave me a knowing look as he got to his feet and grabbed it from the pocket of his uniform.

“It’s not Holloway.”

“It’s worse, it’s probably his mother,” Jensen grunted, earning the stink eye as Lukas answered the phone and wandered towards the house for privacy, leaving us alone.

“I take it the chairwoman of Hell hasn’t improved her attitude over the years?” I asked dryly.

“If I could yank the stick out of her ass, I’d beat her to death with it and have zero remorse,” Jensen confirmed, walking around to me to sit on the edge in front of me. “Was she always a cunt?”

“The worst. She liked me until Max lost our money. Guess my blue blood didn’t mean shit without bills swimming in it.”

“She has no idea you and Lukas are friends again. The day you tell her, please make sure I’m there to witness it,” he laughed, and I rolled my eyes.

“We’re not friends. You guys are assholes, remember?”

“Tell that to your wandering hands. If I hadn’t doused you with cold water, you would’ve groped his dick.”

“Jealous?” I was joking, but he winced.

“Why would you say that? You think I’m into Luke?”

“That’s not what I meant, but are you? I heard about what happened between you two,” I said lightly, holding onto his knee as I took the bottle from him. I had to stop drinking if I was going to stay in the pool. “You want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said bluntly, his eyes burning into me as I moved over a little to haul myself out to sit beside him.

“He said he kissed you and you kissed him back. I know he’s freaked out about it, but how about you?” I asked, surprise flashing across his face.

“He told you about it?”

“We shared trauma stories after the whole Liam thing,” I snorted, nudging his shoulder with mine. “C’mon, talk to me.”

I knew Lukas had told Jensen about Liam’s murder, he’d asked if he could, and I was relieved I didn’t have to break it to him.

“Is it weird that itdidn’tfeel weird?” he mumbled, flicking his gaze away from mine. My hand slid onto his thigh and I gave him a reassuring squeeze, the whiskey making me way too comfortable around him.

“He’s a good guy when he’s not being a backstabbing snake.”

“Hell would freeze over before Lukas became attracted to a guy,” he scoffed, and I raised an eyebrow.